‘Housing regime’ is a term that is used relatively often in
(macrosocial) research comparing housing policies and systems. However,
there is no generally accepted definition of this term. In this paper I
shall first scrutinise previous uses of the concept, starting with a
discussion of the most famous regime concept – the welfare regime. The
discussion paves the way for a redefinition of a ‘housing regime’: the
set of fundamental principles according to which housing provision
operates in some defined area (municipality, region, state) at a
particular point in time. Such principles are thought to be embodied in
the institutional arrangements that relate to housing provision, in the
political interventions that address housing issues, and as in the
discourses through which housing issues are customarily understood. This
definition is compatible with the path-dependence approach that has
been adopted here and with the aspects of reality that researchers want
to capture using the ‘regime’ concept.