housing developments in european countries - Department of ...

Section 2
Context
Context Section 2
Table
2.27.1
Economic Trends in Sweden, 2000-2005
Category 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
(Proj) (Proj)
% % % % % %
Annual change in GNP 4.3 0.9 1.9 1.5 2.2 2.5
Annual change in the harmonised index of consumer prices 1.3 2.7 2.0 2.0 0.6 1.8
Disposable income (% change yearly) 4.2 6.5 2.1 -0.8 2.0 2.5
Open unemployment (16-64 yrs) 4.7 4.0 4.0 4.8 5.3 5.0
Employment in active labour-market programmes 2.6 2.5 2.6 2.1 1.9 1.9
2.27.3 Economy
As revealed in TABLE 2.27.1, GNP growth in Sweden
fell to 1.5 in 2003, from 1.9 in the previous year.
However, it is expected to rise again to 2.5 by 2005.
At the same time inflation also fell between 2001 and
2003.
2.27.4 Demography
In 2002, the population of Sweden stood at 8.9 million
persons. A third of the inhabitants lived in one of the
metropolitan areas of Stockholm, Gothenburg and
Malmö. The population density is 22 inhabitants per
km 2 .
In 2001, approximately 46% of households in the
country consisted of a single person and only 27% of
households included children. In 2002, 22% of the
population was younger than 18 years of age. 17%
was 65 years or older; of these, 5% were aged 80 years
or older and 2% were 85 years or older.
The fertility rate in Sweden is low – it stood at 1.65
children per woman in 2002, although it has risen
slightly in recent years after reaching a low of 1.5
children per woman in 1999. The recent population
increase, referred to above, is almost entirely due to
immigration. In 2002, the excess of births was 0.09
per 1,000 of the mean population, while emigration
was 3.70 and immigration 7.18 per 1,000 of the mean
population.
In 2002, the number of immigrants was roughly
65,000. These individuals originated in the following
locations: 31% in Europe (excluding the Nordic
countries); 29% in Asia; 26% were returning Swedish
citizens; 23% originated in the other Nordic countries;
7% in North America and 6% in Africa. In 2002,
there were approximately 33,000 asylum seekers, while
7,840 were granted refugee status (or similar). Data
collected in the same year indicate that 12% of the
Swedish population were foreign-born. Of these,
3.12% originated in other Nordic countries, 3.8% in
another European country (outside of the Nordic
countries) 3.14% in Asia, 0.66% in Africa, 0.59% in
South America and 0.28 in North America.
The population of Sweden is projected to increase by
approximately 740,000 persons or 8% by 2020. The
proportion of the population aged 65 years and older
is projected to increase by 33% during this period,
while at the same time it is expected that the
proportion of the population aged 80 years and older
will increase by 9% and those 85 years and older will
rise by 15%. In contrast, the proportion of the
population aged under 20 years is projected to increase
by only 4% and the working age population (between
20 and 64 years) is expected to increase by only 3% or
approximately 164,000 individuals.
Over the long term, the increase in the Swedish
population has been highly concentrated to the three
largest metropolitan areas and in some of the other
towns and municipalities that offer university
education. At the same time the population of most
other municipalities has fallen. However, since 1999
this trend has moderated. In some of the urban areas
where the population had been declining, this decline
has diminished or reversed. In 1999 only
approximately 25% of all municipalities increased
their population. In 2002, there was an increase in half
of all the municipalities. In contrast, in the Greater-
Stockholm region the rate of the increase in population
has declined each year since 1999.
2.28 Turkey
2.28.1 Policy Making and
Implementation
The key objectives of housing policy in Turkey are set
out in Articles 56 and 57 of the Turkish Constitution.
The latter of these articles States: ‘The State shall take
measures to meet the needs for housing within the
framework of a plan which takes into account the
characteristics of cities and environmental conditions
and supports community housing projects.’ Article 56
States that ‘every citizen has the right to live in a
healthy and balanced environment’.
Various items of legislation have been enacted in order
to actualise these aims. They fall into three categories.
Firstly, two main items of legislation address housing
and urbanisation. These are: the Mass Housing Law
No: 2985, which is the framework law that enables the
establishment of Housing Development Administration
(TOKI) and sets the basic principles that give direction
to TOKI’s activities, and Planning Law No: 3194
which declares the intention of controlling the
appropriate ‘formation of settlements and buildings’.
These two items of legislation are also complemented
by a number of by-laws and regulations, including:
‘Standard Building Regulation for Municipalities other
than Major (Metropolitan) Cities’, ‘Land and Property
Sharing with Realisation of the Compulsory Replotting
in accordance with Article 18 of the law’,
‘Standards and Procedures for Preparing and Revising
Plans’, ‘Building Codes for Areas without a Plan’.
Secondly, legislation has been introduced to address the
problem of squatter housing in Turkey. This is an issue
in many cities, especially those where inward migration
levels are high. In this vein, the Squatter Housing Acts
No: 775 and No: 2981 are concerned with preventing
illegal (squatter) construction and rehabilitating the
existing squatter areas. These Acts also provide for the
supply of cheap building plots, housing and financial
support to meet the housing needs of low-income
households. The Urban Land Office Law No: 1164 is
also relevant to squatting. It enables the provision of
low-cost land with infrastructure for public housing.
A third set of legal regulations address the housing
responsibilities of local government. These include: the
Law on Administration of Greater Municipalities No:
3030 and Municipality Law No: 1580, which regulate
the preparation and approval of housing master plans
and implementation plans, and construction and
occupancy permits.
In relation to housing policy-making and
administration, the most important institution in this
regard are the Housing Development Administration
(TOKI) and the State Planning Organisation (SPO).
The State Planning Organisation is responsible for
formulating macro-level housing development plans
with five-year terms. It determines the basic policy and
action areas, and has a steering role for the public
expenditure in all housing investment areas. Thus,
SPO’s five-year development plans are among the
important guides in putting forward the main
principles in housing policy. The legislation that
established the SPO in 1984 assigned it the following
responsibilities:
■ housing construction on public lands for average
and low income groups;
■ the production of housing for low and middle
income groups in co-operation with the local
authorities;
■ the provision of housing loans to enable
co-operatives to construct housing for low and
middle income households;
■ the servicing of land at low infrastructure cost, for
the purpose of creating new settlement areas and
■ encouraging and supporting the manufacturing and
building technologies and materials in order to
develop the housing sector.
TOKI both develops and implements housing policies
relevant to these responsibilities. During the period
1984 to 2000, 17% of the total authorised housing
construction was enabled by TOKI. By February 2004,
it had provided housing loans to enable the
construction of approximately 1.1 million housing
units. Among this number, 84% (or 942,501
82 European Union Report
Regular National Report on Housing Developments in European Countries
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