The fall of socialism in 1989–1990 led to the end of the East European housing model, which was based on the limitation of property rights, extensive central planning and politically determined allocation of subsidies. This paper aims to present a clear picture of the current housing situation through a reliable information system. The major observation is that in the countries studied, the housing situation is relatively good; it is not housing shortage, but die inefficiency of the institutional system, affordability and deferred maintenance that are the main problems. Based on the idea of “enabling policies” ‐ policies that facilitate the activities of the key stakeholders in the sector while providing an essential element of the social safety net ‐ the paper establishes the goals and objectives that should guide the formulation of policy and institutional reforms within the sector, and defines priorities for actions to be taken by national and local governments and by international agencies in support of governments.