Central themes

The central focus of this Working Group has been on housing policy reforms, rental housing, privatisation, social housing programs and multi-family housing refurbishment in the context of spatial transformation of Central and East European cities.
The Working Group facilitates a comparative perspectives and exchange of different views on housing reforms in the region. The researchers from different countries present papers on a variety of topics such as comparative evaluation of housing policy reforms, affordability, rental housing provision and house price dynamics. This research is designed to influence the policy dialogue in the scholarly and professional communities as well as to identify directions for action.

Activities and output in recent years
Members of the group continue to collaborate on the exchange of comparative data and policy studies on housing policy in the region. The Working Group organised a workshop at the ENHR conference in Tirana (2017). Nine full papers were submitted, which were organised in three workshop sessions. The presentations covered a variety of housing issues ranging from housing policy debates, discussions on social housing situations in different counties, to housing market transformations.
The Working Group organised a workshop at the ENHR conference in Uppsala in 2018. There were five presentations (in two sessions), with only one paper submitted. The presentations covered a variety of housing issues ranging from the economic aspects of housing production-consumption, housing development and drivers of change, gentrification and its impact on housing provision, to elderly peoples’ housing.

Future plans and activities
We are planning, though, to organize a workshop for the 2020 ENHR conference which is expected to be held in Nicosia, Cyprus.

Policy Implications
The Working Group facilitates a comparative perspectives and exchange of different views on housing reforms in the region. The researchers from different countries present papers on a variety of topics such as comparative evaluation of housing policy reforms, affordability, rental housing provision and house price dynamics. This research is designed to influence the policy dialogue in the scholarly and professional communities as well as to identify directions for action for policymakers.

Other
The present coordinators documented the history of the Working Group and offer a view on housing research in Central and Eastern Europe (see also the editorial of Newsletter 3, 2021 and the interview with WG coordinator Sasha Tsenkova in the same edition).