Housing allowances in comparative perspective / / Peter A. Kemp.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Bristol University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2013-1995
• VerfasserIn: Kemp, Peter A.,
• MitwirkendeR: Elsinga, Marja,; Hulse, Kath,; Kemp, Peter A.,; Kofner, Stefan,; Lux, Martin,; Newman, Sandra J.,; Priemus, Hugo,; Satsangi, Madhu,; Steele, Marion,; Sunega, Petr,; Thorns, David C.,; Åhrén, Per,
• Place / Publishing House: Bristol : : Policy Press, , [2007]; ©2007
• Year of Publication: 2007
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (312 p.)

Housing allowances have become increasingly important policy instruments in the advanced welfare states. Operating at the interface between housing and social security policy, they provide means-tested assistance with housing costs for low income households. In the present era of fiscal austerity, such schemes are seen by many governments as a more efficient way to help tenants than rent controls or 'bricks and mortar' subsidies to landlords. Yet as the contributions to this collection show, housing allowances are not without problems of their own, especially in relation to housing consumption and work incentives. This book examines income-related housing allowance schemes in advanced welfare states as well as in transition economies of central and eastern Europe. Drawing on experiences in ten countries, including Britain, Sweden, Germany, Australia and the USA, it presents new evidence on the origins and design of housing allowances; their role within housing and social security policy; their impact on affordability; and current policy debates and recent reforms. Unique in it's depth of coverage, Housing Allowances in Comparative Perspective is essential reading for researchers, students and lecturers in social policy, housing and urban studies.

Table of Contents

Front Matter -- Contents -- List of tables and figures -- Acknowledgements -- Notes on contributors -- Housing allowances in context -- Housing allowances and the restructuring of the Australian welfare state -- The New Zealand experience of housing allowances -- Canadian housing allowances -- Housing allowances American style: the Housing Choice Voucher programme -- Housing Benefit in Britain: a troubled history and uncertain future -- Housing allowances in France -- Housing allowances in Germany -- Housing allowances in the Netherlands: the struggle for budgetary controllability -- Housing allowance systems in Sweden -- Housing allowances in the Czech Republic in comparative perspective -- Housing allowances in the advanced welfare states -- Index