Poverty, limited access to vital public services,
Europe and looked at the housing situation on other
1980s, as an area of great potential. With huge resources
and economic inequalities, especially within the
continents, it would turn out that the people of Canada,
in the form of public housing, ranging from 20 per cent
domain of housing, are systemic phenomena:
Kazakhstan, Chile and India would be equally eager to
(in Hungary) to as much as 70 per cent (in Latvia) of
over the last three decades, a decent house
sign the manifesto for housing justice. Seen from this
all available apartments, they constituted the perfect
that would offer adequate conditions of health
perspective, housing problems in Central Europe turn
ground to test new market solutions in practice. The
and hygiene has become a luxury that fewer
out to be not an endemic phenomenon, but a part of
events in the region after 1989 are often interpreted as
and fewer people can afford. The privatization
the global crisis. Former UN Special Rapporteur for the
an obvious continuation of the neoliberal policies devel-
of the current social housing fund, the govern-
right to adequate housing Raquel Rolnik sees this crisis
oping in the West and the inevitable result of geopoliti-
ment’s support almost exclusively for the con-
as “the expression and the result of a long process of
cal changes. We should remember, however, that these
struction of private houses and for real estate
deconstructing housing as a social good and transform-
policies had only been implemented in the West for a
developers, the encouragement of the transfor-
ing it into a commodity and financial asset.”
decade and were still emerging in the process of “chaotic
mation of the living space into an investment for
5
This process is inextricably linked with the expan-
experimentation” at that time.7 Thus, the post-commu-
profit through fiscal measures favourable to this
sion of the reactionary political and economic concept
nist and post-socialist states were not only a place for
aim—all these have led to the current state of
of neoliberalism. Central European countries played
the implementation of ready-made solutions, but also
affairs.1
a special role in the history of commodification and
“an important laboratory for creating a new paradigm
financialization of housing. By looking at this story, we
of housing policies, clearly expressed in the documents
The above quote comes from the Manifest petru drep-
can illuminate both the key features of the neo-liberal
of the World Bank”.8 If we take into account the
tate locativă (Housing Justice Manifesto), published
doctrine and the sources of the housing problems we are
costs of these experiments borne by the inhabitants of
last April by the Romanian network of associations and
currently facing in our region.
the region, we should speak not so much of a laboratory
groups Blocul pentru Locuire (Housing Bloc), fighting for a fair and equitable housing policy in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The latter revealed and
The free market enters people’s homes
as a military training ground. Let us begin with the assessment that had been at the root of all these experiments. In 1993, the World Bank
deepened the scale of the housing crisis in Romania.
The housing sector has played an important role in
published the Housing report. Enabling markets to work.
Data published by the Eurostat show that the country
this story since the birth of the neo-liberal ideology.
Raquel Rolnik compares its effects to releasing the genie
is facing serious problems: in 2018, Romania had the
Generously financed from public funds as part of the
from the bottle. This document, aptly referred to by the
highest share of overcrowded housing among European
post-war welfare policy, for the supporters of free-mar-
Union countries (46 per cent) and severe housing depri-
ket solutions it has become an example of how not to
vation (16 per cent of the population live in overcrowded
organize social policy. From the 1970s, it was targeted
apartments with at least one major disadvantage, e.g.
by ideologists who were convinced that the state should
a leaking roof, no bathroom or toilet, too dark).2 Roma-
drastically reduce its expenses, and withdraw from the
nia also had the highest percentage of people at risk of
position of regulator in various areas of social life. It
poverty and living in overcrowded homes. Having said
was not only about savings for the budget and opening
that, after studying the Eurostat data, we will notice
a source of potential profits for commercial enterprises.
that many countries experience these problems on a
The home was a sphere in which neoliberal doctrine met
similar scale. In terms of overcrowded housing, Latvia,
directly with the personal, everyday experience of indi-
Bulgaria, Croatia and Poland are close behind. The
viduals, and it could serve as a space for transmission
highest rates of severe housing deprivation are recorded
and training of the desired norms and attitudes. As a
in Latvia, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary and Lithuania. As
result, writes David Harvey, “all forms of social solidar-
in Romania, alarmingly high numbers of people at risk
ity” were to be replaced by beliefs in “individualism,
of poverty live in overcrowded flats in Poland, Slovakia
private property, personal responsibility, and family
and Bulgaria.3
values.”6
It is tempting to interpret these comparisons as
The flagship example of neo-liberal housing pol-
another symptom of the “poverty of small Central and
icy – the “Right to buy” program launched by Margaret
Eastern European countries”, a typically Central Euro-
Thatcher in the early 1980s that allowed council tenants
pean ailment, resulting from the repeatedly described
to buy the flats in which they lived – opened up space
structural backwardness of the entire region. However,
for financial institutions offering mortgage loans, for
when we also take into account other indicators related
private property administrators and commercial con-
to the quality of housing, the picture becomes some-
struction companies, but most of all it made tenants
what more complicated: among the countries with the
aware that the relationship between them and the state
highest financial burden related to the cost of housing
had changed significantly and that from then on, ensur-
(expressed in the number of households that spend
ing proper living conditions for themselves would be
more than 40 per cent of their income on housing),
primarily on them.
Greece is clearly the leader; excessive costs of housing
3
← Ruczaj Estate in Kraków, from the series Self-affirmation
Neoliberal ideologists and economists perceived the
also plague many residents of Great Britain,
countries of Central and Central Eastern Europe, which
Belgium, and Germany.4 If we went beyond
entered the transformation period at the end of the
HOW CENTRAL EUROPE LOST ITS RIGHT TO HOUSING, AND HOW TO GET IT BACK
1
Blocul pentru Locuire, Manifest pentru dreptate locativă. Împotriva pandemiei capitalismului și rasismului, 02.04.2020, https://bloculpentrulocuire.ro/2020/04/02/ manifest-pentru-dreptate-locativa-impotriva-pandemiei-capitalismului-si-rasismului/. English version: Manifesto for Housing Justice: Fighting the Pandemic of Capitalism and Racism, 02.04.2020, https://bloculpentrulocuire. ro/2020/04/02/manifesto-for-housing-justice-fighting-the-pandemic-of-capitalism-and-racism/ (accessed: 15.03.2021). 2 Severe housing deprivation rate, 2017 and 2018 (%), Eurostat, https://ec.europa.eu/ eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=File:Severe_housing_deprivation_rate,_2017_ and_2018_(%25)_SILC20.png (accessed: 15.03.2021). 3 Housing statistics, Eurostat, https://ec.europa. eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/ Housing_statistics#Tenure_status (accessed: 15.03.2021). 4 Ibid. 5 R. Rolnik, Urban Warfare: Housing Under the Empire of Finance, London–New York: Verso, 2019 (ebook). 6 D. Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 23. 7 Ibid. 8 R. Rolnik, op. cit.
