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Job loss is a significant income shock that can lead to declines in living standards and satisfaction. Wealth can provide a key resource in stratifying the risk and the consequences of such an event. In this article, I examine the extent to which wealth stratified the experience of job loss in the UK from 1991 to 2008. I distinguish between different wealth groups using information on homeownership and home value of primary residency, and then study whether these groups face different risks and/or consequences of job loss. The results show that renters were a significantly disadvantaged group compared to homeowners during the observation period. Not only did they faced a significantly higher risk of job loss, they also experienced greater declines in earnings, household income, and life satisfaction, and larger increases in income poverty in the year of job loss. Among homeowners, the risk and consequences of job loss were similar. In a country like the UK with minimal public insurance for unemployment, homeownership appears to provide a significant source of stratification for job loss.

Appropriate housing is a key element of independent living for disabled people, yet research evidence confirms the continuing, often negative, impact of unsuitable housing on their lives. This article examines access to social rented housing as a route to independent living, through a study of lettings practice for accessible and adapted homes. Drawing on the social and social-relational models of disability, the study adopted a disabled-led, co-production approach. Qualitative research methods were used to compare social landlord practice and track home seeker/tenant experiences. While housing providers were proactive in reviewing policy and practice to better meet the housing needs of disabled people, there remained some ‘distance’ between landlord goals and applicant experiences. Disabled people’s extended lived experience of inappropriate housing, while waiting for a more accessible home, impacted negatively on their quality of life and physical and mental health. Social lettings policies and practice were necessarily complex, but often difficult for applicants to understand. The complexity of disabled people’s housing needs meant that the matching process for suitable housing was also complex, often requiring individualised solutions. Recommendations to improve practice include making better use of technology to improve data on accessible/adapted properties and applicant needs; flexibility in lettings practice to facilitate effective matches; and flexibility in fully recognising disabled people’s housing and independent living needs. Social rented housing remains an important mechanism for achieving disabled people’s independence. Explicit recognition of the social-relational interpretation of disability could deliver more inclusive lettings practice and achieve more sustainable tenancies.

The existing literature on neighbourhood effects suggests that a number of factors within local areas can have an impact on health, including environmental hazards, social networks and the socio-economic status of the area. However, there is minimal evidence regarding the role of housing organisations in shaping these effects. This article sets out the findings from a three-year longitudinal, mixed methods study of tenants of three housing organisations operating in the social and private rented sectors, examining different aspects of neighbourhood experience and their relationship to health and wellbeing outcomes. The findings demonstrate impacts of the immediate environment in terms of close neighbours, the wider neighbourhood environment, and social support networks, which are heavily influenced by tenant characteristics, previous experience and expectations. The services provided by housing organisations, themselves shaped by regulation and market factors, are also important. The findings will have relevance for tenants, housing providers, public health professionals and policy makers.

The general housing policy trend in Europe has been towards neoliberalization meaning less state involvement in housing market and less government support for housing production. However, private rental markets are still regulated in many European countries. Here, we classify 33 European countries based on rent regulation system and welfare state regime. There seems to be some but not too much correspondence between the welfare state regime and whether rents are controlled. However, it seems that the role of rent regulation depends on the context and one should take a closer look at specific cases. We look at Nordic welfare states that are similar in that all represent the social democratic welfare model but different in their housing regimes by which we mean the basic principles of how housing provision in the country is organized.

In recent years, Ireland has experienced a notable decline in homeownership and a rise in the proportion of households in private rental accommodation. Concurrently, the cost of both rents and house prices have risen markedly and affordability challenges in terms of meeting housing costs have been well documented. While these challenges are immediate in terms of the housing costs burden, a longer-term issue arises as to how renting households will manage the financial adjustment to retirement with ongoing rent payments. This transition historically in Ireland has been smoothed by high homeownership rates and mortgage amortisation which lowered the cost of housing payments and increased financial assets. Indeed, existing international evidence suggests that being a homeowner can provide a 'double dividend' of lowering housing costs and increasing assets in retirement. This can help manage changes to income in retirement and allow households to maintain their standard of living. The continued requirement to cover housing costs for renters in retirement can be seen as an additional vulnerability in terms of retirement income adequacy in Ireland, over and above the general concern of sufficient pension income. While considerable research to date has documented this well-known challenge of providing a sufficient standard of living in retirement for many households in Ireland, the drop in the homeownership rate layers an additional complication in terms of the policy challenge. To address these related issues, this report explores indicative future paths for homeownership rates in Ireland and explores the impact in terms of income poverty in retirement. Using data from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) and the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), we consider a number of scenarios to assess the possibility of renting households becoming homeowners, and then test the impact on income poverty rates if households were to continue to have rental costs into retirement.

