Parental marital dissolution and the intergenerational transmission of homeownership

Abstract

Children of homeowners are more likely to enter homeownership than are children whose parents rent. We investigate whether this association is dependent on parental divorce, focusing on parental assistance as a conduit of intergenerational transmission. Event history analyses of data for England and Wales from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) show that the intergenerational transmission of homeownership is stronger for children of divorced parents compared with children of married parents. Such an effect may arise from two channels: (1) children of divorced parents are more in need of parental assistance due to socio-economic disadvantages associated with parental divorce; and (2) compared with married parents, divorced homeowning parents (mothers) rely more on housing wealth, rather than financial wealth, for assisting children. Findings support both explanations. Children of divorced parents are furthermore less likely to co-reside. We find limited evidence that when they do, co-residence is less conductive to homeownership compared with children from married parents.     

The Limits of Housing Investment as a Neighborhood Revitalization Tool: Crime in New York City

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Local residents often oppose place-based affordable housing on the grounds that such housing will increase crime and decrease property values. New York City has actually used affordable housing investment as a neighborhood revitalization tool, leading to a positive impact on neighborhood property values. Households in distressed neighborhoods consistently cite crime as a problem, but we know little about the impact of housing investments on crime. Using a unique set of point-specific data on affordable housing and crime locations between 2002 and 2008 in New York City, I estimate a set of regression models to identify the effect that affordable housing investments have on crime on the block where they are situated. I find little evidence that affordable housing investments either reduce or increase crime on New York City blocks, suggesting there are limits to the revitalization effects of these subsidies and that crime fears about subsidized housing are unwarranted.

Takeaway for practice: Cities with tight rental markets such as New York should continue to invest in affordable housing construction. However, these cities need to find ways to expand housing options in higher-income, less-distressed neighborhoods, or they risk exacerbating concentrated poverty and further subjecting low-income households to unsafe living environments.     

Telling stories: the role of narratives in rental housing policy change in New Zealand

Abstract

This paper examines the emergence of the regulation of housing conditions in the private rental sector as a policy issue in New Zealand using an analysis of narratives in media, advocacy and political texts. Narratives are evident in public discourse and are the stories told by interest groups to identify and cast a problem as a policy issue in a way analogous to the beliefs of the speaker. This case study shows that while the narratives used by advocates for policy change were effective in raising the issue, they were ineffective in overcoming a counter-narrative of excessive regulation by the government and concerns of possible rent rises. This opposition to regulation of the private sector by a right-leaning government needs to be more effectively countered by more powerful intersecting narratives, if evidence on the relationship between housing, health and safety is to become the basis for effectively implemented government policy.     

Ambivalence in place attachment: the lived experiences of residents in danwei communities facing demolition in Shenyang,China

Abstract

This article focuses on the influence of state-led urban redevelopment on the place attachment of deprived and old homeowners living in danwei communities that are facing demolition in Shenyang, China. It investigates lived experiences through in-depth interviews with homeowners in the context of the pre-demolition phase, i.e. an inevitable prospect of having to move out. The article reveals how these homeowners cleverly mobilize local resources, such as strong social bonds, low living costs, flexibility on space use and good neighbourhood location to cope with their life constraints, which is translated into their strong neighbourhood attachment. However, various forms of neighbourhood decline have decreased their quality of life. Meanwhile, they soon have to move due to the impending demolition of their neighbourhood. State-led urban redevelopment, therefore, confronts those deprived residents with a dilemma concerning their strong neighbourhood dependence and their desire for better living conditions. The impending neighbourhood demolition uncovers accumulated social issues in danwei communities in the context of market reforms and institutional changes in current China, such as the emergence of deprived social groups and their struggles for better housing.     

Housing Tenure: Pacific Families in New Zealand

Home ownership has been associated with health, social and economic benefits. However, a decline in ownership has been observed over the past decade in New Zealand. Minority groups, including Pacific people, have been disadvantaged in the housing sector. This study investigated housing tenure and the relationship between tenure and health among mothers of a birth cohort of Pacific children in New Zealand. Findings showed that most families lived in state or private rental accommodation with few (15.4 per cent) owning their own homes. Homeowners were more likely to be older, partnered and have higher incomes. Better mental health was observed for homeowners compared to renters. Findings can inform housing and public health policy for Pacific families.     

Homeownership,saving and financial wealth: a comparative and longitudinal analysis

Abstract

The finding that homeowners own more non-housing wealth than tenants is well known. We examine whether the higher financial wealth of owners can be partly explained with increases in saving when becoming a homeowner in two distinct institutional contexts. Using longitudinal data for the UK (British Household Panel Survey) and Germany (Socio-Economic Panel Study), we find that homeowners save more and are financially wealthier than tenants. However, when controlling for time-constant selection into homeownership, upon entering homeownership households reduce their probability to save in Germany and reduce their average saving rate in Germany and the UK. For Germany, there is some evidence that processes of homemaking (family formation and home improvement) lead to less saving. For the UK, we find no evidence that increasing home equity over time discourages saving. Finally, tenants do not compensate for their lack of housing wealth by accumulating more non-housing wealth over time. This disadvantage for tenants seems more pronounced in the UK compared to Germany.     

