Greece at rock bottom in social housing

When a law abolishing the Workers' Housing Organization was passed in 2012 as part of a package of stringent austerity measures, Greece gave up the last tool of state intervention in the real estate market. So long as the rate of homeownership remained high, the recession continued to suppress property prices and interest rates stayed low, the housing problem could remain safely under the carpet.

That is certainly no longer the case. The cost of buying or renting a house is rising exponentially and far outpacing any growth in incomes, and demand for residential property is outpacing supply, putting a tremendous amount of pressure on the 30% of the population that doesn't have a home to call its own. And now the country is facing the challenge of essentially rebuilding the institution of social housing from scratch to address the crisis and cover the huge gap with other...