The audacity of HOPE VI: Discourse and the dismantling of public housing

This paper is an examination of the “discourse of disaster” that has cleared the way for the dismantling of public housing in the US. It is argued that this narrative represents public housing communities as deviant, dysfunctional, or obsolete. In response, residents have generated a discourse of resistance that focuses on dimensions of home and community. The social science evidence that validates the residents’ storyline is summarized.     

澳大利亚维多利亚州房屋交易数字化

众所周知,澳大利亚的电子政务发展水平位于全球领先行列。本文选取了澳大利亚维多利亚州政府住宅交易改革的成功案例,通过对PASS(物产承购和销售系统)的描述,分析其特点以及在房屋交易中的应用优势,从技术和政府运作的角度全面介绍了澳大利亚维多利亚州房屋交易数字化的情况。     

Decentralisation in the public housing sector in Sweden

In 1981 SABO (The Swedish Association of Municipal Housing Companies), which is the interest organization for housing companies in the public housing sector in Sweden, launched a new policy for organization and working methods in housing management. The core of the new ideas was decentralisation and reduced distance between the management of housing companies and tenants. However, SABO companies decide on their own internal affairs. This paper examines organizational developments in the sector in the early eighties. The research problem is to study whether any structural changes have taken place in accordance with the new policy. The material consists of a questionnaire to the companies. The analysis shows that major structural changes have taken place. In addition an explorative study is made of various factors which may have contributed to the process. The authors suggest an interpretation of the development in a motive‐means perspective in which the exposed position of the sector and the evident shortcomings of earlier working methods were the companies’ motives for change and in which new knowledge and new ideas were their chief means.     

The resurgence of public housing provision in China: the Chongqing programme

Under Chinese neoliberalisation, restructuring of interactions between the market, the state and local governments has encouraged the latter to suppress public housing provision, resulting in serious housing problems for Chinese low-to-middle income households. Since 2007, the state has pursued a public housing revival, laying out various responsibilities for local governments to develop public housing. However, until recently, confronted with significant shortfalls in fiscal and land inputs, local authorities were largely unable to activate construction on an adequate scale. Nonetheless, between 2011 and 2013, the city of Chongqing applied a mode to supply public rental housing on a massive scale. This paper examines the administrative structure and reforms that have ensured the execution of the Chongqing programme. Findings show that specific political and economic incentives of the local officials have played important roles for realising the programme. Moreover, the municipality’s control of land supply and the market have also enabled an efficient cooperation between governmental and market actors for public housing provision.     

Redevelopment of public housing estates: The Australian experience

This paper provides an overview of some key aspects of the different contemporary approaches being utilised across the Australian States to redevelop public housing estates. Questions are raised about the effects of the projects on existing and future tenants, both in terms of the strategies used to address particular concentrations of disadvantage on the estates and the success in maintaining the current and future supply of public housing stock. In addition, the study points to the need for further evaluation of the approaches used in redevelopment, as currently little is known about the success or otherwise of the projects.     

Managerialism and public housing reform

This paper discusses market inspired changes to the delivery of public housing in Queensland, Australia during the late 1990s. These policy changes were implemented in an organisational environment dominated by managerialism. The theory and method of critical discourse analysis is used to examine how managerial subject positions were assimilated and/or creatively resisted by different actors within the public housing policy community. These themes are discussed using interview data with a range of policy actors, including policy managers, front-line housing staff and public housing tenants. The analysis suggests that policy actors who openly challenged the emerging policy and organisational direction were marginalised in changing power relations.     