Privately owned high-rise condominiums have been increasing as a proportion of all housing units built in the Greater Toronto Area for many decades. This has inspired a growing literature theorizing both “condoism” as an emergent planning-development regime and the implications of “condoization” and “condofication” for urban governance and everyday life in cities like Toronto. Building on this literature, this article assesses the implications of Toronto’s increasing reliance on (mainly vertical) condominium development for the socio-spatial transformation of the housing market, particularly for renters. Analyzing time-series data from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and the Census of Canada to quantify the effects of the city’s condoization, we answer three key questions: How important is condominium development for understanding the restructuring of Toronto’s economy? How has condoization contributed to the ongoing gentrification of Toronto’s inner city? How is condoization restructuring Toronto’s rental market? Building on previous research categorizing and mapping the gentrification of Toronto’s inner city, we find that condoization is an increasingly defining element restructuring the city’s rental market, while this restructuring also plays a central role in the advancing gentrification of the city’s core.

Rental affordability challenges for low-to-moderate-income groups have been well documented. Changes to housing supports in recent years, notably the rapid expansion of Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), aim to address affordability challenges for low-income households in the rental sector. Within this context, this report seeks to inform our understanding of the current system of housing supports for low-income renters in Ireland. The report examines tenure patterns and rental affordability. It reviews the range and design of housing supports available to low-income renters and examines how the localised operation of differential rent schemes, which determines supported tenants' contributions, affects the level of and variation in support received. With the increased reliance on the provision of indirect housing supports (through rental subsidies or supplementary income supports), it also examines the availability of accommodation for low-income renters within the private rental sector. Housing supports - by virtue of being means-tested - affect the financial incentives individuals have with regards to being in paid work or working an additional hour. This report uses SWITCH, which is the ESRI's tax and benefit microsimulation model, to analyse the impact of these supports on the effective tax rates faced by low-income renters: a key consideration for any means-tested supports.

Es ist populär, Spekulation als Grund für die Anspannung im Wohnungsmarkt anzuführen. Im Antrag 17/13391 "Spekulationen und Fehlentwicklungen im Wohnungsbau verhindern" werden die Themen Bauüberhang, Share Deals und Umwandlungen von Miet- in Eigentumswohnungen als Problembereiche genannt. Tatsächlich zeigt aber ein genauerer Blick in die Thematik, dass es sich allenfalls um Randaspekte handelt. Ein Bauüberhang, also die Differenz zwischen Baugenehmigungen und Baufertigstellungen, ist typisch für baukonjunkturelle Boomphasen. Sowohl aufgrund des Fachkräftemangels als auch aufgrund langer amtlicher Bearbeitungszeiten ergeben sich Verzögerungen im Bau. Außerdem zeigt ein Blick in die amtliche Statistik, dass der Bauüberhang vor allem bei privaten Bauherren hoch ist, die in vielen Fällen für den eigenen Bedarf bauen. Hier ist sicherlich nicht von spekulativen Motiven auszugehen. Bei Share Deals ist zu berücksichtigen, dass die Grunderwerbsteuer eine Sondersteuer auf Immobilientransaktionen darstellt, der Kauf von Unternehmen ist dagegen grundsätzlich steuerfrei. Der Kauf von Immobilienunternehmen steht somit zwischen diesen Regelungen. Mit der Absenkung des Grenzwerts bei Beteiligungen auf 90 Prozent hat der Gesetzgeber bereits die Regulierungen von Sare Deals verschärft, eine weitere Absenkung würde Immobilienunternehmen gegenüber anderen Unternehmen weiter benachteiligen. Zudem ist zu berücksichtigen, dass ebenso Share Deals Nachteile haben und trotz der Grunderwerbsteuerpflicht bewusst auch Asset Deals getätigt werden. Letztlich ist aber der Share Deal umso attraktiver, je höher die Grunderwerbsteuer ist. Die Umwandlung von Miet- in Eigentumswohnungen wird reguliert, weil man den Verlust von bezahlbaren Wohnungen befürchtet. Tatsächlich aber werden so auch die Chancen auf bezahlbares Wohneigentum beschränkt. Zudem ist zu berücksichtigen, dass gerade Kleinvermieter, die Einzelwohnungen als Kapitalanlage erwerben, oft umsichtiger mit Mietern umgehen. Statt neue Regulierungen einzuführen, sollte etwa Mietern verstärkt geholfen werden, von ihrem Vorkaufsrecht Gebrauch zu machen.

