Social (and private rented) Housing in Europe
At LSE London, I co-developed research (2014-16) addressing the housing crisis that was affecting all Londoners, especially low-income ones. We focused – amongst others– on the European social housing sector, rise of rents and house prices, the unaffordable private rented sector and overcrowding. The outputs related to this strand of work, including films and film festivals, address the challenges and possible solutions to the housing crisis.
BOOK: The book (WIley, 2014; editor with Kath Scanlon and Christine Whitehead); provides an up-to-date international comparison of social housing policy and practice. It offers an analysis of how the social housing system currently works in each country, identifies European trends in the sector, and opportunities for innovation and improvement.
JOURNAL ARTICLE: Fernández Arrigoitia, M. ‘The Gentrification of Public Housing’ (2018) in Lees, L. and Phillips, M. (eds). Handbook of Gentrification Studies, Edward Elgar Publishing: Elgar Original Reference series.
REPORT: Fernández Arrigoitia, M. and Whitehead, C. (2015) ‘The European Experience’ and ‘Key areas for dialogue between Brazil and the European Union’ in Garcia Freitas, F.; Whitehead, C. and Santa Rosa, J. (eds) Housing Finance and Subsidy Policies in Brazil and European Union: A comparative analysis, Ministério das Cidades, Government of Brazil and Cities Alliance International.
FILM FESTIVAL: On Tuesday, 12 July 2016, LSE London presented over a dozen short films about different aspects of London’s housing crisis, creating a dialogue between audiovisual practice and academic research about the possibilities and limits of the contemporary housing context in London.
JOURNAL ARTICLE: Fernández Arrigoitia, M. (2017) 'Towards the dis-alienation, democratization and humanization of housing’. City: analysis of urban trends, culture, theory, policy, action, 21(6): 894-898.
![REPORT: Holman, N., Whitehead, C., Scanlon, K., Fernández, M., & Sagor, with E. Mossa, A.(2015) PRS Profiles: Learning from tenants’ experiences to improve private renting in London. [HEIF] 5.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/688cc32729d74d1c11b1ea41/2d66b5da-9a15-4192-802e-ee3bc80ab9fa/Screenshot+2025-09-09+at+19.27.06.png)
REPORT: Holman, N., Whitehead, C., Scanlon, K., Fernández, M., & Sagor, with E. Mossa, A.(2015) PRS Profiles: Learning from tenants’ experiences to improve private renting in London. [HEIF] 5.
VIDEO: (2015) PRS Profiles: The reality of private renting in London