Showing papers in "European Journal of Housing Policy in 2015"
TL;DR: The authors explored the relationship between local or national housing markets and recent historic transformations in global capitalism and proposed a periodisation of developments in housing markets, policies and practices distinguishing between, first, the pre-modern period, second, the modern or Fordist period; third, the flexible neoliberal or post-Fordist period, and fourth, the late neoliberal or emerging post-crisis period.
Abstract: This paper explores the relationships between local or national housing markets and recent historic transformations in global capitalism. It proposes a periodisation of developments in housing markets, policies and practices distinguishing between, first, the pre-modern period; second, the modern or Fordist period; third, the flexible neoliberal or post-Fordist period; and fourth, the late neoliberal or emerging post-crisis period. This periodisation is a heuristic device that helps to make sense of the interdependence of national housing markets and the global financial crisis. The argument is not that the crisis caused the breakdown of the post-Fordist housing model, but rather that the shift to this model introduced certain dynamics to housing markets that a few decades later culminated into a crisis. The start of the Great Moderation was also the start of the financialisation of states and economies in various domains, particularly housing. In making this argument, I unpack the concept of the Great Mo...
123 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors assess how housing commodification in China has been used to cope with the impact of financial crises and open up new opportunities to boost economic growth and explain the major housing market cycles after 1978 and suggest an underlying linkage with macroeconomic measures aimed at making housing a more liquid asset and richer households increasingly using second homes as an investment strategy.
Abstract: The paper assesses how housing commodification in China has been used to cope with the impact of financial crises and open up new opportunities to boost economic growth. In particular, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, the injection of capital has led to a new housing market cycle. We explain the major housing market cycles after 1978 and suggest an underlying linkage with macroeconomic measures aimed at making housing a more ‘liquid’ asset and richer households increasingly using second homes as an investment strategy. Further, the Chinese form of development regime is examined, revealing the role of local government in promoting housing markets, on the one hand, and the concern of central government with property bubbles and financial risks – leading to the adaptation of a more regulated approach to restrict housing sales – on the other. We argue that housing market cycles should be understood by seeing how property development is at the centre of urban development in China.
109 citations
TL;DR: The normalisation of home ownership is well-rehearsed, yet ongoing as discussed by the authors, and this paper confronts its absurdity by way of four 'thought experiments' and concludes with a practical and ethical reflection on the future.
Abstract: The normalisation of home ownership is well-rehearsed, yet ongoing. In a bid to free up the intellectual, political and practical imagination around owner occupation, this paper confronts its absurdity. By way of four ‘thought experiments’, the text interrogates: a spatial paradox enabling housing services to deliver investment returns; a financial paradox enacted to wrest the rabbit of fiscal well-being from the hat of indivisible assets; some uncanny qualities infusing the security of home ownership; and the ill-fated anticipation that leveraged ownership might conjure something out of nothing where welfare needs arise. Having reviewed some limits to tenure-divided, ownership-centred housing systems, the paper concludes with a practical and ethical reflection on the future.
58 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors look at housing career pathways into precarious housing in older age, its impact on older Australians' ontological security and coping strategies as they grapple with the housing circumstances that typically accompany asset poverty.
Abstract: Over two-thirds of Australians are owner-occupiers and a majority of the population holds most of their wealth in housing. Australian taxation privileges homeowners and retirement income policy is built around the assumption that state pensions can be kept low because an overwhelming majority of older Australians are outright homeowners and therefore have a considerable asset base and low housing costs post-retirement, a situation often referred to as ‘wealthfare’. However, ageing of the population and falling housing affordability mean that the number of asset-poor older Australians unable to rely on ‘wealthfare’ – lifetime renters or those who drop out of homeownership – is likely to grow in the future. In this paper we look at housing career pathways into precarious housing in older age, its impact on older Australians’ ontological security and coping strategies as they grapple with the housing circumstances that typically accompany asset poverty. Based on 30 interviews conducted with older Australians...
52 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors draw on recent literature systematising policy failure and applies it to recent UK experience in terms of one key example of ongoing welfare reform, colloquially known as the ‘bedroom tax' introduced in April 2013.
