ABSTRACT
The proportion of social rental housing has fallen very strongly in the former West Germany since the middle of the 1960s. In comparison with other European countries, Germany has only a small social housing quota but a high percentage of private rental housing. For the future, a further decline in the social housing quota is expected. This paper compares the definition of social housing in Germany with the definitions in other countries. It also shows how housing policy has responded to the declining social housing stocks and tries to explain the large private rental sector.