Role of housing agencies in the future development of Serbia

Abstract

With the rise of neoliberal economy in Europe, decent urban housing has become unaffordable for many Europeans in recent decades. This has further produced socio-economic pressure on urban-policy makers across the continent. In post-socialist countries such as Serbia, neoliberal development has generally been merged with post-socialist transformation, making them more vulnerable to the deficiency of affordable housing. Moreover, Serbian housing has also been impacted by a distinct socialist housing model and a turbulent recent history. Therefore, housing planning and policy in Serbia cannot be simply prescribed from international level; it requires thoughtful adjustment to local conditions. It is unclear which institutional body had to be responsible for this complex process. The fall of socialism in the former Yugoslavia was marked by the collapse of old socialist-type housing agencies, known as the Housing Funds. New forms of housing agencies, developed to deal with still unregulated property issues in housing, old housing stock, and fragile housing market, have not achieved a wider significance. The aim of this research is to propose the role and basic organisation of future housing-related agencies in Serbia. It is done through the systematisation and analysis of Serbian housing with particular focus on governance and planning, as a premise for the model of housing agencies.