Privatizing public housing in Canada,A public policy agenda

The new Progressive Conservative (PC) government in Ontario is planning to sell the 84,500 units (using the UK model) of public housing that it owns. This paper presents an evaluation of the programs to sell off public housing in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada. After a comparative evaluation, the author makes several recommendations for the Ontario government. The author argues that Canadian public-housing tenant characteristics are different from those in the UK. Ontario's public-housing tenants are too poor to purchase these units. They would be unable to maintain the unit and carry the costs (property tax, insurance, and utilities) even if the units were given to them free. The author concurs that the sale of public housing units in the USA and the UK may have generated some revenue and saved some costs. However, he points out that in the long run, the modest financial gains will be offset by higher operating costs. The sale of the best units and those that are easy to maintain, along with the loss of higher-income tenants, will no doubt result in higher average operating costs for the remaining Units. Such unintended consequences of the sale should be avoided by the Ontario government. The author recommends that the province develop a comprehensive and multi-purpose plan covering an array of programs (including the sale of some units) rather than concentrate exclusively on the sale.     

The geographic distribution of social housing in Ontario,Canada: Comparing public housing and locally sponsored,third sector housing

This paper provides a perspective on the contemporary debate over the production of social housing. Its main focus is on the issue that geographic patterns of service levels may be related to the type of supply program in place. The paper describes the social housing programs in Ontario, Canada over the post‐war period. Two main approaches have been taken: public housing, an essentially centralized program; and locally sponsored, third sector housing provided through non‐profit corporations and co‐operatives. The programs operated in different time periods and the analysis suggests they do have distinctive geographic distributions. The distribution of public housing shows strong correlations with need as defined by the incidence of poor housing conditions and mother‐led families. Provision under the localized program is also strongly correlated with the incidence of mother‐led families; however, the most consistent associations are with measures of socio‐economic status. These results may be partly understood in terms of the changing concept of housing need over the temporal span of the study. Program influences may be that the centralized nature of the public housing program enabled the direction of allocations to high need areas; whereas under the localized program the distribution is more closely related to the social differentiation of leadership roles in service provision under a third sector delivery model. As this approach becomes more prevalent it may be important to examine its potential impacts on service provision.     

Financial repercussions of the sale of public housing in the Netherlands

Like in other countries, the public housing sector in the Netherlands is under fire. The sale of units to tenants has been permitted for many years, and the government now intends to remove barriers to further sales. The total number of dwellings sold has remained relatively small, yet the effects on the buyers, the housing associations and the government should be investigated before a major new sales effort is launched. This article assesses the short and long‐term financial consequences of past sales programmes by analysing data on the initial sales and on subsequent resales. We find that the anticipated benefits do not always materialise.     

以公租房为例谈郑州市绿色保障房设计

在总结我国绿色保障房设计建设情况的基础上,以郑州市主城区的公租房为例,从规划设计和建筑设计的层面总结了郑州公租房的设计特点,结合《评价标准》针对郑州市公租房的绿色节能设计情况进行了实地调研和分析,以此提出选址要依据基础设施规划进行、合理布局降低干扰等有关绿色保障房的设计建议。     

Challenge-driven design for public housing: The case of Hong Kong

Public housing (PH) has existed in Hong Kong for six decades. Previous and current challenges that have been encountered over time function as a collective driver for design progression. However, such challenges have remained under research to be able to draw useful lessons from them. To understand how this established motif can suit the sustainability-consciousera, this study uses Hong Kong as a representative case for sub-tropical compact cities by critiquing its PH design against multiple constraints. The objective of this study is to trace the historical relationships between challenges and design progress as well as to assess current and future implications of sustainability trends on PH design. By synthesizing data from literature, policy documents, and empirical evidence, this research develops an evolution map for PH design in Hong Kong that is driven by seven major challenges. Based on this map, a conceptual framework for intersecting considerations that envisages five main future prospects toward future PH design is also established.     

Affordability of housing and accessibility of public services: evaluation of housing programs in Beijing

Acute housing poverty and low housing affordability among low-to-medium-income households have become challenges in the pursuit of a harmonious society in China. Promoting housing subsidies and stimulating investment on affordable housing have been at the center of China’s housing policy. This paper analyzes the correlation of affordable housing program in Beijing with household affordability of adequate housing and accessibility to public services, which include elementary and middle schools, hospitals and public transportation. Economic and Comfortable Housing is studied based on unique database of eligible household and affordable housing projects. We find that the program fails to make housing affordable and accessible for eligible households. The implications of housing policy design in the context of the economic and social well-being of targeted households are highlighted in the study.     

