Case Studies   The Danish Neighbourhood Regeneration Programme. Kvarterløft in Copenhagen

Housing tenure

Three different types of housing tenure dominate in Denmark. Social housing (almene boliger), co-operation owned housing (andelsboliger) and privately owned housing.

Social housing are rented houses/houses owned by officially approved social housing companies. Since 1933, there has been public support for social housing companies to build houses. Every single social housing department has its own board elected by the residents, which is responsible for the economy of the department. There are very strict rules and regulations as to how and to whom the apartments are rented due to waiting lists. The municipality has the right to dispose of 25% of vacant apartments, which are thus used for specific social purposes. Around 20% of the Danish population live in houses owned by social housing companies.

Co-operation owned housing is a special Danish form of tenure, where a co-operation of people buys or builds a housing block or cluster of houses. Every single-family unit own a share in the co-operation, and rent an apartment. There is a special tax regulation in relation to this kind of tenure, and it is possible to get public support when building new co-operation owned houses.

In Copenhagen former privately owned apartment blocks have been bought by the tenants and changed to co-operation owned housing. In these cases the former private owner has often been the municipality.

The privately owned housing sector consists of two sorts: owner occupied housing, and privately owned houses for rent. Owner occupied housing is the major part consisting of flats and single-family houses. Single-family houses are a very large sector in Denmark. 50% of the Danish population lives in single-family houses, but also the share of owner occupied flats has risen considerably over the last 35 years.

Privately owned housing for rent used to be the major part of the renting market, but the amount has falling dramatically during the last 35 years, as rented flats have been changed either into to co-operation owned housing or into owner occupied flats.

1.2 The legal framework     1.2.2 The urban renewal act