Abstract: This paper draws on recent literature systematising policy failure and applies it to recent UK experience in terms of one key example of ongoing welfare reform, colloquially known as the ‘bedroom tax’ introduced in April 2013. Espoused as a response to the problem of under-occupation in the housing sector, the UK Coalition Government reduced the housing benefit eligible to working age social tenants deemed to be consuming too much housing (14% for one spare bedroom and 25% for more than one). The policy was but one element of the Government's wave of housing benefit reforms aimed at simplifying the system, incentivising work and substantially cutting costs. While there is undoubtedly wider support for the idea of the general welfare reforms, the bedroom tax has been both unpopular and has not worked in terms of its key propositions. Drawing on evidence more than a year after implementation, this paper stands back and considers possible multiple policy failures associated with the bedroom tax. This allows ...
39 citations
TL;DR: This article developed a relative measure of housing space consumption and applied it to England and Wales for 1911-2011 and found that the rate of low absolute housing consumption (overcrowding) fell from 49% to 4%.
Abstract: Low consumption of housing and housing inequality has generally been measured through absolute rather than relative standards. This paper develops a relative measure of housing space consumption and applies it to England and Wales for 1911–2011. Over this period, the population grew by half, but the number of rooms tripled. The rate of low absolute housing consumption (overcrowding) fell from 49% to 4%. However, using the Gini coefficient, inequality in housing space was almost unchanged. Using inequality definitions more sensitive to the bottom of the distribution, the century splits into two parts. Housing space inequality reduced steadily from the 1920s to the 1980s, but then the trend reversed, and by 2011 inequality had returned to levels not seen for fifty years or more. This rise in housing space inequality warrants attention. Possible explanations include increased income inequality, a reduction in social housing, the rise of one person households, and development of larger homes.
38 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the access to housing of refugees, considering it an essential step on the integration path and a precondition for the full enjoyment of social and civil rights as well as social services.
Abstract: The paper focuses on the access to housing of refugees, considering it an essential step on the integration path and a precondition for the full enjoyment of social and civil rights as well as social services. In Western countries, refugees mostly live in urban settings and local authorities' actions and decisions play a relevant role in shaping opportunities and obstacles for social inclusion. Lack of, or deficiencies in housing policies can result in challenging situations, jeopardising this path. The paper investigates the obstacles local authorities create through both informal practices and administrative provisions. The analysis highlights a gap between the national legal framework and its local implementation that creates major disruptions in the integration path. The paper takes the city of Turin (Italy) as a case study. A multi-method study was carried out to investigate these issues in the period between November 2007 and July 2013. In the case of Turin, within a scenario characterised by a huge...
36 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the differences and similarities in housing policies in four Latin American countries of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Colombia, using the welfare regime approach modified by a recognition of path dependence.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to examine the differences and similarities in housing policies in the four Latin American countries of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Colombia. The paper uses the welfare regime approach, modified by a recognition of path dependence, to identify a number of phases that each country has passed through. However, attention is drawn to the substantial differences in the circumstances in each country and the extent and duration of the different phases. It is concluded that it can be beneficial to use the concept of a Latin American housing regime, but that this general picture has to be used with an understanding of the path dependence caused by the particular context in the individual countries.
30 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate whether there are links between institutional context and the development of markets in home equity conversion that are based on financial instruments facilitating mortgage equity withdrawal (MEW).
Abstract: In this exploratory paper, we investigate whether there are links between institutional context and the development of markets in home equity conversion that are based on financial instruments facilitating mortgage equity withdrawal (MEW). Using secondary data and literature sources from six countries (Australia, UK, USA, Netherlands, Finland and Germany), the paper addresses two research questions. First, to what extent are there differences in the range and use of MEW financial instruments across these six countries? Second, how might the institutional context governing a nation's housing and capital markets support or hinder MEW in these countries? The paper concludes by drawing some implications for debates sparked by housing's changing welfare role as a means of smoothing consumption over the life cycle.
27 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used career interviews to explore the pathways of 77 very low income families in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area in the United States and found that doubling up with family and friends accounted for 30% (206) of the 683 non-institutional housing arrangements documented in the study.
Abstract: Priced out of the market and unable to access rental assistance, very low income households often rely on their social support networks to secure housing. In this study, we use housing career interviews to explore the pathways of 77 very low income families in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area in the United States. Doubling up with family and friends accounted for 30% (206) of the 683 non-institutional housing arrangements documented in the study. While living doubled-up, the participants in our study faced expectations of financial contributions and household labour, a lack of privacy and independence and crowded, often chaotic, living conditions. Doubling up was an emergency response to housing need for many low-income households in our study, but the erodent nature of this form of social capital suggests that it is as likely to exacerbate residential instability as it is to resolve it.
