Housing Experience and Settlement Satisfaction: Recent Chinese,Indian and South African Skilled Immigrants to New Zealand

Relatively little work has been done on the housing experience of recent migrants from cultural backgrounds different to that of their host society. This absence is particularly marked for relatively high socio-economic status skilled migrants, many of whom have to negotiate housing markets significantly different from those in their countries of origin. Data obtained from a panel study of recent immigrants from three separate sources—China, India and South Africa—to New Zealand's main cities (primarily Auckland) are used to explore the nature of their housing experiences. Over a four-year period these migrants moved towards the New Zealand norm of owner occupied, detached dwellings, although more rapidly in some cases than others; the pace of movement reflected not only cultural differences among the three groups, relative to the New Zealand norms, but also experiences in the labour market. These differences are reflected in levels of satisfaction with the decision to move to New Zealand.     

Quality matters: housing and the mental health of rural migrants in urban China

Abstract

This study goes beyond housing ownership and investigates how housing size, quality, and location affect the mental health of rural migrants in urban China. By using the RUMiC data, the results show that in addition to housing ownership, living space and housing quality are also significantly associated with the mental health of rural migrants. Moreover, with an increase in living space, the mental health of rural migrants who live in private rental housing tends to improve significantly slower than rural migrants who live in dormitories. Furthermore, housing quality and housing location do not moderate the effect of housing ownership on the mental health of rural migrants. This study highlights that it is important to go beyond homeownership and pay more attention to other attributes of housing when studying the mental health of rural migrants. Particularly, this study underscores that improving housing quality is an effective way to improve the mental health of rural migrants in urban China.     

Residential Distribution of the Emergent Class of Skilled Migrants in Nanjing

Migration in China is traditionally dominated by unskilled rural-urban migrants that find their way into the city through urban villages, dormitories or informal housing. However, a remarkable increase in the number of skilled migrants has been witnessed with the economic restructuring. Reforms in the labour and housing market have shifted the spatial arrangement of opportunities, consequently changing migrants' access to the cities. Using 2000 Population Census and employing spatial regression models, this study shows skilled migrants to have better access to the city in the sense that their residences locate in the areas with more professional jobs and better houses. It is their advantages in the labour market that determines their favoured access to the public sector housing, resulting in better residential locations. Female skilled migrants are less likely than males to settle in areas with a large proportion of urban village housing or shared accommodation. These findings reveal the heterogeneity among migrants and the concomitant differences in spatial behaviour.     

Housing Theory,Housing Research and Housing Policy

Abstract

Jim Kemeny in 1992 criticized existing housing research for neglecting social theory and being overly positivist and policy focused. The result has been a strengthening of the conceptual basis of housing research in general, but also a growing schism between researchers who focus on policy relevancy and those that pursue more theoretical work. This paper challenges this schism and argues for theoretically based and policy-relevant research. First, the paper argues that the policy-making process is complex and can vary between different countries, situations and over time. Therefore, it is argued that many styles of research can influence policy in the right circumstances. Second, the paper challenges the idea that there can be theoretically free housing research arguing that all research has a theoretical foundation even though in many studies it is not explicit. Finally, the paper engages with the debate about where theory for housing research should come from and what it would look like.     

Theory of Housing,From Housing,About Housing

Abstract

Four positions concerning theorising housing-related phenomena are discussed. (1) Theory of housing _(v1): It is possible and desirable to construct a theory of housing to which all housing-related research topics can be related. (2) Theory about housing: It is not possible, nor desirable to try to construct a theory of housing; one should rather apply theoretical resources developed in established disciplines and research fields in theorising housing-related topics. (3) Theory from housing: It is possible and desirable to theorise housing by scrutinising the nature of housing as a special activity and experience. (4) Theory of housing _(v2): It is possible and desirable to construct a theory about the invariable relationships between features of the housing system and features of society. Theory of housing _(v1) is shown to be questionable basically due to the fact that housing is not a research topic but a common denominator of various topics. Theory about housing is acceptable with the qualification that housing research can feed back to more general theorising. Theory from housing offers a limited perspective on theorising but it can serve as a necessary check to other theorising. Problems with Theory of housing _(v2) have to do with the balance between abstract generalisation and concrete empirical/historical analysis.     

