This booklet aims to give an overview of the social housing sector in Europe. The intention is to identify general patterns and important trajectories, that are likely to impact on future policy. Our goal is not to provide detailed descriptions of the sector in every country, but to understand its key attributes and to clarify major trends in particular we hope to convey a feel for political and other pressures for change in each country. The focus is mainly on western European countries that have some tradition of governments treating housing as an element of social policy. Hungary and other eastern European countries are briefly included for comparison.