Why do Displaced Residents Move to Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods?

Urban restructuring—the large-scale demolition of low-rent dwellings, followed by the construction of more upmarket alternatives—forces residents to make a step in their housing career. Because displaced residents tend to have a low socioeconomic position, they are often confined to the most affordable parts of the housing stock. Since these dwellings are generally concentrated in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighbourhoods, displaced residents are likely to move to such neighbourhoods. However, they do have a measure of freedom to choose their new neighbourhood. This article reveals which kinds of households move to disadvantaged neighbourhoods and why they do so. An analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data collected in five Dutch cities shows that not only displaced households' restrictions but also their preferences are crucial to understand their relocation choices.     

Commercial rented housing: two sectors in the Netherlands

This contribution analyses the different developments and roles of two commercial rented sectors in the Netherlands: rented dwellings owned by individuals (private landlords) and rented dwellings owned by institutional investors. Characteristics of properties and households are specified in relation to tenure. An analysis follows of household characteristics of non-movers and movers to, from and within the commercial rented sector. Some policy issues are dealt with, which are relevant for the commercial rented sector. The commercial rented dwellings owned by persons are predominantly pre-war, small, cheap dwellings with a modest quality. They form part of the urban renewal problem. The owners are small-scale landlords, mostly not professional, who do not invest in ambitious renovation or new dwellings. For this sector the future is not very bright. For starters on the housing market and elderly people, this urban sector may have a limited function. The commercial rented dwellings owned by institutions are predominantly post-war (built after 1960), spacious, expensive dwellings with a high quality. The owners are pension funds and insurance companies which sell their properties often after 15 to 20 years when conditions are favourable. This sector has a strategic function at the upper side of the rental market where rents are decontrolled. Well-to-do households in a flexible urban labour market and elderly people are the most important target groups for this sector. This sector demonstrates how a free rental market functions and enriches the whole housing sector with relevant market signals. Hugo Priemus holds the chair in housing at Delft University of Technology, where he is also managing director of OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies.     

Starters in the housing market in an urban region: The case of the Randstad Holland,a diversified housing‐shortage area

The access of newly formed households to their first independent dwelling is a useful indicator of the provision of housing for households with a weak position in the housing market. This is particularly the case in a densely populated urban region, where the housing market is tight. However, starters in the housing market do not form a homogeneous group. They differ by age, household composition, and socio‐economic status. Particularly when there are two wage earners in the household, access may be gained to more expensive dwellings. This article examines the housing situation of starters in five types of residential environment in the Randstad Holland: metropolitan areas, strongly, moderately, and weakly urbanised areas, and growth areas. The metropolitan areas contain many small and inexpensive dwellings and thus accommodate many non‐working (often student) starter households. In the least urbanised municipalities dual‐earner married couples are strongly represented among starters. All residential environments play an important part in the housing of starters, who usually locate in the residential environment where they had already been living. Particularly in the metropolitan and (strongly) urbanised areas so‐called substitute dwellings, such as rented rooms, caravans and houseboats, are important in accommodating newly formed households. They help ease the pressure on the stock of inexpensive housing. Starters living in suburban areas tended to move directly from the parental home into their first independent dwelling.     

A simulation model of residential mobility and housing choice

Residential mobility is the outcome of housing market search. Mobility rates depend on the search intensity of the household, the arrival rate of opportunities in the market, and the rates of acceptance of these opportunities by the households. Micro-analytical models of overt mobility fail in decomposing the compound rate into its constituent parts and can therefore not distinguish between demand- or supply-driven changes in the housing market. Micro-analytical models of stated preferences are only partial and do not reflect the actual behaviour of households in a specific housing market context. Simulation models of residential mobility and housing market search offer a potential advantage over micro-analytical models, due to their flexible nature. By simulating demand, supply, and the actual match of households to vacancies, a full representation of the housing market can be given. TheLocSim model presented here is a micro simulation model of a local housing market and is illustrative of the potential for modelling residential mobility. This includes:

-the variation in search intensities of households, dependent on the motive for moving, including dependence on events in other than the housing career;

-the generation of supply, as an unintended outcome of the residential mobility of households that move to another dwelling;

-the adjustment of initial preferences, as households become aware of the opportunities and constraints in the local housing market during their search;

-the public choice, with respect to the creation of opportunities by stimulating the construction of dwellings and with respect to imposing constraints on the accessibility of social rented housing.

