The project, “Establishing a revolving fund to invest in quality, affordable housing in Latvia”, was funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument, and implemented by the OECD, in co‑operation with the Directorate‑General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM). The views herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official position of the European Union.
This report was drafted jointly by the Social Spending, Housing, Gender, Family and Child Policies Team in the OECD Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Directorate (ELS) and the Policy Advice Team in the OECD Economics Department (ECO).
Special thanks to Raluca Painter, Head; Ciresica Feyer, Deputy Head; Rima Joujou-Deljkic, Policy Officer; and Giulia Porino, Policy Officer, Labour Market, Education, Health and Social Services Unit (DG REFORM). Marko Bucik (formerly DG REFORM) helped shape the project in the inception phase.
The work relied on close co‑operation with the Latvian Ministry of Economics. Special thanks for the extensive inputs and support of Edmunds Valantis, State Secretary, Ilze Beināre Deputy State Secretary, and Mārtiņš Auders, Head of Housing Department, together with the project team at the Ministry’s Housing Department: Agita Fernāte, Senior Officer; Niks Balinskis, Senior Officer; and Rūta Lastovska, Officer. The Secretariat is also grateful to Skaidrīte Rancāne‑Slavinska, Economic Counsellor, Permanent Delegation of Latvia to the OECD, for her contributions and support to the project.
The report benefitted from the extensive inputs and insights from government officials and international experts in OECD peer countries, including through a series of expert workshops on housing affordability organised over the course of the project. Special thanks to officials and experts from Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Slovenia: Christian Zenz, Austrian Federal Ministry for Digitalisation and Economic Affairs, Michaela Zadrazil, Regional Government of Lower Austria (Niederösterreich), Bernd Riessland and Gerald Kössl, Austrian Federation of Limited Profit Housing Associations; Lise Heinesen, Head of Division, and Jacob Østlund Jacobsen, Chief Advisor, Danish Housing and Planning Agency; Morten Lund, Team Leader, Public Housing Unit, Copenhagen Municipality; Bent Madsen, Director, BL (Danmarks Almene Boliger); Peter Jayaswal, CEO, Finans Danmark; Jelte Theisens, Deputy Head of the Housing Associations Department, Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations; Margit Jókövi, Advisor, Dutch Housing Association Authority (Autoriteit woningco‑operaties); Rob Ravestein, Senior Project Leader, Dutch Association of Housing Corporations (AEDES); Rene Goorden, Housing Association Specialist, BNG Bank, the Netherlands; Jelmer Martens and Bas Burggraaf, Risk Managers, Waarborgfonds Sociale Woningbouw (WSW), the Netherlands; Alen Červ, Senior Advisor, Housing Department, Slovenian Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning; Mojca Štritof-Brus, Deputy Director, Housing Fund of the Republic of Slovenia; Sašo Rink, Director, Public Housing Fund, Ljubljana Municipality.
An earlier version of the report was discussed at a workshop jointly organised with the delegates of the OECD Economic and Development Review Committee and the OECD Working Party on Social Policy. Thanks are extended to the participants for valuable comments and insights.