Residualization refers to the process whereby publicly subsidized rental housing moves towards a position in which it provides only a safety net for low-income households. In this paper we quantify residualization based on the income profile of households in the below market rates (BMR) rental sector. Various residualization indicators for 12 European countries from EU-SILC data are calculated. First, we explore the effect of the size of the BMR sector and the cost of alternative tenure types on residualization. Second, we investigate if there are similar trends of residualization from 2005 to 2016. We find that decreases in the share of the BMR sector are associated with significant increases in residualization. Increases in rent differences between the BMR and market rate rental sector are related to larger degrees of residualization. We further observe a rising level of residualization for most countries. However, countries with allocation systems that aim at broader income groups still display the lowest degree of residualization.

The COVID-19 pandemic represents the most severe and rapid shock to the Irish economy in modern times. This paper examines the short-run, three-month impact of the pandemic on rental affordability and missed payments for a specific cohort of the private rental sector in Ireland. It focuses on those households which, at the outset of the pandemic, were not in receipt of state rental supports such as the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) or Rent Supplement (or paying a local authority rent). These households were deemed the most at risk of affordability challenges due to the high level of rents they were paying. In this report we classify such households as non-supported private renters. Unless otherwise stated, any reference to 'households' refers to this group.

Which housing characteristics are important for understanding homeownership rates? How are housing characteristics priced in the rental and owner-occupied markets? And what can the answers to the previous questions tell us about economic theories of homeownership? Using the English Housing Survey, we estimate a selection model of the allocation of properties to the owner-occupied and rental sectors. Structural characteristics and unobserved quality are important for selection. Location is not. Accounting for selection is important for estimates of rent-to-price ratios and can explain some puzzling correlations between rent-to-price ratios and homeownership rates. These patterns are consistent with, among others, hypotheses of contracting frictions in the rental market likely related to housing maintenance.

Contains fulltext : 174255.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Integrating housing tenure in Instrumental Motivation Theory predicts a tenure gap in electoral participation, as homeowners would be more motivated to vote compared with tenants. The empirical question is whether this effect is causal or rather due to selection into different housing tenures. This question is tackled using coarsened exact matching (CEM) on data for 19 countries, allowing us to better control for endogeneity. Even then, homeowners are found to vote more often than tenants. This association is stronger in countries characterized by a strong pro-homeownership ideology and/or where the financialization of housing markets turned houses into assets. 25 p.

Die vorliegende Studie setzt sich mit den Motiven, strategischen Ansätzen und konkreten Handlungsweisen privater Bestandshalter_innen von Wohnimmobilien auseinander. Diese Gruppe steht für knapp 60 Prozent des vorhandenen Mietwohnungsbestands gerade und ist somit insgesamt ein wesentlicher "Akteur" auch vor dem Hintergrund der vielfach diskutierten Wohnungsknappheit in Deutschland. Gleichzeitig wird deutlich, dass die Gruppe enorm heterogen ist und somit eine gemeinsame strategische Verortung schwerfällt. Die Studie versucht, nach einer quantitativen Einordnung des Phänomens "private Bestandshalter_innen" mit einem qualitativen Ansatz die Motive und Strategien für das immobilienbezogene Handeln in der Gruppe zu identizieren und zu operationalisieren. Wesentliche Motive für die befragten Personen lagen z.B. in der Sicherung des Anlagevermögens wie auch in persönlichen Bindungen an die Mietwohnungsobjekte. Gleichzeitig stellten die privaten Bestandshalter_innen sich als durchaus marktorientiert heraus, wobei jedoch in bestehenden Mietverhältnissen eine signifikante Zurückhaltung in Bezug auf Preisanpassungen spürbar ist. This paper focusses on motives and strategies as well as the typical behavior of private land-lords in urban housing areas. In total, this group represents about 60 percent of all rented apartments in Germany. In terms of housing shortage and rising prices in several regional housing markets even this group of real estate owners is increasingly spotlightet by housing experts as well as public discussions. Nonetheless it occurs, that this supposed uniform group ist not realy homogenous at all. According to this setting we tried to scale the diverse group of private housing-landlords by a qualitative analysis concept. Within semi-structured guided interviews we asked them about their motives, their strategic approach to housing development and typical schemes of action in housing business. The outcome indicates that private housing landlords strongly aim at the safety of their investment and act because of personal ties to the object or the neighborhood. Apart from that they in fact do follow general market activities when calculating new pricings in case of new tenancy agreements. On the other hand they act restainedly on increasing rents within existing agreements.