The application of this model to the specific group of young people in the process of household formation illustrates the sensitivity of the rates of residential mobility and out-migration to shortages and other constraints in the local housing market.     

Displaced but still Moving Upwards in the Housing Career? Implications of Forced Residential Relocation in the Netherlands

The housing stock is being restructured in many Dutch post-war neighbourhoods. Through demolition and upgrading of social rented housing and the construction of new owner occupied dwellings, the housing stock and the living environment are being improved. This policy has triggered major residential moves in and beyond some neighbourhoods, partly involuntary. Residents whose dwelling is being demolished or heavily upgraded, are usually forced to move elsewhere. Knowledge of the social implications of forced relocation in the Netherlands is limited, especially on experiences and opinions of relocated households. This paper covers research in two recently restructured neighbourhoods. Movers were recruited to share their experiences and opinions in focus groups and interviews. Surprisingly, many movers were able to improve their housing situation, mostly due to their priority rights in the housing market. However, movers who were less able to take advantage of these rights reported a certain degree of degradation. Moreover, it appears that relocation processes must still be improved in order to reduce stress and refine communication with residents.     

Private Renter Households: Who Are The Long-Term Renters?

Despite the perception that Australia's private rental market serves principally as a short-term transitional housing tenure, 40 per cent of households in this sector have rented for longer than ten years. This paper enlarges the housing career concept by proposing two types of long-term private renters: continuals (always rented since leaving the parental home) and returners (rented, purchased home, rented again). By using the multivariate statistical technique, CHAID, the analysis demonstrates that continuals and returners form ten distinct renter segments, defined largely by differences in age, marital status, source of income and household income. In the main, continual segments feature renters in the 30–44 year age group, not yet married or, if married (or formerly married), reliant on social security payments. In contrast, most returners earn private incomes, and tend to be older than the continuals (generally over 45 years). The segment most strongly associated with returning to rental housing exhibits the highest household income level, prompting speculation that some households may choose renting over ownership. The analysis further reveals that continual longterm renters encounter a disproportionate share of housing difficulties, including high rents, poor affordability and excessive residential upheaval.     

Housing development and policy change: what has changed in Turkey in the last decade in the owner-occupied and rented sectors?

Since 2002, The Justice and Development Party has been governing in Turkey. From their first period to the current, major changes have been observed in the Turkish housing system, regarding both owner occupied and rented sectors. First one is the introduction of Mortgage Law in 2007. As already a home-owner society with a 64.16 % share in urban areas (2003), home ownership ratios can be argued to increase in coming periods. Second modification in owner occupied sector was significant policy change in Housing Development Administration (HDA) of Turkey. With a “housing mobilization” project, almost 500,000 new dwellings were built by HDA all over the country in 10 years. This has been a record in HDA’s history. Remarkable changes occurred in the rented sector as well. Originally, Turkey has been characterized with absence of public renting and considerable proportion of private rented stock especially in the big cities. Governments did not develop social rented housing and pro-owner laws have been followed. Renters could face eviction under certain situations determined by the Law on Property Rents, however these were subject to misuse by homeowners. As a third major change, a new Code of Obligations was introduced superseding Law on Property Rents. In this paper, recent changes in both rented and owner occupied sectors of the Turkish housing system are analyzed with reference to mortgage law, HDA’s new policies and changes in private renting legislation. In doing so, several key figures like buildings produced, inflation rate and physical attributes of private renting are provided.     

