In response to a request from Shelter’s Commission on the future of social housing set up after the Grenfell tragedy to take a look at what other countries have been doing, The URBED Trust was commissioned to provide a set of case studies on affordable housing internationally, which we have presented in the form of a short report, drawing on previous visits by Nicholas Falk to some inspiring cities, and existing publications on social and affordable housing. While this is not a fully comprehensive review, we have benefitted from comments from local experts, and introductions from Dr. Nicky Morrison at the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research. We hope it will encourage more visits to learn from what other cities have done to tackle similar issues to the ones we face in England.

We have not had the resources to present a comparative statistical analysis between each case study and have had to draw on a limited supply of comparative information at a city level which usually excludes Singapore due to its strong political and economic differences. But nevertheless, there are some interesting comparative points that can be made through the material that is available However these factors primarily involve market-led measures, with housing subsidies viewed as a last resort. This aligns with a recent compendium on social housing in the EU by the RICS that noted an average decline in traditional social housing across Europe (excluding Denmark and Austria), with most states moving away from the traditional welfare system and opting more for market-measures. This usually takes the form of generating general market affordability through supply and demand alongside policy regarding rent caps and cooperative management structures (particularly in the Netherlands and Germany).