New-town programs and housing schemes: a case of mutual path dependence in Iran

This paper advances the concept of mutual path dependence by investigating the new-town and low-income housing initiatives in Iran. Seventeen new towns have been established in the country. Many of them have additionally become major sites for Iran’s low-income housing scheme. The study employs a flexible approach to policy research to assess the two related programs. According to its findings, the initiatives have been able to offer less expensive means to homeownership on a large scale, with the more successful new-town cases acting as dormitory communities next to large cities. Yet, the new towns and their housing projects exhibit various infrastructure and service shortcomings as well as a failure to link to regional or national plans concerned with territorial balance, industrial development, and employment. More importantly, as the main source of finance in the new towns is opaque land sales, it has given impetus to property speculation and corruption. Despite these major issues, the current policy is to continue both initiatives. The paper thus suggests that Iran’s new towns and housing schemes exhibit related path dependencies. The continuation and progression of each program depend on its previous path as well as that of the other initiative, rather than sound policy responses to the prevailing circumstances and their challenges.

     

保障性住房融资中运用REITs 的探讨

目前我国保障性住房面临着资金瓶颈问题,这是制约保障性住房供给的重要因素之一,借鉴房地产投资信托基金（REITs）有助于解决这一问题。文章借鉴中国香港、美国和新加坡等国家的REITs 运作经验,探讨了在我国保障性住房建设中运用REITs 的可能性和条件,以及运作模式。在此基础上分析了在我国金融和房地产市场现状下发展保障性住房REITs 存在的问题,提出了相应的对策。     

Resettlement of Slum Dwellers, Land Tenure Security and Improved Housing, Living and Environmental Conditions at Madina Estate, Accra, Ghana

This research illustrates and analyses the effects of land tenure security on two groups of low-income slum dwellers of Accra (the Ghanaian capital) who have been resettled in 1975 and 1993. The problem of squatting in Accra has been attributed to deficits in housing supply and the high rents of decent accommodation which have left some of the poor with little or no choice but to squat illegally on private or public property. Due to the failure of previous policies to solve the housing problems of the squatters in the capital, this study was conceived to verify the effects of land tenure security and assess the merits of tenure security as an alternative approach to enable low-income residents of the city to improve their housing. Even though tenure security may not be the only condition needed to improve the housing situation of the low-income people of Accra, it can nevertheless be argued that observable improvements and transformations in living conditions have occurred among low-income urbanites that have some sort of tenure security. This research was therefore driven by the central question: to what extent is there a relationship between tenure security and access to housing, and improved living and environmental conditions? A mixed method research design was adopted to draw on relevant information for the research. The study revealed that adequate resettlement of slum dwellers and granting them land tenure security indeed enhanced their access to housing, and improved their living and environmental conditions.     

Exploring the Housing Pathways of Low-Income Women: A Biographical Approach

This research explores the use of a housing pathways framework and a biographical method to improve our understanding of the long-term housing experiences of low-income women. Biographical methods have been employed in the study of vulnerable and special populations outside of the US; however, there has been limited application of the method to examine low-income households within the US. This study draws on interviews of 29 low-income women with children in a large Midwestern metropolitan area to examine the nature of low-income housing pathways. The wages provided in the jobs that were available to the women in this study were insufficient to afford even low-quality, low-rent apartments, suggesting that the ability to achieve stability in modest housing is predicated on achieving much higher levels of household income. Federal rental assistance provided through the Housing Choice Voucher programme, rather than increased job stability or wages, resulted in improved housing conditions and stability for the women in this study. Biographical methods present great potential in providing a nuanced understanding of the housing experiences and life circumstances of low-income households and other vulnerable populations in the United States.     

In search of profit: housing association investment in private rental housing

The traditional mission of housing associations in England is to provide non-profit housing let at sub-market rents to low-income and disadvantaged households. And yet in recent years, large ‘property developer housing associations’ have begun to invest in for-profit private rental homes let at market rents. Despite long waiting lists for their accommodation, these housing associations are mainly letting their for-profit rental homes to middle-income tenants rather than their traditional low-income clientele. Drawing on a ‘historical institutional’ conceptual framework, and combining structural and ‘agency’ explanations, this paper explores the reasons for this new trend. It argues that investment by large developer housing associations in for-profit and more upmarket rental homes will become increasingly important relative to their non-profit social housing. Over time, this ‘partial recalibration’ of their landlord role is likely to gradually transform the institutional rules, everyday practices and norms that shape their behaviour.     