25 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyse how pension and housing systems together affect poverty among the elderly and find that pensions, since they often exclude particular groups, such as households with less than 25 years of employment, increase the elderly income poverty risk for those groups.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to illustrate how pension and housing systems together affect poverty among the elderly. We analyse Belgium, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands, each with different combinations of pension and housing institutions. Using EU-SILC data for 2009, we distinguish between income-poverty and deprivation, the former to evaluate the performance of pension systems and the latter to judge how the impact of housing systems on income-poverty translates into deprivation. The focus is on risk groups such as the separated, the widowed, the former self-employed and retirees with short or irregular employment histories. The findings are that pensions, since they often exclude particular groups, such as households with less than 25 years of employment, increase the elderly income-poverty risk for those groups. The risk of being income-poor is somewhat alleviated in the case of a generous flat-rate public pension, but even then households with less than 25 years of employment have higher levels of ...
TL;DR: The authors examines a number of consequences and contradictions resulting from a system built upon an inflationary regime in which economic security in later life depends on sustained house price inflation, with the expectation that the flat will eventually be monetised to fund the lease-owner's retirement.
Abstract: In Singapore, more than 85% of the one million households living in public housing own a 99-year lease on their flat. This high rate of ‘ownership’ has been enabled by allowing leaseholders to make pre-retirement withdrawals from their social security savings accounts for monthly mortgage payments, with the expectation that the flat will eventually be monetised to fund the lease-owner's retirement. In order to meet future retirement needs, the market value of public flats, therefore, must necessarily increase, preferably exceeding annual inflation, in order to preserve the capital invested. This paper examines a number of consequences and contradictions resulting from a system built upon an inflationary regime in which economic security in later life depends on sustained house price inflation. Having encouraged the entire nation to invest their retirement savings in owner-occupied public housing, the public housing authority and government together now bear responsibilities for ensuring both steady increa...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors draw on the concept of "right-right" to implement mixed tenure projects in Australian cities, despite questions raised about the soundness of the underlying assumptions.
Abstract: Implementing mixed tenure projects is an ongoing practice in Australian cities despite questions raised about the soundness of the underlying assumptions. This paper draws on the concept of ‘right ...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used social network analysis techniques to visualise and analyse potential real estate property flipping transactions which may be a type of investment in Mansfield, OH, and found that almost 50% of the mortgage grantees are from Ohio, which runs counter to their expectations based on the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994.
Abstract: The purpose of this exploratory case study is to use social network analysis techniques to visualise and analyse potential real estate property flipping transactions which may be a type of investment in Mansfield, OH. While real estate property flipping is typically associated with hot real estate markets, Mansfield's real estate market, interestingly, has been a cold one. Social network analysis is a method for analysing the structure of relationships among social entities through networks and graphs. We look at how homebuyers and grantees of mortgages relate to each other, utilising Gephi and UCINET software for visualisation purposes. We find that almost 50% of the mortgage grantees are from Ohio, which runs counter to our expectations based on the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994. We also find that the topological structure is highly fragmented. In some cases, the components represent only a single transaction between one homebuyer and one grantee. In other cases, th...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on aspects of financialisation in the housing sphere and examine the changing relationship between economic growth and housing commodification in post-reform China, and the growing policy tension in Singapore between maintaining property values and enabling affordable access to home ownership.
Abstract: We used to think of a house as a home; now we think of it as an investment portfolio. This is the underlying theme of the four papers included in this special issue. The papers are all concerned with aspects of financialisation in the housing sphere. Fulong Wu examines the changing relationship between economic growth and housing commodification in post-reform China. Chua Beng-Huat analyses the growing policy tension in Singapore between maintaining property values and enabling affordable access to home ownership. Manuel Aalbers proposes four different periods in his account of the shifting relationship between national housing markets and the global economy. Finally, Susan Smith explores the paradoxical features of home ownership and the possibilities of a virtuous housing system.
TL;DR: In this paper, debates in the Finnish parliament over the deregulation of the private rental market between 1990 and 1995 were analysed. And different discursive practices that were used to support and oppose deregulation of rental market in three different stages of the deregulation process.
