Summary

In the last decades, housing policy in Chile has promoted homeownership through subsidies provided to low- and middle-income households to buy homes produced by the private sector. While for several years the housing deficit decreased, there is extensive evidence of qualitative problems, such as the quality and location of the housing units. Additionally, the past years have seen an increase in housing deficit, going back to the 1990s levels, which suggests that housing policy cannot only rely on these types of mechanisms to solve the housing crisis. In the past decade, policy has aimed to address these issues through different mechanisms, including the introduction of rental housing subsidies. Through the analysis of academic and institutional documents and evidence, interviews with key actors, and analysis of administrative data, this article systematizes part of the existing evidence and challenges on three of the main rental subsidies currently in place: the Rental Voucher, Housing First Program and Temporary Subsides for residents of informal settlements. Despite the relevance of these programs to address the housing challenges of some specific populations, the results suggest some important barriers and challenges that need to be considered. These are associated mainly to the sole focus on demand side subsidies, which is not enough to confront the increasing land and housing prices, among other barriers. The article concludes with some proposals to advance in the formulation of a rental housing policy in Chile.