Comparative housing and welfare: Theorising the relationship

Housing accounts for a high proportion of the capital investment component of welfare, and is the largest single item in household budgets. It also plays a major part in defining life styles and structuring the urban environment. It is argued that in the light of this, housing must cease to be treated as the poor relative of the four pillars of welfare and the vital role it plays must be recognised, especially in terms of synergy with other dimensions of welfare – notably pensions – that sets limits to the way welfare states are organised. Differences in how housing is organised between countries therefore need to be given much closer and more theoretically informed attention by welfare researchers than has been the case hitherto. In this article a first step is made toward this end.     

The affordability of “affordable” housing in England: conditionality and exclusion in a context of welfare reform

Abstract

Contemporary debates around affordability have largely focused on homeownership and private renting. This article considers the affordable social rented sector in England, in which reforms to social welfare assistance, reduced security of tenure, and a shift towards mid-market rents, are changing access to ‘affordable’ housing for those on the lowest incomes. Drawing on in-depth interviews with housing associations and stakeholders, the article highlights the increasing use of affordability assessments for prospective tenants. These assessments interact with mid-market rental products to increase the potential for exclusion from affordable housing on the grounds of ability to pay. This conditionality is applied not only at the point of tenancy access, but also at renewal of fixed-term tenancies. The research highlights that the combination of welfare and housing policies, in the context of a financialising housing association sector, has the potential to erode access to social housing for those who are perceived as a financial risk, reshaping the focus of social housing.     

The baby boom,the baby bust and the housing market: a further look at the debate

Recently a number of papers appeared in the literature which analyzed the movement of the real price of housing in the US. Based on their analysis Mankiw and Weil predicted that housing values in the US would fall by 47% over the next twenty years. Understandably, this prediction raised considerable interest and controversy in the literature from scholars who casted serious doubts on the accuracy of the estimates derived by Mankiw and Weil. A major limitation over-shadowing the entire debate is lack of rigorous derivation of the estimated models. In this paper we explicitly derive a consistent version of a static model of the housing market tacit in the estimated equations. The model shows that both the real asset price of housing equation and the real rental price of housing equation used by Mankiw and Weil and some of their critics are misspecified. It is suggested that using the correctly specified equations sheds light on the debate and may give more credible estimates of the estimates on which housing prices' predictions are based.The author is grateful to anonymous referees and T.R. Lakshmanan for constructive suggestions which helped to improve the exposition of the paper.     

Abductive Grounded Theory: a worked example of a study in construction management

Grounded Theory, now more than 50 years old, is a qualitative research approach widely employed in the social and human science studies to develop theories with a high degree of conceptuality. For construction management research, given the nature of this applied sub-discipline of management, a paradigmatic shift in Grounded Theory is needed, from classical positivism to pragmatism. Abductive Grounded Theory is posited as the way to achieve this shift in research methodology. The proposition is explored through a worked example, using Early Contractor Involvement research as a case study to demonstrate the research process. The data analysis process of open coding, axial coding and selective coding is described, together with the process of matching complementary prospect theory to explain the interdependencies between theoretical categories. The issues of validity and reliability are addressed. Of particular importance is the faithfulness to the original analytical coding process and then abduction of existing theories from salient literature to explain the relationships amongst emergent concepts. The findings show that, while the development of the research question is initially influenced by the review of literature, there is no deliberate effort to direct or force the collected information towards any set of pre-defined concepts. The study shows promising potential for using Abductive Grounded Theory to develop conceptual and instrumental theories in construction management research.     

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.     

Housing quality and the rescue of failed private housing schemes in England: a policy review

The global economic crisis impacted significantly on residential development in the UK, stalling some local projects as private companies encountered financial difficulty. In response, government put in place an array of tools for rescuing private schemes, including supplying the Registered Providers (RPs) of social housing with the means to purchase complete or partially complete private homes. What seemed an ideal solution—the private developer avoids bankruptcy and Registered Providers acquire much needed affordable homes—in reality has been complicated by several factors. Drawing on interviews with key actors in England and on examples of successful and unsuccessful transfers of housing stock from the private to the public sector, this review seeks to identify key impediments to this type of transfer, including the inability of RPs to acquire housing stock that does not adhere to particular ‘quality standards’.     

