Promoting the Benefits of social Housing - The Irish Council for ...

newsHousing OverseasICSH Social Housing12EnglandBuilding capacity could be limitedbecause of OlympicsA recent reportby constructionconsultants inthe UK has foundthat Olympics in 2012 will inflateconstruction prices by more than 6%per year on the run up to the Olympics.It is estimated that price increaseswill be in the region of 6.3-6.5%. Theconcern from a housing perspective isthat this could jeopardise the targetsfor new homes that the Governmenthas set. It is felt that if the work onthe Olympics starts to slip behindthen there could be a push to haveconstruction completed on all theconstruction projects that are part ofthe Olympics. Reducing the supplyof contractors working on providingaffordable homes is currently oneof the concerns and procurementinitiatives are being developed tocounteract this.CanadaIncome related rents in social housingsector OttawaIn the City of Ottawa there are currentlyalmost 23,000 social housing unitsmanaged by 56 independent non-profithousing associations which operatethroughout the City of Ottawa. Rentsin the social housing sector are setaccording to the income of the tenant.Tenants do not pay more than 30% oftheir income towards rent. Currentlythere over 1 million people who live inthe Ottawa Metropolitan area.AustriaVienna demonstrates benefit oflarge social housing stockVienna which has proud history ofsocial housing provision has nowone of the largest social housingstocks in the EU. In Austria thereare about 200 non-profit housingassociations and in Vienna nonprofithousing associations managearound 136,000 homes. Dueto the scale of social housing,waiting times for social housingcan be around 6 months for veryhigh demand areas but as littleas a month or less for reletting inmany areas. Subsidized housing inVienna costs in the region of €5-6per metre per month. In order toachieve balanced neighbourhoods inVienna new housing areas have tocomprise of apartments of differentcosts as well as a mix of tenuresof rental and homeownership. TheCity of Vienna as part of the e-Government strategy will enabletenants to carry out all their housingmanagement functions on line.Some of the most innovative socialhousing projects from new build,refurbishment and redevelopmentof brown field sites exist in Vienna.BulgariaEnergy consumption problem inBulgariaIn the new EU Member State over 95%of all households are homeownerswhich is higher than its near neighbourRomania and higher also than the oldEU 15 where Ireland and Spain had thehighest levels of owner occupation.A significant number of householdshave become homeowners followingthe recent privatization of the socialhousing sector for low-income andvulnerable groups. Dwellings inBulgaria also comprise of a highpercentage of concrete panel dwellingsincluding those build in the highdemand areas such as Sofia betweenthe 1960’s and 1990’s. Problems withpoor insulation on external walls andwindows are some of the legacy ofthis problem.Vienna, AustriaIrish Council for Social Housing50 Merrion Square East, Dublin 2Tel: 01 661 8334Fax: 01 661 0320Email: info@icsh.ieWeb: www.icsh.ie