Housing, wealth and welfare in times of transition
Housing, wealth and welfare in times of transition

Summary/Abstract: The paper examines the changes that the meaning of housing has undergone during transition. It is argued that the ‘shelter’ function of housing has lost some of it’s significance, while it’s investment function has gained it. The main vehicle for this change were the two property-centered policies - housing privatization and restitution. The paper observes the transformations initiated by these two policies and examines both their acknowledged goals and the real outcomes, as well as their social costs It argues that these policies were formulated mainly to solve wealth allocation issues (‘who gets what property under what conditions’), while the housing policy and the welfare outcomes were largely sacrificed, especially the new safety-net provisions. It is also argued, that it was precisely the sphere of real-property which in Slovenian transition served as a generator of instant wealth (private property). Moreover, this had a significant spill over effect on related public policies such as property tax, land and urban development. These policies remained extremely weak or even unarticulated, allowing thus the first-round winners to multiply their wealth without being subject to proper taxes and enforcement of urban planning and market monitoring systems.

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