Are Housing Organisations becoming Learning Organisations? Some Lessons from the Management of Tenant Participation

This paper deals with the links between organisational development in social housing organisations and tenant participation, and asks whether social housing organisations through such practices can be said to be adopting some of the features of 'learning organisations'. It discusses the ways in which tenant participation arrangements, in addition to providing opportunities for tenants to influence organisational decision making, potentially serve as de facto conduits for organisational learning, prompting organisational adaptation and change. The idea of the 'learning organisation' has its roots in organisational theory and practice. It has also been used normatively in management consultancy, and it is a discernible part of the managerial culture associated with the present government's Modernisation programme. The paper has three interrelated aims. First, it looks at the scope of the 'learning organisation' notion. This is broadly concerned with organisational commitment to on-going development, and focuses on responsiveness, flexibility and capacity to adapt internally to external demands and pressures. Second, it considers the role that these 'learning organisation' principles play in the process of organisational change as this is experienced by today's social housing organisations. Third, it applies learning organisation concepts and draws on recent research to examine an aspect of social housing practice which acts as a key interface between social housing organisations and their service users, the management of tenant participation in an operational context, and discusses the extent to which such mechanisms might act as a conduit for the development of organisational learning. The paper concludes by reflecting first, on the potential of such conduits to encourage social housing organisations to become more like 'learning organisations'; and second, on the value of the learning organisation notion as a tool for understanding organisational development and change in social housing.     

The Missing Link in Cooperative Governance and Housing Delivery: Lessons from Mangaung Local Municipality

This paper examines post-apartheid housing delivery in the Mangaung Local Municipality – previously known as the Bloemfontein–Botshabelo–Thaba Nchu region. The paper assesses housing delivery against the background of existing literature on housing delivery, as evaluated from a city perspective and against the notion of cooperative governance. It is suggested that various guidelines from policy and practice at the provincial level impact negatively on housing delivery at the local level. Furthermore, it is argued that despite some innovative attempts to address aspects of informal settlement upgrading, integrated housing development and participation have not received adequate attention. Finally, the paper also questions the lack of appropriate guidelines in respect of housing delivery in some hidden urbanities of South Africa.     

Social Housing Agencies and the Governance of Anti-social Behaviour

Current policy and discourse concerning the governance of anti-social behaviour in the UK has emphasised the spatial concentration of disorder on particular social housing estates. Policy has sought to respond by devolving management of the processes of social control to local neighbourhoods. Local authorities, and social housing agencies in particular, are being given an increasing role within multi-agency partnerships aimed at governing local incidences of anti-social behaviour. This paper places this emerging role for social housing agencies within theories of governmentality and wider trends in urban governance and suggests that present developments may be understood through a paradigm of housing governance. Drawing on studies in Edinburgh and Glasgow, the paper examines the role of social housing agencies in the governance of anti-social behaviour. It argues that social housing agencies face a number of dilemmas in reacting to their emerging role and that such dilemmas reflect wider concerns about the new urban governance.     

地方政府行为与住宅产业化

促进人居环境的可持续发展,是改善我国人民生存环境和提高生活质量的最佳途径。住宅产业化既是国民经济新增长点和新的消费热点,又是涉及国民经济发展的全局,还是体现政府主导行为的重要标志。本文通过国际比较,分析住宅产业发展规律,阐明地方政府行为对推动我国住宅产业化进程的思路。     

Housing Careers: Immigrants in Local Swedish Housing Markets

Immigration to Sweden has changed character between the 1960s and today. Early immigration occurred as a response to labour market need whereas immigrants arriving during the last decade have had difficulties entering the labour market. The aim of this study is to analyse the housing careers of different immigrant groups within different local housing markets. The housing careers of immigrant groups are then compared and related to the housing career of the total population. Earlier studies have shown that the year of immigration is of importance for the type of housing career made as well as the cultural distance between the immigrant group and the Swedish population. The immigrants included in this study have arrived from Finland, ex-Yugoslavia, Chile, Africa, Iran and Turkey, representing the three different phases of immigration to Sweden. The analyses here show that both the structure of the local housing market and time spent in Sweden are important to the housing careers of immigrants.     

Social Housing Versus Housing Allowances: Choosing Between Two Forms of Housing Subsidy at the Local Level

Analysis of the policy choice between social housing and housing allowances has been obscured by the older housing policy debate between proponents of supply subsidies and proponents of demand subsidies. Social housing uses capital grants both to reduce monthly housing costs to below-market rates and to take existing or newly constructed housing out of the market, so that ownership is nonprofit and use is allocated according to need rather than ability to pay. Housing allowances, on the other hand, enable poor tenants to pay market rents for housing. During the past 15 years, even as housing allowances became the dominant mode of Federal assistance, social housing programs grew at the local level. Comparison of model social housing and housing allowance programs by the number of people helped over time, effects on economic integration, and program stability suggests that the choice between these programs depends primarily on alternative expectations for the future. The most active local constituencies favoring housing programs for low-income people have pessimistic expectations about the national economy and the social safety net, as well as professional interests that are likely to favor social housing programs more than housing allowances.     

Local Housing Agencies in Rural Wales

This paper explores patterns of local housing agency collaboration in rural Wales between 1988 and 1994. It considers how the financial and land-transfer contribution of public sector partners has changed over this period and examines the implications of these changes. The paper attempts to outline possible future patterns of joint activity and looks at how changes may im pact upon the nature and scale of housing service delivery. It concludes that amidst many uncertainties (relating in particular to the demarcation of roles), one final outcome of current processes, typified by local government reorganisation, may be a centralisation of housing provision which will threaten locally based control and undermine accountability.     