Housing quality and resilience in New Zealand

There is extensive research on the negative health impacts of poor housing quality. However, little is known about the potential health benefits of high-quality housing in poor neighbourhoods. Neighbourhoods with unexpectedly good health outcomes despite high levels of deprivation have been deemed resilient places and housing quality in these areas may be a contributor to this resilience. This study aimed to evaluate whether an indicator of neighbourhood housing quality was associated with a previously quantified resilience index (RINZ) in New Zealand. It was found that areas with high housing quality tended to have higher median income, greater proportions of partnered people and shorter-term residents, and very low proportions of Māori. A positive association was found between housing quality and resilience, after adjustment for deprivation. There was no indication of differences by heterogeneity in housing quality within the aggregate unit of analysis. These findings pose the hypothesis that improving housing quality in similarly deprived areas that have poor health outcomes could potentially boost health. To extend this understanding, further development of a more sophisticated housing quality indicator is recommended.     

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.     

Owning,renting, or living with parents? Changing housing situations among Canadian young adults, 2001 to 2011

Abstract

Homeownership is a central component of wealth, but many young adults today struggle to enter the housing market, opting to rent or live at home with their parents instead. Despite these trends, few recent Canadian studies have addressed the housing arrangements of young adults. We use pooled cross-sectional General Social Survey data from 2001 to 2011 to analyze three types of housing arrangements among 18- to 35-year-olds. Findings show that although the proportion of young adults living at home increased dramatically since 2001 and the proportion renting declined, rates of homeownership among young adults remained fairly constant over the three waves. Changes over time were most dramatic among the youngest age group of 18- to 24-year-olds, first-generation immigrants, and young adults with higher levels of education. Findings further demonstrate persistent socioeconomic and demographic disparities between young adults who can move out of their parents’ homes and into homeownership and those who either remain at home or become renters, with important repercussions on lifetime wealth inequality.     

Housing activism in urban China: the quest for autonomy in neighbourhood governance

Abstract

The creation of a neoliberal housing regime triggered extensive housing activism during the last decade by middle class homeowners who were protecting their rights to their neighbourhood. Yet such actions also signify the quest for autonomy from the ubiquitous control of the local state as the vanguard of political power hegemony at the grassroots level. Yet there is evidence of an escalation in “non-peaceful” actions in the richest cities in China despite the tight control of the authoritarian state. With data taken from official documents and interviews as well as from news reports about neighbourhood disputes in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, this article gives an analytic account of the disputes and actions of homeowners in residential neighbourhoods while making their claims as well as on the strategies used by the local state in controlling the homeowners' associations. The article is able to enrich our understanding of housing activism in a non-democratic regime.     

The global financial crisis and the Australian and New Zealand housing markets

The evolution of the US sub-prime mortgage meltdown into a global financial crisis clearly demonstrates the increasingly integrated nature of mortgage and capital markets. However, notwithstanding the global scale and severity of the recent financial crisis, the effects of the credit crunch were mediated by nationally constituted housing markets, the activities of local financial institutions and national housing policies. Adopting an institutional perspective this paper critically examines the manner in which the financial crisis impacted upon the Australian and New Zealand housing markets. These countries had actively participated in the liberalisation of mortgage markets and experienced significant house price inflation post-2000 but, in contrast to the USA and some European experiences, they escaped a severe housing downturn. It is argued that a combination of pre-existing institutional practices, market conditions and government policies acted to shelter these markets and created the potential conditions for a new housing boom. While avoiding a deep housing slump, both Australia and New Zealand have to address the on-going macroeconomic implications of a system predicated on housing inflation and capital gains.     

‘Super-gentrification’ triumphs: gentrification and the displacement of public housing tenants in Sydney’s inner-city

Abstract

This study analyses the super-gentrification of Millers Point, an inner-city area in Sydney, Australia, and the displacement of its 465 public housing tenants. Drawing on in-depth interviews with public housing tenants and homeowners, media reports and government media releases, it argues that a key reason for the displacement was the super-gentrification of the area that was hastened dramatically by the Barangaroo development, a massive urban spectacle on the site of the old port adjacent to Millers Point. Unlike the earlier analyses of super-gentrification described by Lees and Butler where an already gentrified area is settled by super wealthy households over a period of time, the shift to super-gentrification status in Millers Point did not involve households moving into an area already gentrified. Rather, the process was premised on the Barangaroo development and the displacement of public housing tenants. The displacement meant that the heritage-listed public housing dwelling were now available for purchase by exceptionally wealthy households.     

