The Reform Of Housing In Eastern Europe And The Soviet Union

The rapid political changes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union have had repercussions for many elements of the socialist system. Housing provision, always an important part of the socialist agenda, has undergone extensive changes. These have solved some problems but given rise to others. The studies in The Reform of Housing in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union highlight the various aspects of housing reform, including such issues as rehabilitation, private initiatives, housing quality, welfare requirements and home ownership. While in some countries policy-makers have adhered to the older methods of housing provision, in others the number of massive state-run projects has declined in favour of smaller privately-funded enterprises. The latest changes reflect the socio-economic restructuring of the countries in general and thus housing can be seen as a spearhead for reforms throughout the system. The contributors are active researchers in the former Eastern Bloc who analyse the latest reforms and academics from Western Europe who supply a context of broader housing issues. They analyse the external factors that have influenced the reforms and assess the outlook for the future.

Housing has enjoyed a high place on the agendas of most socialist countries. However this place has not been undisputed and this book examines the internal and external forces which have influenced housing under central planning.

First published in 1992. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The countries of Eastern Europe have been on the long road to the market for more than a decade. And while the macroeconomic record has been well documented, there has been little analysis of individual country and cross-sector progress. This book offers detailed comparative analysis of the housing sector in seven countries as a window to understanding the developments beyond the headlines. The authors document housing progress towards reliance on markets, how easy it is for families to buy housing, and how the housing sector has contributed to macroeconomic stabilization in Hungary, Slovenia, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Poland, Russia, Armenia, and Estonia.

The evidence from the past five years suggests that the transition economies that achieved low inflation, adopted radical banking reforms, and seriously reformed laws and institutions in the real estate sector should be among the first to develop a modern system of housing finance.The transition to markets dominates the development agenda of the 1990s. Financial sector reforms are central to a successful transition to a market economy. Renaud focuses on one dimension of these reforms: the development of housing finance institutions and services.He presents a progress report for the years since 1989, when the road to change opened with the collapse of communist regimes in most countries. Rather than a detailed account of reform in 25 countries, he offers a general framework for analyzing change and evaluating the prospects for rapid development of market-based housing finance systems.To understand why sound housing finance systems have not yet developed, one must consider factors in four key reform areas:deg; The macroeconomic policies adopted to liberalize the economy and stabilize prices.deg; Privatization policies, in particular in housing and real estate.deg; The strategies adopted - whether by design or by default - to reform the financial sector.deg; The nature of the financial priorities and institutional constraints affecting housing finance reform strategies followed in different countries.Housing finance policy development has been somewhat haphazard in many countries. But the evidence suggests that the transition economies that have achieved low inflation, have adopted radical banking reforms, and seriously reformed and liberalized their real estate sector should be among the first to develop a modern system of housing finance.This paper - a product of the Financial Sector Development Department - is part of a larger effort in the department to monitor financial development in transition economies.

From the perspective of a distinguished director of technical cooperation projects in Hungary and the Russian Federation (as well as several Asian countries in an earlier period), this book provides a set of lessons for structuring a successful program. These lessons are for the donor community and the firms and individuals in charge of implementation. Written in readable nontechnical terms, Making Aid Work is a must for both the donor community and firms and individuals on the implementation front line.

The book explores both theoretically and empirically the impacts of housing reforms on housing provision in the context of the transition from a centrally-planned to a market-based economy. Fifteen years after the overthrow of state socialism housing policy has lost its privileged status of a political priority as most politically emb- ded systems had favoured market-based solutions to housing problems. This dep- ture from state controlled housing policies with the aim of providing a dwelling for every family is significant, particularly in some post-socialist countries where no new housing policy has emerged. The transition process, embedded in the paradigm shift from central planning to markets, has triggered off turbulence and adjustments with tangible outcomes in post-socialist housing systems. What has changed and what new housing systems have emerged during this dramatic ‘transition to markets and democracy’? Are these systems more efficient and equitable? These questions are the main focus of the book with an emphasis on diversity and change in housing reforms. The book supports the hypothesis that notions of convergence are not really appropriate to the conceptualisation of post-socialist housing systems. It argues that different housing policy choices are going to map out increasingly divergent s- nario for future development.