Experience with changing the social composition of housing areas

In the period between 2006 and 2010, Landsbyggefonden (the national social housing fund) granted DKK 2.2 bn. to social housing initiatives and rent support in marginalised housing areas. The objective of the grants was to prevent and reverse negative developments in marginalised housing areas and to create greater social cohesion in these areas.
The report assesses trials of the use of rental instruments and referral models. These approaches are two of several themes used in the overall plans for the housing areas, made possible by funding from Landsbyggefonden (the national social housing fund). The objective of the trials was to examine the need for, and the options available with regard to, regulation of tenant composition as part of efforts to prevent the concentration of vulnerable tenants in specific housing areas. Examples of measures are special agreements between the municipality and housing organisations regarding referrals by the municipality, flexible terms for rent, combined rent, advertising in media, empty dwellings and encouraging tenants to move out.
The report identifies how the different rental instruments and referral models are used, and what these methods have led to. The data used in the study comprises register data, questionnaire responses from business managers and municipal employees, as well as qualitative case studies conducted in the four municipalities: Copenhagen, Odense, Aalborg and Ishøj.