Reconciling Policy Tensions on the Frontlines of Indigenous Housing Provision in Australia: Reflexivity,Resistance and Hybridity

In Australia, significant recent reforms reposition Indigenous housing provision and management in remote and town camp communities under the mainstream public housing model. Two competing discourses surround this shift: a federal discourse of standardisation and state discourses of local responsiveness centred on the introduction of new community engagement processes into Indigenous public housing. This paper reports on qualitative research into the micro-scale of policy implementation to highlight policy-to-practice translation on the frontlines of Indigenous housing. Based on interviews with Indigenous housing stakeholders, this paper argues the capacity to support locally responsive housing management is problematic under the current arrangements. The analytical framework of realist governmentality reveals frontline housing professionals' role in the local resolution of tensions between federal and state policy levers. A focus on agent reflexivity and resistance on the frontline assists in capturing the dynamic (hybrid) identity of Indigenous public housing, as an atypical Australian example of hybridity in social housing.     

On the Social Relations of Contract Research Production: Power,Positionality and Epistemology in Housing and Urban Research

The growing interest in reflexive social science has been matched by a voluminous literature on the epistemological consequences of positionality in social research. Inter-subjectivist approaches to positionality emphasise how social interactions within the field produce ‘interpretative moments’ and thereby consciously affect the process of knowledge production. Objectivist approaches to positionality emphasise the ‘background thinking’ that social researchers carry into the field, unexamined, as occupants of social positions that are class, gender etc. based. It follows that this (class, gendered) background thinking unconsciously influences the process of knowledge production. However, since this literature has had little impact on the field of housing and urban research, its relevance to these fields remains to be established and vice versa. In this paper, I discuss both of these approaches and find them helpful but limited in their relevance to housing and urban research. Since housing and urban research tends to be undertaken on behalf of ‘policy funders’, I argue that constant exposure to the ‘disciplinary gaze’ of those funders means that the positionality of housing and urban researchers is also moulded during the course of the academic career. This means that the positionality of housing and urban researchers is not simply established within the field nor carried into the field. Rather, the positionality of housing and urban researchers develops over time of constant exposure to the ‘disciplinary gaze’ of research funders and manifests itself in what Foucault refers to as ‘docility’, i.e. research practices intuitively and uncritically oriented to satisfying the needs and demands of research funders. I draw on my own research career experiences to demonstrate this argument and, in doing so, show how my docility manifested itself during recent ‘policy funded’ research into the housing and urban problems of visual impaired children.     

How to Abolish Public Housing: Implications and Lessons from Public Management Reform

The paper examines how public or municipal housing in England and Wales is being abolished and transferred into the housing association sector. A new public management (NPM) analytical framework is adopted which provides seven dimensions, disaggregation, competition, private sector management, economy, hands-on top management, standards of performance and measurement of outputs. Overlying these dimensions it is argued that there are two NPM meta-themes - externalisation (which relates to the first two characteristics) and managerialisation (the latter five). Hypotheses are developed to explain the differential impact of NPM reforms on the municipal housing and housing association sectors. These suggest that housing associations are externalised and highly managerialised organisations whereas local authorities display lower levels of externalisation and limited managerialisation. Analysis of the transfer process indicates that externalisation is driven by political and ideological approaches to public housing in addition to NPM dimensions, but that as local authorities transfer their stock into the housing association sector they are also likely to develop into similarly managerialised organisations. In conclusion the NPM framework is demonstrated to need further development whilst systematic research is required on management reform in social housing provision. The lesson to emerge on how to abolish public housing suggests the following policy formula: starve it of resources, create a hostile environment and wait, in the goodness of time it will abolish itself!     

Housing tenures in times of change: Conversion debates in Slovenia

The paper considers the recent transformation of tenures in Slovenia. It examines the process, generally referred to as ‘privatisation of the housing stock’. Basic information about the size and the organisational frameworks of tenures are given for the past and for recent years. However, the main focus is on yet another level of changes—those in interpretative frameworks of tenures. The starting point is that the debates on privatisation of the housing stock, launched by proposals for new housing legislation, presented a context in which tenures were discussed in a specific manner and in which a new interpretative framework emerged. In contrast to debates under socialism, which emphasised the social distribution of tenures, recent emphasis has been placed on the characteristics of tenures. Tenures have begun to be perceived in a new way. The new interpretative framework was looked at on two levels. Firstly, by examining the parliamentary debates about the conversion of the social rentals into private dwellings, and secondly, by surveying attitudes towards conversion in a representative sample of the Slovenian population. When compared to ‘Western’ debates, those in Slovenia were more conversion ‘campaigns’ than ‘controversies’. Further examination of a variety of arguments in favour of conversion has indicated a fairly strong support for it, yet shows a lack of precisely articulated objectives for the conversion.     

