Defining and Measuring Housing stress for the purpose of housing policy development

Abstract

A household may be considered non-low-income, but can still be in so-called “housing stress”. The problems of housing stress are not limited to psychological ones; it is a real feeling of high risks of homelessness, and these risks can come true in any force majeure situation. Assistance to families and individuals in housing stress is necessary. Support for these families in harsh situations, as well as housing state policy aimed at the emergence and distribution of various types of affordable housing should be focused on prevention of housing stress rather than on the treatment of advanced forms of its implementation — such as homelessness.