Housing tenure and the health of older Australians dependent on the age pension for their income

The article examines how the housing tenure of older Australians, who are primarily or solely dependent on the government age pension for their income, impacts on their health. Drawing on 125 in-depth interviews with older private renters, social housing tenants and homeowners, it focuses mainly on interviewees’ narratives as to the impacts of their housing tenure on their mental health and outlook. It illustrates that security of tenure and cost of accommodation potentially has a profound impact on the psychological health of older Australians. Most of the older private renters told of being constantly stressed due to concerns about being given notice to vacate or an untenable rent increase. In contrast, the strong security of tenure and limited accommodation costs of older social housing tenants and homeowners created a foundation for a positive outlook and the capacity to lead a decent life.     

Housing and transport expenditure: Socio-spatial indicators of affordability in Auckland

Traditional measures of housing affordability are expressed solely as a function of housing cost and income. This one-dimensional view of affordability ignores transportation costs, which represent a sizable proportion of household expenditure. Conventional measures are problematic due to the extent to which housing location influences transportation costs. Consequently, narrowly construed definitions of housing affordability are misleading indicators of housing stress. This study quantitatively examines intra-metropolitan combined housing and transport affordability in Auckland, New Zealand. The research utilises disaggregate zonal data to develop comprehensive indicators of commuting costs. These indicators are applied to give an integrated affordability index for each statistical area unit within Auckland City. The results suggest that once commuting costs are incorporated into measures, a very different pattern of affordability emerges.     

Living on the Margins: Comparing Older Private Renters and Older Public Housing Tenants in Sydney,Australia

An increasing number of older Australians are dependent on the private rental market for their accommodation. Through the use of semi-structured in-depth interviews, the life circumstances of older renters (65 plus) in both public housing and private rented accommodation in Sydney are explored and compared. Using Amartya Sen's concepts of capabilities and functionings, the study illustrates that due mainly to lower accommodation costs and greater security of tenure, the public housing tenants interviewed had far greater capability to live a life they valued. In contrast, most interviewees in the private rental market were struggling financially and were extremely anxious about their security of tenure. Their capacity to control their present and their future was very limited.     

Sustainability Uptake in Housing in Metropolitan Australia: An Institutional Problem,Not a Technological One

This paper examines the uptake of environmentally sustainable housing in two major cities in Australia. The paper responds to literature that suggests sustainability is not so much a technological problem as an institutional one, and to theories of innovation which focus on innovation diffusion through chains of production. The disaggregation and piecemeal nature of innovation within the building industry is underpinned by unfamiliarity with new technologies, a lack of consistent legislation and pricing and unclear channels of communication. These generate uneven adoption of environmentally sustainable materials and processes within this industry.     

Tracer study and profiling of a tertiary lagoon in the United Kingdom: II

Monitoring data over a year showed that the performance of a tertiary lagoon system in the United Kingdom was very variable. Distinct seasonal patterns were seen for all the determinands. Tracer studies and profile sampling of one of the lagoons were carried out in order to investigate the factors affecting performance. The tracer studies, using sodium fluoride, indicated that the hydraulic regime was dispersed plug flow. The mean retention time was found to be 26 h, but the peak in tracer concentration occurred after 12 h, showing significant short-circuiting. During the profile sampling, the pH, temperature, DO and conductivity were measured down through the lagoon at 16 positions and four depths. E. coli, enterococci and total coliform numbers were measured in samples taken from the surface and the base of the lagoon. The results showed temperature decreased down through the lagoon, but the other parameters increased with depth, indicating that the short-circuiting was caused by the cooler influent sinking to the base of the lagoon.     

英国零售业规划政策评述

本文对英国零售业的规划政策进行了回顾与评述。在过去的20年间,英国零售业规划政策的一项核心内容是通过“城镇中心优先政策”来减少新型零售业态的扩张对城镇中心所带来的影响,从而保持与提高城镇中心的活力,并通过集约化使用土地达到可持续性发展。文章同时对规划政策制定过程中的五大矛盾进行了阐述。研究表明,“城镇中心优先政策“的执行受到近年来经济衰退和其他经济结构变化的影响和干扰。对很多人而言,城镇中心不再是他们日常生活的主要场所。在网购和手机购物直行的今天,现行的零售规划政策必须与时俱进,做出适当调整和改变。同时,许多经营大店的零售商正在反思和重估大店赖以生存的社会经济条件,并减少对大店的投资。     

Housing of Limited Property Rights: A Paradox Inside and Outside Chinese Cities

This paper develops a prototypal theoretical framework for analyzing property inalienability and applies it to housing of limited property rights in China, which includes so-called ‘small-property-rights housing’ in the countryside (SLPR housing) and the affordable housing programme in the city (ALPR housing). The integrated analysis of ALPR and SLPR housing focuses on inalienability restrictions to ownership entitlement. By preserving current property use, inalienability can address externality, public good and even macro-economic problems that arise from property sales. Both ALPR and SLPR provide good empirical support for the theoretical hypotheses. Moreover, they demonstrate some important functions of inalienability in a transitional economy, including helping to maintain macro stability as well as being an important tool for implementing partial reform strategy. Inalienability is also a second-best tool to protect private property rights against the intervention of local political forces. However, various problems with ALPR and SLPR housing show that inalienability is also a rough tool that needs to be improved or replaced in order to achieve micro-economic efficiency.     