Abstract: This paper analyses debates in the Finnish parliament over the deregulation of the private rental market between 1990 and 1995. In the European context, the complete abolition of rent regulation in Finland was quite exceptional. The liberalised rental housing market rapidly became such a normal state of affairs that since this time rent regulation has not been seriously reconsidered. This paper analyses different discursive practices that were used to support and oppose deregulation of rental market in three different stages of the deregulation process. The social and cultural representations of rental housing, the rental market, and tenants and landlords are reflected in political discourses and these reflections mould and remould housing policy. This paper shows what kinds of discourses were used in the debates and how they moulded rental housing policy. Deregulation was supported through discourses emphasising the market economy and freedom of choice. Opponents of deregulation, meanwhile, used discours...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the issues of abandonment and lot vacancy in urban areas in the USA and explored these issues in a different co-existence with the same demographic and economic changes.
Abstract: Property abandonment and lot vacancy are issues of growing importance given widespread demographic and economic changes in urban areas in the USA. This paper explores these issues in a different co...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify key shortages of social, knowledge and political resources for building institutional capacity in the Malaysian housing sector and propose measures to promote institutional capacity as a potential solution.
Abstract: Scholars have identified institutional capacity as key to effective policy-making and local economic success. The Malaysian housing sector has been found, however, to be afflicted with various institutional deficiencies: poor payment practices, a trust deficit between key actors, poor construction quality and housing oversupply, and an ineffective housing planning framework. These long-standing issues indicate a need to examine institutional conditions in the Malaysian housing sector and to consider measures to promote institutional capacity as a potential solution. Various theorists have put forward ‘recipes’ for building institutional capacity and identified social, knowledge and political resources as ‘essential ingredients’. The empirical research examined in this paper, however, identifies key shortages of these three resources. It appears thus imperative that institutional relations are developed in order to overcome communication barriers and power imbalances that will improve performance in the ho...
TL;DR: In this paper, Forrest and Murie's "Housing and Family Wealth" is reviewed and a viewpoint on contemporary debates surrounding housing and family wealth is offered. But the authors do not consider the impact of these debates on the quality of life.
Abstract: Housing and the housing market are apparently more central than ever to the shaping of life chances and to increasingly differentiated opportunities across the life course, with interest in this area growing substantially in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis. Twenty years ago, these issues were brought to light in Forrest and Murie's ‘Housing and Family Wealth’. This article reflects on the arguments set out in the edited collection and offers a viewpoint on the contemporary debates surrounding housing and family wealth.
TL;DR: This article argued that policies to diversify and regulate the housing sector constitute a radical political project to commercialise welfare provision and that these policies are likely to generate additional bureaucratic burdens and close off possibilities for progressive reform.
Abstract: As the housing affordability crisis in Australia deepens, policy-makers have expended considerable resources in establishing new regulatory practices to enhance the role of the community housing sector. Ostensibly, the rationale for a new tier of regulation is to assure potential institutional investors (e.g. pension funds, investment trusts and banks) that community housing organisations are accountable and safe places to invest. Our paper adopts an alternative reading of diversity and housing regulation, drawing upon the governmentality thesis advanced by Michel Foucault in an empirical study about the early stages of regulation of affordable housing providers. Amongst our claims are: first, that policies to diversify and regulate the housing sector constitute a radical political project to commercialise welfare provision and second, these policies are likely to generate additional bureaucratic burdens and close off possibilities for progressive reform. The paper also considers the value of the governme...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present evidence from the Netherlands to connect two issues that are mostly dealt with in isolation: the development of the squatters' movement and the increasing vacancy of offices in urban areas.
Abstract: This paper, presenting evidence from the Netherlands, aims to connect two issues that are mostly dealt with in isolation: the development of the squatters’ movement and the increasing vacancy of offices in urban areas. As a result of overproduction of office space, the shrinking number of employed people and the growing popularity of the so-called ‘new working arrangements’, the vacancy of offices in urban areas is increasing quickly. Urban managers are faced with a significant challenge of managing these empty spaces and this paper discusses how squatting, despite an unsupportive legislative environment, has historically proliferated when vacancy rates rise.In order to understand contemporary policy debates surrounding this issue, this paper first sets out a brief history of the squatters’ movement in the Netherlands, Europe and elsewhere. Dutch government has wrestled with the squatting issue since 1976 and has tried to control this movement by legislation. Hence, the paper provides a critical overview ...
TL;DR: In this article, a discussion of three controversies in Hong Kong and Mumbai is presented, and the authors conclude that in actual cities, there is often not a clear-cut differentiation between the interests of elites and underprivileged groups as both class and differ.
