‘It’s a matter of politics’: selective knowledge use in Danish housing policy

Understanding housing policy requires examining not only policy outcomes, but also how policy problems are constructed and which forms of knowledge are brought into policy design. This paper examines selective knowledge use in Danish housing policy through an analysis of the Parallel Society Act (PSA), a national framework mandating demolition, tenure conversion and the sale of non-profit housing in selected neighbourhoods as a response to residential segregation. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork and semi-structured interviews with policymakers, municipal officials, housing association representatives, scholars and residents conducted in 2019 and 2023, combined with analysis of policy documents and academic literature, the paper analyses how knowledge relating to segregation and area-based interventions was mobilised, reinterpreted or ignored in the policy’s formulation. The findings show that policy design relied heavily on administrative data and measurable indicators, while structural research evidence and experiential knowledge were marginalised. By conceptualising the PSA as a selective knowledge regime, the paper contributes to debates on housing policy design and evidence-based policymaking by demonstrating how political priorities shape what counts as knowledge in highly politicised policy fields.