Definition
The specific definition of affordable housing varies from country to country. There is considerable debate over what the term ‘affordable housing’ actually means, and because of the lack of consensus, whether the term should be abandoned (Wilson and Barton 2019; Colini 2017). Historically though the term has been synonymous with public housing, that is, government-subsidized housing let at submarket rents (Wilson and Barton 2019). Over time however the term affordable housing represents rental housing offered by a range of players in the housing market – private developers and investors, local governments, charitable organizations, and community housing providers – and the classification of affordable housing is now similar to, but not equal to, social housing as households within a wider range of household incomes than is the case for social housing can be eligible...
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Faulkner, D. (2019). Affordable Housing. In: Gu, D., Dupre, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_882-1
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