This book presents an overview of private rented housing in selected new EU member states and other transition countries – a topic scarcely researched to date, as it is largely part of the informal economy, and consequently often invisible to official statistics. The publication was prepared by a group of authors from Western and Eastern Europe, and Russia.
The editors are József Hegedüs holds a PhD in Sociology and an MA in Economics. He is founding member and managing director of Metropolitan Research Institute, Hungary and he is co-editor of four comparative volumes on housing policy issues – emerging new housing systems, housing privatization, social housing, and housing finance – in post-socialist countries; Martin Lux holds PhD degrees in sociology and economy and is head of the Department of Socio-Economics of Housing at Institute of Sociology, Czech Academy of Sciences. His efforts have been supported by the Czech Science Foundation, Erhard Busek Price and others. He is editor-in-chief of Critical Housing Analysis; Vera Horváth has been working at Metropolitan Research Institute since 2012, and is currently pursuing doctoral studies in sociology. She published papers on housing policy and rental housing in Europe.
Part I presents the private rented sector in Western and Northern European countries, the history of private renting under socialism in Central and Eastern Europe, and thematic issues such as restitution and marginalized groups depending on privately rented housing. Co-authors one of the chapters "The Private Rental Sector Under Socialism" of the first part became József Hegedüs and General Director of IUE Alexander Puzanov. This chapter aims to shed light on the role that the private rental sector, in its various versions, played in centrally planned economics during the Soviet period and how it affected the development of housing systems during the period of transformation
Part II provides a series of country case studies from the Central and East European region, including the chapter "Russia: A Long Road to Institutionalism", prepared by Alexander Puzanov. Part III concludes with chapters on the possibility of utilizing the private rental sector in affordable housing provision through good practices in both old and new EU member states, and sets out to further the housing policy debate on European housing regimes.
This unique edited collection will be of great value to scholars of and practitioners involved in housing policy and economics, urban development, international relations, politics, economics and sociology.
