Social housing: Difference between revisions

Various other terms are used in different places, for example: in the UK, ''council housing''&nbsp;and c''ouncil estates; ''in Germany and Austria, in 20thC,&nbsp;''Siedlungen ''('settlements') and&nbsp;''Gemeindebau''&nbsp;('municipality building'); in Denmark,&nbsp;''Almennyttigt Boligbyggeri'' ('non-profit housing'), etc.&nbsp;<br/> The portion of housing in different countries that could be called some form of 'social' housing varies widely, and depends on how defined.&nbsp; The below chart of estimates for "social&nbsp;''rented dwellings"&nbsp;''as a&nbsp;% of all housing, shows a range from 34% in Netherlands, to < 1% in Latvia.&nbsp;

A landmark project of the model-dwelling company movement was the '''Bagnippe Wells''' estate (image right), built in 1844 in Lower Road, Pentonville, Southwark, London.&nbsp; “This scheme was the first attempt in the metropolis to provide the working class with some kind of new and appropriate housing, specially designed for the purpose, and it was the first time that an architect had lent his skill to such a humble work.” - [Tarn 1973].&nbsp;

InThe '''1848 the World’s Fair''' was hosted in London and Prince Albert debuted his “Model Houses for Families,” a model tenement which was subsequently built in Bloomsbury, England. Each apartment was cross ventilated -- all rooms had windows that faced either the street of the generously sized courtyard and the staircases were moved to the exterior of the construction, eliminating any dark hallways. The architect, Henry Roberts, was an active member of the Society for Improving Conditions of the Labouring Classes."<br/> <br/> See image of this&nbsp;in [Mumford 1938] p.212.&nbsp;

iTheThe design was further developed on by Sir Sydney Waterlow and his&nbsp;Improved Dwellings Company for their building in London in 1863. [Flandro et al, 2008].<br/> <br/> Improved Dwellings Company, Limited built the Langbourn Buildings - block of 80 dwellings, 1863.&nbsp;

<br/> Some&nbsp;philanthropists&nbsp;began to provide housing in&nbsp;[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartment_building tenement blocks], and some factory owners built entire villages for their workers, such as&nbsp;[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltaire Saltaire]&nbsp;in 1853,&nbsp;[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bournville Bournville]&nbsp;(1879),<br/> and&nbsp;[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Sunlight Port Sunlight]&nbsp;in 1888.

<blockquote>"The '''Housing Act of 1959''' (P.L. 86-372) ''was the first significant instance where government incentives were used to persuade private developers to build housing that would be affordable to low- and moderate-income households.'' As part of P.L. 86-372, Congress created the Section 202 Housing for the Elderly program. Through the Section 202 program, the federal government extended low-interest loans to private nonprofit organizations for the development of affordable housing for moderate-income residents age 62 and older. The low interest rates were meant to ensure that units would be affordable, with nonprofit developers being able to charge lower rents and still have adequate revenue to pay back the government loans.</blockquote> <blockquote>"The Housing Act of 1961 (P.L. 87-70) further expanded the role of the private sector in providing housing to low- and moderate-income households. The act created the Section 221(d)(3) Below Market Interest Rate (BMIR) housing program, which both insured mortgages to private developers of multifamily housing and provided loans to developers at low interest rates. The BMIR program expanded the pool of eligible borrowers to private for-profit developers and government entities, as well as nonprofit developers. Eligible developers included cooperatives, limited-dividend corporations, and state or local government agencies. Like the Section 202 program, the low interest rates in the BMIR program were meant to ensure that building owners could offer affordable rents to tenants.</blockquote> <blockquote>"The Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 (P.L. 89-117) added rental assistance to the list of incentives for private multifamily housing developers that participated in the Section 221(d)(3) BMIR program. The Rent Supplement Program, enacted as part of P.L. 89-117, capped the rents charged to participating tenants at 20% of their incomes and paid building owners the difference between 20% of a tenant's income and fair market rent. P.L. 89-117 also created the Section 23 leased housing program, which was the first program to provide rent subsidies for use with existing private rental market units.</blockquote> <blockquote>"'''The Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 '''(P.L. 90-448) created the '''Section 236''' and '''Section 235''' programs. In the Section 236 program, the government subsidized private developers' mortgage interest payments so that they would not pay more than 1% toward interest. Some Section 236 units also received rent subsidies (referred to as Rental Assistance Payments [RAP]) to make them affordable to the lowest-income tenants. The Section 235 program instituted mortgage interest reduction payments similar to the Section 236 program, but for individual homeowners rather than multifamily housing developers. Through it, eligible borrowers could obtain FHA-insured mortgages with subsidized interest rates. As the program was originally enacted, HUD was to make subsidy payments to the lender in order to reduce the interest rate on the mortgage to as low as 1%.</blockquote> <blockquote>"By the end of the 1960s, subsidies to private developers had resulted in the creation of hundreds of thousands of rental housing units. ''Approximately 700,000 units of housing had been built through the Section 236 and Section 221(d)(3) programs'' alone.7 The Section 202 program had created more than 45,000 units for elderly households.8 The Section 235 program and Section 23 leased-housing program provided ownership and rental subsidies for thousands more. Through 1972, the Section 235 program subsidized nearly 400,000 homeowners,9 while the Section 23 leased-housing program provided rent subsidies for more than 38,000 private market rental units.10 Despite the growth in the role of private developers, public housing was still the largest housing subsidy program, with roughly 1 million units built and subsidized by the early 1970s.11</blockquote> <blockquote>