Geography and Trade

Social housing has been an important part in Europe’s housing provision for many decades both in terms of investment in new build and regeneration but also in providing adequate affordable housing for a wide range of European citizens. This role has been seen to be under threat especially since the 1980s as public expenditure pressures have grown, liberalisation and privatisation have become more important and alternative tenures have become more readily available.1 This paper draws out some of the most important trends in the scale of social housing in countries across Europe; clarifies who lives in the sector and under what terms and conditions, and then discusses some of the drivers behind these trends and implications for the future provision of social housing.2 In particular it addresses the extent to which social housing contributes to ensuring that households can access adequate standard accommodation at a price they can afford in different contexts within the European Union. It also looks to the challenges faced by the sector and its role in the future.

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Social housing in Europe

Breaking new ground.

Unlike debates about security for owner occupiers which recognise that security is complex and multi-layered, security for renters is often presented as single dimensional and conflated with de jure security of tenure, deriving from a property rights perspective. This article proposes a broader concept of ‘secure occupancy’ to enable a more nuanced understanding of security for tenants. A new framework is developed to enable investigation of the dynamic interactions between legislation/regulation, housing market conditions, public policies and cultural norms around renting, which shape security of occupancy for tenants. The paper illustrates this approach, drawing on a study of the rental systems of nine developed countries, identifying key factors that appear to have a strong bearing on strengthening, and weakening, of security of occupancy for renter households. The article concludes that this approach has the potential to deepen understanding of security for renters and to stimulate new avenues for res...

Secure Occupancy: A New Framework for Analysing Security in Rental Housing

The once clear demarcation of funding and roles of the social and market rental sectors seems to have become blurred in a number of European countries. Social renting is no longer provided only by non-profit organisations. The extent to which a gap can be identified between the social and market rental sectors in six countries in north-west Europe (England, Flanders (Belgium), France, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands) is the central issue in this book. The gap depends on similarities and differences between the two rental sectors. From an empirical viewpoint it conveys who provides what in rental housing, the government policies that are relevant and the outcomes that are achieved. From a theoretical point of view the gap is about the extent to which accommodation in the two sectors can be considered as substitutes by consumers and whether landlords are rivals in attracting tenants.

Bridging the gap between social and market rented housing in six European countries

This article examines the determinants of homeownership among young people in China. More specifically, it aims to shed light on the shifting importance of the state (through ‘redistributive power’) and the ability of young people to compete in housing markets (‘market ability’) after more than three decades of market transition. Through an analysis of data from the China General Social Survey, the paper quantifies the impacts of four types of determinant on young people's access to homeownership: political affiliation, organisational affiliation, territorial affiliation, and market ability. Results show that a redistributive power (through territorial, political, and organisational affiliation) still influences access to housing, mainly in the form of territorial affiliation (hukou registration). Higher market ability does not contribute to homeownership but is related to independent living. The paper points to three housing policy priorities to improve young people's housing opportunities: reduce inequa...

https://tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14616718.2015.1135857

The changing determinants of homeownership amongst young people in urban China

This paper reflects on the different faces of asset-based welfare from both a theoretical and an empirical perspective. It shows that asset-based welfare can be perceived as a lever for welfare state restructuring but also as an instrument for poverty eradication. In most countries, asset-based welfare policies focus on stimulating home-ownership. The general idea is that by becoming a homeowner, households build up equity that can be released for care and pension purposes in old age. However, there are signs that such policies increase inequality between homeowners (depending on the location of the dwelling and/or the period in which it was bought), but particularly so between homeowners and tenants. We therefore contend that home-ownership based welfare policies need a clear and fundamental specification of the role of the government: how to deal with housing market risks and how to prevent politically unacceptable levels of inequality and exclusion?

/pdf/the-janus-face-of-homeownership-based-welfare-384xc9b330.pdf

The Janus Face of Homeownership-based Welfare

Conventional wisdom holds that South African housing policy is mainly based on neoliberal principles although some scholars have noted the hybrid nature of welfare programmes. This is because most authors interpret the country’s housing landscape within the dichotomous framework of political economic theory (neoliberalism vs. critical lenses). These analyses do not consider welfare state theories, and most authors end up applying a neoliberal label to South African housing policy and practice. In contrast, this study takes a welfare state perspective. It starts off with a description of Esping-Andersen’s welfare state theory and Hoekstra’s application of this theory to the field of housing, resulting in a housing system typology that distinguishes between social democratic, corporatist and liberal housing systems. In the second part of the study, the post-apartheid development of South African housing policy is reinterpreted through the lens of this housing system typology. Our conclusion is that ...

Joris Hoekstra

Papers

Bridging the gap between social and market rented housing in six European countries

The changing determinants of homeownership amongst young people in urban China

The Janus Face of Homeownership-based Welfare

Reinterpreting South African Housing Policy through Welfare State Theory

Housing Policies in the European Union , Christian Donner