Die vorliegende Studie befasst sich mit der Ermittlung existenzsichernder Bedarfe der Unterkunft und Heizung für Bedarfs- und Einstandsgemeinschaften nach SGB II und SGB XII. Zum einen untersucht sie auf der Grundlage einer bundesweiten Kommunalbefragung, zwölf Fallstudien sowie zwanzig Expertengesprächen die aktuelle Umsetzungspraxis. Es werden unterschiedliche Verfahrensweisen der Grundsicherungs- und Sozialhilfeträger unter Berücksichtigung der wohnungsmarktlichen Rahmbedingungen analysiert und zentrale Herausforderungen und Probleme der Umsetzung diskutiert. Hier zeigt sich eine Vielfalt an Umsetzungswegen, die letztlich durch normative Entscheidungsspielräume auf kommunaler Ebene geprägt und weniger durch unterschiedliche Wohnungsmarktkontexte begründet ist. Zum anderen werden in der Studie mit dem Ziel einer existenzsichernden Bedarfsdeckung unterschiedliche Verfahren entwickelt, mit Hilfe derer mögliche Mietobergrenzen berechnet werden. Dabei differenziert die Studie zwischen drei grundlegenden Bemessungsansätzen, die im Wesentlichen auf der Abbildung der Wohnkosten einer definierten Referenzgruppe, den ortsüblichen Miete eines bestimmten Wohnstandards oder den Kosten für die Neuanmietung einer ausreichenden Menge von Wohnraum basieren. Verknüpft mit den verschiedenen Ansätzen sind unterschiedliche Datengrundlagen und Berechnungsschritte. Die Vergleichsberechnung in den zwölf Fallstudien und 878 deutschen Mittelbereichen zeigt im Ergebnis deutliche Unterschiede. Abschließend werden unterschiedliche Wege der Weiterentwicklung der rechtlichen Rahmensetzung diskutiert. Hier werden Möglichkeiten der Bedarfsbemessung durch den Bund, die durch die aktuelle Datenlage beschränkt werden, und Empfehlungen bezüglich einzelner Verfahrensschritte der Bemessung beschrieben. The study seeks to appraise the rent benefit level necessary to meet welfare recipients’ basic need for housing and heating. First, it examines the actual practice at a local level based on a nationwide survey, twelve case studies and twenty interviews with experts. The study analyses the different approaches of welfare authorities while considering regional housing market conditions. The crucial challenges and problems regarding implementation are also discussed, revealing that there are a variety of implementation paths. These are determined by normative decisions at a local level rather than different housing market contexts. Second, the study develops different approaches with the goal of calculating potential limits to ensure that the rent benefit level can meet the basic requirements for housing and heating. Here, the study differentiates between three basic assessment options based on: the housing costs of a defined reference group of low-income recipients, the usual local rent for a simple dwelling or the cost that allows for access to a share of the rental housing market that satisfies demand. Different data sources and calculation steps are linked with these three basic assessment options. A comparative calculation regarding the twelve case studies and the 878 German Mittelbereiche (geographical regions served by central places of the second out of four levels of importance) shows very different results. Finally, the study discusses different ways of developing the legal framework. This includes options for determining the rent benefit level by the federal government, that are constrained by the current lack of data, and suggestions referring to the different steps of determining the level by the local authorities.

Im Vergleich zu 2011 ist nach Einschätzung der Experten der Kölner Wohnungsmarkt noch angespannter. Dies gilt insbesondere für preisgebundene Mietwohnungen. Die befragten Akteure gehen davon aus, dass die Wohnungsmarktsituation in Köln auch in den nächsten Jahren von Anspannung geprägt sein wird.