Capturing the Castle: Tenant Governance in Social Housing Companies

In the contemporary landscape of social housing in Britain, the role of tenants on the governing boards of housing companies continues to be seen as deeply problematic. While tenant directors are recruited to bring a market-like influence to social housing governance, they appear to be approaching their positions as directors in a way that is contrary to the drive towards management efficiency. This paper adopts a social constructionist approach in order to recast the institutions of housing governance as contested articulations of ideology and the ‘problem’ of tenant board members as a hegemonic clash between discourses of governance. It concludes that tenant directors act as a significant dynamic in the political construction of social housing today.     

Local Government Redefines Its Role In Housing

From the late 1970s Local Government in Victoria had an increasing role in the ownership and management of public or social housing. By the early 1990s more than one quarter of all Victorian Local Government Authorities (LGAs) had secured Government grants to undertake housing projects of various kinds (Jose, 1991).     

Housing Governance in the English Regions: Emerging Structures,Limits and Potentials

The centralising tendency of successive governments left housing policy struggling to comprehend and respond effectively to increasing regional and sub-regional differentiation in housing markets in England during the 1990s. A consequence of this central-local paradox, whereby the centre has exerted increasing control over local affairs but is unable to appreciate and sensitise policy to the particulars of local housing markets, has been rising 'top-down' interest in the regional tier of housing administration. There is also evidence of 'bottom-up' impetus for the development of a regional tier of housing governance. Paying particular attention to the situation in the North of England, and taking Yorkshire and Humberside as a case study example, this paper examines this emerging regional tier of housing governance. Focusing specifically on the development, role and function of Regional Housing Forums, and situating discussion in the context of debates regarding 'New Regionalism', some preliminary conclusions are drawn regarding the potentials and limits of housing governance in the English regions.     

Housing Market Renewal in Liverpool: Locating the Gentrification Debate in History,Context and Evidence

This paper places the Housing Market Renewal programme in Liverpool in its historical context, highlighting a mismatch between the supply and demand for housing which has existed for four decades. This disequilibrium produced an environment where successive waves of neighbourhood abandonment occurred from the late 1970s despite significant public policy interventions. The implementation of the Housing Market Renewal programme has stimulated a debate about the extent to which the public sector interventions are leading to the gentrification of poor neighbourhoods. The paper finds that there is no evidence of gentrification in older neighbourhoods, however, inflows of capital rather than middle-class residents have altered the physical development of the city to an extent that the housing choices of all income groups have been affected. The paper concludes that critical gentrification research should take account of historical development and wider housing market change to remain relevant to the debate about the changing social and economic structure of cities.     

Local Authority Housing Stock Transfer in the UK: From Local Initiative to National Policy

Since 1988 stock transfer has been transformed from a local initiative into a central part of government policy for housing in the UK. It began as a largely rural and suburban phenomenon, generating substantial capital receipts, but has also become a vehicle for the regeneration of rundown urban estates. The trajectory of this process has continued to be rapid despite changes in government and devolution of housing policy in the late 1990s. This paper traces the development of the process in some detail, considering policy origins and antecedents, the emergence of national policy and its rolling out to embrace a wider range of circumstances. The impact of the policy is considered more briefly, reviewing the impact on the non-profit housing sector, on local authorities and on the key policy issues of rents and access to housing. Future prospects are reviewed in a concluding section.     

分权与地方治理:美洲经验的启示

强有力的地方政府是维持西方世界民主治理的关键因素之一,美国的经验尤其能够表明这一点。分权运动历史悠久,许多国家和国际组织将地方政府发展作为分散政治权力的重要手段。某种程度上,分权是为了更加民主的政治、更多的公民参与、提供更好的公共服务和促进经济的发展。信息公开、问责制、发展公民权利、有保障的地方财政、民间组织的发展等,是建设和加强民主治理与地方治理的核心因素。     

整体性治理视阈下地方高校内部治理体系现代化路径探析

高校内部治理体系作为高等教育治理体系的重要组成部分,之于国家治理体系和治理能力现代化推进至关重要,亦是高校谋求自身健康持续发展不可回避且必须完成的时代课题。目前,高校内部治理现代化进程中存在观念滞后、制度破碎、结构割裂、信息不对称等碎片化倾向,且地方高校尤为突出,严重制约其治理能力提升及整体治理效能发挥。整体性治理旨在满足社会公众需求、重视整合与协调的思想,与地方高校治理现代化任务不谋而合。由此,基于整体性治理视角,以公共与责任性治理理念为指导,回应师生诉求,推进民主治校;规范校内治理制度安排,健全大学章程和理事会制,落实依法治校;完善分权与制衡的治理结构,整合多元权力;采取现代信息技术治理手段,实现教育资源全方位实时共享以寻求地方高校内部现代化治理体系的实现路径,为建立现代大学制度奠定坚实基础。     

The Role of Housing Stock Transfer Organisations in Neighbourhood Regeneration: Exploring the Relationship between Regeneration, ‘New Localism’ and Social Networks

This paper defines stock transfer organisations and argues that they have a pivotal role in accessing funding for the social and economic regeneration of their communities. It places housing and regeneration policy within the changing policy context of ‘new localism’, which, at least rhetorically, emphasises improvement in public services, multi-level governance structures and devolution of decision making. For stock transfer housing organisations this means an increasing need to engage in a wide range of partnerships and policy forums. Bourdieu's notion of habitus, i.e. social, economic and cultural capital, is used to explore the possible reasons for the differential approach of stock transfer organisations to regeneration and the variable success at engaging in a wide range of regeneration activity and attracting additional resources.