The Place of Housing Stability in HIV Research: A Critical Review of the Literature

There exists a wealth of literature investigating the association between housing stability and the health of people living with, or at risk of acquiring, HIV. Following a review of the limitations of prevailing housing status measures, the concepts underlying definitions of housing status in HIV literature are presented. This review concludes by proposing a conceptual shift away from understanding housing as a predominantly material entity towards a more holistic understanding of the social and cultural importance people place on home, and various spaces people find and make “home”. Addressing the varied housing needs of people living with, and at risk of, HIV relies on a more careful consideration of context, and a commitment to cultivating and supporting spaces which allow people to manage their health and well-being.     

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 Inequality and Social Class in Europe

On the basis of European Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) data, this paper conducts a comparative analysis of housing conditions in different European countries by focusing on social class. The variance in housing conditions by social class could provide further insights about the divergence/convergence hypotheses stemming from the comparative analysis of living conditions of European countries. To support this claim, two main dimensions of housing inequality will be identified: tenure and housing well-being. A micro-level data analysis was performed, in order to take account of individual and family costs of access and maintenance of ownership in settings and in periods (such as the present day) of rising housing prices and income resources that decrease in terms of amount and stability. The aim is thus to demonstrate that, despite the difference in well-being in Europe between owners and non-owners (on the average the firsts are better off), homeowners cannot be regarded as a privileged category per se.     

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.     

Supporting the decision-making process for sustainable housing

Wide acceptance of the concept of sustainable development has led to a demand for policies on sustainable housing. The issues of how sustainable housing can be measured or evaluated and how decision-making regarding sustainable housing can be facilitated are areas that require further research. This paper aims to introduce a conceptual approach in developing a decision-support tool for sustainable housing. An empirical decision-support model for sustainable housing indicators using fuzzy-set theory (SHIFT) is described, with particular focus on framing decision-making for multiple criteria or objectives.     

Bridging the Gap between Housing Stress and Financial Stress: The Case of Australia

In recent decades, housing affordability has been increasingly linked to household financial outcomes where high housing costs relative to income are perceived to negatively affect financial well-being. However, the traditional measure of housing affordability in Australia is housing stress, which is subject to widespread criticism as an inadequate representation of overall financial stress. This methodological paper first determines the extent to which housing stress correlates with experiences of financial stress and, second, demonstrates ways in which the measure can be modified to deliver a more reliable indication of how housing costs affect financial well-being. The study contributes to the international literature by showing how the use of longitudinal data can improve the measure of housing stress providing a more accurate assessment of the relationship between housing costs and financial well-being.     

Affordable housing finance companies in India: how do they ‘differently’ serve the underserved?

Abstract

Over the years, the importance of access to affordable finance has inevitably been recognized as a critical component of developing the third world. Against the backdrop of huge under-penetration of the housing finance sector in India, this study reflects on the functioning of Affordable Housing Finance Companies (AHFCs), which are among the important stakeholders providing affordable housing loans to the low-income segment households. However, the process through which these new entrants have been able to down-market housing finance remains a black box till date. In light of this research gap, this study proposes a conceptual model that succinctly captures the business process of AHFCs across three main dimensions: Outreach Approach, Lending and Underwriting Practices and Risk Management Interventions. This model reflects on the kaleidoscope of process innovations that the AHFCs have embraced to cater to the housing finance needs of the low-income customers, while achieving profitability and social impact.     

Power,Discursive Space and Institutional Practices in the Construction of Housing Problems

A constructionist approach to the study of social problems and housing policy provides a theoretically informed means of analysing the ways in which housing policy is formulated and implemented. Yet despite a strong commitment by housing researchers to policy relevance, constructionist studies of how specific social problems are generated and deployed have so far made only a limited impact on housing research. The paper addresses this lacuna by first discussing important literature and the key conceptual issues in this field of study. This is followed by a discussion of two examples from recent UK housing policy (the shift in the 1980s from defining lone mothers as the victims of housing shortages to a morally questionable group subverting needs-based allocation policies and the re-emergence of anti-social behaviour as a problem on housing estates). The paper's conclusion is that the 'construction of problems' provides a rich source of new material as well as offering significant opportunities to develop a more critically informed housing research agenda.     

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.     