The aim of this paper is to provide an introduction to the concept of user cost and its determinants. Particular attention is given to the influence of taxation. The concept of user cost relates to the rental, the rate of return to capital, that arises in a profit maximising situation in which further investment in capital produces no additional profit. This paper sets out in some detail the range of assumptions involved in obtaining alternative expressions for the user cost. The user cost refers to a before-tax capital rental, the rate of return that ensures that the (after-tax) cost of capital is equal to the post-tax returns over its life. Hence, associated with the user cost measure is an effective marginal tax rate. This can differ substantially from the statutory marginal rate applicable to the investor. A related effective average tax rate is also defined.

Im Laufe des Jahres 2012 ist die neue Wohnungsnot auf den Titelseiten der großen Zeitungen und Magazine angekommen. Die Vernachlässigung des Baus von erschwinglichen Wohnungen, die starke Reduktion des sozialen Wohnungsbaus, der Abbau von gesetzlichen Regelungen zur Mietpreisdämpfung, die Spekulation mit Wohnraum und die Folgen der Finanzmarktkrise haben in vielen Regionen Deutschlands zu stark steigenden Mieten - in einigen Großstädten zu geradezu explodierenden Neuvertragsmieten - und insgesamt zu einem Mangel an günstigem Wohnraum geführt. Die schmerzhaften Auswirkungen dieses Mangels werden inzwischen bis weit in die Mittelschichten spürbar.

Für eine sachgerechte Wohnungspolitik sind Einschätzungen des Marktes und zur Gestaltung des Angebotes notwendig. Hierzu können die Wohnungsmarktakteure wichtige Hinweise geben. Das Amt für Stadtentwicklung und Statistik hat deswegen in 2011 in Abstimmung mit dem Amt für Wohnungswesen erstmalig eine schriftliche Expertenbefragung zum Kölner Wohnungsmarkt durchgeführt. Auf Basis der Befragung ist der Köln Pegel 2/2012 "Wohnungsmarkt Köln - Expertenbefragung 2011 - Anspannung bei gutem Investitionsklima" erstellt worden.

In Southern Europe youngsters leave the parental home significantly later than in Northern Europe and United States. In this paper, we study the effect of a monthly cash subsidy on young adults' emancipation, family formation, and fertility. The subsidy, introduced in Spain in 2008, is conditional on young adults renting accommodation, and it amounts to almost 20 percent of the average youngsters' wage. Our identification strategy exploits the subsidy eligibility age threshold to assess the causal impact of the cash transfer. Difference-in-Differences and Regression Discontinuity estimates show that the policy increases emancipation rates by 0.9-2.3 percentage points, couple cohabitation by 1.2-2.4 percentage points, and the probability of having children by 4.8-8.1 percentage points for 22 year-olds compared to 21 year-olds. The effect is larger among young adults earning lower incomes and living in high rental price areas. This is consistent with the hypothesis that youngsters delay emancipation and family formation because they are budget constrained.

JEL Classification: J15, J61.-- Trabajo presentado a la "Norface Conference on Migration: Economic Change, Social Challenge" celebrada en Londres en 2011., We conduct a field experiment to show that discrimination in the rental market prevents the geographical assimilation process by immigrants. We employ the Internet platform to identify vacant rental apartment in different areas of the two largest Spanish cities, Madrid and Barcelona. We send emails showing interest in the apartments and signal the applicants' ethnicity by using native and foreign-sounding names. We find that, in line with previous studies, immigrants face a differential treatment when trying to rent an apartment. We also find that this negative treatment varies considerably according to the concentration of immigrants in the area. In neighborhoods with a low presence of immigrants the response rate is 30 percentage points lower for immigrants than for natives, while this differential disappears when the immigration share reaches 50%. We conclude that discriminatory practices can perpetuate the ethnic spatial segregation observed in large cities., Financial support from Fundación Ramón Areces to the project “Discriminación por raza y género en el mercado español” is gratefully acknowledged. We also acknowledge the IVIE (Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas) and the Spanish Ministry of Science for grants ECO2008-05721/ECON and SEJ2007-62656. Farré acknowledges the support of MOVE, the Barcelona GSE and the Government of Catalonia.