Home-Leaving and its Structural Determinants in Western and Eastern Europe: An Exploratory Study

This paper focuses on the occurrence of home-leaving and its key structural determinants across the enlarged EU. By building on the literature for Western Europe and by cluster analysis of the data for 24 member states, it seeks to explore different constellations of structural factors, manifested in the grouping of similar countries, and possibly resulting in diverse, regionally specific incidences of home-leaving by youths under 35 years of age. The exploratory analysis noted three clusters of countries: the north-western, characterised by the earliest home-leaving and best opportunity structures for independent housing; the south-western cluster, marked by the latest leaving of the parental home and only somewhat less favourable opportunities, but highest family support; the north-eastern cluster, characterised by late, yet not extremely late, home-leaving, combined with outstandingly unfavourable opportunities and strikingly low family support. These differences, partly confirmed as statistically significant, are further discussed and related to welfare regime typologies and their usefulness.     

The Potentials and Pitfalls of ‘Art in Research’ Methodologies: Foregrounding Memory and Emotion in Planning Research

ABSTRACT

The article draws on a two-month project with forty-four high school students in Reston, Virginia to suggest that ‘art in research’ methodologies might be useful to shift away from the problematic histories of planning as solely a technical endeavor based in masculinist conceptions of legitimate research. I propose that we can radically reimagine planning research and practice as an emancipatory endeavor for its participants, suggesting that the iterative and longer art-making process may usefully complement traditional qualitative planning research, specifically helping to uncover relevant memories and emotions of participants.     

Testing a Typology of Homelessness Across Welfare Regimes: Shelter Use in Denmark and the USA

This article compares patterns of homeless shelter use in Denmark and the USA. Combining data from homeless shelters in Denmark with population registers, we find that the prevalence of shelter use is substantially lower in Denmark than in the USA. A cluster analysis of shelter stays identifies three types of users similar to findings from US research: the transitionally, episodically and chronically homeless. However, the transitionally homeless in Denmark have a higher tendency of suffering from mental illness and substance abuse than the transitionally homeless in the USA. The results support Stephens and Fitzpatrick' hypothesis that countries with more extensive welfare systems and lower levels of poverty have lower levels of homelessness, mainly amongst those with complex support needs, whereas in countries with less extensive welfare systems homelessness affects broader groups and is more widely associated with poverty and housing affordability problems.     

Governing housing in China: State, market and work units

In the last two decades, a wave of reform has swept through the world, changing the way housing systems operate. It leads to alternative housing mechanisms beyond those centred on either state or market. This paper looks at the changing role of state, market and work units in the new structure of housing governance in China.     

Measuring the performance of social housing organisations in England and The Netherlands: A policy review and research agenda

Market principles are now a keyfeature of many social housing systems in Europe,and are a product of international public sectormanagement reforms. These reforms have led to thedevelopment and use of performance indicators. Dutchand English housing associations use what appear tobe very similar performance measures. This paper,however, illustrates that there are fundamentaldifferences in their use and their capacity toexplain the performance of the sector. This isargued to be a product of the extent of publicmanagement reform, the nature of the funding regimeand the way they are held to account.     

Water industry asset management in England and Wales: successes and challenges

This paper considers the structure, regulation and performance of the water industry in England and Wales in the postprivatisation period from 1989. The paper examines the improvements achieved in drinking water and wastewater effluent quality and in the overall performance. The challenges facing the industry in the areas of water resource planning, energy efficiency and chemical consumption, arising from climate change, are also considered. The paper considers how the industry's current approach and attitude towards research and development (R&D) will influence its ability to meet the latest challenges laid down by the regulators. The paper calls for increased emphasis on, and incentive for, R&D in the water industry to ensure sustainable solutions in both water and sewage treatment.     

Cost vs. production: labour deployment and productivity in social housing construction in England,Scotland, Denmark and Germany

Labour deployment on representative large‐scale housing projects is analysed to reveal distinct differences between England, Germany, Scotland and Denmark. In the light of the debates on convergence/divergence of HRM systems and qualitatively different production systems, the paper is apposite in demonstrating structural differences in the organization of the construction process, their implications for efficiency and productivity, and their impact on employment and contract relations, innovation and skills. The effects of the overriding cost rationale of the British system are illustrated in terms of labour deployment and the efficiency and productivity of the site construction process. Labour deployment is based on the rationale of extensive subcontracting, with main contractors providing the management and cost function whilst their productive capacity rests on subcontracting supply chains. The main contractor has come to specialize in two areas, costing and the management of the process. Subcontractors provide all production personnel and thus the production knowledge for carrying out the work packages and stages. On the continent, in contrast, the economic rationale is different, as main contractors do not depend nearly as much on the production capacity of subcontracting.     

Ozone levels at rural sites in North‐West England: a statistical analysis

The ratio of variance, autocorrelation function and duration of exceedances above selected concentrations have been calculated for ozone measurements at two rural sites in north‐west England. Autocorrelation analysis of hourly ozone concentrations showed a persistent diurnal pattern during the summer months which was largely absent during the winter. Daily maximum hourly ozone concentrations, between 1981 and 1983, exceeded 80 ppb for an average duration of 1.5–2.5 days, each exceedance lasting, on average, between 2.8 and 4.0 hours.     