Social Housing as a Transitional Tenure? Reflections on the Netherlands' New Housing Memorandum 2000-2010

This contribution gives some reflections on the Netherlands' New Housing Memorandum 2000-2010, which was published on 15 May 2000. This Housing Memorandum urges the housing corporations (the social housing organisations which own 37 per cent of the housing stock) to sell 500 000 dwellings in 10 years. This seems to confirm Harloe's assertion that social housing in Europe is only a transitional tenure. Even in the Netherlands-champion of social rented housing within the European Union-the owner occupied sector would seem destined to marginalise the social rented sector in the long run. This paper argues that the housing corporations, being private, independent social entrepreneurs, will be only partially inclined to take the political message of the Housing Memorandum to heart. It is expected that the Dutch social rented sector will remain a differentiated sector and continue to blossom alongside home ownership. Harloe's theory will, in short, not be confirmed by the housing developments in the Netherlands.     

Gentrification or social renewal? Effects of public supported housing renewal in Denmark

This paper analyses social change, particularly the processes of social decay, in obsolete and deteriorated housing in the older housing stock in Denmark between 1986 and 1996. These changes are compared with the development which has occurred in similar kinds of housing that have been physically upgraded through a government program for housing renewal.

The study shows that this kind of housing attracts a quick turnover of residents and a tendency towards more unemployed or lower income occupants. It is also used by young people as their first home when moving away from their parents.

It is also shown that public supported housing renewal stops this type of housing pattern and increases the share of households that have high incomes. The changes, however, are not considerable and there are also many unemployed people among the newcomers. These changes depend to a large degree on the size and tenure of the renewed dwellings. In private renting, particularly co‐operatives and in larger dwellings the socio‐economic composition of residents undergo greater changes than in smaller dwellings in non‐profit or public housing. Extensive renewal often results in high rent compared with rent from the regulated housing market in Denmark. As a result the renewed dwellings have difficulties in competing with other kind of dwellings. For that reason residents of this type of housing primarily consist of welfare or pension recipients or others who receive high housing benefits. A minority of people with higher income also use these dwellings but mostly as temporary housing as after a few years they often move to owner‐occupied housing.     

The first years as independent actors in the housing market: Young households in a Swedish municipality

This study deals with young households at the beginning of their housing career. During the 1990s, a tendency of the young to leave the parental home at a later age than during previous decades was discussed. With extended education, rising housing costs and a shortage of rental housing, difficulties in finding an affordable place to live could be expected to have increased. Parental resources are of increasing importance in times of recession. The aim of this study was to follow the first steps in the housing careers of young individuals in a Swedish municipality and to investigate the time of nest-leaving and the choice of tenure for their first and second moves. Individuals aged 16–25 years in the municipality of Gävle, Sweden, were included in the study. Longitudinal data for the years 1985–1995 were used. To capture changes over time, the nest-leaving situations of two cohorts were compared. Results indicate that the individuals in the 1973 cohort leave home at a higher age than do those in the 1968 cohort. A surprisingly large share move into tenant co-operatives. Such moves, as well as moves into owner occupation, occurred mainly within Gävleborg County. Individuals moving to other municipalities outside the county moved to a larger extent into rental housing.     

The supply of private rented housing in Canada

Canadian housing policy objectives are generally pursued through a market framework. There is little provision of non-market housing. Thus, while Canada has a substantial private rented sector, it has only a small social rented housing sector. About a third of all dwellings belong to private landlords for market renting and only six percent are owned by public and private landlords for non-profit renting. The supply of dwellings newly constructed specifically for private market rental has fallen over the last 20 years. This fall has been compensated for in part by the supply of existing dwellings that have been transferred from other tenures. There has also been a fall in the proportion of private market rented dwellings owned by corporate landlords and an increase in the proportion owned by small-scale individual landlords, including individuals buying existing dwellings in other tenures to convert to private renting. These recent supply-side changes have been in response to three factors. First, changes to the federal tax system and direct supply incentives have reduced the attractiveness of investing in private renting for corporations but increased it for individuals. Second, the demand for private renting has fallen amongst middle- and high-income households because of demographic and tax changes. This has reduced the numbers of private renting households able to pay the rents needed to make new construction profitable. Third, other public policies have also had an impact on supply, including rent controls imposed by provincial governments and land use planning restrictions and building standards imposed by local authorities. An important feature of the Canadian private rental market is its geographical diversity, with supply-side trends varying in different provinces and urban areas in accordance with variations in demand and local policies. Tony Crook is Professor of Town & Regional Planning and Head of Department at the University of Sheffield. His main current research interest is housing policy, especially the investment decisions of private landlords and housing associations and the relationships between housing policy and land use planning. His research work has been funded by DoE, ESRC and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. It has been widely published in books and in academic and professional journals. He is currently Chair of the Conference of Heads of Planning Schools. He is also active in the worlds of policy and practice. He is a member of the RTPI Housing and Renewal Panel, trustee of two housing associations, and an independent director of one of the new Local Housing Companies.     