PhD students’ housing experiences in suburban Sydney,Australia

The place of student housing in the built environment and everyday life of the city has been the focus of much research. Much of this literature has focused on the experiences and impacts of undergraduate student populations. We bring to the debate a different cohort of students—those undertaking PhDs. Drawing on 30 interviews with PhD students living in Parramatta, Sydney, we position PhD students as a fundamentally different student cohort with distinct housing needs and experiences. PhD students experience a strong connection to their university as their workplace and require their housing to facilitate this relationship. The nature of the student/university relationship and the different family/age composition results in different housing needs compared to undergraduate students. Simultaneously, given that many, primarily international, PhD students live in the private rental sector, they represent a distinct sub-category of the low-income private rental market at risk of extreme housing stress.     

The importation of social mix policy in Italy: A case study from Lombardy

The proliferation of quasi-market rental models has characterised the rearrangement of housing policy in Italy. These new models aim to differentiate the supply of social housing by including groups from the middle class, and to remedy the traditional public housing system's tendency to produce spatial concentrations of low-income population. They are thus associated with the notions of tenure diversification and ‘social mix’. This analysis focuses on the rearrangement of housing policy in the context of Bergamo, by analysing the implementation of a new social housing model, namely ‘moderate rental’, and evaluating its effectiveness as a tool of tenure diversification within neighbourhoods characterised by high concentrations of public housing apartments and low-income households.     

A Critical-Realist View of Housing Quality within the Post-Communist EU States: Progressing towards a Middle-Range Explanation

Employing a long-term perspective, we explore whether ideologically rooted quality outcomes of housing provision under communism have persisted during the post-communist construction of housing markets. Drawing on theories of path-dependent change, we hypothesize that patterns of housing quality still reflect past lines of division, namely the Soviet housing model, and the classical and reformist models of the Eastern Bloc. Using a critical-realist approach to housing quality, we relate households’ experiences to key underlying structures; this ontological depth is then operationalized by means of micro- and macro-indicators used as input for hierarchical cluster analyses. Findings support our main hypothesis, yet there is more diversity in households’ experiences than initially assumed. Our study advances a valuable middle-range epistemological frame for understanding the complex social reality of housing and helps shatter the growing view that communist housing systems were all too similar.     

Towards a participatory loan – supported housing scheme: Helwan New Community, Egypt

Most of the developing countries, including Egypt, face problems of providing affordable housing for low-income strata. The evolution of these problems and their nature differ from one country to another, according to the political, social and economic contexts. This paper represents an attempt to provide an insight into the development of a housing scheme which offers a way of reducing costs without completely losing control of appearance. This case study, of low-income housing projects in Egypt’s Helwan new community, provides an example which serves to present the major common problems in such housing projects. The paper will shed light on the obstacles that were encountered when implementing the project and the recommended actions that should be taken in order to apply this policy. It is argued that the participatory loan-supported housing scheme is a means of creating low income and affordable housing in many developing countries.     

Barriers and outcomes in the housing searches of new immigrants and refugees: a case study of “Black” Africans in Toronto’s rental market

Toronto is Canada’s main port of entry for new immigrants and refugees as well as the country’s most culturally diverse city. It is also one of the most expensive housing markets in Canada. This study examines the housing experiences of three relatively recent, Portuguese-speaking African immigrant groups—the Angolans, the Mozambicans, and the Cape Verdeans—in Toronto’s rental market, by examining their settlement experiences and housing search processes, as well as the outcomes of those searches. The evidence indicates that most respondents experienced discrimination by landlords in their housing search (this was less of a problem for the Cape Verdeans, who have a lighter skin colour). Both Angolans and Mozambicans encountered significant barriers in locating and securing affordable housing in a suitable neighbourhood. The study also examines their relations with the established white Portuguese community. Clearly, race (the colour of one’s skin) still matters in Toronto’s rental housing market. Racism—whether real or perceived—can result in social exclusion and housing segregation of immigrant groups in low-income neighbourhoods, and thus a slower integration of newcomers into Canadian society. This study points to the need for more comparative studies on visible and non-visible minorities, including newcomers from Africa (whether English-, French-, Spanish-, or Portuguese-speaking), to understand why certain groups are more successful than others in finding affordable housing in a neighbourhood of their choice.     

