The rapid political changes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union have hadstrong repercussions for many aspects of the socialist system. Housingprovision alway... » 

The rapid political changes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union have hadstrong repercussions for many aspects of the socialist system. Housingprovision always an important part of the socialist agenda has undergoneextensive reforms in light of these recent changes. This has solved someproblems but has given rise to others. A centrally planned system of resourceallocation led to low standards and uneven distribution of housing provisionand where countries have moved away from a command economy they have faced anew set of issues as housing markets are transformed.The Reform of Housing in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union highlights suchissues as rehabilitation private initiatives housing quality welfarerequirements and home ownership. While in some countries policymakers haveadhered to the older methods of housing provision in others the number ofmassive staterun projects has declined in favor of smaller privatelyfundedenterprises. The latest changes reflect the socioeconomic restructuring of thecountries in general thus housing can be seen as a spearhead for reformsthroughout the system.The contributions in this book are from active researchers in the eastern blocwho analyze the latest reforms and academics from Western Europe who applybroader housing issues. The contributions examine the external factors thathave influenced the reforms and assess the outlook for the future. «