Portfolio Management in the Social Rented Sector: Valuation,Risk Analysis and Strategy Development

The financial aspects of social housing management are becoming more important for housing associations in Western Europe, due to changes in their economic and institutional context. As part of a trend towards the privatisation and decentralisation of public services, housing associations are becoming more self-reliant. Government financial support is decreasing and parts of the housing market are changing in response to low demand. To ensure that housing associations run an economic, efficient and financially sound business, knowledge of the financial performance of their stock is becoming more important for their investment policy. In the Netherlands, these general changes in housing policy, management and market have been a prominent feature of the last decade, and have resulted in a variety of responses under the general heading of asset and portfolio management. This paper describes methods for valuation, risk analysis and portfolio management for housing associations. The paper sets out the context within which Dutch housing associations operate. Existing methods for valuation and risk analysis are evaluated for their applicability to social landlords. These methods are placed within the business planning process to show how the methods can be used to inform asset management strategy. Finally the paper reflects on the implications for practice in social housing management.     

International comparison of social housing management in Western Europe

This article provides an overview of social housing management in seven West-European countries. In order to place the concept of housing management in context and allow comparison, housing management is classified according to technical, social and financial aspects of management. Housing management has become increasingly independent and the financial ties are becoming looser in nearly all of the seven investigated countries. Even though governments still play a major role in Europe with respect to the granting of subsidies, the non-profit institutions have to entirely rely on the capital market in order to obtain the required funds. However, in many cases intermediary organisations are still responsible for attracting loans. Peter Boelhouwer is a senior research at the OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies, Delft University of Technology. His research focus has been on general housing policy, housing finance and comparative housing research. This paper is based on two recent OTB-studies about the social rented sector in Western Europe. The first study was written by Birgitta van de Ven and was published in 1995 in the Dutch series “Volkshuisvestingsbeleid en Bouwmarkt” (26). The title of this report is “Housing systems in Europe: A comparative study of housing management”. The second study (Boelhouwer, 1996) is titled “Financing the social rented sector in Western Europe”, and is published in the series Housing and Urban Policy Studies. This project was carried out by the OTB in cooperation with the School of the Built Environment of the De Montfort University in Leicester (UK). This cooperation forms part of the Centre for Comparative Housing Research.     

Social Housing Management,Governance and Delivery in Ireland: Ten Years of Reform on Seven Estates

This paper examines developments in social housing management, governance and delivery in the Republic of Ireland during the last decade, using evidence from two rounds of research conducted in 1997 and 2007 on seven social rented estates, located in a variety of regions. Among the three most significant developments in this regard, the reconceptualisation of the housing management function has had the most positive impact on the views of tenants. Some aspects of the externalisation of social housing provision, such as the growth of the housing association sector and the use of PPP arrangements for social housing regeneration, have also been positive, but the future of this externalisation agenda is uncertain. The impact of the various reforms to the management of the social housing service, such as advent of strategic policy making and performance monitoring, has been uneven in some cases and uniformly low in others.     

Social Housing Agencies and the Governance of Anti-social Behaviour

Current policy and discourse concerning the governance of anti-social behaviour in the UK has emphasised the spatial concentration of disorder on particular social housing estates. Policy has sought to respond by devolving management of the processes of social control to local neighbourhoods. Local authorities, and social housing agencies in particular, are being given an increasing role within multi-agency partnerships aimed at governing local incidences of anti-social behaviour. This paper places this emerging role for social housing agencies within theories of governmentality and wider trends in urban governance and suggests that present developments may be understood through a paradigm of housing governance. Drawing on studies in Edinburgh and Glasgow, the paper examines the role of social housing agencies in the governance of anti-social behaviour. It argues that social housing agencies face a number of dilemmas in reacting to their emerging role and that such dilemmas reflect wider concerns about the new urban governance.     