Feasibility tools for urban animal husbandry in cities: case of greater Cairo

Productive urban landscape is a design concept integrating food growing and animal raising into the design of cities through public and private open spaces in an attempt to support local economic development. This research focuses on farm animals’ husbandry in cities as a type of local food production. Debates about governance tools for sustaining such economic sector arise frequently especially in Egypt, as one of the developing countries, striving to maintain urban quality of life, satisfy the community needs, and compensate the food prices’ increment. Accordingly, field questionnaires for residents of two rapidly expanding informal areas in Cairo (Zabaleen area in Agouza city) and (Masaken Osman in 6th of October city), together with questionnaires for experts and officials who are working in Urban Upgrading Units and those with experiences in the field of upgrading informal settlements were performed. This research thus aims at studying the feasibility and integration of such economic activities informally developing in unplanned areas in Egypt, as ‘new ruralism’, within the strategic and action planning of low-income and informal areas in a legalized regulatory system to tackle their challenges and enhance their economic role. Further, this research ends up with deducing specific values for prioritizing the types of governmental support (financial, space facilitations, social, and medical), as proposed by officials and residents representing the main incorporated stakeholders. This article also highlighted the unwillingness and the on-purpose ignorance of officials to sustain animal husbandry in cities, constituting a challenge that needs to be tackled in all developing countries not only in Egypt.     

Homeless young people ‘strategizing’ a route to housing stability: service fatigue,exiting attempts and living ‘off grid’

Abstract

While access to housing has been identified as a crucial enabler to young people exiting homelessness, relatively little is known about the experiences of youth who encounter barriers in their attempts to secure housing. Mobilizing a pathways approach, this paper examines homeless young people’s experiences of seeking housing in a context of housing market forces that blocked their efforts to carve a route out of homelessness. The research, which is biographical and longitudinal, was conducted in Ireland between 2013 and 2016 and involved the collection of data at two points in time. At baseline, 40 young people aged 16–24 years and 10 of their family members were recruited (Phase 1) and, at the point of follow-up two years later (Phase 2), 74% of participants were retained in the study. By Phase 2, just 24% of the study’s young people were housed, pointing to significant barriers of access to housing. Moving beyond the identification of the impact of housing market forces on young people’s ability to exit homelessness, the analysis examines young people’s responses, focussing on the strategies used by them as they attempted to reclaim autonomy and control over their housing futures. Implications for the development of sustainable housing solutions that specifically cater to the needs of homeless youth are discussed.     

Common Ground in Australia: An Object Lesson in Evidence Hierarchies and Policy Transfer

Developed in New York City in 1990, the Common Ground model of supportive housing has recently been embraced in Australia as a high-profile solution to chronic homelessness. Combining on-site support services with a congregate housing form accommodating ex-homeless people and low-income adults, Common Ground is presented as an innovative model which permanently ends homelessness, enhances wellbeing, and strengthens communities. This article critically examines the process of transferring the model into Australia's social housing sector, drawing on the perspectives of the high-level stakeholders closely involved. It argues that, despite official commitments to evidence-based policy, the ‘advocacy coalition’ driving this international policy transfer employed a ‘knowledge hierarchy’ wherein professional intuition and personal experience were afforded a higher status than formal evaluative evidence. The article provides an example of the contested nature of what ‘counts as evidence’ in housing and homelessness policy, and considers what role academic research – as well as other knowledge sources – should play in the policy development process.     

Band-aid or Panacea? The Role of Private Rental Support Programs in Addressing Access Problems in the Australian Housing Market

Australia has a significant private rental market with over a quarter of households renting their home from a private landlord. Many of these households are on low incomes and receive assistance from private rental support programs provided by each Australian state and territory. In spite of these large numbers, little is known about the effectiveness of policy initiatives to assist low-income private renters. Limited knowledge of the private rental support programs stands in stark contrast to the detailed research on programs established to address homelessness and problems within the public housing sector. This paper addresses this lacuna by reporting on the suite of initiatives currently funded by state governments to assist low-income households (for example, bond loans and rental deposits, advice and help with removal expenses). Based on a comprehensive study of Private Rental Support Programs (PRSPs) commissioned by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, it is argued that though policies to assist vulnerable tenants are acknowledged as a success by practitioners and clients, their effectiveness as a policy instrument is undermined by wider structural changes in the housing market. The paper concludes that the stress faced by many vulnerable households is likely to intensify over the coming years thereby compounding the pressure on state Housing Authorities to provide more comprehensive packages of support that extend beyond just a ‘one-off’ form of assistance.     

Too Good to be True? The Variable and Contingent Benefits of Displacement and Relocation among Low-Income Public Housing Residents

The forced displacement and relocation of low-income residents resulting from public housing redevelopment has attracted a great deal of research attention. Tracking studies of HOPE VI and similar redevelopment efforts in the US have depicted a record of mixed and inconsistent benefits for the families displaced. Detailed case studies of individual families are used to illustrate the variable and contingent nature of the impacts of displacement and relocation away from public housing. The cases presented here provide examples of how the experience of displaced families can change, sometimes dramatically, over time and how this affects their own assessments of the experience. Residents' perception of relocation is strongly influenced by their overall view of neighborhood restructuring, regardless of whether they themselves directly benefit. The findings suggest that qualitative and or ethnographic research into the experiences of displaced public housing residents can be useful in understanding how relocation affects the lives of very low-income households.     