Building a movement for the right to housing in Hungary

ABSTRACT

After short overview of the official policies as well as grassroots efforts around housing in twentieth century Budapest, this article introduces the struggles of a growing housing movement that originated in the work of the grassroots housing advocacy group, The City is for All and then led to the birth of further grassroots organizations focused on the right to the city.     

Nonsense on wheels

Abstract

This paper provides an analysis of spatial and temporal patterns in housing supply in Australia over the period 2005–06 to 2015–16. It shows that by international standards, per capita housing supply is very strong in Australia. However, housing supply is concentrated in areas with relatively high prices. Over time, some changes in the geography of housing supply are emerging, including a closer match between the supply of units and “job-rich” locations. This paper concludes by discussing how understanding patterns of new supply can help policymakers determine interventions that increase housing supply’s impact to alleviate inflationary pressures, hence improving housing affordability.     

Housing Deprivation in Europe: On the Role of Rental Tenure Types

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the link between housing tenure types and housing deprivation in 26 European countries. Empirical analyses are based on European Union Survey on Income and Living Conditions 2007, enabling comparisons of deprivation across a large set of countries. A multilevel framework is employed. It is hypothesized that the organization of the rental sector inherently produces different housing market dynamics, which is likely to affect housing deprivation rates. An integrated rental sector covering broader parts of the population is expected to reduce the risk of housing deprivation. Housing deprivation is measured in terms of experiencing overcrowding and while also suffering any of the following accommodation problems: a leaking roof; no bath/shower; no indoor toilet; or a dwelling considered too dark. The findings indicate a negative association between the size of the rental sector and the prevalence of housing deprivation. The organization of the rental sector appears crucial and only an integrated rental sector encompassing broader parts of the population significantly reduces the prevalence of housing deprivation and its components. This association is robust in terms of confounding factors at the individual-level and central country-level contextual variables.     

Social discourse,housing search and residential segregation: the social determinants of recent economic migrants’ residential mobility in Seville

Abstract

Immigrants’ neighbourhood choices are key to understanding today’s dominant socio-territorial dynamics, especially in urban areas. We analysed the factors involved in the housing search at the early stages of the economic migrant influx in Seville, Spain (Andalusia region, Europe’s southern border) and their impact on the development of residential segregation in this city. Using a qualitative methodology approach based on focus groups, unstructured interviews and discourse analysis, the implicit and explicit social determinants that influence economic migrants’ residential behaviours were examined. In line with previous studies, the results highlight the importance of socio-economic determinants and a trend towards self-segregation. Social discourse analysis reveals how the host society’s ethnoracial preferences and prejudices – from the outset of the economic migrant influx – translate into barriers to accessing the housing market, which plays a crucial role in understanding economic migrant residential mobility and its impact on and consequences for the residential segregation process.     

Access to homeownership in urban China: A comparison between skilled migrants and skilled locals in Nanjing

Radical economic restructuring has resulted in a large flow of skilled migrants into ever-expanding Chinese cities in the past decade. Dreaming of owning a home in the destination city, skilled migrants compete with locals on the housing market. It is important to know how and when people acquire their home and, by the same token, what prevents others from doing so. Based on the life histories of 804 skilled workers in Nanjing and employing event-history analysis, this paper examines the differences in the timing of entry into homeownership between skilled migrants and their local counterparts and identifies the factors in parallel life course careers that contribute to these differences. Results show a delayed but accelerated increase in the homeownership rate for skilled migrants, indicating an assimilation process. Migrants' later entry into homeownership can be attributed foremost to the limited intergenerational transmission of wealth, while restricted knowledge about the local housing market and later partnership also play a role. Moreover, the evidence suggests that the timing of entry into homeownership is largely determined by the availability of financial resources and progression in the life course rather than institutional factors.     

