Martin Lux

Efficiency and effectiveness of housing policies in the Central and Eastern Europe countries

The article provides the comparison of state housing policies in six selected Central and Eastern European countries. The description of the basic elements of policy approaches is followed by an analysis of both the efficiency and effectiveness of new supply- and demand-side subsidies. For this purpose the author set particular criteria allowing evaluation of subsidies. According to the results the most effective/efficient subsidies were implemented where general policy orientated towards the rental model was combined with decentralization/deregulation in the rental sector. The worst results appeared in countries where the same orientation of policy was not accompanied by decentralization/deregulation of rental housing. The factor of housing shortage may also influence the level of efficiency and effectiveness of public subsidies.

Post-Socialist Housing Systems in Europe: Housing Welfare Regimes by Default?

This article develops a conceptual framework derived from welfare regime and concomitant literatures to interpret housing reform in post-socialist European countries. In it, settled power structures and collective ideologies are necessary prerequisites for the creation of distinctive housing welfare regimes with clear roles for the state, market and households. Although the defining feature of post-socialist housing has been mass-privatisation to create super-homeownership societies, the emphatic retreat of the state that this represents has not been replaced by the creation of the institutions or cultures required to create fully financialised housing markets. There is, instead, a form of state legacy welfare in the form of debt-free home-ownership, which creates a gap in housing welfare that has been partially filled by households in the form of intergenerational assistance (familialism) and self-build housing. Both of these mark continuities with the previous regime. The latter is especially common in south-east Europe where its frequent illegality represents a form of anti-state housing. The lack of settled ideologies and power structures suggests that these housing welfare regimes by default will persist as part of a process that resembles a path-dependent ‘transformation’ rather than ‘transition’.

Labour Mobility and Housing The Impact of Housing Tenure and Housing Affordability on Labour Migration in the Czech Republic

This article examines whether housing tenure and regional differences in housing affordability have an impact on labour mobility. This relationship is important for understanding the sources of structural unemployment and impediments to economic growth. Using two sample surveys from the Czech Republic, this research reveals that at the individual level housing tenure is the most powerful factor determining willingness to change residence for employment reasons. A time-series regression analysis reveals that the impact of housing affordability on observed interregional migration patterns is relatively weak and that this effect is concentrated among the highly educated seeking employment in the capital, Prague. These results demonstrate that housing tenure has a significant impact on labour migration plans in case of unemployment and that the dynamic impact of regional differences in housing affordability on labour mobility is concentrated within the most highly skilled segment of the labour force.

Property Restitution and Private Rental Housing in Transition: The Case of the Czech Republic

The objective of this paper is to explain one phenomenon evident in the transformation of post-socialist states that has received insufficient scholarly attention to date: the restitution of the housing stock in terms of its causes and consequences. In this paper, the theory of social constructivism, including Kemenys advanced application of this theory to the field of housing studies, is used to (a) explain the causes for a particular type of property restitution in the Czech Republic and (b) outline its consequences on the role and long-term social meaning of private rental housing. This research explains how restitution was viewed by the main participants in this discourse, and how the whole process was legitimised and socially constructed in the Czech Republic. The evidence presented stems from a multi-method analysis of discourse that integrates the results of in-depth interviews, content analysis of the press, and an analysis of data from attitude surveys. The paper shows how the initial state of consensus surrounding the image of restitution quickly dissolved. The emergence of divisions combined with the inadequate response of the state generated a biased image of private rental housing among Czech citizens—a pattern that persists to the present.

Housing Restitution and Privatisation: Both Catalysts and Obstacles to the Formation of Private Rental Housing in the Czech Republic and Estonia

Abstract The return of property expropriated during the communist period to previous owners or to their descendants (property restitution) led to the quick emergence of a private rental sector in those post-communist countries that applied a physical form of property restitution soon after 1990. The Czech Republic and Estonia are examples of such countries. Within just a few years, as a result of property restitution, a private rental sector grew out of almost non-existence to become a significant part of the countries’ total housing stock. However, the character of this sector remained different from the private rental sector found in countries with advanced economies – especially owing to specific rent regulation, tenant protection and, albeit indirectly, public housing privatisation. This article analyses and compares the genesis of private rental tenure in the Czech Republic and Estonia. Its main goal is to demonstrate how state regulations and interventions have influenced tenure choice, the formation of social norms, and thus the permanent perception of private renting. In both transition countries private renting gradually acquired the character of a transitional and residual form of housing. State interventions early on in the transition were probably the most significant factors behind the fact that private renting did not establish itself as a real tenure alternative to owner-occupied housing.