The use and abuse of housing tenure

This paper examines the concept of housing ‘tenure’ and its use in housing research. We argue that this concept is in fact misused. This occurs in two ways. First, it is frequently assumed that taxonomic collectives of tenure like ‘owner‐occupation’ necessarily correspond with significant concrete categories such as housing quality or social status. Second, abstract categories like ‘housing class’ or ‘consumption cleavages’ are identified with specific tenures. In both cases ‘tenure’ is taken well beyond the relations of occupancy and ownership which the term actually describes, and in both cases this leads to severe loss of information and of analytical sensitivity. The paper challenges the use of tenure as some overall shorthand and ends by considering some alternative ‘shorthands’ which better describe the social relations of housing.     

Tenant Participation and Social Housing in the UK: Applying a Theoretical Model

Tenant participation is becoming an almost ubiquitous feature of the planning and provision of social housing. A range of opportunities has been (and is being) created by and for tenants to participate in the planning, provision and evaluation of housing services. Yet while local authorities and other social landlords may be keen to consult tenants, and tenants themselves often want to make their voices heard, there is a perennial problem in actually getting people involved. This paper provides a comprehensive framework for understanding this important question. It then reports on recent research that applies the framework in two different contexts: tenants' associations and tenant management organisations. The implications for housing policy and practice are discussed.     

The social construction of housing management

Although housing management as an occupational role has existed for over a century it has never received an adequate definition, and its scope and emphasis have varied over time. This paper locates housing management within the debates on the nature of the professions and bureaucracy, and suggests that these analyses are inadequate. It is proposed that a more fruitful approach in understanding the nature of housing management is derived from a consideration of its ‘social construction’. In support of this interpretation material from qualitative empirical research with practitioners is presented and analysed. Key respondents were identified as people working at the boundaries of housing management, such as in a caring or support role, since it was felt that the perceptions of such boundaries were important in defining the limits and limitations of housing management. In conclusion it is suggested that this is a critical moment for housing management in terms of achieving a more rigorous definition of its activities, and of seeking to resolve the conflict between the pressures to organise around commercial objectives and to provide a welfare service. Meanwhile there remains a somewhat paradoxical situation in that whilst the lack of consistent practice within housing management weakens its claims to occupational strength and legitimacy, these same inconsistencies permit individual practitioners the flexibility to offer a more responsive service to those in need.     

Are Housing Organisations becoming Learning Organisations? Some Lessons from the Management of Tenant Participation

This paper deals with the links between organisational development in social housing organisations and tenant participation, and asks whether social housing organisations through such practices can be said to be adopting some of the features of 'learning organisations'. It discusses the ways in which tenant participation arrangements, in addition to providing opportunities for tenants to influence organisational decision making, potentially serve as de facto conduits for organisational learning, prompting organisational adaptation and change. The idea of the 'learning organisation' has its roots in organisational theory and practice. It has also been used normatively in management consultancy, and it is a discernible part of the managerial culture associated with the present government's Modernisation programme. The paper has three interrelated aims. First, it looks at the scope of the 'learning organisation' notion. This is broadly concerned with organisational commitment to on-going development, and focuses on responsiveness, flexibility and capacity to adapt internally to external demands and pressures. Second, it considers the role that these 'learning organisation' principles play in the process of organisational change as this is experienced by today's social housing organisations. Third, it applies learning organisation concepts and draws on recent research to examine an aspect of social housing practice which acts as a key interface between social housing organisations and their service users, the management of tenant participation in an operational context, and discusses the extent to which such mechanisms might act as a conduit for the development of organisational learning. The paper concludes by reflecting first, on the potential of such conduits to encourage social housing organisations to become more like 'learning organisations'; and second, on the value of the learning organisation notion as a tool for understanding organisational development and change in social housing.     

Exploring Change in the Housing Association Sector in England Using the Delphi Method

This paper uses the Delphi method as a way of studying organisational and sector change. It provides a brief introduction to Delphi, its application to public management and its relevance to research on the transformation of social housing. It then describes an application to research on the future shape and structure of the housing association sector in England. The method is used to clarify areas of consensus and divergence, and to identify differences between types of association and key trends in sector transformation. Conclusions are presented on changing sector identity, governance, spatial level of operations, organisational scale and organisational form and on learning from this application of the Delphi method.     

