The future of Dutch housing associations

This paper discusses the future of the social rented sector in the Netherlands. There are several reasons why the position of this sector is currently under close scrutiny. Whereas attention to social rented housing had lapsed by the start of this century, the growing housing shortage and stagnation in the restructuring of older urban areas brought this sector back into the political spotlight. Also the European Commission is having a major impact on the future position of the sector. The Commission has ordered the Dutch Government to establish a level playing field by abolishing the privileges of the housing associations. Against this background, this paper discusses the possible tasks and proper functioning of the Dutch housing associations.     

Stagnation in Dutch housing production and suggestions for a way forward

This paper examines the stagnation of the Dutch housing production in the late 1990s and identifies possibilities for raising production in the near future. Dutch housing production is placed in a theoretical and historical context. Special attention is devoted to the relationship between housing production, price developments, the economic cycle and urbanization policy. These form the basis for an explanation of the stagnation of Dutch housing production. In addition, it identifies a number of obstructive and disruptive influences in play. Because these are partly steered by government policy, the government needs to re-think its role in the housing (construction) market.     

A critical review of the modernization of Dutch rent policy

Since the Second World War, the Dutch rental market has been subject to close government regulation. In the 1970s, however, landlords started to gain greater freedom in setting the initial rental price and in determining the level of annual rent increases. In late 2004, the government announced plans whereby the hitherto cautious liberalization of the market would be continued with greater vigour. The proposed modernization of rental policy will be achieved by removing all restrictions on one quarter of the rental stock, and by implementing substantial rent increases in the remaining regulated sector. This paper gives a critical analysis of the new rent policy. This is done in the light of two considerations: the current context of the housing market, and the objectives and effects which the government hopes to achieve through the new rental policy. The author concludes that the implementation of this policy will have many disadvantages, and that alternative strategies exist which will not only serve to attain the objectives of public housing policy, but will have a less disruptive influence on the Dutch housing market.     

发达国家住宅适老化改造政策与经验

在对既有住宅进行适老化改造方面,发达国家已积累政策制定和实施的丰富经验.本文选取目前发达国家常见的三类老年住宅改造政策进行介绍,对每种政策在各个国家的实施依据和情况进行了论述,并探讨其对中国的启示.     

Housing Policy in England since 1975: An Introduction to the Special Issue

Over the past 30 years the housing system in England (and the rest of the UK) has undergone fundamental changes. This Special Issue of Housing Studies is based upon a major recent evaluation of English housing policy 1975–2000. This introductory paper outlines the aims and objectives of the evaluation, and its principal conclusions. It also sketches out the broader social and economic context for the evaluation, and provides a brief introduction to the substantive papers included in the Special Issue. These papers were selected to reflect the breadth of topics considered in the evaluation, and to represent the key housing policy debates and dilemmas that have contemporary resonance as well as historical significance.     

State intervention in urban housing markets: A case study of public housing development and change in Melbourne, 1945–1980

Abstract

The paper analyses the three major public housing programmes which have been operating within Melbourne since 1945 within the framework of the theory of the state. The paper also reviews the functions and causes of state intervention and assesses the utility of the theory of the state.     

Housing Policy Changes in Ghana in the 1990s

The housing sector in Ghana has undergone fundamental changes since the 1990s. Policy focus has shifted away from direct state provision and has moved strongly towards active private sector participation in housing production, financing and production of building materials. In part, this is due to the failure of public housing programmes, dwindling state resources, unimpressive performance of state-owned enterprises, and recognition that the government alone is unable to solve the housing problem. On a broader scale, the changes are rooted in liberalization ideologies that have swept through most economies in the 1980s and 1990s, which have had varying effects on people's housing need and on the national economy. The purpose of this paper is to examine these effects, to offer some interpretations, and to outline some of the lingering challenges facing the country's housing sector.     

Good and bad fortune of the plan for the construction of 5,000 (low- and middle-income) housing units in Brussels

Especially due to the impoverishment of the population of the capital, combined with the increasing tendency to family separation, the need for low-income housing is in constant progress in Brussels. Unfortunately, the public supply remains inadequate to absorb this demand. The Brussels authorities have actually started an extensive plan for the construction of 5,000 low- and middle-income units, but this plan is faced with, if not a failure, at least serious problems in its realization. But why is it so arduous to build social housing in the Brussels Capital Region? This question constitutes the object of this article.     

Residential Attainment of Now-Adult Gautreaux Children: Do they Gain,Hold or Lose Ground in Neighborhood Ethnic and Economic Segregation?

