Blog by Marshall Ulger, Junior Associate
Affordable housing is important to social stability and stimulates local economies.[1] Unfortunately, access to it remains uneven globally.[2] “An estimated 1.6 billion people . . . lack access to adequate housing and basic services.”[3] Governments have been using legislation to manage this crisis.[4] However, this mitigation has had mixed success in both the developed and developing worlds.[5]
Vienna, in Austria, has had a long tradition of promoting affordable housing.[6] Despite having a complex housing system, Vienna’s strong tenant protections and state-subsidized housing have made them a model internationally.[7] Over 60% of Viennese residents live in housing with rent controls or subsidies.[8] These measures aim to both shelter people and foster inclusive, mixed-income communities.[9]
In contrast, San Francisco, in the U.S., has some of the world’s highest housing costs.[10] Counteractive zoning laws and contentions over land use have led to these costs.[11] These practices, under the guise of preserving neighborhood character, often limit new housing construction.[12] This results in San Francisco’s demand exceeding its supply, with “the region ha[ving] an overall shortfall of over 50,000 homes.”[13]
Elsewhere, governments have struggled with recognizing informal settlements.[14] In Brazil and India, recognition is missing.[15] This results in informal settlements’ missing legal titles to their properties, undermining their property rights.[16] In contrast, nations like Colombia have begun legalizing and integrating informal communities through progressive urban policy.[17]
These inconsistent treatments create discrepancies both in housing’s costs and tenants’ property rights. Nations that implement stronger legal protections and public investment have had more success in protecting affordable housing. While nations foregoing such protections leave more variance to housing prices possible.
[1] Kevin Donaldson, The Impact of Affordable Housing on Community Development, Habitat for Human. (Oct. 24, 2023), https://www.habitatcltregion.org/blog/the-impact-of-affordable-housing-on-community-development/.
[2] Mark Cooper, Affordable housing: A global problem demanding local solutions, PERE (Jun. 3, 2024), https://www.perenews.com/affordable-housing-a-global-problem-demanding-local-solutions/.
[3] Id.
[4] Priya Gupta, Impact of Government Policies on Affordable Housing, Fusion (Mar. 27, 2025), https://fusionsw.com/impact-of-government-policies-on-affordable-housing/.
[5] Albert Saiz, The Global Housing Affordability Crisis:
Policy Options and Strategies, in POL’Y PAPER SERIES (2023).
[6] See Annie Reneau, The ‘world’s most livable city’ has a proven, 100-year-old approach to affordable housing, Upworthy (Oct. 21, 2024), https://www.upworthy.com/worlds-most-livable-city-has-a-proven-100-year-old-approach-to-affordable-housing-rp3 (explaining Vienna’s legislative approach to fighting housing prices for over 100 years).
[7] How Vienna ensures affordable housing for all with an extremely complicated housing system, Hestia, https://housing4.us/how-vienna-ensures-affordable-housing-for-all-with-an-extremely-complicated-housing-system/ (last visited Apr. 16, 2025); Oksana Mironova, Reflections on Vienna’s Social Housing Model From Tenant Advocates, Nation (Jan. 5, 2023), https://www.thenation.com/article/society/reflections-vienna-social-housing.
[8] Mironova, supra note 9.
[9] Cnty. of Los Angeles, How Vienna Implements the 5 Pillars of Housing: Produce, Preserve, Protect, Prevent, Promote.
[10] Adam Brinklow, San Francisco has highest rent prices in the world, claims housing startup, Curbed (Feb. 22, 2017, 2:32 PM), https://sf.curbed.com/2017/2/22/14700442/san-francisco-rents-highest-world-price.
[11] Sarah Hoffman, Chipping Away At Single-Family Zoning, Bar Ass’n San Francisco (Apr. 9, 2021), https://www.sfbar.org/blog/chipping-away-at-single-family-zoning/; Carrie Denning, et. al., Did land protection in Silicon Valley reduce the housing stock?, 143 Biological Conservation 1087, 1087 (2010).
[12] Hous. Pol’y Dev. Div., Cal. Dep’t of Hous. & Cmty Dev., San Francisco Housing Policy
and Practice Review (2023).
[13] David Garcia & Michael Lane, S.F. leads the nation in improving its housing shortage. But not for the reasons you think, San Francisco Chron. (Jan. 21, 2025), https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/sf-bay-area-housing-shortage-20038431.php.
[14] Improving Slums: Stories from Sao Paulo, World Bank Grp. (June 29, 2011), https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/sustainablecities/no-excuses-slum-upgrading; Namesh Killemsetty, Why Millions Go Unaccounted for in India’s Invisible Slum Crisis, Diplomat (Sept. 25, 2024), https://thediplomat.com/2024/09/why-millions-go-unaccounted-for-in-indias-invisible-slum-crisis/.
[15] Id.
[16] Edésio Fernandes, Regularization of Informal Settlements in Latin America, in Pol’y Focus Rep. (2011).
[17] Lucy Winchester, Sustainable human settlements development in Latin America and the Caribbean, 99 CEPAL 5, 15 (2005).