Nominations: An Actor-Network Approach

This paper offers an empirical assessment of the potential benefits to housing studies of actor-network theory (ANT). Gabriel & Jacobs' paper in this journal has suggested that certain ‘classic’ sites of housing studies are being re-imagined by studies within the post-social turn. This paper is an empirical study of the nominations process, through which registered social landlords are enrolled into allocating social housing to households prioritised by local authorities on their housing registers. The study draws on three ANT stories—the nominations agreement, monitoring nominations and exclusions—to demonstrate how human and non-human actors interact. In particular, it considers how agreements, numbers, unsurveyed ‘customers’, or boxes on forms, talk, who does the talking and the purposes of such talking. The paper concludes with occasionally sceptical observations about the utility of ANT to housing research.     

The changing role of the Dutch social rented sector

The article traces the evolution of the research interests of Dieleman, an academic who combined the development of analytical models with explorations of the policy implications of the changing structure of housing markets. During his long career as a professor of geography, he championed international cooperation in research and played a major role in disseminating the results of Dutch academic studies to an international audience. His own work was concentrated on the analysis of residential mobility. But much of that work also revealed his interest in applying scholarly insights to policy issues. Throughout his career he showed a deep commitment to improving the functioning of the social rented sector in the Dutch housing market. After reviewing some of Dieleman’s major contributions to the understanding of the housing market, the article follows in his footsteps by analyzing the current use of social rented housing. In this way, this article provides an update on his field of interest based on recent survey data that underlines the validity of his insights.     

The provision of private finance for social housing: An outline of recent developments in funding existing housing associations in England

With successive Housing Acts in 1985 and 1988 the British government declared its intention to create an environment for the integration of social housing and private finance. This paper draws on empirical research to consider the success to date this policy initiative from the perspective of financial institutions. This research concentrated on attitudes to the availability and suitability of financial instruments for social housing funding for existing housing associations in England. After an introduction clarifying the framework in which funds are raised, the first substantive section provides an overview of the characteristics of the potential lenders to social housing in England and of the regulatory environment affecting their lending policies. Section 3 outlines the main uses to which funds are put and the types of financial instrument currently available to housing associations. The paper next examines the scope for increasing the supply of these funds through wholesale markets, particularly via The Housing Finance Corporation. One attempt to expand the supply of finance to existing associations through ‘credit enhanced’ funds is then described. The paper concludes by evaluating progress so far and by questioning the degree to which social housing will have to change if private finance is increasingly to replace public sector funds.     

保障性住房小区物业管理实证研究 ——以广东X 小区为例

保障性住房小区的社区管理是社会管理的重要组成部分。以广东省较早建设的保障性住房社区X 小区为例,调查了社区物业管理现状,发现物业管理公司存在服务质量差、居民对服务满意度低;业主委员会缺乏监督、内讧严重等问题。在此基础上,从物业公司、业主委员会、住户等方面分析了问题的深层次原因。最后提出建立政府主导、居民参与、业委会负责、物业管理公司提供服务、物业管理监督委员会监督的保障性住房小区物业管理新模式,并辅以建立多维度的物业服务评价考核制度保证服务水平。     

Promoting Responsibility,Shaping Behaviour: Housing Management,Mixed Communities and the Construction of Citizenship

This paper examines housing policies aimed at establishing mixed income communities. Based on stakeholder interviews and case study analysis in England and Scotland, the paper pays particular attention to the impact of interventions in housing management. The first part considers the policy context for mixed communities and considers the conceptual basis underlying contemporary housing management through discourses of culture and social control. The second part considers how this agenda has resulted in the adoption of intensive management strategies within mixed communities; illustrated in the development of allocation policies, initiatives designed to tackle anti-social behaviour, and proposals to develop sustainable communities. The main argument is that given that the concept of mixed communities is based on the premise of social housing failure, citizenship has been defined largely in response to private sector interests. This approach to management has been a contributory factor in the construction of social housing as a form of second-class citizenship.     

The acquisition and sale of properties by social landlords: Justifications and consequences

Building for rent and for sale and buying and selling properties are key elements in strategies for housing and housing management by social landlords. They are associated with making a better use of the housing stock, responses to changing patterns of need and demand, the process of neighbourhood renewal and upgrading and with strategies for tenure diversification. This paper outlines the different contexts in which acquisition and sale take place and draws attention to some of the issues arising from such activity. Drawing on experience in the UK, the paper goes on to suggest that the framework for the adoption of these policies is rarely simply a needsbased management environment and that a range of political and ideological considerations have been overlaid on these decisions. This is also apparent from consideration of other countries and it is suggested that acquisition and sale of properties by social landlords have different justifications in different regimes of housing provision. Finally the paper comments on the implications of different strategies for housing policy.