The Democratization of Social Housing Management. Case Study: Poznan, Poland

Abstract

The main aim of the paper is to identify the areas of social and tenant participation and to indicate their development pathways within the social housing stock. The authors seek to delimit the social and tenant participation zones and analyze their meaning in the context of democratization of social housing management processes. Moreover, changes in selected EU countries within state intervention in the sphere of housing are explained. The withdrawal of the state from social housing sector made social housing organizations fulfill their statutory tasks with the sole use of their own financial resources. The meaning of management and service quality rose significantly, which translated into attempts to activate tenants and boost their housing environment. The result was not only increased satisfaction of tenants, but also lower renovation costs, as well as lower tenant turnover rate. As for the social activity of tenants, one may conclude that the tenants in question boast some involvement in citizenship issues and social initiatives. However, although the role of tenant participation is emphasized in Poland nowadays, its level is still critically low. Presumably, the conceptualization and implementation of the legal framework for handing over some power to tenants in the decision-making process would result in higher democratization of the stock.