Athens' Housing Crisis and History
Athens is in a housing crisis.
Athenians are less and less able to afford buying a house, unable to pay their ever-increasing rents, and slowly are being pushed out of the center of the city. Greek households face the highest housing cost burden in the EU. But it wasn't always this way-- In 2005 nearly 85% of Greeks owned their own home.
So how did we get here, and what is the history of housing in Athens? We spoke with Thomas Maloutas, a professor of Social Geography and Thematic Chartography who has been studying Athens for decades.
In this podcast we dig into the history of the blocky off-white apartment buildings that seem to dominate the center of Athens, and how a mid-century land-for-flats system called antiparochi determined the urban structure of the city. Maloutas explains his research into vertical segregation in Athens, how it came about. and what it means for city dwellers.
We also explore how Greece’s protracted economic crisis has reshaped home ownership, examine the impact of short-term rental platforms like Airbnb on housing, and ask: what can actually be done to address Athens' housing issues?