Social Impact Investing

SOCIAL IMPACT INVESTMENT: BUILDING THE EVIDENCE BASE
5.2.1.3 Housing affordability and quality
5.15 A further sector related to important social outcomes is housing. Providing all members of
society with a secure and good quality accommodation is not only a human right and an ethical priority,
but stable good-quality homes provide the foundation from which stable employment is achieved, families
are formed, communities are built, local environments are protected, and social cohesion can develop.
5.16 Figure 5.3 presents two panels of housing data from the Gallup World poll and shows overall,
that while there has been some falls in the rates of dissatisfaction with housing options over recent years,
these have generally been from high levels (on average over 1 in 3 respondents in the OECD reported
dissatisfaction with the level of good quality affordable housing in the city or area where they lived). At the
same time, respondents also reported an increase in experiences of being unable to meet hosing costs.
5.17 Across the OECD, almost one in ten people have trouble meeting housing cost at some point in
the year, in Australia this is now as low as 1 in fifty, and nearer 1 in 7 in the United States (where the
financial crisis would have had an effect). The message for SII is that there remains high demand for
affordable housing in most countries, as well as for services to improve the quality and affordability of
present housing stock (although to a lesser extent).
Figure 5.3: Satisfaction with affordable housing increased in recent years, but experiences of difficulty in
meeting costs also increased
Panel A: dissatisfied with affordable housing 2008, 2012
Panel B: recent difficulty providing adequate housing
Note: The Gallup World Poll was conducted by telephone in approximately 140 countries in total, and all OECD countries, using a
common questionnaire translated into the main national languages. Samples are nationally representative of the resident population
aged 15 and over in the entire country, including rural areas in most cases. Sample sizes are limited to around 1 000 persons in most
countries (exceptions include Iceland and Luxembourg [c. 500]; Japan and New Zealand [c. 750]). Data for Germany and Japan are
the average of four quarterly samples. Observed data points on each trend line are 'filled', estimates are 'empty'. Panel A records the
proportion of respondents reporting being dissatisfied with the level of good quality affordable housing in the city or area where they
live'. Panel B records the proportion of respondents who answered 'Yes' to the question 'Have there been times in the past twelve
months when you did not have enough money to provide adequate shelter or housing for you or your family?'.
Source: Gallup World Poll, 2014.
62 © OECD 2015