From Asset Based Welfare to Welfare Housing? The Changing Function of Social Housing in Ireland

This paper examines a distinctive and significant aspect of social housing in Ireland—its change in function from an asset-based role in welfare support to a more standard model of welfare housing. It outlines the nationalist and agrarian drivers which expanded the initial role of social housing beyond the goal of improving housing conditions for the poor towards the goal of extending homeownership, and assesses whether this focus made it more similar to the ‘asset based welfare’ approach to housing found in South-East Asia than to social housing in Western Europe. From the mid-1980s, the role of Irish social housing changed as the sector contracted and evolved towards the model of welfare housing now found in many other Western countries. Policy makers have struggled to address the implications of this transition and vestiges of social housing's traditional function are still evident, consequently the boundaries between social housing, private renting and homeownership in Ireland have grown increasingly nebulous.     

Locating Chinese urban housing policy in an international context

China’s economic development has often been contrasted with that of other transition economies in Europe, but academics have fought shy of making direct comparisons of urban housing reform in the two systems. This paper fills this gap by making such direct comparisons. Adopting the market - housing model advocated by the World Bank as an analytical framework it finds that extensive housing privatisation in China is supported by a system of urban housing property rights and a growing residential mortgage market. Although China has a distinctive institutional framework, there is also much variety among the European transition countries, and a distinctive Chinese model was not identified; so this micro-level analysis did not support the contention that China represents a form of "contested modernity." Nonetheless, a crucial point arises from China's hybrid status as a developing as well as a transition country. The bulk of the urban migrant population remains excluded from formal housing policy and enabling strategies that form an element of the market - housing model especially in developing countries are not so much replaced by a distinctive Chinese model as by a yawning gap.     

Gentrification,homelessness, and the work process: Housing markets and labour markets in the quartered city

The relationship between work and housing is much more than a relationship between labour markets and housing markets. The nature of the work process — not just how much is paid or where jobs are located — influences the type of housing that is demanded and the type of housing that is supplied. The paper provides a few examples, and then uses two cases, gentrification and homelessness, to illustrate the contention that the linkage between labour and housing is a fundamental internal one, in which the content of labour and the form of housing are directly related, and are prior to the external relations of the markets for each. The paper ends with the suggestion that these linkages vary by class, and suggests as prominent on a future research agenda an examination of the internal relationship between class, work processes, and the nature of housing provision. The examples used come from the United States, primarily New York City, but the processes clearly appear in all industrialised private market economies, and many aspects are relevant to Third World and socialist economies also.     

Planning and affordable housing in Australia,New Zealand and England: common culture; different mechanisms

This paper compares approaches to planning and delivery of affordable housing across England, Australia and New Zealand. While all three nations began with a common starting point—early British town planning legislation—underlying differences in urban regulation, property rights and housing provision soon emerged. However, signs of convergence have lately re-appeared, as all three countries have responded to affordable housing shortages by exploring new strategies to boost supply through the planning system. In the tradition of comparative housing research, this paper examines these strategies in the context of each country’s particular historical, socio-cultural, governance and urban planning frameworks. Our analysis shows how differences in planning systems and approaches to housing assistance can delimit opportunities to secure new affordable homes, particularly in the context of increasing land values. Effective delivery of affordable housing through the planning system depends on consistent and enforceable policy articulation, government commitment, a mature affordable housing sector, and particular market conditions.     

Changing urban housing form and organization in Nigeria: lessons for community planning

There has been very little research interest in historically changing patterns of urban housing form and organization and the quality of life experienced by ordinary people in designed settings. This is despite the arguments of humanistic geographers and contemporary environmental psychologists that the behavioural and socio‐cultural aspects of built form imbue environments with meanings and help to create a sense of place. This paper focuses on the development of housing forms in Nigerian cities, including the cultural motifs and the economic circumstances that have shaped their evolution over time. The analysis of pre‐colonial traditional housing forms at the core of cities is presented first followed by an appraisal of newer developments at the suburbs that were stimulated by colonial and post‐colonial market‐driven economies. Drawing on the divergent examples of the transition from traditional to modern urban housing forms, the paper reveals that social changes, particularly the shift from traditional communal family values to more Western ways of life, have had variegated impacts on building forms and residential layouts. One of these is inhabitants’ alienation from the urban environment and the seeming identification with home places of origin outside the city. The paper argues that while this situation poses a major challenge to urban planning in post‐colonial Nigeria, professional planning practice seems to have demonstrated little interest in what people think or feel about places. Ways in which new housing forms may be organized and incorporated into future programmes of urban development to promote communal belonging to Nigerian cities are articulated.     

