Housing Allowances as Income Support: Comparing European Welfare Regimes

Abstract

Abstract Most studies of housing allowances focus on their role in housing policy. In contrast, this paper examines housing allowances from an income support perspective. It utilises a modified version of Esping-Andersen's welfare regime typology to examine the income support role of means-tested housing allowances in the EU-15. Using secondary analysis of the 2007 EU-SILC dataset, it examines the prevalence, generosity, degree of targeting and impact on disposable incomes of housing allowances. It demonstrates that they vary both within and between welfare regimes. It also shows that housing allowances are not simply a liberal policy instrument, but are employed extensively within social democratic and conservative welfare regimes; and that they are not only focused on the poorest households. Hence, income-related, housing allowances do not fit the stereotype of means-tested benefits portrayed by Esping-Andersen (1990 Esping-Andersen, G. 1990. The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Cambridge: Polity Press. [Google Scholar]). Finally, the paper shows that housing allowances have a significant impact upon disposable incomes (after housing costs) and as such have an important income support function.