1. Housing young people
Annual Conference of the HSA, University of York, UK,
Dr. Harald Stoeger, University of Linz, Austria

2. Conservative housing systems
Policies: strong and long-standing tradition of state intervention in the field of housing
Decentralisation of policy-making
Mixed model of housing provision
LPH providers and families as key suppliers of „affordable“ housing
Minor relevance of demand-side assistance

3. Perceived housing problems of young people
Well-housed country, but growing concerns about the lack of suitable and affordable housing:
Unintended side-effect of previous housing and welfare reforms
Empirical evidence largely uncontested
Struggle over an appropriate definition of “young people” = “new entrants”?

4. Policy responses Subsidisation of starter homes: First time buyers:
Rediscovery of an “old idea”
At the provincial level, issue of conditionality
First time buyers:
public loans to improve accessibility
Modification of allocation rules in the municipal housing sector
Maintaining the role of families for housing provision

5. Policy responses
Paucity of initiatives in the private rental housing sector:
with regard to rent regulation, termination of illegal practices, mobilisation of “empty homes” etc.
LPH providers:
minimum quota of fixed-term tenancies
income-related rents for new entrants (contested issue)

6. Outcomes Starter homes:
provided primarily by LPH providers, in vibrant (urban) housing markets
Almost no initiatives of commercial developers
Mismatch between demand and supply, due to constraints on available land resources
Municipal housing: increasing targeting to vulnerable new entrants, but exclusion of non-natives and other groups?

7. Explaining policy change
Role of new actors in the field of housing:
In particular: emerging advocacy coalitions with linkages to regional governments responsible for housing subsidy policies
Politicisation of policy “failure”
By contrast: minor relevance of established actors (including the “social partners”)