Innovations in Affordable Housing Governance and Finance: Concepts and Cases

Affordable housing is increasingly developed, financed and managed by a mix of state, third sector, market and community actors, leading to a variety of hybrid governance and finance arrangements. If seen as a logical response to a more or less general long-term neoliberal trend in policies, sociocultural changes and more recent economic developments, it is likely that the hybridity and variety of governance and finance of affordable housing will continue to
grow.

Taking into account the already diverse models for provision of affordable housing across Europe, there will be many opportunities for international exchange of experiences in this domain. Therefore, a group of researchers and practitioners has started a collaborative project to explore, collate and compare innovations in affordable housing governance and finance across Europe and beyond.

The paper describes the aims, context and concepts applied in the project. Building on a short overview of international developments in affordable housing governance and finance, we subsequently define and discuss the key concepts which are pivotal to the project: affordable housing, governance, finance and hybridity. We employ these concepts in a discussion of trends in, and potential for, innovations in affordable housing, distinguishing increased market and community involvement in affordable housing, focussing on initiatives, often in collaboration with, or channelled through, traditional state and third sector providers. These concepts are then applied to analyse some of the examples that are included in the project.