The right to Adequate Housing - A case study of Tromsø and Umeå municipalities’ strategies to ensure Adequate Housing

Abstract

This thesis take departure in the concept of Adequate Housing, as a human right and the potentials for ensuring it as housing simultaneously is defined as a market good. The interest within the scope of this thesis is here on how local planning strategies for housing are related to their national housing regimes.

The thesis is designed as a comparative case study between Tromsø municipality in Norway and Umeå municipality in Sweden. The similarities and differences of the two municipalities’ strategies for housing is presented. The two municipalities are further analyzed in relation to the content of their national housing regimes in order to understand what room to maneuver it provide to the local level, as well as how the municipalities work strategically within this frame. An analytical framework consisting of concepts of Institutions, Path dependency, and different Housing policy-orientations is used to get understanding of the housing regimes and how they change. A Strategic planning approach is further to explain how municipalities can meet the challenge of ensuring adequate housing to their inhabitants. The analysis shows how Tromsø and Umeå has different tools at their disposal, due to differences in their respective national housing regimes. The analysis further shows how there are similarities between the municipalities in terms of ensuring adequate housing to the inhabitants in terms of affordability of housing, which is linked to the national policy level.