Real estate bubbles in China: a tale of two cities

As housing markets have overheated recently in urban China, housing price bears substantial risk. The issue of housing price bubbles in these markets has become a popular and significant topic among consumers, policymakers and academia alike. In particular, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as the most important markets for revealing the condition of the housing market in the Pearl River Delta, have attracted much attention in the period of prosperity. As such, an investigation into the bubble issue in these two cities is conducted by using an improved model, the time-varying risk model. The empirical work reveals that explosive bubbles did periodically (2003 Q1 to 2006 Q2 and 2009 Q2 to 2010 Q1) have an impact on the two markets. For the rest of the period, housing markets in both Guangzhou and Shenzhen are found to be significantly influenced by macro adjustments and various economic events. The implication of the research provides a reference for policymaking in addressing the issue of softening in China’s real estate market.     

Agricultural landscapes between intensification and abandonment: the expectations of the public in a Central-Alpine cross-border region

The aim of this study is to find out what locals and tourists in a Central-Alpine, multilingual cross-border region expect from an Alpine landscape, with a special focus on agriculture. Using a standardised questionnaire, we carried out more than 3500 face-to-face interviews with locals and tourists in Tyrol (Austria) and South Tyrol (Italy). The questionnaire comprised (1) content-related questions and (2) questions to collect demographic data on the interviewees. We employed nonparametric methods to analyse the survey results and differences between demographic groups. More than 70% of the study participants liked traditional land-use and did not have major reservations about agricultural intensification or extensification. Of those interviewed, 73% were in favour of giving public financial support to farmers. The findings obtained in this study suggest broad acknowledgement and acceptance of environmental compensation schemes and the maintenance of extensive and traditional land-use systems.     

Social Tenants,Attachment to Place and Work in the Post-industrial Labour Market: Underlining the Limits of Housing-based Explanations of Labour Immobility?

Policy makers have increasingly highlighted the role of social housing in restricting the job-related mobility of tenants. This paper, drawing upon in-depth interviews with residents of the Manor estate in Sheffield, discusses the strength of housing-based explanations of worklessness. It finds that residents have responded to economic transformation by drawing on locally concentrated social networks and are unwilling to sever these close ties in order to access jobs that are frequently experienced as exploitative and demeaning. Consequently, their inertia can be viewed as a rational response to the low paid, chronically insecure jobs available in the post-industrial labour market. The author concludes that the significance of housing-based explanations of labour immobility is that they are simultaneously congruent with welfare reform that uses a compulsive strategy to enforce work habits and provide ammunition for those antagonistic to the principle of social housing.     

(Re)Viewing Ethnic Residential Segregation in Southern European Cities: Housing and Urban Regimes as Mechanisms of Marginalisation

Housing and residential marginalisation in Southern European cities represents the most critical and controversial of urban conditions for the settlement and inclusion of immigrants. However, these issues are conspicuously under-researched in both the international and Southern European comparative literature. The complexity of ethnic housing hardship and segregation is often de-problematised and misleadingly attributed solely to market mechanisms or inevitable polarisation dynamics. This paper reviews the distinctive features of ethnic residential segregation within wider societal and urban contexts, drawing on an analysis of eight Mediterranean cities with a special focus on the role of housing systems and processes of ethnic and social differentiation. Problems and drivers are reconceptualised within an holistic, comparative framework. It is demonstrated that low levels of ethnic spatial segregation conceal a real problem of social residential marginalisation. This paradox predominantly originates from macro-scale mechanisms of differentiation rooted in the welfare redistributive arrangements and dualist housing systems. It is additionally reinforced by current urban renewal strategies.     

Eutrophication in peel inlet—III : A model for the nitrogen scenario and a retrospective look at the preliminary analysis

In this third paper of a series, the structure of and results from an a priori speculative simulation model of the nitrogen dynamics of eutrophic Peel Inlet are described. This simulation exercise indicated that nitrogen limitation of Cladophora growth rarely occurred.The results of this simulation exercise, and those of the earlier study of the phosphorus scenario, are then compared with field and laboratory data collected subsequently. This comparison indicates that the preliminary speculative simulation technique is a powerful method for the definition of the critical uncertainties in the knowledge of an environmental system, and therefore for the direction and planning of future research. Furthermore, the simulations correctly identified phosphorus, rather than nitrogen, as the major limiting nutrient for macroalgal growth in Peel Inlet.