Some recent work in housing research seems to downplay the role of politics in forming the content of housing policy. Building on the “power resources” and “state autonomy” approaches developed in welfare state research, this article outlines an explanatory framework including ideological and constituent factors most important to policy choice, as well as such institutional factors which may hamper or help policy choice. Using the Swedish debate over the 1984 housing tax proposal, it is shown that parties on each side of the capital-labour divide recommend policy alternatives which are (a) in line with their ideological preferences, and (b) conducive to satisfying the perceived demands of the parties' main constituencies. It is concluded that while economic factors may initiate policy action, ideological, political, and institutional factors are decisive for the content of such action.
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