Grant project supported by the Czech Science Foundation, no. GA403/03/0417. The project started 1.1.2003, finished 31.12.2005. The head of the project was Martin Lux, Ph.D. The total financial support amounted CZK 2.2 mil.

Following the successful practice implemented in the EU countries the purpose of the submitted project is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the financial affordability of housing and housing expenditures in connection with general changes in theconsumer behaviour of the Czech households; analysis of the social effectiveness and economic efficiency of current and potential housing policy instruments directed towards increasing financial affordability of housing (social housing, housingallowances); analysis of the social and economic consequences of existing or potential supplementary state intervention influencing the housing standards of Czech households (the residential environment regeneration, civil/tenant participation in housingadministration, modernisation of housing, private-public partnership in housing services or social housing). The main results of the research work were published in annual reports under the title "Housing Standards".

Housing standards, in accordance with research conducted in the European Union (EU) countries, are usually analysed within the context of the overall living conditions of households and include analyses of the development of household consumer behaviour, the financial affordability of housing and the efficiency and effectiveness of the state's housing policy. The similar projects are also based on the creation of broadly used reports describing and assessing the current situation and suggesting practical steps for its improvement ("Conditions de vie" in Données Sociales published every three years since 1973 by INSEE, the French Statistical Office, Housing Finance Review published every two years by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in co-operation with the Chartered Institute of Housing in Great Britain). In many cases the practical impact of similar analytical materials and particularly their recommendations tends to be unequivocal because these reports are outlined in such a manner so as to make the problems in question intelligible to all representatives of individual interest groups or responsible authorities.

Following the successful practice implemented in the EU countries the purpose of the submitted project is to provide comprehensive analyses of the financial affordability of housing and housing expenditures in connection with general changes in the consumer behaviour of the Czech households; analyses of the social effectiveness and economic efficiency of current and potential housing policy instruments directed towards increasing financial affordability of housing (social housing, housing allowances); analyses of the social and economic consequences of existing or potential supplementary state interventions influencing housing standards of Czech households (the residential environment regeneration, civil/tenant participation in housing administration, modernisation of housing, private-public partnership in housing services or social housing). The objective of the project is also through reports under the working title Housing Standardsprinted annually for the term of three years on the one hand to describe, as accurately as possible, current housing standards (while always taking into account the research priorities set for particular year of the project), on the other hand through the comprehensive simulation modelling to discover the economic efficiency and social effectiveness of different housing policy instruments and using the knowledge of experience gained by EU countries, draw attention to housing standard growth potentials.