Bridging the Gap between Housing Stress and Financial Stress: The Case of Australia

In recent decades, housing affordability has been increasingly linked to household financial outcomes where high housing costs relative to income are perceived to negatively affect financial well-being. However, the traditional measure of housing affordability in Australia is housing stress, which is subject to widespread criticism as an inadequate representation of overall financial stress. This methodological paper first determines the extent to which housing stress correlates with experiences of financial stress and, second, demonstrates ways in which the measure can be modified to deliver a more reliable indication of how housing costs affect financial well-being. The study contributes to the international literature by showing how the use of longitudinal data can improve the measure of housing stress providing a more accurate assessment of the relationship between housing costs and financial well-being.     

Housing and the Creation of Home for Refugees in Western Australia

Safe, appropriate housing is vital for the successful settlement of refugees, since establishing a home is part of the process of redeveloping a sense of ontological security. However humanitarian entrants in Australia have a far greater likelihood of moving multiple times in the early years of settlement and are far less likely to be purchasing their homes compared to other migrants. Using data from interviews, focus groups and a photovoice exercise, positive home-building experiences of refugees are illustrated, while factors leading to negative outcomes are also identified. The more positive story came from the photovoice exercise with images of the remaking of home as a place of connection with others, of personal pride, of comfort and leisure, of family and commensality. Interview and focus group data focused on structural issues including the cost of housing, limited choice in the rental market, lack of public housing, poor quality, negative attitudes of real estate agents, lack of access to services, and complex tenancy procedures which are key factors influencing insecurity of tenure. The effects on refugees’ sense of ontological security are discsused.     

Quality matters: housing and the mental health of rural migrants in urban China

Abstract

This study goes beyond housing ownership and investigates how housing size, quality, and location affect the mental health of rural migrants in urban China. By using the RUMiC data, the results show that in addition to housing ownership, living space and housing quality are also significantly associated with the mental health of rural migrants. Moreover, with an increase in living space, the mental health of rural migrants who live in private rental housing tends to improve significantly slower than rural migrants who live in dormitories. Furthermore, housing quality and housing location do not moderate the effect of housing ownership on the mental health of rural migrants. This study highlights that it is important to go beyond homeownership and pay more attention to other attributes of housing when studying the mental health of rural migrants. Particularly, this study underscores that improving housing quality is an effective way to improve the mental health of rural migrants in urban China.     

Low Income Housing Tax Credit Programme Impacts on Housing Affordability in Australia: Microsimulation Model Estimates

Growing concern about a lack of rental housing affordable to low-income Australian households has prompted consideration of possible policy interventions. This paper estimates the potential housing market impacts of a tax credit targeted on rental housing affordable to low-income Australian households. The study finds that existing landlords in low-income rental housing benefit from a one-third or more reduction in their effective tax burdens. If these tax benefits are passed on in the form of lower market rents, it is estimated that the percentage of households paying more than 30 per cent of gross income in rents falls from 26 to 21 per cent. This impact would be larger but for eligible households in receipt of demand-side subsidies in the form of rent assistance. As a consequence, many low-income households receive only part of the low income housing tax credit benefits that are passed on into lower market rents. Moreover, higher income tenants occupy some of the cheaper rental housing targeted by tax credits, and this weakens the policy rationale for such supply-side measures. The paper advocates the adoption of headleasing arrangements to increase the share of benefits received by low-income tenants.     

英国GIS高等教育与城市规划实践

本文结合城市规划等行业对高等院校毕业生的GIS技能的需求对英国大学中GIS教学培训的情况作一简单介绍,并通过若干实例就英国大学地理规划类院校的GIS辅修课程的讲授范围及深度要求、地理及计算机等院校GIS专业的课程设置结构等方面提供一些具体信息,供中国有关大专院校参考。     

The performance of tertiary lagoons in the United Kingdom: I

Two tertiary lagoons at Holmwood Sewage Treatment Works in the United Kingdom were sampled over a 1 year period. Each lagoon is approximately 39×28 m, receives domestic wastewater only, and serves approximately 2000 people. The aim of the work is to gain a greater understanding of the performance of the lagoon with respect to a number of chemical, biological and physical parameters. Samples were analysed for E. coli, enterococci, total coliforms, BOD, COD, suspended solids, ammoniacal nitrogen, nitrite, nitrate, total oxidised nitrogen and soluble phosphate. Occasional samples were also analysed for Cryptosporidium, Giardia and enteroviruses. Cusum charts were used to analyse the cumulative variations that were seen for the parameters being investigated, and had the advantage of emphasising their distinct seasonal trends. Although good percentage removals were seen, there was a lack of consistency in performance for all parameters over the year. No ammonia or phosphorus removal was found, although limited nitrification does appear to occur. None of the bacterial criteria for the WHO guidelines on wastewater reuse or the EC directive on bathing water were reached.     

