Housing investments supported by the European Regional Development Fund 2007-2013: Housing in sustainable urban regeneration

Across the EU, significant challenges remain in dealing with poor quality, unaffordable and low energy efficiency housing. Such problems tend to be deep-seated and complex, and differ between Member States. Housing problems in Western European cities tend to focus on high-rise building blocks, stemming from poor materials and design; wider urban issues such as traffic problems and social problems linked to poverty and unemployment, and inadequate management of housing estates. Housing problems in Central and Eastern Europe are similar, but have developed through different processes. A range of factors, including state-led allocation mechanisms and a state-controlled economy were followed by a transition period during which an aversion against collective forms of ownership emerged. The resulting problems are centered on the large scale deterioration of urban peripheral housing estates or traditionally built inner city areas. This report also notes that problems of segregation are present not only in big cities but also in middle-sized and smaller cities.