The effect of market conditions on the housing outcomes of subsidized households: the case of the US voucher programme

Abstract

Since being created in the 1970s, housing vouchers have become the primary mode of federal housing support for low-income households in the US. The voucher programme was designed to provide recipients with the mobility needed to secure higher quality housing in neighbourhoods of their choice. Decades of analysis suggest that the programme has failed to produce the favourable outcomes envisioned by policymakers. To add to our understanding of the outcomes of this important federal programme, this paper seeks to underscore the importance of context-dependent policy analysis. In particular, this study analyses the impact of housing market conditions on the outcomes achieved by voucher recipients. Using neighbourhood and housing outcome data from the American Housing Survey, and median rent and rental market vacancy data, this paper demonstrates the important role that market conditions play in programme outcomes. The results from this study suggest that voucher recipients are successful at improving housing unit quality outcomes regardless of market conditions, but the ability to move to a better neighbourhood is a function of vacancy rates.     

Demographic trends and changing housing systems in Northern Ireland

Abstract

This paper explores the dynamic interrelationship between demographic change and housing systems and the implications for assessing future housing need, including a review of the literature on demography and housing and a case study of Northern Ireland. The main research method is historical analysis of census and other data relating to changing population structures and the housing system in Northern Ireland between 1981 and 2011. These changes are compared to developments in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland over the same period. The paper identifies a long period of broadly consistent relations between demographic and housing system trends between 1981 and 2001, followed by significant changes in demographic trends and a turbulent housing system undergoing rapid change between 2001 and 2011. Our conclusions include consideration of the implications of this study for future analyses of the relationships between demographic change and housing systems.     

The Big Society and the Conjunction of Crises: Justifying Welfare Reform and Undermining Social Housing

Abstract

The idea of the “Big Society” can be seen as culmination of a long-standing debate about the regulation of welfare. Situating the concept within governance theory, the article considers how the UK coalition government has justified a radical restructuring of welfare provision, and considers its implications for housing provision. Although drawing on earlier modernization processes, the article contends that the genesis for welfare reform was based on an analysis that the government was forced to respond to a unique conjunction of crises: in morality, the state, ideology and economics. The government has therefore embarked upon a programme, which has served to undermine the legitimacy of the social housing sector (most notably in England), with detrimental consequences for residents and raising significant dilemmas for those working in the housing sector.     

Investigating housing tenures beyond homeownership: a study of informal settlements in Kolkata,India

Improving the lives of households in informal settlements is a major development challenge. Though ownership is the predominant housing tenure arrangement pursued in national and international housing policies, there is a growing consensus that forms of tenure beyond homeownership may provide greater benefits to some households. In Kolkata, informal settlements (bastis) are the primary source of affordable housing for the urban poor. Relying on detailed household survey data, we investigate the utility gained from the diversity of housing tenure arrangements in bastis and the factors that increase the length of time a household lives in a settlement, using multinomial logit and ordinary least squares regression specifications. Our analyses show that in comparison to ownership, leasing or renting benefits large households and new migrants. Our findings suggest that policies targeted at households who rent and lease, along with improving housing and supporting infrastructure, can be effective mechanisms for improving household well-being.     

Obligations and Expectations: Perceived Relationship between Transnational Housing Investment and Housing Consumption Decisions among Ghanaian Immigrants in Canada

Transnational housing investment is a pervasive practice among many migrant groups residing in various destination countries; including Ghanaian migrants living in Canada. For many, the need to engage in transnational housing investment is beyond the standard rationale and has two prime significance; symbolic and practical utility. Engagement in this endeavour requires substantial financial commitments over extensive periods of time with potential consequences for various aspects of immigrants’ lives in their destination areas including their housing consumption. This paper examines perceived influence of such long-term commitments on housing consumption decisions among Ghanaian immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The findings show that although engagement in transnational housing is associated with constraints on immigrants’ decision to enter homeownership, type of dwelling to rent and the neighbourhood choices, it was also associated with a sense of pride, success and integration into Canadian society. The paper concludes that a broader theoretical discussion of housing integration is necessary. Specifically, it calls for a redefinition of the measures of immigrant housing integration in particular – which narrowly considers destination parameters – to one that includes transnational factors as critical in moving the debate on understanding immigrant integration in general.     