Social housing in Spain: what role does the private rented market play?

The global economic and financial crisis has hit the Spanish economy hard, creating an unstable framework for employment and growth. Since 2007, housing markets have been deeply affected by the crisis. The private rented market has exhibited two specific consequences: on the one hand, the bursting of the real estate bubble has inhibited profit gains in the homeownership sector, providing better incentives to operate in the rented market. On the other hand, huge social conflict has emerged in relation to the lack of proper shelter for certain households which can be seen in the increase in evictions and in homelessness. We want to focus on the latter: since Spain lacks a critical mass of social housing, low-income households have been attracted by the private rented sector, particularly during expansion periods, as quite often there is no available (and affordable) alternative. In periods of economic recession, the substantial pressure that rents put on the financial situation of these households might even cause them to move out of their homes. The hypothesis we will test in this paper is that private rented markets fill several aspects of the role of social housing provision in Spain reinforcing the negative effects the lack of social housing creates in the country, highly visible during recession periods.     

Movement Into and Out of the Private Rental Sector in England

The private rental sector in England is often regarded as a largely transitional tenure. It is seen as forming the lower rung of a hierarchical tenure ladder, up which households move over time on the way to an ultimate destination of owner occupation or, failing that, social rented housing. It has been recognised, however, that households may 'fall out' of the two main tenures and return to private renting. Drawing on data from the 1996-97 Survey of English Housing, this paper examines the characteristics of households that had moved into or out of the private rental sector in the previous 12 months. Although the sector remains a net exporter of households, it was found that only part of the reverse flow back into private renting could be accurately described as a process of 'falling out' of the two main tenures. A significant share of the movement from social housing into private renting was due to households who had moved in order to live in a better house or neighbourhood. The paper outlines the reasons for this phenomenon and discusses its implications for the role of private renting in England.     

Going too far in the battle against concentration? On the balance between supply and demand of social housing in Dutch cities

In the second half of the 1990s, Dutch urban housing policy shifted from urban renewal to urban restructuring and the creation of more socially mixed neighbourhoods. Motives for restructuring stem from the ongoing debates on concentration, segregation and social mix. Here, we focus on the main instruments of urban restructuring, that is, the demolition of social housing and the construction of more expensive rental and owner-occupied housing. Continued restructuring may eventually lead to a shortage of social rented dwellings for low-income households, the target group of social housing. An important political question is therefore whether the dwindling supply of social housing still matches the potential demand in the target group. We addressed this question with an analysis of three Dutch cities: Rotterdam, The Hague and Breda. The results indicate that, although demolition has brought about substantial changes, the share of social rented housing remains high in most restructuring neighbourhoods and restructuring has not resulted in concentrations of social rented housing in other, non-restructuring neighbourhoods in any of the three cities. In Rotterdam, which had a very large social housing stock at the beginning of the restructuring operation, there are still sufficient affordable homes for lower income households. However, in The Hague and Breda, restructuring has tightened the supply of social rental housing. The municipal authority in The Hague has attempted to remedy the situation by entering regional agreements to secure sufficient levels of affordable housing.     

Exploring housing careers among Ghanaians in Toronto,Canada

The argument that a successful housing career plays an important role in the immigrant integration process has been well established in the literature. Most studies on immigrant housing career do so without reference to the housing situation of immigrants in their homeland. Since housing career relates to sequence of dwellings people occupy throughout their life-course, an analysis of immigrants housing career should also begin with immigrants housing situation in the homeland. Unless we understand the sequence of dwellings that immigrants occupy throughout their life course in both the country of origin and host society, we will fail to fully comprehend dynamics of their housing career over their life-course. Using mixed method, this study illustrates the role of housing career in the integration process of Ghanaians in Toronto in the Canadian society. The study adds to the housing career literature by capturing the sequence of dwelling that immigrants occupy throughout their life course in both the country of origin and destination country.     

