Nonprofit housing organizations and the challenges of their development in Croatia

This text is the result of years-long research on the role of nonprofit housing organizations in housing policies, and on the opportunities for their development in Croatia. A part of the research that refers to the Croatian circumstances has the characteristics of an oriented research. The first part of the paper analyses the development and the role of nonprofit housing organizations in the developed countries. The author warns about the various typologies of these organizations, their hybrid and intermediary character, and meeting the housing needs of different social groups. The marked role of nonprofit housing organizations in Austria and Ireland provides a broader insight into the accomplishments of these organizations in housing policies with different traditions. Nonprofit housing organizations appear as important participants of social policies in transitional countries. Housing co-operatives as nonprofit housing organizations have a certain tradition in Croatia. Towards the end of the 1990s, they played a recognisable role in meeting the housing needs. In the beginning of the 1990s, the state withdrew from housing policy, and housing co-operatives lost their former privileges. Besides, a part of housing co-operatives show that they can offer lower housing prices and housing of more quality on the housing market. Recent government measures indicate unsustainability of housing programmes conducted from above, and underhandedly provide an opportunity for the development of nonprofit housing organizations. The paper analyses the strengths and weaknesses of the development of the concept of nonprofit housing organizations, and refers to the research that could provide new arguments in favour of the development of housing co-operatives as intermediary organisations.