Corporatist implementation and legitimacy: The case of privatisation in Swedish public housing

‘Corporatist implementation’ plays an important role throughout the Swedish rental sector. It is based on close ideological affiliations and adherence to common policy objectives among the Social Democratic government and the organised interests in the public rental sector. In this article, I describe how it works in rent policy as well in the programme for widened tenant influence over housing management and renewal In the mid‐1980s, however, the public landlord association invited a private company to manage and renew problem estates in public housing. The methods used by that company are examined and found to be in conflict with the objectives hitherto shared by Social Democratic governments and the ‘recognised’ interests in the public rental sector. I then go on to discuss the implications for the legitimacy of the existing ‘corporatist implementation’ structure, suggesting that a ‘de‐legitimisation’ of that structure would prove too costly and difficult for government Once such a structure is established, the sector's governability may increase, but politicians will find their range of options for change substantially limited.     

US public housing in the 1930s: The first projects in Atlanta,Georgia

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, European philanthropists, industrialists, and governments built homes and communities aimed at improving the health and welfare of low and middle income workers. By 1930, the United States remained the only developed country in the Western world without a national legislative and financial commitment to housing. This paper explores the attitudes and circumstances affecting the creation of American public housing in the 1930s and examines the federal government's first attempts at replacing slums with subsidized apartments in the Techwood and University Homes projects in Atlanta, Georgia.     

保障性住房户外公共空间利用研究——以厦门市集美滨水小区为例

随着社会的发展,人们对居住环境的要求也有所提高。关注点已从过去的室内环境逐步转移到户外公共空间与环境,而这正是目前保障性住房设计所忽视的环节所在。本文以厦门市集美滨水小区户外公共空间为研究对象,通过发现问题并分析,借鉴国外的相关建设经验,针对现状的不足提出若干改进意见,旨在探讨如何创造一个自然、和谐、安全、健康的保障性住区户外环境。     

On shaky grounds: The case for the privatization of the public housing sector in the Netherlands

The research reported on is Project 44 of the STEPRO research program of the Institute of Geographical Research IRO of the University of Utrecht. The project was supported by grant SRO 530-242-016 from the Dutch National Science Foundation ZWO. We want to thank the provincial directorate of the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environmental Protection in Noord-Brabant for his help. A first draft of this article was discussed at the conference ‘Housing between State and Market’ in Dubrovnik in September 1988.     

The measurement of just in time wastage for a public housing project in Singapore

Just in time waste data is useful for a number of reasons; these include the ability to streamline operations, the ability to be more responsive to the environment, and the improvement in productivity, quality assurance, scheduling and cost savings. Les informations 'juste a temps' relatives aux pertes de temps et de productivite sont utiles pour plusieurs raisons. Elles offrent notamment la possibilite de rationaliser les operations, de mieux repondre aux besoins du milieu, d'ameliorer la productivite et l'assurance qualite, de renforcer les plannings et de reduire les couts.     

Community renewal and large public housing estates

The extent of social disadvantage in local neighbourhoods has come to the fore in recent years, partly as a result of the problems that State Housing Authorities have faced in managing the concentrations of socially marginalised populations on larger public housing estates. However, a wider understanding of the processes at play in these neighbourhoods is needed to inform policy development. We consider the evolution of local renewal policy in New South Wales at the present time and suggest potential policy options for the future.     

Community renewal and large public housing estates

Abstract

The extent of social disadvantage in local neighbourhoods has come to the fore in recent years, partly as a result of the problems that State Housing Authorities have faced in managing the concentrations of socially marginalised populations on larger public housing estates. However, a wider understanding of the processes at play in these neighbourhoods is needed to inform policy development. We consider the evolution of local renewal policy in New South Wales at the present time and suggest potential policy options for the future.