Share of social rental housing across OECD countries revealed

In OECD countries, social rental housing accounts for an average of just 7% of the total housing stock, stated Aziza Akhmouch, Head of the Cities, Urban Policies and Sustainable Development Division of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), at the event "From Policy to Impact: Scaling Up Housing Supply" organized within the framework of the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) held in Baku, Report informs.

According to her, this is not just statistics: "It reflects the imbalance in our housing system, where affordability is often left to market dynamics. We cannot solve a global public crisis with fragmented responses. We need a systems-level approach. This is where National Urban Policy (NUP) comes in. We have been cooperating with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) for over a decade, making it very clear to member countries in the OECD region that regardless of their institutional structure at the national level - whether federal, unitary, centralized, or decentralized - they have a very important role to play in building their cities properly. They must advance a whole-system vision through National Urban Policy that aligns housing supply with transport, land use, and economic opportunities. This is necessary for a balanced system and quality urbanization; such a system is based not solely on large metropolitan areas left to their own devices and peri-urban regions left to the mercy of fate, but on a system of cities of different sizes."