The European Union does not have a housing policy; however, it has managed to exert influence over the national housing policies of its Member States, apparently showing bias for market-oriented approaches and residual social housing systems. This research attempts to bring an update as to the current state of discussions concerning housing in the European Union. It will also look into how urban social and affordable housing financing strategies have been affected by EU policies, and particularly, what effect European Union State aid regulation had on the provision of social and affordable housing based on the case studies of the Netherlands and Sweden.

Both countries had universalist social housing models that have been challenged before the European Commission leading to policy changes in the respective countries as of 2011. This research analyzes the consequences of these cases for the Netherlands and Sweden from a policy and housing provision perspective, as well as changes of behavior of public housing providers. It shows the different forces at play, the variety of opinions according to the EU body, and other compatible options of State aid that can to a certain extent be an alternative to SGEI.