How and Where Non-profit Rental Markets Survive–A Reply to Stephens

Abstract

According to Stephens, Kemeny’s integrated rental markets have all disappeared on the level of nation-states. In his reply, the author draws attention to sub-national housing markets where cost rental principles continue to dominate within a city or region. Where local majorities and coalitions allow, the legal and institutional preconditions for integrated rental markets can be safeguarded and renewed. This includes various forms of land policy and rent control, and a large and experienced sector of cost-rental housing providers - public, non-profit and benevolent landlords alike. Urban/regional support for such housing policies seems to be on the rise, as a reaction to the massive increase in housing costs and affordability issues brought about by the ongoing financialization of housing.