Social housing management: Concerns about effectiveness and efficiency in the Netherlands

Recently a discussion flared up in the Netherlands on the effectivenessand efficiency of providers of social housing. Though most people feel that Dutch housing associations are run effectively, there are no data to underpin this conclusion. The government is not clear about the criteria for each housing association: most of the criteria are unquantified and, to some extent, contradictory. Nor is it clear whether every individual housing association has to meet these criteriato the same extent. Many more doubts have been raised about the efficiencyof social housing providers, as housing associations do not act as if theywant to maximize profits.Several suggestions have been put forward to improve efficiency: periodicalexternal visitations, benchmarking, the introduction of a Real Estate Index,and outsourcing a substantial part of the management and development activities. The main conclusion so far is that we are under-informed aboutthe efficiency of housing associations. Some advisory bodies argue that theoverall efficiency of housing associations would improve if they were transferred from the semi-public to the private sector. They claim that thedemand side of the housing market could be strengthened by the introductionof housing vouchers and suggest that housing associations opt out of the public sector.These options fail to take account of the fact that we are insufficiently informed about the efficiency of commercial players on the housing market and the inherent shortcomings of free housing markets when it comes to accessibility, affordability and quality for low-income households, externaleffects and the cherry-picking of tenants by commercial landlords. Hence, weconclude that until more information is available on the true effectivenessand efficiency of housing associations, there are good reasons to continue their current hybrid status, which combines public tasks and market activities.     

How much of too much? What inspections data say about residential clutter as a housing problem

How big of a housing problem is residential clutter? In this paper, we draw upon inspections data in Vancouver to both estimate the size of the problem and detail how it is observed and constituted through municipal regulatory processes. We contrast the inspections approach to residential clutter with the mental health approach, which focuses on hoarding disorder. Inspections data indicate the problem of residential clutter is potentially larger than might be expected by the epidemiology of hoarding disorder, and also point toward the many risks associated with clutter. Using our best estimate, approximately seven per cent of low-income, dense, single-room occupancy (SRO) housing units inspected were identified by inspectors as problematically cluttered, indicating a sizable problem. Larger buildings and those managed as social housing were more likely than other buildings to have many units identified as problematically cluttered. Strikingly, for given buildings, estimates of problematic clutter tended to remain relatively stable across time, inspector, and inspection method.     

廉租房PPP 模式的博弈决策分析

廉租房是我国推行的一项解决城市低收入人群住房问题的保障性措施,但由于政府财政资金有限,廉租房的建设目前面临着资金瓶颈,其供给远不能满足低收入人群的需求。为了帮助政府解决廉租房建设的资金困难局面,采用博弈论的方法,在论述PPP 模式用于廉租房建设的必要性和可行性的基础上,以租金价格、特许经营期等为研究变量,探寻廉租房建设过程中项目单位与政府之间的决策问题,并为政府提出了相应的建议。     

租赁型保障房经济激励机制研究

鉴于租赁型保障房建设目前存在的资金缺口以及其他国家保障性住房发展的经验,采用LIHTC 机制运用税收抵免吸引社会资本投资可支付租用住房建设,对解决低收入人群住房问题将发挥重要作用。介绍了LIHTC 机制主体及其运行模式,分析了该机制在经济激励效果、政府负担、有力监管、开发商融资四方面所展现出的优势。提出了创建我国租赁型保障房税收抵免经济激励机制的构想,从宏观经济流动性过剩与地方政府积极性角度分析该机制在我国推行的可能性,同时阐述实施过程中将会遇到的税收抵免分担比例问题。并为构建我国租赁型保障房税收抵免经济激励机制提出了相应的建议。     

德国住房保障体系及其对我国的启示

快速城市化和工业化成功推动了中国城市发展,同时也导致了严重的住房供需矛盾,低收入阶层住房得不到有效保障。纵观西方国家保障性住房的发展历程,各国政府综合运用了多种政策工具对市场进行干预,形成了有效的住房保障发展模式。其中,德国的住房保障体系建设堪称典范,其发展经验受到广泛借鉴。本文对德国住房保障体系的政策演变、资金筹措和监督体系等方面进行了分析,最后结合中国住房保障体系的发展现状提出了相关建议。