Public sector housing in Urban China 1949–1988: The case of Xian

The literature on housing systems and housing policy in different countries has made an important contribution to the analysis and understanding of key issues relating to the origins and nature of state intervention in housing, and to the interaction of specific social, political and economic forces. The most important initial contributions to this literature referred principally to the advanced industrial economies of Western Europe and North America. This paper aims to broaden the base of comparative research in housing and add to the understanding of public sector housing provision and policy in China. It examines the development of public sector housing in urban areas between 1949 and 1988 through a study of Xian City, and provides detailed analyses of distinctive features of the Chinese urban housing system. The objectives are to fill the gap in the existing literature on housing provision in China through reference to the inland area of the country. This paper concludes that the current urban housing system reflects the particular social, political and economic relationships between the people, the employers and the government. Housing reform in China will not only bring about a major privatisation process, but it will involve a fundamental re‐organisation of the urban society.     

The performance of national housing systems a three‐nation comparison

Comparative housing analysis has so far devoted little attention to assessing the performance of national housing systems. The paper argues that more rigorous means of making such assessments are required, not least as an aid to policy making. This in turn means that more explicit statements of housing objectives need to be worked out in order to identify agreed judgemental criteria. The term ‘housing problem’ also requires a more comprehensive definition which recognises that the provision of adequate and accessible housing is a crucial infrastructural benefit to local economies. One way to compare the performance of housing arrangements is to analyse the provision response when rapid employment growth and restructuring produce especial pressures in an area. Using a three‐dimensional conceptual model, the paper presents findings on the extent to which housing provision in three areas, parts of Berkshire, Toulouse and Stockholm, has coped with the rapid employment growth and change of the 1980s. The Swedish and French systems appear to have coped better than the British. On the basis of these empirical findings, the paper finally proposes one possible set of housing objectives.     

Reproducing housing commons. Government involvement and differential commoning in a housing cooperative

Since the late nineteenth century, reoccurring economic depressions and related housing crises have led to the development of collectively shared and managed housing systems. Nowadays depicted as ‘housing commons’, these systems are rooted in the early twentieth-century cooperative garden city housing model. Some of these housing initiatives have been marketed, while others have been scaled-up or co-opted by the state. Through a detailed discussion of changing government involvement in a rental cooperative neighbourhood in the Brussels Capital Region, and an analysis of participative practices, we discuss the relevance of the cooperative model today. Rather than an obsolete system, the paper shows that differential forms of commoning reproduce the cooperative model, resulting in capacity building and increased social capital among participating inhabitants. This sheds a different light on common-pool resource theory, which prescribes strict regulations to prevent free-ridership or enclosure.     

An empirical analysis of the characteristics of residential location choice in the rapidly changing Korean housing market

This study examines the factors of residential location choice by considering the characteristics of the Korean housing market. From various factors of the residential location choice of a household, this study focuses on the effect of opportunities to engage in other activities, represented by accessibility, and the variety of housing tenure types—i.e., owner-occupied, Chonsei, and monthly rent—and the change of each type’s share of the market. The results of this empirical study indicate that households will most often choose to live in districts with more accessibility (a representative variable of demand-driven market), more permitted housing floor space (that of supply-driven one), higher rents, and lower housing prices in the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA). That is to say, the rapidly changing Korean housing market indicates a transition phase from a supply-driven to a demand-driven one. The significance of the variables and their effects were different for each housing tenure type. This means that the tenure type choice of a household is influenced by the level of income and assets. The results of this study are significant in understanding the characteristics of residential location choices of Korea and the countries in the transition as well.     

Housing Policy as a Lever for Change? The Politics of Welfare,Assets and Tenure

The housing tenure structure has long been associated with different forms of welfare state capitalism in Western Europe. However, with the rise of owner-occupancy, this association has not been so straightforward. An alternative view is to view housing policies that promote owner-occupancy for households to acquire assets, as an attempt by the state to reform social welfare systems. The politics of welfare reform are related to the discourses of homeownership ideology. The ownership of (housing) assets agenda serves as a means to change the relationship between state, market and individual households. This view is mostly based on the British experience and this paper seeks to broaden it by examining the Netherlands and Spain. The paper shows differences, but also that housing policies play an important role in driving towards or maintaining market-dominated solutions. Housing is used to either reorient towards or maintain a welfare system where asset ownership and market dependency is deemed more appropriate than secure income and public expenditure.     