Abstract: In a setting of globalisation, rapid urbanisation, and neoliberal state restructuring, cities around the world have witnessed a dramatic increase in urban controversies over housing and other urban services. In theory and practice, the ‘right to the city’ is often invoked to support claims of underprivileged groups in these struggles. On the one hand, this draws attention to obstacles for inhabitants to access urban spaces (appropriation); on the other hand, it suggests that inhabitants should have a meaningful contribution to all decisions that determine the development of their cities (participation). Some argue that the right to the city can organise various underprivileged groups with diverse interests behind a common agenda for ‘real’ change. We reflect on that position through a discussion of three controversies in Hong Kong and Mumbai. We conclude that in actual cities, there is often not a clear-cut differentiation between the interests of elites and underprivileged groups as both class and differ...
TL;DR: In this article, a detailed quantitative study of the housing market in Liverpool (UK) is presented, which explores both the effectiveness of attempts to tackle market failure through the decade after 2000 and the impact of the post-2007 economic crisis.
Abstract: The case for intervention in housing markets often turns on the concept of market failure. However, diagnosing the characteristics of market failure is problematised by the fact that transactions in housing are so complex. From the specific geographies of neighbourhoods and hedonic characteristics of individual properties to national macro-economic variables and the effects of globalised financial services, the factors affecting local prices are legion. Around the millennium concern about low demand in some urban housing markets in Britain led to a Government policy known as Housing Market Renewal. This sought to stabilise market conditions, particularly through supply-side interventions. Building upon the work of Nevin and others, and through a detailed quantitative study of the housing market in Liverpool (UK) this paper debates the concept of market failure and explores both the effectiveness of attempts to tackle market failure through the decade after 2000 and the impact of the post-2007 economic cri...
TL;DR: In this paper, culture-led regeneration has been recognised as a mechanism of rebranding declining urban areas by providing cultural infrastructure, such as museums, galleries and theatres, and it has been recognized as a way of re-branding urban areas.
Abstract: Culture-led regeneration has long been recognised as a mechanism of re-branding declining urban areas by providing cultural infrastructure, such as museums, galleries and theatres. Whilst often lau...
TL;DR: The International Union of Tenants (IUT) welcomed Bradley's ongoing and significant contributions to debates on the theme of tenure neutrality, this brief response to his recent article in the International Journal of Housing Policy on tenant campaigns for tenure neutrality seeks to interrogate several key claims he makes about the policy positions of the IUT as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: While the International Union of Tenants (IUT) welcomes Bradley's ongoing and significant contributions to debates on the theme of tenure neutrality, this brief response to his recent article in the International Journal of Housing Policy on tenant campaigns for tenure neutrality seeks to interrogate several key claims he makes about the policy positions of the IUT. In doing so we also reflect on important definitional and conceptual debates surrounding the themes of tenure neutrality and universal social rented housing provision.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the wider relevance of land policies in relation to housing provision throughout the single European market and discuss wider relevance for land policies for social housing provision in general.
Abstract: On the basis of a ruling by the European Court of Justice, the Constitutional Court of Belgium nullified parts of Flemish housing policy in November 2013 because they did not conform to the rules of the single European market. Flemish policies which sought to prevent gentrification were at odds with the fundamental freedoms of the single European market. Obligations to promote the provision of social housing restricted the freedom of capital. The incentives and subsidies designed to promote social housing provision are deemed to be state aid. What is more, the promotion of social housing could be deemed as a public work contract and would therefore have to be awarded according to the European procurement procedures. This paper reviews this case and discusses the wider relevance for land policies in relation to housing provision throughout the single European market.
TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper pointed out that socio-spatial inequality in Chinese cities has brought wealth and prosperity to Chinese cities, along with disparity and polarisation, and highlighted the importance of social mobility.
Abstract: Staggering economic growth in recent decades has brought wealth and prosperity to Chinese cities, along with disparity and polarisation. Rising socio-spatial inequality is now conspicuously observe...
TL;DR: The authors of as mentioned in this paper gathered a set of contributions presented at the conference on "Infrastructure of Home and City: The Problem of Housing in Modern Urban Society" held at the University of Southern California.
Abstract: The book edited by E. Murphy and N.B. Hourani gathers a set of contributions presented at the conference on ‘Infrastructure of Home and City: The Problem of Housing in Modern Urban Society’ held at...