Abstract Housing is one of the most important life components giving shelter, safety and warmth, as well as providing a place to rest. There is a lack of unified definition for housing concept in Latvia. The aim of the study is to define the housing concept in general in Latvia and develop proposals for the classification of housing. Principal objectives are to describe and analyse the concept of “housing” and to develop the definition of housing concept in general that could be used in housing policy in Latvia for developing housing classification and analysing the aims of the housing policy. Analytical research method and comparative research method was used. The results and principal conclusions are: The developed definition of the term “housing” and the housing classification could be used in developing and implementing the housing policy as well as for statistics in Latvia and in other EU countries.