Another major point of departure is income eligibility. In the U.S., those living in affordable housing must qualify for that housing annually. In the U.K. and Netherlands, once qualified, you are qualified for life, although if a resident’s income changes, any rental assistance may be increased or decreased.

 
The European housing associations that develop and manage affordable housing are social-oriented businesses, meeting housing needs in a responsible and professional manner that fosters quality of life and generates the new capital required for more affordable housing development. Certainly, not all is perfect. Both the Dutch and British housing associations are dealing with decreasing government assistance, privatization of public housing stock and organizational consolidation. But affordable housing is such an ingrained part of their societies that housing officials are able to work through these problems without interrupting or endangering the affordable housing supply.

The U.S. affordable housing industry does have its advantages and Europe’s housing associations are looking to the American affordable housing model for insight and inspiration. Whereas Europe’s affordable housing sector is largely centralized and institutionalized, the American system is more decentralized and has much less support from the federal government. This independence has generated more product innovation and management entrepreneurship, including creative partnerships with both the public and private sectors that many European housing officials find intriguing. One U.S. feature that is of particular interest to Europeans is the well-developed secondary market for affordable housing loans facilitated by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and others.   Continue »

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