As a result of changes in housing policy in the 1990s, social landlords in the Netherlands operate largely independently from the government. Without direct financial support, with less government regulation and decreasing demand for social housing, they are adopting a market-oriented approach...

Glasgow has a large council sector characterized by a range of problems associated with low-income tenants, disrepair, insufficient resources and high levels of housing debt. Reluctantly, the council has come to the view that stock transfer, ultimately to local community-based housing...

This article starts from the observation that social rented housing in Britain is in transition. Evidence is presented to show the emerging importance of not-for-profit registered social landlords, and the growing significance of stock transfer associations (formed from within the public...

Housing stock transfer is arguably one of the more controversial aspects of New Labour's housing policy. It was a policy originally pursued under the Conservative governments from the 1980s into the early 1990s and has gained pace under New Labour since 1997. Across Britain, the Westminster...

The largest housing stock transfer in Europe, the 2003 Glasgow transfer, promises to 'empower' tenants by devolving ownership and control from the state to local communities. This is to be delivered through a devolved structure in which day to day housing management is delegated to a citywide...

Some of the problems associated with large housing estates in Western Europe are emerging in Slovenia. Others, such as vacancies and high turnover, have yet to become significant problems in Slovenia. Moreover, the problems arising from poor construction are far less prevalent in Slovenia than...

The broad trajectory of housing policy since the 1980s has been to reject the paternalism and bureaucracy of traditional local authority landlords and to encourage voluntary sector housing providers. The rationale for these strategies has been to use a diversity of landlords (to create synergy...

The social rented housing sector in Ireland comprises just 10 per cent of the national stock and most of this is managed by local authorities. This sector is highly residualized, with eight out of ten tenants being welfare-dependent and many estates being considered problem estates. This article...

This introduction to the special issue on 'market concepts, coordination mechanisms and new actors in social housing' makes the case for multi-disciplinary and multi-level studies of the impacts of market-oriented policies aimed at social housing. The authors suggest that privatisation, tenant...

This paper aims to clarify the research agenda and to tease out the policy implications of 'area effects' for British housing policy, particularly with respect to policies for the regeneration of deprived housing areas. After a review of the growing interest in area effects in current policy,...