Territorial Review Copenhagen - Region Hovedstaden

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in Denmark (Andersen, 2008). Municipalities must sell plots through open
public procedures at the market price, which imposes significant restrictions
on the municipality‘s possibility of catalysing the moderate cost housing
market. Proposals have been created to reform this situation, though change
has not occurred. 29 The national government may also wish to adjust its
fairly centralised system of social housing to accommodate local needs, a
topic that is discussed in more detail below.
Social housing at a crossroads
Co-operative housing in the Copenhagen metropolitan region faces
multiple challenges. The magnitude of the rise in prices is surprisingly high:
prices of co-operative dwellings have risen fivefold from 1999 to 2007 in the
city of Copenhagen. 30 One key reason underlying the spike in price has been
the integration of better-quality apartments, as many private and municipal
rental properties have been converted into co-operative housing societies, as
allowed by the Danish Rent Act. 31 Other factors include the below-market
prices of housing co-operatives and the fact that capital gains are not taxed
when co-operative housing dissolves. Consequently, there are instances
where co-operatives ―dissolve themselves and sell the property, thereby
reaping substantial capital gains‖ (OECD, 2005). A recent national level
review of social housing in Denmark, Den almene boligsektors styring
(2008), identified equally important challenges, including the provision of
new stock at affordable prices and the refurbishment of antiquated buildings.
The review also stressed the need to create the possibility for local
adjustment, which is critical in Copenhagen, where many of the national
issues are more acute.
The City of Copenhagen‘s social housing has made progress in
integrating immigrants into Danish society, though continued work lies
ahead. The City of Copenhagen has often been challenged to provide social
housing to immigrants in economically vibrant areas. Indeed, the City of
Copenhagen has five neighbourhoods that the Minister of Social Affairs
designated as vulnerable because a high proportion of their residents have
little or no connection with the labour market. In an analysis of the first
Danish dispersal policy, Damm and Rosholm (2005) found that refugees
assigned to areas with lower immigrant concentration had a shorter
transition period into the labour market than refugees assigned to immigrantdense
cities. In a hearing during 2006, Copenhagen‘s City Council
recognised the problematic integration policy and concentration of
underprivileged groups in certain neighborhoods. Out of this meeting, the
City of Copenhagen agreed to reduce the proportion of residents in
vulnerable neighbourhoods with no connection to the labour market by 10
percentage points by 2010. Housing need referrals to vulnerable areas and