The present and future of income‐related housing support: debates in Britain and the Netherlands

This paper is concerned with issues of equity and efficiency in the Housing Benefit (HB) system in the private rented sector (PRS) in England. Using information from a survey of low-income working households (LIWH) and in-depth interviews with LIWH families, it addresses two policyrelevant questions. First, there are mixed findings on whether the current HB system enables HB recipients to consume more housing than is available to otherwise similar non-HB-recipient households in the PRS. HB rules on eligible property size appear not to unduly favour HB claimants compared with LIWH. LIWH, however, tend to pay a rent which is less than the maximum amount an HB recipient could receive. This is particularly true for LIWH families with children who are most likely to be living in properties smaller than allowed by HB regulations. Second, there is no evidence that the HB system incentivises LIWH to give up work or otherwise seek to become eligible for HB.

Section: Housing Benefit: Efficiency Issuesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Welfare or Work? Low-Income Working Households' Housing Consumption in the Private Rented Sector in England

Walker

Niner

2012

“…Given the limitations deriving from rather underdeveloped policy instruments and due to relatively poor available data, we have been unable to discuss the potential problem of persistence in welfare dependence and hence the risk of creating poverty/unemployment traps through housing allowances, that is a much debated issue (see, for instance, Haffner & Boelhouwer, 2006;Priemus & Kemp, 2004). We could only discuss short-term persistence in some of the cities considered.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Housing Policy Towards the Rental Sector in Italy: A Distributive Assessment

Baldini

Poggio

2012

We study the distributive effects on Italian households of the three most relevant housing subsidies targeted to renters: a national rent supplement scheme introduced in the context of the reform that liberalised the rental market in the late 1990s, a tax credit for renters that has been recently strengthened and the implicit economic support given to tenants in the social housing sector, through below-market rents. The analysis is performed on data from the Eu-Silc survey for Italy and, in the case of the housing allowances, also on register data from 9 out of the 13 largest Italian towns. We consider, in particular, the ability of these schemes to target low-income households and their effects on the overall levels of poverty and inequality. Results from our analysis show a good targeting but very limited effect on social protection, with the partial exception of social housing.

“…The link with recent discussions for further reforms in the UK is exemplified by Priemus & Kemp (2004) and Brown & King (2005), while Stephens et al (2003) sketched the context in the European Union.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Housing Consumption and Financial Policy Instruments in the Netherlands

Ras¹,

Ooms²,

Gameren³

et al. 2011

Reforming the system of financial instruments on the housing market is a recurring issue. This paper constructs a model explaining household behaviour, in particular the effects of prices and income on the tenure choice and the level of housing consumption. It analyses the effects that may be expected of fundamental changes of financial policy instruments in the Netherlands: (1) a conversion of below market rents to market rent levels; (2) a switch from the current fiscal system for owner-occupiers to a general lump sum tax reduction; and (3) a combination of these measures. The results indicate that the initial disadvantageous effects on the housing costs are large, but the behavioural response of households and the expected changes of price levels considerably reduce or even eliminate longrun effects. Since the effects may be substantial for individual households, a wellconsidered transition path, as is done in other countries, should be used.