Organisering og planlegging av boligsosialt arbeid i norske ... - Nova

Summary
The social housing field can be characterized as fragmented. Firstly, the
responsibility for different elements of social housing policy is often divided
across multiple administrative units. Secondly, the social housing measures
include a wide range of services geared towards diverse user groups. For
instance, services like municipal housing, state and municipal housing
allowance, housing grants and mortgages and in-kind housing services are
accessible for the elderly, homeless people, disadvantaged households and
refugee households, who have different needs in terms of housing. Social
housing measures are therefore difficult to isolate from each other – they
inevitably interact with many other initiatives.
The main purpose of this report is to provide a better insight into and
understanding of what processes promote or hamper the management of
social housing in a municipality. We base our findings on an exploratory case
study of four selected municipalities. Our analysis provides no basis for
recommending one organizational model over another or for recommending
an exhaustive list of measures local authorities should take when they plan or
redesign their social housing efforts. The organization and planning of social
housing must be adapted to the local situation. Municipalities should
therefore prepare strategic plans based on their particular social housing
challenges and tailor the corresponding solutions.
The main challenge within the area of social housing is to establish an
organizational structure with well-defined responsibilities and guidelines for
the implementation of various tasks. This requires that the municipalities
formulate operational goals and ambitions. Preparing a housing policy plan
will be of great importance – both to articulate the objectives of the local
housing policy and to allocate responsibilities for the implementation of
different measures. Our findings suggest that the responsibility for this
strategic work should be centralized and placed at the strategic level in the
municipal organization. The task force should be given a real mandate to
develop, implement and evaluate the various social housing initiatives and
– Organisering og planlegging av boligsosialt arbeid i norske kommuner – 97