6. Conclusion

6. Conclusion

To summarise, the purpose of this dissertation is to research and identify some of the issues that young adults in Ploiesti, Romania, face in accessing affordable housing.

The key findings of the literature review are:

 There is variation between the definitions that exist of the term ‘affordable housing’. Romania does not give any definition or uses this term in its policy documents. Although there is a right to housing, there are no thresholds stipulated regarding affordable housing (Section 2.1).  Romania has the smallest percentage of social housing in the European

Union with 2.3% of the housing stock (Valceanu & Suditu, 2015).  The political history of Romania has contributed to it having significantly less social housing than the EU average. Although policies of the communist regime have left a large housing stock, a high proportion of this is vacant, unusable due to its condition. There have been several housing crises and after the revolution, the government tried to solve the problem through privatisation and restitution. Both initiatives were profitable at that moment but disadvantaged the following generations (Section 2.2).  Young adults are considered vulnerable and affected by house exclusion.

There are several factors that influence this: the authorities cannot provide enough social housing (85% of applicants do not receive one); the prices for accommodation and the housing costs are rising; there are high levels of overcrowding; the quality of dwellings is low (Section 2.3).  There are around 10 million Romanians that live in overcrowded conditions and there are more than one million dwellings uninhabitable due to poor quality (Section 2.3.2).

These findings lead to the research question: What issues do young adults in Ploiesti, Romania face in accessing affordable housing? The scope of the dissertation is limited and focuses on Ploiesti. A typical Romanian city that faces continuous depopulation because young adults cannot afford the housing costs (Section 2.5). The dissertation reviews the government

programmes for young adults, gathers primary data through a questionnaire and draws relevant conclusions about the research question.

The key findings of the desktop research are:  There are housing programmes for young people but the local authorities are unable to provide enough homes for the demand.  The point based selection system could lead to the exclusion of some groups, such as the poorly educated and the unmarried.  The guaranteed loans are more desired by young adults than the ANL built dwellings. One possible answer is that, because the authorities are not efficient in supplying housing, people built the homes themselves.

The data collected with the questionnaire is relevant and manages to provide a few answers for the research question. The responses of the 98 participants reveal some of the issues relating affordability that young people in Ploiesti encounter. Some of these problems were also identified in the literature review and the questionnaire indicates that they apply in this city too. Some of the main key issues are:

 There is a high unemployment rate among this age group; 35.5% are not employed which is higher than the national average  Single people seem to be disadvantaged in accessing affordable housing and 56.6% of the respondents say they spent more than 40% of their income on housing costs.  36.6% of them earn less than the minimum wage and the majority find it very difficult to own a home.  Many of them live in apartment and are prone to overburden  A very small number have used the government programmes

There are not only similarities between the national data and the data gathered. In spite of these issues and attitudes, the research finds that young adults in this area are happy with the quality of their existing accommodation and remain optimistic about owning their own home in the near future. There is no apparent explanation for this seemingly contradictory information and further

anthropological research might provide additional evidence for these findings. It could be possible that many aspects of how they perceive their accommodation relate to cultural factors or even the education level. This may open new directions of enquiries on the topic.

The methodology appears to have been successful in providing answers for the research question, although not in an exhaustive manner. A larger number of participants at the questionnaire could provide even more accurate data and there is a possibility that the results could be different. There are many aspects that are only briefly presented in this study that could reveal many more obstacles that young people encounter. It is difficult to single out just one of the issue but many seem to revolve around the income of the individuals. As it was mentioned in section 2.3.1 there is significant income inequality in Romania and it especially affects this age group. The Government could initiate solutions by creating economic incentives to encourage the employability for this age group and raising the minimum wages. Also, further research relating potential private and public housing programmes could offer alternative solutions.

In conclusion, the dissertation defines the topic of affordable housing; analyses the past and present situation of housing; narrows the focus on a group of people and location; and answers the research question by finding some of the issues young adults in Ploiesti have with affordable housing. Also, it shows a few positive aspects and opens the discussion towards further research. A more extensive study could result in finding possible solutions for some of the identified issues.

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