Liveability in social housing: three case studies in Flanders

In Flanders, in 2006, there is a growing concern about liveability problems in some social housing areas. As the law now stands, social rented houses are allocated to Flemish rules not allowing housing companies to deal with local circumstances. The Flemish government is considering to authorize more local autonomy in housing allocation in order to allow housing companies to respond to livability problems. Within this context, the Flemish government ordered a research with the aim to identify parameters that can be used to objectify problematic social housing districts in terms of liveability and to get a better understanding of the nature and causes of livability problem in social housing areas. In addition, we will investigate which measures are suited for countering or preventing liveability problems. In a first part of the paper, the concept of liveability and the appropriateness of common strategies to overcome liveabilty problems in social housing will be discussed within the Flemish context. In a second part, three social housing areas are selected that are contrasting regarding residential environment and population features. For these areas, information on liveability issues will be gathered by interviewing key informants and scrutinizing all relevant documents.status: publishe