Build as you earn and learn: informal urbanism and incremental housing financing in Kumasi,Ghana

The continuous evolution, proliferation and resilience of informal housing in cities of developing countries defy all attempts by their formal planning processes to marginalise and relegate them to the periphery. In most instances, their rapid and uncontrolled growth has overwhelmed city planning authorities. More importantly, strategies for financing these informal housing units present complex networks of sources not clearly discussed in the housing literature. Using two informal communities—Ayigya-Zongo and Dakodwom—in Kumasi, Ghana, this paper explores the nature and characteristics of these non-conventional housing financing strategies. The study reveals an evolving and enduring non-conventional informal housing financing system effective for providing convenient and affordable housing for the urban poor; but this system is continuously sidelined by the conventional urban planning and housing financing systems. We argue against these attitudes of formal institutions towards these non-conventional housing financing strategies, and submit that these strategies are the gradual, incremental, and collective responses of residents in informal communities to a hostile formal urban planning and housing environment. Hence the dynamics of these non-conventional housing financing schemes point to a complex and fluid network of informal housing financial sources and structures, which are co-evolving with the processes of informal urbanisation and social learning among residents in informal settlements.     

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.     

Evaluation of multi-family housing systems in Poland

On the basis of selected statistical data, the authors briefly discuss the housing construction situation in Poland, focusing on two periods — that preceding the transition to a market economy (up to the end of 1988) and the period 1989–1994). Comparative analysis of selected systems of multi-family housing, based on specific criteria, has been presented. The analysis comprises systems which have been used for many years and continue to be used. The entropy method, one of the multi-criteria optimization methods, has been used in the analysis.     

Accommodating discontent: youth,conflict and the housing question in Hong Kong

Young people across many societies face growing problems in making the transition from the parental home to independent living. Rising house prices and the lack of affordable alternatives to home ownership is most commonly blamed. This paper explores these issues in relation to young people in Hong Kong. The paper argues that the housing question in Hong Kong has distinct local characteristics and cannot be disconnected from wider political and economic tensions. It also shows that the housing choices and views of young people are shaped by more than issues of cost and access. The paper draws on a unique data-set which explores the attitudes and expectations with regard to housing among young people in Hong Kong. Addressing the housing problem is widely regarded as a political priority and essential to maintain social cohesion. However, political imperatives and economic interests are pulling in different directions.     

Housing Experience and Settlement Satisfaction: Recent Chinese,Indian and South African Skilled Immigrants to New Zealand

Relatively little work has been done on the housing experience of recent migrants from cultural backgrounds different to that of their host society. This absence is particularly marked for relatively high socio-economic status skilled migrants, many of whom have to negotiate housing markets significantly different from those in their countries of origin. Data obtained from a panel study of recent immigrants from three separate sources—China, India and South Africa—to New Zealand's main cities (primarily Auckland) are used to explore the nature of their housing experiences. Over a four-year period these migrants moved towards the New Zealand norm of owner occupied, detached dwellings, although more rapidly in some cases than others; the pace of movement reflected not only cultural differences among the three groups, relative to the New Zealand norms, but also experiences in the labour market. These differences are reflected in levels of satisfaction with the decision to move to New Zealand.     

Municipal land allocations: integrating planning and selection of developers while transferring public land for housing in Sweden

An essential component in all housing developments is suitable land. Besides being buildable, this implies land approved for housing in a marketable and consequently implementable location. Insufficient supply of suitable land to housing developers could affect the supply of housing. In Sweden, a lot of land appropriate for housing is owned—often since many years back—by municipalities and supplied to developers through the use of ‘land allocations’. A land allocation connects a developer and a municipality in a interdependency-based collaboration intended to jointly create an implementable development right, followed by a land transfer. Using semi-structured interviews and questionnaires reaching a total of 26 municipalities and 91 developers, the Swedish land allocation system is investigated; results are presented with emphasis on requirements put on developers, its interaction with the planning process and on the different methods used to select a certain developer. Additionally, the system is reviewed from a developer perspective and put in an international context. While many countries make use of public land for housing, the article shows that the Swedish land allocation system deviates in several aspects and in spite of its long history, there are undoubtedly features considered less well functioning from the developer’s point of view.     

