Access to good-quality affordable housing is a fundamental need and key to achieving a number of social policy objectives, including reducing poverty and enhancing equality of opportunity, social inclusion and mobility. Housing needs are frequently unmet, and today a significant number of people across the OECD are homeless and too many households live in low-quality dwellings or face housing costs they can ill afford. The Affordable Housing Database (AHD) has been developed to help countries monitor access to good-quality affordable housing and strengthen the knowledge base for policy evaluation. It brings together cross-national information from OECD countries and EU member states.

The database currently includes indicators grouped along three main dimensions: housing market context, housing conditions, and public policies towards affordable housing. Each indicator presents data on a particular issue, relevant definitions and methodology, as well as key results. Indicators also discuss comparability, data and source issues, and, where relevant, include the raw data or descriptive information across countries.

 

Indicators (Version december 2016)

1. Housing market context (HM)  HM1.1 Housing stock and construction (.pdf) (.xlsx) HM1.2 Housing prices (.pdf)(.xlsx) HM1.3 Housing tenures (.pdf) (.xlsx) HM1.4 Living arrangements by age groups (.pdf) (.xlsx)

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2. Housing conditions (HC) Housing affordability  HC1.1 Housing related expenditure of households (.pdf)  (.xlsx) HC1.2 Housing costs over income (.pdf)  (.xlsx) HC1.3 Ability of households to keep the dwelling warm (.pdf)  (.xlsx) Housing quality HC2.1 Housing space  (.pdf)  (.xlsx) HC2.2 Percentage of households living without indoor flushing toilet (.pdf)  (.xlsx) HC2.3 Severe housing deprivation (.pdf)  (.xlsx) Homelessness and housing exclusion HC3.1 Homeless population estimates (.pdf)  (.xlsx) HC3.2 National strategies for combating homelessness (.pdf) HC3.3 Evictions (.pdf)  (.xlsx)

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3. Public policies towards affordable housing (PH)‌ General overview PH1.1 Policy instruments and level of governance (.pdf) PH1.2 Housing policy objectives and obstacles (.pdf) Support for home buyers PH2.1 Public spending on grants and financial support to home buyers (.pdf) (.xlsx) PH2.2 Tax relief for home owners (.pdf) (.xlsx) Housing allowances PH3.1 Public spending on housing allowance as % of GDP (.pdf) (.xlsx) PH3.2 Key characteristics of housing allowances (.pdf) (.xlsx) PH3.3 Recipients and payment rates of housing allowances (.pdf) (.xlsx) Social rental housing PH4.1 Public spending on support to social rental housing as % GDP (.pdf) (.xlsx) PH4.2 Social rental dwellings stock (.pdf) (.xlsx) PH4.3 Key characteristics of social rental housing (.pdf) (.xlsx) Affordable housing programmes PH5.1 Measures supporting affordable housing development (.pdf) (.xlsx) Rental market regulation PH6.1 Rental regulation (.pdf) (.xlsx)

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Related oecd databases

• OECD House Prices Indicators
• OECD Family database: provides cross-national indicators on family outcomes and family policies across the OECD countries, its enhanced engagement partners and EU member states.
• OECD Social Expenditure database: includes reliable and internationally comparable statistics on public and (mandatory and voluntary) private social expenditure at the programme level.
• OECD Income Distribution database: provides comparable data on income, income inequality and poverty across OECD countries

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RELATED OECD housing analyses 

• Changes in the regulation and control of mortgage markets and access to owner-occupation among younger households, Christine Whitehead and Peter Williams (2017), OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 196
• Policies to promote access to good-quality affordable housing in OECD countries”, Salvi del Pero, A. et al. (2016), OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 176
• Housing policy in Chile: A case study on two housing programmes for low-income households, Salvi del Pero, A. (2016), OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 173
• Household debt in OECD countries: Stylised facts and policy issues, André, C. (2016), OECD Economics Department Working Papers, No. 1277
• Housing Markets and Structural Policies in OECD Countries, Andrews, D., A. Caldera Sánchez and Å. Johansson (2011), OECD Economics Department Working Papers, No. 836

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RELATED EUROPEAN COMMISSION DOCUMENTS

• Promoting protection of the right to housing - Homelessness prevention in the context of evictions

• Confronting homelessness in the European Union, Commission Staff Working Document CSWD(2013) 42

• TENLAW: Tenancy Law and Housing Policy in Multi-level Europe

 

Contact

For further information or to receive notifications when the database is updated, please contact social.contact@oecd.org.

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Notes

This database was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation "EaSI" (2014-2020).