Solidarity in the housing sector: Civic responses to homelessness and housing poverty in Hungary

The paper gives an account of organizational aspects of two different organizations dealing with housing shortages and homelessness in Budapest, Hungary:  the Shelter Foundation and The City is for All. Hungary is a good case to investigate the nexus between citizenry, the private sector and the state in the housing policy area. Hungary has had a complex transition from collective ownership, planned production and relatively limited citizen participation in decision-making to a new environment based on majority private ownership, relatively liberal markets and at least in theory, greater citizen participation in decision-making. Its trajectory of its economic and political transition may offer explanations of behavior and lessons for citizen actors and policy makers elsewhere. In the modern urban environment few experiences constitute as immediate examples of vulnerability as spending days and nights in the open or in temporary shelters. The paper looks at how solidarity is shown towards people having had, or having, this experience and thereby contributes to the discussion around  the conditions under which solidarity emerges and offer insights into how it can be sustained, as well as some of its limitations.