This paper examines the extent to which Chicago's Gautreaux residential mobility program affected children's residential attainment. Low-income black families voluntarily relocated into mostly white or mostly black city and suburban neighborhoods. The paper integrates quantitative and qualitative data collected eight to 22 years after participants' initial move into their placement neighborhoods. The primary programmatic goal of desegregation was accomplished; now-adult children's origin, placement and current neighborhoods average 85.6, 29.9 and 44.5 per cent black residents respectively. Now-adult children's residential mobility decisions have located them, on average, in ethnically integrated, low-poverty neighborhoods; children placed in mostly black, high-poverty neighborhoods and those placed in mostly white, low-poverty neighborhoods have relocated to ethnically balanced low- to moderate-poverty neighborhoods. Suburban placement was key in determining the level of children's initial relocation and current neighborhood quality. Now-adult children currently residing in suburban cities live in higher quality neighborhoods compared to those currently residing in Chicago.     

The future of Flemish social housing

Housing policy in Belgium and Flanders is directed mainly towards encouraging home ownership. Social housing in Flanders covers a share of 5.6% of the housing stock. This social rental sector is characterized as a safety net by some housing researchers and as a general model by others. During the 1990s and the first half of this decade social housing in Flanders became under discussion. The image of social housing that dominated then was one of increasing problems with tenants and neighbourhoods. Raising the income limits to get a better social mix was advocated by the sector and afterwards by policy as one of the solutions for these problems, meanwhile also improving the revenues of the housing associations. The political discourse however was very little supported by scientific knowledge. This contribution aims at clarifying the position of the Flemish social housing by describing the historical and regulatory context and presenting the results of the Housing Survey 2005. It dispels the misunderstanding that Flemish social housing is a residual model and explores different future models. One of the conclusions is that solving problems of the social rental sector may not occur at the cost of those who need affordable housing most.

Housing Stock Transfer in Glasgow—the First Five Years: A Study of Policy Implementation

In 2003 the City of Glasgow saw the largest housing stock transfer in the UK, involving around 80 000 dwellings. Since then, the implementation of the stock transfer policy has been heavily criticised. This paper uses a framework developed from implementation studies to analyse why this policy has been susceptible to difficulties and to reflect upon the important elements of a revised analytical framework. The paper finds that the study of policy implementation must contain an appreciation of the effects of having multiple policy objectives, multiple layers of governance and multiple actors involved in policy delivery. Additional elements of a policy implementation framework are: the specification of the stages of implementation; consideration of interactions between policy objectives; the need for government to oversee and ensure the effective management of policy networks; and finally, consideration of the effects of competing political interests and perspectives.     

“Thank heavens for the lease”: histories of shared ownership

Drawing on and developing Kingdon’s multiple streams analysis, this article examines the development of one aspect of the UK’s low cost home ownership programme: shared ownership. We demonstrate how key human and non-human policy entrepreneurs were able to set the agenda from 1973–1983 in favour of shared ownership; they neutralized the alternatives, while retaining some of their instruments; and solved a number of early problems by bringing key players into the programme. Our data-sets include a range of archival material and elite interviews. The policy entrepreneurs included John Stanley (who was the housing minister in the First Thatcher government), the National Federation of Housing Associations, and the Building Societies Association. Our development of the multiple streams analysis is to argue that documents, including the lease, act as policy entrepreneurs in their own right. The lease was central to the development of shared ownership and its transformation into a model lease enrolled other organizations, most critically the building societies.     

Mortgage interest deductibility and homeownership in the Netherlands

This paper considers the growing amount of mortgage interest paid in the Netherlands against the background of its full fiscal deductibility, increasing homeownership rates, innovation in the mortgage market, and changes in the Dutch income tax system. Its main conclusion is that arguments in favor of fiscal deductibility are weak. Since the deductibility puts pressure on the income tax base, it is likely that sooner or later the facility must be limited or abandoned.

‘The party’s over’: critical junctures,crises and the politics of housing policy

The key argument set out in this article is that historical and comparative forms of investigation are necessary if we are to better understand the ambitions and scope of contemporary housing interventions. To demonstrate the veracity of our claim, we have set out an analysis of the UK housing polices enacted in the mid-1970s as a basis for comparison with those pursued 40 years later. The article begins with a critical summary of some of the methodological approaches adopted by researchers used to interpret housing policy. In the main section, we present our critical analysis of housing policy reforms (implemented by the Labour government between 1974 and 1979) noting both their achievements and limitations. In the concluding section, we use our interpretation of this period as a basis to judge contemporary housing policy and reflect on the methodological issues that arise from our analysis.