旅游扶贫背景下的中国南部乡村居民幸福度主观评价研究

在旅游扶贫的背景下,乡村居民的生活发生了很大的改变,但是村民的幸福度研究一直处于空白。越来越多的游客来乡村旅游的同时,虽然增加了村民的收入,但也打扰了村民的生活。巨大的贫富差距、生活习惯的冲突、原始乡村环境的破坏,对乡村居民的“幸福度”有着怎样的影响呢？村民的幸福度是由哪些因素决定的呢？为研究旅游扶贫背景下乡村居民幸福度的主观评价,找到影响幸福感的主要因素,选取了旅游扶贫效果相对显著的中国南部广东省的乡村作为研究案例地。通过“大学生广东乡村调研”实地访查收到503份有效文件,建立了村民幸福度的自动线性模型,得到了影响居民幸福感主要因素是邻里关系、住房情况、睡眠质量等有价值的结论,并进一步通过交叉表分析、相关分析对不同的群体的幸福度评价作出了解释说明。     

Privileging the “Objective”: Understanding the State’s Role in Shaping Housing Aspirations

This paper is to be read as one half of a twofold analysis of recent qualitative research on the housing aspirations of the people of Scotland, focusing specifically on the dimension of housing tenure. Moving beyond individual subjective preferences (i.e. what people “consciously” want or desire in relation to housing), this paper draws influence from David Harvey’s historical materialist approach to illustrate the importance of understanding the dialectical relation between objective reality and subjective preferences. We argue that it is by examining the broad homologies between the qualitative data on one hand, and the corresponding epochs of capital accumulation on the other, that important power structures can be made visible, and changes in housing aspirations over time better understood.     

Not Just “A Roof over Your Head”: The Meaning of Healthy Housing for People Living with HIV

The literature has identified housing as a fundamental unmet need for people living with HIV; yet there has been little qualitative evidence exploring housing and HIV, particularly from a Canadian context. This paper focuses on our qualitative analyses of the housing experiences of 48 HIV-positive people living in Ontario. Findings from our interviews illustrate healthy housing as a dynamic interconnection between health, housing and other social factors that are influential to the health and well-being of people with HIV. Four salient themes have emerged from our qualitative findings: the interplay between healthy housing and economic security; the relationship between HIV, health and housing precariousness; the interconnection between housing, HIV, safety, stigma, social isolation and social exclusion; and the meaning of healthy housing for people living with HIV. These findings re-emphasize the importance of housing policies that consider housing as more than just a roof over one’s head, but also as something that supports the physical, mental, emotional and social well-being of people living with HIV.     

Identifying a research gap in relation to family and domestic violence accommodation design within Victoria,Australia: A systematic review

Within Australia, domestic and family violence (DFV) is a major health and welfare issue that disproportionately impacts on women, children, and vulnerable segments of the population. This paper examines the results of a systematic literature review aimed at identifying the existing evidence base in relation to the nexus between accommodation design and the health and well-being of women seeking shelter within Victoria, Australia. The review focused on three primary questions: a. What literature currently exists in relation to the design of refuges? b. How does the design of DFV refuges impact on those within refuges? c. What methods and metrics have been used to assess the effectiveness of the design of housing interventions to support and promote agency, and better health and wellbeing?The review found that there is a significant lack of research into housing interventions for those seeking refuge. Of the 6038 records screened, only 2 studies were identified that fit within the review criteria, both of which focused exclusively on refuges within the USA. Among the very limited research that exists, there is little interrogation of the design of the refuge, nor an intersectional and geographically contextualized examination of how experiences of DFV and the shelter environment impact on wellbeing outcomes. Despite literature that demonstrates the positive impacts of well-being centered design approaches, the application of such research to the evaluation and design of DFV refuges, both within Australia and globally, remains an area in need of further research.     

Differentiation in Housing Careers: The Case of Pakistanis in the UK

The paper focuses on intra-ethnic differentiation, rather than inter-ethnic differentiation, which has been a characteristic concern of research on minority ethnic housing. Pakistani housing disadvantage in the UK is complex, in that housing disadvantage is part of a wider pattern. Responding to the tendency in housing research to consider housing issues in a wider context, this paper argues that ethnicity, gender, locality and class have been shown by international researchers to be key factors of intra-ethnic differentiation. The operation of these factors is explored qualitatively using empirical data on housing careers of UK Pakistanis. The discussion demonstrates that these housing careers are markedly differentiated by ethnicity, gender, locality and class, which affect peoples' housing decisions and strategies in various ways. The paper concludes that more effective explanations of persistent housing disadvantage, which can inform more effective policy, are produced by a holistic perspective on housing careers, which explores intra-ethnic differentiation.     

