Since after the World War II, local municipalities, local housing corporations and Urban Renaissance Agency (formerly known as Japan Housing Corporation) had long contributed to housing affordability by constructing a substantial number of public houses in Japan. Today, their role has shifted to the management and redevelopment of the stocks. This paper, based on documentary and statistical analyses, interviews and case studies of 6 typical projects, describes current states and issues of public housing redevelopment projects with Public-Private Partnership approach in Japan, which for financial reasons have been carried out as a combination of rebuilding of existing public rental houses on reduced site area and new constructions by private developers on the surplus lots. As for the latter, lots are either sold or leased to private enterprises, and they build condominiums, detached houses for sale and/or medical/welfare facilities. From the viewpoint of public interests which public housing has long secured in social and spatial aspects in the neighborhood, it is crucial how communities can be integrated after the development, how profit oriented developers can contribute to making public spaces in cooperation with public bodies. Considering the growing number of housing privatization projects, this paper summarizes the lessons from past/ongoing practices.