The stress of incipient homelessness

This paper describes a longitudinal study of dwelling‐related stress among a sample of inadequately housed urban New Zealanders. At the time of the first interview, the respondents were asked to describe the housing problems they were encountering and to list some of the coping strategies they were planning. From an analysis of the survey data we conclude that housing stress has a significant negative effect on the well being of the respondents, particularly in the area of mental health. In the second interview, conducted six months later, we were able to determine which of the households had moved. Our analysis suggested that individuals in households that were rehoused by New Zealand's public housing agency (the Housing Corporation of New Zealand) reported significantly improved mental health after the move, largely as a result, we hypothesise, of living in dwellings that were less stressful. These findings are discussed in light of the diminishing state presence in the provision of public housing, both in New Zealand and elsewhere.     

Life cycle analysis of housing

This paper reports the findings of a project to assess the costs and benefits of adopting environment‐friendly construction practices for social rented housing in Scotland. Two contrasted dwelling specifications — one for a conventional building (the Control) and one for an environmentally responsible building (Eco‐Type 1) — are compared using Life Cycle Analysis and Life Cycle Costing methodologies. An assessment is made of the environmental and economic implications of adopting environmentally conscious construction practices in social rented housing. It is concluded that the provision of environmentally responsible dwellings could bring large‐scale reductions in the environmental burden of housing, and economic savings for housing providers and tenants over the life cycle of a dwelling with only a small increase in capital costs.     

Private renting in England

This paper presents an overview of the privately rented sector of the housing market in England. The first section sets out some key features of privately rented housing in England that distinguish it from many other advanced industrial nations. The second section briefly summarises the main reasons for the decline of private renting. This is followed by sections dealing with the demand for private rental housing and tenants’ rents and incomes. The paper then moves on to the supply side, focusing on the stock of privately rented dwellings, the nature of private landlordism in England, finance and rates of return. The final two sections examine rent control and security of tenure legislation and current policy debates about the future of the privately rented sector.     

How Far Do People Search for Housing? Analyzing the Roles of Housing Supply,Intra-household Dynamics,and the Use of Information Channels

In this paper, we investigate the spatial extent of the housing search. Using the concepts of mental map and awareness space, we argue that search space is affected by households' preferences, what is available on the housing market, and the use of information channels as well as their interactions. We hypothesize that households whose members disagree with each other have a larger search spaces than those whose members agree. Furthermore, the supply in the housing market and the use of different information channels may influence the search space differently for agreeing versus disagreeing households. We collected data from face-to-face interviews with 82 households (couples with or without children) who purchased a home in the New York City area between 2004 and 2009. The results support our hypotheses, suggesting that intra-household dynamics plays an important role in housing search.     

Aging in place and housing over-consumption

Societies are aging and the number of households with heads or even all members over 65 is increasing rapidly. Many of these households are well established in the housing market and occupy housing at the apex of the housing choice process. These houses are large, nearly always owned and with substantial equity value. The households that occupy such dwellings have lower mobility rates than households in general and are likely, with low mobility rates, to continue to occupy their houses even when they no longer need the same space as when they were raising families. The paper examines the extent of this phenomenon in the Netherlands and traces under what circumstances older households are exchanging these large houses. The data, derived from the Housing Demand Survey in the Netherlands, reveal that older households occupy very spacious housing, that they have relatively long durations of stay, and that owners over 60 are nearly certain to be ‘over-consuming’ housing with respect to equilibrium consumption. At the same time, when older households do move, they reduce the amount of space they consume. The issue for society at large is whether the low mobility rates create a bottleneck in access to spacious housing by younger families.This paper was originally designed and initiated in collaboration with Frans Dieleman. We wish to acknowledge our long time collaboration with Frans. We will miss his insight and creativity.