The Routledge Handbook of Housing and Welfare

This handbook takes on one of the most pressing issues of today’s society – the question of housing. It is a cutting-edge edited volume about the disputed interrelationship between housing and the wider welfare state. Although housing scholars generally agree that housing should be regarded as part of such a wider welfare system, it has proven hard to pinpoint and operationalize its position within it. Moreover, the relationship became considerably more complex as a result of the period of intense globalization and the integration of national housing finance systems into world finance markets. Furthermore, welfare systems reflect economic as well as social models and these, too, have changed as countries have responded to globalization, and traditional ideological frameworks have become less distinct.

Thus, there is a need to redefine the connection between housing and welfare in light of changes in both welfare and housing systems. By investigating the current situation and historical development of housing provision and welfare distribution in different contexts worldwide, this book aims to contribute to an expanded understanding of housing and welfare.

The book brings together 25 international housing researchers covering 15 countries worldwide. With such a global approach, the book aims to provide an updated empirical picture and analysis of different housing systems and their connection to the welfare regime in different national contexts. The book moves beyond the usual focus on affordable housing provision in the context of well-developed welfare regimes and includes countries from the global south, incorporating regions where it is debatable whether there are welfare systems present at all. Thus, the book aims to provide the reader with an insight into the large differences in housing provision in international contexts with large differences regarding how the welfare state is comprised. From these insights, we reflect on whether regime approaches continue to provide a suitable theoretical framework for understanding the relationship between housing and the wider welfare state.

This handbook is essential reading for researchers, students, policymakers, and other professionals in the fields of housing studies, welfare studies, economics, urban studies, social work, social and public policy, and sociology.

Martin Grander is Associate Senior Lecturer in Urban Studies at Malmö University and Director of the Interdisciplinary Research Environment Studies in Housing and Welfare.

Mark Stephens is Ian Mactaggart Chair in Land, Property and Urban Studies at the University of Glasgow. He also leads the international theme in the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE). Much of his contribution to this book was undertaken during his appointment as Visiting Professor in the School of Architecture, Planning and Design, The University of Sydney.