Inclusionary housing in the Netherlands: breaking the institutional path?

In an international comparative perspective, the Netherlands was relatively late in introducing Inclusionary Housing (Buitelaar and De Kam in Housing Theory and Society 29(1):56–64, 2012). Referring to a conceptual framework of the institutionalisation of planning regulations, the article links this late introduction, as well as the specific content, and the actual use of inclusionary housing (IH) measures to the context of the Dutch housing and planning system. In the Netherlands, the legal ‘package’ that in 2008 explicitly introduced the powers for local authorities to require IH (both for social/affordable housing and—a unique feature of the Dutch rules—also for privately commissioned housing) was strongly tied to new rules for cost recovery. The article partly draws on a review of existing studies, of the use made of these different elements of the Dutch IH measures, but its main empirical data come from a large survey of strategic choices made by housing associations in the land market. The paper shows that local authorities do use the new legal opportunity to prescribe IH in their land-use plans, but that there is a relatively low actual use of IH requirements ‘with a bite’ in the Netherlands. This outcome reflects the level of congruence of the IH requirements with formal and informal institutions in the Dutch systems for planning and housing. The institutional design of the rules is well attuned to existing path-dependent local policies which still deliver substantial numbers of new social and affordable housing without the use of IH. In these practices, value capturing is partly internalized in the operations of housing associations that develop mixed projects of social and commercial housing. In this respect, the real test of IH measures in the Netherlands is yet to come, depending on the resilience of tried and trusted (other) practices for providing social housing.     

The Winners in China's Urban Housing Reform

Housing reform in China has proceeded on two tracks: privatization of public housing and development of a new private housing sector. During this period of transition, rents have remained relatively low in the remaining public housing, and purchase prices offered to occupants of public housing have been well below market prices. Although these rents and prices are partly based on known formulas, there is considerable variability in how much people pay for similar apartments. This study uses 2000 Census data to estimate the housing subsidy received by the remaining renters in the public sector and purchasers of public housing, based on private sector prices for housing of comparable quality and size. The paper also analyzes variation in the estimated discount from market prices that these people receive. The findings show that the biggest winners in China's transition from socialist housing allocation are those who were favored in the previous system, based on such factors as residence status, education and occupation.     

Multiple Land Regimes: Rethinking Land Governance in Maputo’s Peri-urban Spaces

Africa’s increasing levels of urbanisation have significant implications for urban land. Growing populations imply that there is increasing pressure on cities to provide economic opportunities, housing, infrastructure and social services to existing and incoming urban dwellers. These activities take place on urban land, and much of the new growth occurs outside of the state regulatory and legal frameworks. Using survey data collected in Maputo’s peri-urban areas of Luis Cabral and Hulene B, this paper explores how ordinary urban dwellers access, hold, transact and manage land. These findings suggest that a land market that is technically outside of the legal system exists. Notwithstanding its illegality, these land practices are organised, comprising sophisticated local land management and regulatory systems. The low incidence of land conflicts in both neighbourhoods shows that these governance practices are relatively functional. Local practices are characterised by a complex web of social roleplayers, including family members, neighbours, local leadership structures and state officials all of whom lend credibility and legitimacy to the existence of a local land market. These findings challenge conventional understanding of formal and informal markets. It is argued that these socially embedded land markets indicate how urban territory is segmented and managed, and their existence also transforms the way we conceptualise formality and informality in African cities. This situation shows how informal urban economies are co-produced by state and non-state regulatory systems. These hybrid economies have implications for how we understand governance, markets and the role of the state in our cities.     

Predicting Housing Abandonment with the Philadelphia Neighborhood Information System

Abstract Several large US cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia, have developed information systems to distribute property‐level housing data to community organizations and municipal agencies. These early warning systems are also intended to predict which properties are at greatest risk of abandonment, but they have rarely used statistical modeling to support such forecasts. This study used logistic regression to analyze data from the Philadelphia Neighborhood Information System in order to determine which properties were most likely to become imminently dangerous. Several different characteristics of the property, including whether it was vacant, had outstanding housing code violations, and tax arrearages as well as characteristics of nearby properties were identified as significant predictors. Challenges common to the development of early warning systems—including integrating administrative data, defining abandonment, and modeling temporal and spatial data—are discussed along with policy implications for cities like Philadelphia that have thousands of vacant and abandoned properties.