Luxembourg's Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning has announced the publication of a new report on the residential satisfaction of households.
"Note 36" of the Housing Observatory compares the level of residential satisfaction of households residing in different types of housing in Luxembourg. In particular, it compares the residential satisfaction of tenants and owners, depending on their status as beneficiaries of affordable housing or not. According to the law on "affordable housing" (2023), the affordable housing stock includes homes which have benefited from: (i) building aid for the construction of affordable rental housing or affordable/moderate cost housing for sale; (ii) financial participation in the context of social rental management (GLS).
The study is based on data from the "affordable housing" survey of more than 5,000 Luxembourg residents conducted by the Housing Observatory in 2023. Its objective was to compare the situation of tenant and owner households living in affordable housing with those living in rented housing or housing purchased on the private market (and without individual housing assistance). Due to insufficient numbers of respondents living in traditional affordable rental housing or under the GLS regime, the authors did not present all statistics for each subgroup separately. The heterogeneous category "tenants of affordable housing" covers different types of lease contract and rent levels.
Among all respondents, 56% believed they could choose the characteristics of the housing they occupy. Non-beneficiary owners were the households most often concerned (66%). Generally speaking, more than 80% of owners and around 60% of tenants said they were (very) satisfied overall with their accommodation. On the other hand, 19% of respondents were (very) dissatisfied with the energy consumption of their home - this was particularly the case for tenants.
In addition, the share of dissatisfied people was higher among tenant-beneficiaries of housing under the GLS regime (30%) compared to those in traditional affordable rental housing (17%).
In terms of the direct environment, nearly 80% of respondents were (very) satisfied with their neighbourhood of residence, with little difference between beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. Concerning the specific characteristics of the neighbourhood, respondents were mainly dissatisfied with the supply of local shops (22%) and the level of pollution (21%). Owners were slightly more dissatisfied than tenants.
In addition, the place of residence influenced the responses: respondents living in rural municipalities more often expressed their dissatisfaction with the offer of local shops, while those living in Luxembourg City were more often dissatisfied with the level of pollution.
Overall, the study shows that there is a gap between the level of housing satisfaction of tenants and owners. Non-beneficiary tenants and tenants of housing under the GLS regime were those who most often reported having encountered problems. These problems mainly concern new tenants (who moved in during the year).
According to the ministry, this observation questions the state of maintenance of housing rented on the private market. The ministry added that this makes it necessary to create objective indicators to monitor changes in housing conditions in this market segment. In addition, the practices and motivations of landlords in terms of (non)renovation of rental housing should be studied.
Although the majority of respondents, whatever their status, expressed satisfaction with the neighbourhood of residence, the dissatisfaction of some with the amenities of the neighbourhood highlights the need to deepen reflection on the future of neighbourhoods (functional diversity, proximity), based on the needs and expectations of future residents.
The ministry concluded that the affordable housing survey is a "very rich" source of data which could be repeated. However, measures should be taken to increase the proportion of respondents among occupants of affordable housing or those with poor housing conditions. In addition, the ministry deemed it necessary to collect more precise information about the place of residence of respondents in order to be able to determine a set of objective descriptive indicators.
