The socialist home

In the national culture the house represents the heart and the symbol of Albanian extended families. Even the communist regime, which put in 
a deep crisis the system of the private property, never dared to deny this principle. 

Although, mostly in the early post-war years, there were thousands of cases of expropriation of housing, especially against rich traders and owners (called “Kulak”), during the regime Albanian citizens in general were free to buy a flat of their own. Houses that were for sale or that were built on the owned land, were mainly houses with one or two floors called (as they are still called) “private houses”. 

Much of the population that could not afford to buy or build a private house lived in rent houses that were property of the state where they had to pay a monthly fee. These state apartments were assigned to families with the permission of the party. A popular method for renting an apartment from the state was participating in its construction with voluntary work (because there were not enough apartments for all, it was given priority to those who contributed in their construction). If a state apartment was considered by the party too big for the family to which was assigned, the state could force it to cohabitate with one or more other families, though they had no connection with each other.

The houses were all very similar in architecture and decor. Furniture were purchased in the domestic market, in which were available several 
standard models manufactured exclusively in Albania, differed only in size and price.