Policies for Middle-class Public Housing in a Depopulating Society

A Case Study on Local Goverments in Fukushima Prefecture

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to organize supply trends of public rental housing in municipalities for middle-class people whose actual situations are not fully-understood. Public rental housing for the middle-class population addressed in this study refers to residential houses not covered by the Public Housing Act, and rental dwellings supplied mainly by local governments. This study clarifies the following three aspects: 1) types of housing supplied by local governments; 2) the reasons for providing housing; and 3) determining if the purpose of supply is achieved. A case study was conducted on municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture through a questionnaire survey administered to housing policy managers of the municipalities as well as interview surveys with some of them. Two main conclusions were drawn: 1) local governments with small populations tend to supply residential houses to municipalities as their own unique measures when national financial support measures are not established, and 2) screening households to determine their eligibility for public housing support is in progress based on the purpose of measures for population decline.