Housing: an infrastructure of care

Abstract

In this article, we conceptualize housing as an infrastructure of care. Drawing on the recent infrastructural turn in social sciences we understand infrastructures as dynamic patterns that are the foundation of social organization. New infrastructural analyses attend to how infrastructures pattern social life and identify the values that are selectively coded into infrastructures, (re)producing social difference through use. We argue that housing patterns care across three domains: through housing materialities, markets and governance. First, we identify how housing patterns the organization of care at a household and social scale. Second, we attend to the relational politics of care through housing, asking how care is ordered through housing and to whose benefit. Third, we consider where and how care is located in housing. This third direction opens a substantively new approach in housing scholarship, identifying housing as a sociomaterial assemblage that is constitutive of care. We provoke housing researchers to ask: is this a housing system that cares?     

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.     

Understanding changing housing aspirations: a review of the evidence

Abstract

This article reviews the literature on changing housing aspirations and expectations in contemporary housing systems. It argues that there is a conceptual and definitional gap in relation to the term ‘housing aspirations’, as distinct from expectations, preferences, choices and needs. The article sets out working definitions of these terms, before discussing the evidence on changing housing (and related) systems. Emerging research has begun to consider whether trends such as declining homeownership, affordability concerns and precarious labour systems across a range of countries are fundamentally changing individuals’ aspirations for the forms of housing they aim to access at different stages of their lives. Whilst much of the research into housing aspirations has been considered in terms of tenure, and homeownership in particular, this article suggests that research needs to move beyond tenure and choice frameworks, to consider the range of dimensions that shape aspirations, from the political economy and the State to socialization and individuals’ dispositions for housing.     

Housing aspirations and obsolescence: understanding the relationship

This paper aims to consider whether there is an incipient problem of housing obsolescence in the UK, and if so, what its main dimensions are. It first examines how obsolescence in housing might be understood, and identifies four relevant factors: the nature of the housing stock; the expectations of households and how they are changing; locational and housing market factors; and the role of housing and urban policy. Using this broad structure, obsolescence and the changing aspirations of households are examined in two ways: first by drawing on an eclectic literature about housing, policy and household behaviour; and second by using evidence from interviews with housing professionals in the north of England. The paper concludes that there are good grounds for thinking that the relationship between what the housing stock offers and aspirations is under increasing strain. There seems to be a significant gap opening up between the qualities provided by new and by older housing, challenging longstanding preferences. There is an important set of relationships between tenure and obsolescence, with home ownership defining what is considered normal throughout the housing system. The findings also challenge the prevalent view that neighbourhood conditions are the key to obsolescence, as there is evidence of suppressed obsolescence and doubt about the strengths of some local markets where demand is apparently high. There is consensus around the desirability of local housing systems offering a choice of sizes and dwelling types, which many older as well as new housing areas do not.

Housing price dynamics and bubble risk: the case of Turkey

Abstract

Housing prices have increased substantially in some emerging markets in recent years. Turkish housing market has also experienced a boom over the last decade with rapid house price appreciations. This study is the first to employ two different house price indexes to analyze housing bubble in Turkey in two different time periods, 2010:M1–2014:M12 and 2007:M6–2014:M12. We first capture the determinants of housing price by employing Bounds test and then examine whether rising house prices have been justified by fundamentals by employing OLS/FMOLS/DOLS, Kalman filter and ARIMA models. The Bounds test results suggest that there is a long-term cointegration among house price indexes and housing rent, construction cost and real mortgage interest rate. The results imply that the Turkish housing market has experienced some cases of overvaluation, but not bubble formation. This evidence has several implications for house price dynamics and risks in the Turkish housing market. Based on Turkish experience, the study also draws policy implications for emerging housing markets.