Home Purchase Certificates: The Other Housing Vouchers

In the housing arena, vouchers have become closely associated with housing allowances - the widely employed means-tested payments to assist with the payment of rent or, for homeowners, operating costs. This paper is about the other housing voucher: housing purchase certificates. The paper outlines how these programs work generally and describes the specific features of programs in Russia and Armenia that have worked well under what may be considered adverse market conditions. The paper outlines some key issues for successful implementation and concludes that governments and donors should give greater consideration to the use of housing purchase certificates as a tool for encouraging home purchase.