Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, definitions of poverty, and other criteria for allocation vary within different contexts. Within the OECD, social housing represents an average of 7% of national housing stock (2020), ranging from ~34% in the Netherlands to less than 1% in Colombia.
Public housing in Bishan, Singapore. Singapore's public residential developments range from studio units to executive condominiums, contributing to a 90% home-ownership rate, one of the highest in the world.
Public-housing complex in Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong. The Kin Ming Estate comprises ten housing blocks, providing housing for approximately 22,000 people. In 2020, 2,112,138 were identified residents of public housing, which is 28% of the total population.
A local-authority 20-storey tower block in Cwmbran, South Wales.
Boundary Street in 1890; three years later, the London County Council began slum clearance.
Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on affordable housing refers to mortgages and a number of forms that exist along a continuum – from emergency homeless shelters, to transitional housing, to non-market rental, to formal and informal rental, indigenous housing, and ending with affordable home ownership.
Legends Park West Mixed-Income and Affordable Housing Redevelopment in Memphis, Tennessee
Affordable housing, or low income housing, at the St. James Town neighborhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Slums in Mumbai
Homeless tents in Los Angeles
