European cities test different routes to affordable housing

Housing affordability has become a major political issue across Europe, with cities using public housing, land leases and conversion projects to address rising rents and shortages. The approaches vary in scale and status: some provide homes already occupied, while others set targets or identify possible future supply.

Vienna’s long-running model includes about 220,000 municipal apartments and 200,000 subsidised dwellings, according to city authorities. More than 60 per cent of residents live in one of those housing types. The programme began after the First World War, when overcrowding and a shortage of housing were severe.

Basel leases public land to cooperatives and socially minded developers rather than selling it. The report says about 40 per cent of cooperative housing units are on public land. Barcelona and Lisbon have also stepped up efforts to use public land for housing.

Paris aims for social housing to make up 30 per cent of homes for low-income residents by 2035. Authorities have identified 61 office conversion projects in the inner suburbs that could create up to 8,200 homes; that figure is potential supply, not a completed total.

Prague has built 660 energy-efficient apartments reserved for public-sector employees, with rents intended to be 20 per cent below market rates. In Dublin, the Cost Rental Housing programme serves middle-income households. A recent Economic & Social Research Institute study found rents averaged almost 30 per cent below market levels, while the government aims to deliver 18,000 low-cost rental homes by 2030.

Berlin’s housing crisis also shaped its 20 September election campaign. The Left Party won the largest share of the vote after promising action following a non-binding referendum on expropriating large property companies. The Senate did not act on the referendum, and the party’s ability to pursue its plans will depend on coalition negotiations.