Moving House,Creating Home: Exploring Residential Mobility

This paper begins with a review of the residential mobility literature that arose out of housing and planning policy aimed at decreasing the negative effects of urban transience. The literature identified the range of factors influencing residential mobility, but Rossi's (1955) claim that mobility was a 'natural' outcome of life stage changes became the basis for the majority of this work. Most of this literature arose out of quantitative research approaches but writers drew attention to the inability of these approaches to capture the increasing complexity of family life and residential mobility. Drawing on data from the Christchurch, New Zealand, house and home study, this study argues that the qualitative ethnographic method used provides a more holistic approach to, and understanding of, the events and issues which influence household mobility over time. Within this context, the paper presents excerpts from interview data framed as ontological narratives and related stories embedded in social and economic contexts. Some of the themes identified are those of identity, home and place attachment, change and social differentiation, and the impact of gender relations on mobility decisions and experiences. These findings, like those in previous literature, are relevant to housing and planning policy making given the increasing diversity of residential developments and issues of access to social, financial and environmental resources. Understanding how individuals and families establish relationships between themselves and the places in which they live is important given increasingly divided and differentiated experiences of contemporary urban life.     

The Resource of Ethnicity in the Housing Careers and Preferences of the Vietnamese Communities in London

This paper briefly outlines the housing careers of Vietnamese households since their arrival in the UK in the late 1970s and draws on a series of focus groups to examine the role that ethnicity has played, and may continue to play, in their housing careers. It notes that the first arrivals lacked the infrastructure of an existing Vietnamese community in the UK and were further disadvantaged by the dispersal policy adopted by the voluntary agencies responsible for their resettlement. The research indicates that ethnicity has been a crucial influence on the housing careers of Vietnamese households, and in particular on the location of the communities. It is argued that it is essential that researchers pay attention to the role of ethnicity as a resource and a constraint within a housing career.     

英格兰保障性住房的发展及其对中国的启示

回顾二战以来英格兰保障性住房①的发展历史,总结了当前英格兰保障性住房的定位、类型、受益人群、供应机制以及空间绩效调控。结合英格兰的经验和我国的具体情况,从宏观、中观、微观三个层面对我国保障性住房发展提出启示:政府必须而且能够在保障性住房供给上发挥积极的作用;进一步完善、细化保障性住房的供应类型和监管机制;加强特大、大城市的保障性住房建设,注重空间绩效调控。     

Property Agents,Housing Markets and Housing Services in Transitional Urban China

This study examines the particular role, services and functions of property agents in the housing markets in mainland China. Since the implementation of housing market reforms, cities on the Chinese mainland have transferred from a centrally-directed, welfare-oriented housing system to a more decentralized, market-based one. Commodification of housing has expanded the opportunity of new market intermediaries to service the growing urban housing markets. Yet there appears to be little research on these agents, which bear similarity in name, but not exactly in operation, to those in a market society. Based upon insights from new institutional economics, this study examines how the existing institutions in China have constrained and facilitated their services in the housing transaction process. This micro-analytical study provides a different means towards understanding the market transformation of a socialist housing system.     

Housing Careers,House Price Dispersion and the Housing Market Multiplier

Housing markets reflect our housing consumption profile over the life cycle. As we age, marry and have kids, we seek larger dwellings and to a greater extent owner-occupied housing. The up-trading process has two key characteristics: first, it is equity induced. Second, it impacts both the supply and demand sides of housing markets. This is our point of departure. The paper combines a housing ladder with a house price index to show how up-trading amplifies shocks and introduces a multiplier into the housing market. The interplay between market segments results in up-trading induced price dispersion and a price response in the segments on top of the ladder that exceeds those of segments further down, even when shocks are equal across market segments. Finally, as up-trading impacts both housing supply and housing demand, even balanced shocks to net demand might impact house prices. Focusing on different market segments, shocks to demand might have both direct (the size effect) and indirect (the up-trading effect) effects on the house price index. This paper highlights policy options at a finer level when in need of stimulating or dampening house price cycles.     

Understanding the Psychosocial Impacts of Housing Type: Qualitative Evidence from a Housing and Regeneration Intervention

The association between poor housing and poor health is widely accepted, but there is a lack of evidence on the health impact of housing interventions. In particular, evidence on mechanisms linking housing interventions to health is lacking. Scotland's Housing and Regeneration Project (SHARP) evaluated the health impacts of new-build social housing using a quasi-experimental survey design. Qualitative interviews were also conducted with a sub-sample of survey respondents. The qualitative data indicated that changes in dwelling type influenced key psychosocial processes such as control, with consequent impacts on well-being. This study provided insights into the psychosocial impacts of housing design, whilst also demonstrating the utility of qualitative methods for enhancing understanding of the mechanisms linking housing change with improved well-being.