Who actually decides? Parental influence on the housing tenure choice of their children

We focus on the role of within-family socialisation and the relationship between socialisation and resource transfers in the intergenerational transmission of housing preferences, the formation of familial housing attitudes and thus the reproduction of a normative housing tenure ladder across generations in Czech society. We show that resource transfers and the within-family socialisation of housing preferences, including preferences concerning housing tenure, are closely interconnected. In other words, parental influence on decision to buy own housing (and on housing preferences in general) of their adult children through socialisation is stronger if there is an (actual or assumed) intergenerational resource transfer. This has several implications for how housing markets and systems work. The paper draws on findings from qualitative, quantitative and experimental studies.

The impact of housing tenure in supporting ageing in place: exploring the links between housing systems and housing options for the elderly

The aim of paper is to reveal the link between the scope of housing aid designed to support ageing in place and the housing system. The main research question is whether the structure of the housing stock according to housing tenure has an impact on diversity and innovations in the supply of public housing subsidies and the housing options available to the elderly. The research is conducted on a sample of eight European countries that substantially differ in terms of their housing and welfare system: Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Italy. These countries were represented in the international project HELPS that primarily focuses on implementation of innovative pilot actions in selected EU states that would increase the autonomy of vulnerable people. After controlling for the effects of several external factors, the results show that the tenure-based structure of housing stock may have a significant impact on the dependent variable, which is the diversity and innovativeness of housing subsidies and options for the elderly. Specifically, in countries with a lower homeownership rate and a higher share of rental housing there is also a greater probability that the supply of housing subsidies and options available to the elderly will be wider and will involve more innovative features.

Public Housing in the Post-Socialist States of Central and Eastern Europe: Decline and an Open Future

One key consequence of give-away privatizations was that public housing in most post-socialist states declined within a few years to a residual share of total housing market. Despite the large differences in public/social housing policies introduced after 1995, this article will show that that almost all new social housing measures proved to be unsustainable, ineffective and often had the unintended consequence of further enhancing homeownership tenure in post-socialist housing systems. The reasons for the limited success of new social housing policies are attributed to broader historical and institutional factors, such as the ‘privatization trap’, the ‘decentralization paradox’, the impact of the informal economy and a strong socialist legacy in housing policies. These findings contribute to the study of how post-socialist housing systems emerged, and reveal how short-term policies can produce long-term structural change and can become a barrier to effective and sustainable social housing policies.

Market-Based Housing Finance Efficiency in the Czech Republic

Abstract The article aims to analyse housing finance efficiency in the Czech Republic, especially so called ‘intermediation efficiency’. ‘Intermediation efficiency’ applies to a set of institutional factors, risks (such as interest rate, credit and liquidity risks), government subsidies and legislative conditions that affect the cost of intermediating housing loans. The methodology of the research combined quantitative and qualitative surveys among mortgage lenders and housing-savings banks in the Czech Republic with an analysis of secondary data. The purpose of the research was to get an idea about how efficient the market-based housing finance in the Czech Republic is and to point out its potential weaknesses and shortcomings. Despite several shortcomings described in this article, the ‘intermediation efficiency’ of financial institutions providing housing loans in the Czech Republic could be considered relatively high.

Rental Housing for Young Households in the Czech Republic: Perceptions, Priorities, and Possible Solutions

This paper describes changes in the housing market after the collapse of communism in Central Europe and analyses the current functions and perceptions of the private rental housing in the Czech Republic. It aims to understand why private rental housing is perceived as a sub-optimal housing solution for young adults, whether this affects their family plans, and which policy design could change that. The article uses qualitative research techniques to analyse mental frames, opinions, and attitudes of both potential tenants and landlords towards rental housing. The authors argue that the main problem of rental housing for young tenants is the short-term lease. Lack of mutual trust between tenants and landlords is a main cause of short-term contracts in the private rental segment. The insecurity it produces among young tenants contributes to delayed family formation. A policy tool aiming to overcome that distrust between tenants and private landlords through the involvement of an independent third party as a guarantor of the relationship is discussed.