Housing Theory,Housing Research and Housing Policy

Abstract

Jim Kemeny in 1992 criticized existing housing research for neglecting social theory and being overly positivist and policy focused. The result has been a strengthening of the conceptual basis of housing research in general, but also a growing schism between researchers who focus on policy relevancy and those that pursue more theoretical work. This paper challenges this schism and argues for theoretically based and policy-relevant research. First, the paper argues that the policy-making process is complex and can vary between different countries, situations and over time. Therefore, it is argued that many styles of research can influence policy in the right circumstances. Second, the paper challenges the idea that there can be theoretically free housing research arguing that all research has a theoretical foundation even though in many studies it is not explicit. Finally, the paper engages with the debate about where theory for housing research should come from and what it would look like.     

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.     

我国保障性住房政策演变及思考

试图从理论上澄清住房保障的基本概念,保障的对象和政策目标,并对我国保障性住房政策演变与实践进行了回顾与反思,在此基础上,提出了深化土地制度改革,完善融资机制推进保障性住房建设的政策建议.     

Individual Development Accounts for Housing Policy: Analysis of Individual and Program Characteristics

Homeownership is a desirable goal for most Americans and is considered an integral part of the American Dream. Empirical studies indicate homeownership has many positive outcomes. However, homeownership is not prevalent among low-income populations. Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) are matched savings accounts designed to help the working poor save for a home or other assets. This paper examines the savings outcomes of IDA participants saving for a home in the American Dream Policy Demonstration, which was the first large-scale test of IDAs. Data were collected from 1997 to 2001 on 1176 participants saving to purchase a home. Results indicate that low-income IDA participants can successfully save when provided structured opportunities. This paper examines individual and program characteristics that are important to explaining saving behaviors. Implications for policy makers, program administrators, and future research are given.     

The Foreclosure Crisis,Foreclosed Properties,and Federal Policy: Some Implications for Housing and Community Development Planning

Problem: Foreclosures surged during the 2007 to 2009 national foreclosure crisis and federal policymakers failed to respond quickly and forcefully to the problem. The large numbers and geographic concentration of foreclosed properties have posed a particular problem for many planners.

Purpose: I aim to describe the intrametropolitan distribution of foreclosed properties at the zip code level, the often anemic or delayed federal policy response to rising foreclosures, and the potential effects of likely changes in federal policy and housing finance for metropolitan housing, development patterns, and local housing and community development planning.

Methods: I used archival research and secondary and media resources to document the federal response to the foreclosure crisis. I analyzed a proprietary data set to describe the problem of the accumulation of foreclosed properties across and within metropolitan areas.

Results and conclusions: Foreclosed properties were already accumulating in metropolitan areas with weak housing markets by 2006, but formerly hot markets such as Riverside, CA, Las Vegas, NV, and Phoenix, AZ, had many more by mid-2008. Within metropolitan areas, foreclosed properties were disproportionately concentrated in central city neighborhoods, although suburban zip codes with long commute times also had relatively high levels. The federal response to rapidly worsening foreclosures was faltering and timid. More conservative finance following the crisis will put downward pressure on housing consumption, potentially shifting demand to smaller homes. However, financing may be difficult or expensive to obtain for condominium buildings, and lenders and investors may shy away from less conventional projects, due partly to higher risk premiums.

Takeaway for practice: In the short run, local governments must confront the problems of foreclosed properties, especially when they are highly concentrated in certain neighborhoods. More conservative mortgage markets are likely to persist for some time, with potential impacts on housing demand. Planners should strive to diversify tax bases by promoting more diverse land use and housing patterns to make their communities more resilient in future crises. Federal policymakers may move toward greater mortgage market regulation, but this will be vigorously debated. Policymakers will also consider the ongoing federal role in secondary markets, without which long term stability is unlikely. Finally, Congress may extend the Community Reinvestment Act to nonbank financial institutions given the federal support they have received during the crisis.

Research support: None.     

Rethinking Federal Housing Policy

Problem: Federal housing policy is made up of disparate programs that a) promote homeownership; b) assist low-income renters’ access to good-quality, affordable housing; and c) enforce the Fair Housing Act by combating residential discrimination. Some of these programs are ineffective, others have drifted from their initial purpose, and none are well coordinated with each other.

Purpose: We examine the trends, summarize the research evaluating the performance of these programs, and suggest steps to make them more effective and connected to each other.

Methods: We review the history of housing policy and programs and empirical studies of program effectiveness to identify a set of best principles and practices.

Results and conclusions: In the area of homeownership, we recommend that the federal government help the nation's housing markets quickly find bottom, privatize aspects of the secondary mortgage market, and move to eliminate the mortgage interest deduction and replace it with a 10-year homeownership tax credit. In the area of subsidized rental housing, we recommend that the current system of vouchers be regionalized (or alternatively, converted into an entitlement program that works through the income tax system), sell public housing projects to nonprofit sponsors where appropriate, and eliminate some of the rigidities in the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. In the area of fair housing, we recommend that communities receiving Community Development Block Grants be required to implement inclusionary zoning programs.

