housing developments in european countries - Department of ...

Section 2
Context
Context Section 2
Table
2.6.2
Demographic Trends in the Czech Republic, 1992-2000
Category 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000
Population by age group (%) 0-14 years 16.3 16.4 16.2 16.0 15.7
15-24 years 15.4 16.2 16.6 16.4 15.1
25-49 years 35.9 35.8 35.8 35.6 36.0
50-64 years 15.3 15.5 16.0 17.0 18.1
65-79 years 10.2 10.3 10.6 11.2 11.5
> 80 years 2.6 2.7 2.7 2.4 2.3
Population change
(per 1,000 population) Net migration 1.1 1.0 1.0 0.9 0.6
National population change 0.1 -0.1 -2.2 -1.8 -1.8
per employed person in purchasing-power parity
reached 53.7% of the average of the 15 EU member
States prior to 2004, rising to 54.7% in 2003.
At the end of 2003 the unemployment rate (which
refers to registered job seekers) reached 10.22%, rising
from 9.81% in December 2002. This corresponds to
539,000 unemployed people – 50,000 more than at the
beginning of 2002. Over the longer term,
unemployment rates have risen steadily since the middle
of the 1990s, from a low of 2.47% in 1995. However,
unemployment rates vary significantly between different
parts of the country and are particularly high in parts
of the north-west and the east of the country.
2.6.4 Demography
In 2001, the population of the Czech Republic totalled
10,232,000 persons and the number of households in
1998 was 3,731,000 with population falling slightly
during the past decade, from 10,312,500 in 1991. As
revealed in TABLE 2.6.2, this population decrease is due
to an excess of deaths over births. The excess of births
over deaths in the country fell from 0.1 per 1,000
inhabitants in 1991, to –1.8 in 2000.
As a result of an exceptionally high birth-rate during
the 1970s, the population of the Czech Republic
contains a comparatively high proportion of young
people born between 1971 and 1979. The ageing of
persons in the oldest age groups and new lifestyle
trends among the younger generation have resulted in a
considerable reduction in average household size. In
2001, the average number of persons per household
was 2.64 (down from 2.76 in 1991).
2.7 Denmark
2.7.1 Policy Making and
Implementation
The main aim of the Danish housing policy is, through
a comprehensive supply of housing, to ensure that
good and healthy housing is available to all. Within
this framework, Danish urban policy also aims to
improve living conditions and services for the
residents, associations and enterprises living and
operating in urban communities.
In addition, the following housing issues have been
afforded particular priority by policy-makers in recent
years:
■ increasing the supply of rental dwellings, including
those earmarked specifically for young people and
older people;
■ improving the balance between the construction of
privately funded and State subsidised rental
housing, and
■ promoting increased coherence between price and
quality in the housing stock. This entails less
governmental involvement, with grants being
targeted more specifically at those who are
particularly vulnerable in the housing market.
A new government came to power in Denmark in
2001 and initiated a number of significant reforms to
housing policies and implementation arrangements.
State investment in housing was re-balanced in favour
of new housing construction and away from housing
redevelopment and urban renewal. Market
mechanisms are increasingly being used to allocate
dwellings and the government has initiated a halt to
increases in taxes on housing.
In addition, the Ministry of Housing and Urban
Affairs was merged with the Ministry of Economic and
Business Affairs, within which the former now acts as
the National Agency for Enterprises and Housing. It is
responsible for the regulation of housing construction
and the financing of non-profit housing associations
including rules on building and renting. As well as the
Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs, the
following agencies play a role in devising and
implementing housing policy in Denmark:
■ the Ministry of Social Affairs is responsible for
policy and legislation on rents in the social and
private sectors and for agencies that build housing
for disabled people;
■ the Ministry of Refugee, Immigration and
Integration Affairs holds responsibility for matters
concerning the State Secretariat for Urban
Regeneration, implementation of proposals from
the Urban Committee and matters concerning urban
political initiatives including the various
programmes that have been introduced to target the
most deprived residents in poor urban and housing
areas with many social problems;
■ the Ministry of the Environment is in charge of
administrative and research tasks in the area of
environmental protection and planning at the
national level;
■ the Ministry for Taxation is responsible for the
fiscal treatment of housing, and
■ local authorities are responsible for approving and
inspecting the 700 non-profit housing associations
that provide social rented housing in Denmark as
well as a range of other social assistance
programmes.
2.7.2 Stock
In 2003 the housing stock in Denmark comprised
2,541,000 dwellings. This constitutes 482.7 dwellings
per 1,000 inhabitants which is one of the highest of
the countries examined in this report. TABLE 2.7.1
demonstrates that 50.6% of these dwellings were
owner-occupied and 45% were rented, mainly from
social housing providers of various types. Unlike most
other countries examined in this review, the level of
owner occupation in Denmark has fallen slightly since
1990, while the proportion of rented dwellings has
grown. Therefore, in European terms, the level of
home ownership in Denmark is relatively low.
30 European Union Report
Regular National Report on Housing Developments in European Countries
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