The Role and Design of Income-Related Housing Allowances

Income‐related housing allowance schemes have become a long‐term feature of social policy in the advanced welfare states. They are not without disadvantages, however, and a number of countries have recently introduced significant reforms of their systems. The aim of this paper is to examine some key features of, and recent developments in, housing allowance programmes in seven countries. It addresses five main questions: why have income‐related housing allowances become so important, what role do they play, what are the essential features of such schemes, how do they tackle concerns about moral hazard, and what are the pressures facing them?