Takeaway for practice: In general, we recommend that federal policy build on proven programs; focus on providing affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families and provide the funding to meet that goal; avoid grandiose and ideological ambitions and programs; use fewer and more coordinated programs; offer tax credits, not tax deductions; and promote residential filtering.

Research support: Partial funding support was provided by the National Science Foundation.     

住宅政策与创新

住宅政策改革关系到亿万城市居民的切身利益,在中国改革开放进程中有着举足轻重的地位.在经济全球化趋势继续增强的背景下,城市发展面临新的机遇和挑战.公共管理者需要从政策创新的视角对住宅改革政策深入探讨,以保持和发展改革的成果,并对未来国家公共政策的走向作出选择.     

Housing Policy,Housing Assistance and the Wellbeing Dividend: Developing an Evidence Base for Post-GFC Economies

This paper discusses the recent evolution, at a time of turmoil within global financial markets, of Australia's housing system and considers the effectiveness of housing assistance responses formulated to assist lo- income Australians. Following the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), housing was recast in the public and political consciousness and received substantial policy attention. In this era of rapidly declining housing affordability as well as threats to the supply of housing finance, the Australian Government renewed its approach to housing assistance. The paper examines housing assistance in Australia and assesses individual outcomes in terms of a ‘wellbeing dividend’. It draws upon on a survey of 1700 low-income households to examine individual outcomes for health and wellbeing across three of Australia's major forms of housing assistance. The research clearly shows that while housing assistance makes a positive contribution to wellbeing, not all forms of assistance are equal.     

Planning for Housing Development in Malaysia: Developers' Response to the Regulatory Policy Framework

This paper unfolds the inherent tension between private developers and local authorities in the development process of medium- to high-cost housing units in Malaysia. It examines how developers respond to the government's regulatory housing policy framework by deploying resources and tactics to realize their investment strategies. The analysis focuses on the Bumiputra quota policy, the low-cost housing policy, the One-Stop-Centre approving system and the review of planning guidelines in Johor and Kuala Lumpur which have very different socio-economic circumstances. The findings highlight the lack of trust and communication between developers and the government in the development process and the importance of cultural influence and socio-economic contexts on the structuration process.     

Familification: Family,Neighborhood Change,and Housing Policy

This paper proposes the term familification to describe one type of gentrification: the process of neighborhood change by families moving into a neighborhood. This study, drawing upon in-depth interviews, document analysis, and ethnographic observations, focuses on an urban familification program—one city's attempt to benefit families by restricting participation in its downtown housing programs. The paper first describes the programs and then explores how leaders, program participants, and neighbors understand the programs' intentions and effects. While family is not prominent in the programs' grant proposals, leaders indicated that promoting traditional families was a central objective. Implementing these programs revealed difficulties in defining family and in managing the programs' outcomes. Implications for fair housing laws are considered, and it is argued that fostering diversity in family life course stages may be a compelling government interest to promote neighborhood stability, and an inclusive strategy for urban development.     

Ochsenanger住宅开发,班贝格

自从1930年代大萧条时期以来,美国政府的政策一直重视城郊住宅建设.其部分原因是期望促进汽车和燃油消费,并通过在乡村地区开发独户住宅来提高家庭消费.这个政策带来的住宅增长和往返交通的不断增加使它正面临着崩溃的边缘.而在欧洲,对发展集合型住宅的补贴政策就很能说明这一点.这栋Ochsenanger的小型住宅的设计表明了这样一个理念：它没有完全拒绝私人拥有宅邸的梦想,但它以其独特、简洁的方式和较大的建筑密度来实现.停车场集中放到开发区外,降低了用地指标和对道路的需求.集中供暖系统、简单的木结构和朴素的生活空间布局,这些都是有效的经济措施,作为补偿为每户提供了私有的室外区域、花园、前院（带有大储藏空间）和露台.     

Kaiser,Douglas, and Kerner on Low-Income Housing Policy

Benjamin C. Marsh, a vigorous young social worker in the early years of the twentieth century, attacked the extreme congestion of poor people in the nation's largest cities. In his analysis of the causes of congestion, Marsh identified the basic dynamics of large-scale crowding and offered some of the most radical solutions of taxation, land-use, and planning proposed during his day. As an early leader against the overcrowding of land, the author of the first book devoted entirely to city planning, and the founder of the first National Conference on City Planning, Marsh's career points up the diversity of style and ideology that characterized the pioneers of the planning profession.     

Housing the Aged in New South Wales: Planning Policy for Group Housing

In 1982, the New South Wales Government introduced State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) No. 5, ‘Housing for Aged or Disabled Persons’. This Policy is a statutory planning instrument under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act, 1979. It allows housing for people over fifty-five and for disabled people to be built anywhere where a dwelling-house may be built as long as the site is within or adjacent to an urban area. It allows it even where local planning controls prohibit it.     

The Next Blueprint for Housing Policy in England

This review outlines the changes to housing policy in England introduced or proposed by the UK coalition government elected in 2010. These changes form part of a longer term project to modernise housing policy, and are at the same time a response to an economic and public expenditure crisis. It is argued that these emerging proposals raise important questions for housing policy analysis and research—questions about the interpretation of earlier policy and practice, and about the factors likely to affect future policy outcomes and patterns of segregation.