Definition: Housing allowance

Category: EU-SILC

The housing function refers to interventions by public authorities to help households meet the cost of housing. An essential criterion for defining the scope of a housing allowance is the existence of a qualifying means-test for the benefit.

It includes:

- rent benefit: a current means-tested transfer granted by a public authority to tenants, temporarily or on a long-term basis, to help with rent costs,
- benefit to owner-occupiers: a means-tested transfer by a public authority to owner-occupiers to alleviate their current housing costs: in practice often to help with paying mortgages and/or interest.

It does not include:

- social housing policy organised through the fiscal system (i.e. tax benefits),
- all capital transfers (in particular investment grants). http://ec.europa.eu/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2003/l_298/l_29820031117en00010022.pdf