Energetische Sanierungen sind zur Erreichung der klimapolitischen Ziele der Bundesregierung von zentraler Bedeutung. Dabei stellt sich jedoch die Frage, ob sich die Sanierungen wirtschaftlich realisieren lassen und ob die Sanierungsaktivitäten auch ohne Förderungen eine Eigendynamik entwickeln. Eine Auswertung von 1.300 Sanierungsobjekten zeigt, dass Mieterhöhungen und Anfangsrenditen nicht allein von der Art und dem Umfang einer Sanierung abhängen, sondern auch von der Marktlage und dem Alter der Gebäude. Dagegen lassen sich keine signifikanten regionalen und raumstrukturellen Unterschiede bei der Wirtschaftlichkeit energetischer Sanierungen erkennen. Auch zwischen den Vermietergruppen zeigen sich nur geringe Unterschiede. Eindeutig fallen die Ergebnisse bei den Motiven aus: Werden Sanierungen aus finanziellen Gründen durchgeführt, werden die Mieten eher stärker angehoben. Umgekehrt verhält es sich, wenn die Investitionen langfristig aufgrund geringerer Energiekosten als lohnend eingeschätzt werden.

Obwohl Vermieter, Stadtplaner und Stadtkämmerer die Erfüllung des Traums vom Eigenheim in der grünen Vorstadt als verfehlte Siedlungspolitik betrachten,und schon ein Ende dieses Wohnmodells voraussagen, hat es in der Bevölkerung nicht an Anziehungskraft verloren.Warnungen vor negativen energetischen und Umweltwirkungen verhallen angesichts der Tatsache, dass Deutschland innerhalb der EU-27 die wenigsten Haushalte mit selbst genutztem Wohneigentum aufweist. Anhand der Entwicklung seit den 50er Jahren und belegt mit amtlichen Statistiken wird gezeigt, dass drei Hauptfaktoren die Zustimmung zu dem Wohnmodell befördern. Erstens der häufige Wunsch der privaten Haushalte nach Eigentum, das Unabhängigkeit,Selbstbestimmung und Sicherheit verheißt; zweitens, die ungebremste Durchsetzung wirtschaftlicher Verwertungsinteressen in den Städten, wodurch sich der finanzielle Druck auf die Mieterhaushalte erhöht; drittens der freizügige Verzicht auf staatliche Intervention zur sozialen Flankierung des Wohnens in den großen Städten.

Jedes Jahr im Herbst lässt das Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- und Raumforschung (BBSR) in einer repräsentativen Bevölkerungsumfrage die Meinungen, Einstellungen und Wissensbestände der Bürgerinnen und Bürger zu ihren Wohn- und Lebensbedingungen erheben. Anhand dieser regelmäßigen Umfrage sind Veränderungen über die Zeit und regionale Unterschiede zu untersuchen. Im September stellte das BBSR eine Analyse für das Jahr 2009 zum Leben in ländlich geprägten Regionen vor, aus der hier einige zentrale Aussagen vorgestellt werden: Insgesamt betrachtet haben und nutzen viele Menschen in Deutschland die Wahlfreiheit, ihr Leben genau dort zu führen, wo sie am liebsten wohnen und leben möchten - sei es auf dem Land oder in der Stadt. Berufliche Erfordernisse stellen bei regional unterschiedlichen, meist stadtzentrierten Arbeitsmärkten jedoch hohe Anforderungen an die Mobilitätsbereitschaft. Hinzu kommen private, familiäre Erfordernisse, die möglicherweise den persönlichen Bewegungskreis beschränken, zu multilokaler Haushaltsführung zwingen oder Ortswechsel sinnvoll erscheinen lassen. Vor allem die mit dem Erwerbsleben zusammenhängenden Rahmenbedingungen des privaten Lebens unterscheiden sich nicht zwischen Stadt und Land, sondern eher zwischen ökonomisch starken und schwachen Regionen und nach wie vor zwischen Ost und West.

Stefan Haydn Graz, Univ., Masterarb., 2009

Existing research suggests that students are an under-reported and undersupported group of the population that frequently lives in fuel poverty. Furthermore, studies show that students do not realize that they live in fuel poor conditions and are rarely recognized as a group vulnerable to fuel poverty. The aim of the research presented in this paper is to understand, evaluate and consequently reveal the experiences of students living in the private-rentedd sector, quantify their possible exposure to fuel poverty, and to determine the impacts of this exposure on their well-being. Three thousand five hundred and twelve students from seven European countries participated in this research making it the largest study to date targeting this specific social group. Our results demonstrate that this group is vulnerable to fuel poverty and that their exposure to such conditions can have a detrimental effect on both their mental and physical health, as well as their social life.