英国跨国高等教育的发展动因及策略

英国发展跨国高等教育的动因主要有三个：获取丰厚的经济收入;推动本国高校教学和科研的国际化;巩固其国际高等教育领先地位。其发展策略主要是：政府制订国际教育发展战略;给予高校更多自主权;树立教育品牌;加快国内外学分、学历和学位互认等。     

Housing Deprivation in Europe: On the Role of Rental Tenure Types

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the link between housing tenure types and housing deprivation in 26 European countries. Empirical analyses are based on European Union Survey on Income and Living Conditions 2007, enabling comparisons of deprivation across a large set of countries. A multilevel framework is employed. It is hypothesized that the organization of the rental sector inherently produces different housing market dynamics, which is likely to affect housing deprivation rates. An integrated rental sector covering broader parts of the population is expected to reduce the risk of housing deprivation. Housing deprivation is measured in terms of experiencing overcrowding and while also suffering any of the following accommodation problems: a leaking roof; no bath/shower; no indoor toilet; or a dwelling considered too dark. The findings indicate a negative association between the size of the rental sector and the prevalence of housing deprivation. The organization of the rental sector appears crucial and only an integrated rental sector encompassing broader parts of the population significantly reduces the prevalence of housing deprivation and its components. This association is robust in terms of confounding factors at the individual-level and central country-level contextual variables.     

Partnership patterns and homeownership: a cross-country comparison of Germany,the Netherlands and the United Kingdom

Using detailed micro-level survey data for three advanced European welfare-state economies (Germany, Netherlands and UK), our analyses suggest a fairly common hierarchy to homeownership, according to partnership status, exists. In all three countries, a variety of interrelated factors appear to encourage greater propensities for homeownership amongst co-residential households (married/cohabiting), as compared to single-person households. However, important macro-contextual differences do appear to play a significant role in mediating the magnitude of difference within this hierarchy. For instance, in Germany the importance of marriage as a predictor of homeownership is found to be particularly strong, with married couples having far higher propensities for homeownership, even when compared to non-married cohabiters. In the Netherlands and UK, where an emphasis on traditional family and marriage is less pronounced, and where homeownership is generally more popular and accessible, the differentiation between married/unmarried partners is greatly reduced. Furthermore, we find no evidence to suggest that living-apart-together partners are more/less likely to own their home than singles.     

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.     

Spatial policy in the United Kingdom: Regulatory experimentation in the after-Fordist era

Adopting insights from regulation theory and recent literature on re-scaling, this paper examines the historical development of British urban and regional policy in the United Kingdom. It is first shown that spatial policies in the post-war period can to some degree be considered as part of the Fordist mode of regulation. It is then argued that recent policy innovations can be analysed as attempts to make spatial policy compatible with other regulatory mechanisms and with the current round of accumulation. Thus, attempts are undertaken to create a `post-Fordist institutional fix', i.e., an ensemble of rules, institutions and discourses that can to a certain degree facilitate capital accumulation during a particular period. These attempts appear to be partially successful. On the one hand, new policy mechanisms seem to be in line with other neo-liberal or Third Way policies and some shortcomings of previous policies have been overcome. But on the other hand, spatial policy is characterised by new tensions and contradictions. The central state seems to overestimate its own ability to encourage local and regional governments to make use of `endogenous potential'. In addition, current policies do not sufficiently account for the detrimental effects of inter-territorial competition.     

Water affordability across and within European countries: a microdata analysis

We analyze water affordability in 23 European countries using the latest microdata from the European Household Budget Survey.Average affordability ratios vary considerably across countries, from 0.85% (Ireland) to 4.7% (Poland).The prevalence of affordability problems is highest in Poland (60%), while intensity is greatest in Finland (families with problems spend, on average, 9% of their income). The analysis by income deciles shows a gradient, with affordability problems generally concentrated in bottom deciles, though they are not exclusive to the poorest. This variation in affordability problems occurs within countries regardless of their high or low average affordability ratio.     

Urban regeneration and tenure mix: exploring the dynamics of neighbour interactions

Abstract

This article draws on in-depth research on the nature and intensity of neighbour relations in an area in Peckham, London, which underwent urban regeneration aimed at improving the urban environment and increasing the area’s tenure mix. Drawing on the literature on neighbouring, the article explores residents’ perceptions and attitudes towards their neighbours and the dynamics of their routine interactions. Despite findings pointing towards a general atmosphere of cordiality and solidarity, interactions were casual, coexisted with prejudiced views towards certain groups and areas, and were viewed by residents as part of their everyday social practices of community. As a result, very little else was exchanged between tenures, putting into question some policy assumptions that the increased physical proximity between housing tenures can potentially lead to instrumental interaction that can benefit low-income households in social housing. Reflecting on these findings, the article discusses some implications that have relevance for policy and research.