Home inequity: race,wealth, and housing in St. Louis since 1940

Abstract

The persistence and severity of the gap between black and white wealth, and the role of housing discrimination in creating and sustaining this gap are both well documented. But given the chronological and spatial limits of national data sets, we have little direct empirical evidence about the local mechanisms shaping race, housing and wealth in the era when most of the damage was done. We employ the newly available 1940 full count census and the archival records of the St. Louis Assessors office to traced housing values, tenure, and disposition for a sample of 1940 owners and addresses. We show that sustained residential segregation carved the City into zones with very different trajectories of housing opportunity, and trapped African-American homeowners into long tenures of ownership in distressed and depreciating neighbourhoods.     

‘Houston,we've got a problem’: The Political Construction of a Housing Affordability Metric in New Zealand

Since the global financial crisis, housing affordability has assumed increased policy significance in a number of countries around the world. At a national level, housing policy formation is subject to certain path dependency processes and embedded institutional structures. In this paper, I argue that housing policy formation in New Zealand is increasingly subject to global flows of policy ideas and that the development of new housing affordability policies draws upon networks of global policy agents, housing experts and private consultants. In particular, this research examines the manner in which a US-based private consultant's metric of housing affordability, and analysis of the causes of housing unaffordability, has been incorporated into policy-making and new legislation in New Zealand.     

The Status Of Lone And Partnered Women Seeking State Housing Assistance In Two New Zealand Cities

Women householders living alone or with children have been identified as one of a number of marginalised groups within the housing markets of Western cities. An extensive literature suggests that many such women are likely to experience discrimination, poverty and inadequate housing. In this paper we review the status of lone women parents in New Zealand housing policy as a prelude to reporting on the housing experiences of a sample of applicants seeking state housing assistance in Auckland and Christchurch. The samples, drawn from the waiting lists of the (former) Housing Corporation of New Zealand (1989-90), included both women with partners (n=50) and women living alone or with children (n=119). The lone women were slightly poorer, they had less access to private transport, and they reported higher levels of residential mobility. However, these women reported that the physical condition of their housing was significantly better, and characteristics of the neighbourhood such as safety and proximity to friends were more important influences on their housing satisfaction than for partnered women. We conclude that lone women appear to make more demands on their neighbourhood, and more often seek housing assistance from the state for reasons of refuge than is the case for partnered women.     

The stress of incipient homelessness

This paper describes a longitudinal study of dwelling‐related stress among a sample of inadequately housed urban New Zealanders. At the time of the first interview, the respondents were asked to describe the housing problems they were encountering and to list some of the coping strategies they were planning. From an analysis of the survey data we conclude that housing stress has a significant negative effect on the well being of the respondents, particularly in the area of mental health. In the second interview, conducted six months later, we were able to determine which of the households had moved. Our analysis suggested that individuals in households that were rehoused by New Zealand's public housing agency (the Housing Corporation of New Zealand) reported significantly improved mental health after the move, largely as a result, we hypothesise, of living in dwellings that were less stressful. These findings are discussed in light of the diminishing state presence in the provision of public housing, both in New Zealand and elsewhere.     

Why Not Cash Out Home Equity? Reflections on the Finnish Case

Recently, many governments have sought ways to secure the provision of an adequate level of income for their ageing populations. The notion that citizens themselves should provide a part of their future livelihood is gaining ground in European societies. One possibility is to apply the wealth that individuals have accumulated during their lives. An owner-occupied dwelling is the largest piece of wealth that ordinary households possess. It constitutes an asset that households can transform into money. Banks have developed various financial instruments for households to transform their housing equity into money. However, housing is not a comparable asset to financial investments, such as stocks or shares. Homes have a special meaning for individuals, and this makes a dwelling a special good that cannot be traded at will. This article is based on a qualitative interview study conducted in Finland. We will examine how Finnish homeowners justify their generally negative attitudes towards using housing equity. One of the issues that households face is that by employing financial instruments, they would be remortgaging a debt-free house, and homeowners would find this undesirable. Is there a specific moral aversion to debt? Is the owner-occupied house a “sacred” possession that cannot be cashed out?     

WILLINGNESS TO PARTICIPATE IN COLLECTIVE ACTION: THE CASE OF MULTIOWNED HOUSING MANAGEMENT

ABSTRACT: Ownership fragmentation in multiowned housing (MOH) necessitates collective actions from homeowners for management and maintenance of the communal facilities. Yet, rationality dissuades individuals from participating in collective action which provides no positive net benefit. Rational homeowners in MOH tend to free‐ride on others’ efforts and, in theory, no collective action in housing management will take place. In fact, however, some homeowners of MOH do actively participate in housing management. It is thus worthwhile to examine why some are willing to participate and others are not. This study identifies determinants of homeowners’ willingness to participate (WTP) in MOH management using the collective interest model (CIM). Based on the findings of a structured questionnaire survey in Hong Kong, the explanatory analyses suggest that homeowners’ WTP is generally a function of beliefs about self and group efficacies, value of the collective good, and selective benefits and costs of participation, but the results are sensitive to the type of management activity. Although the existence of neither homeowners' associations nor property management agents is found to have significant impacts on homeowners’ WTP, a research agenda which extends the CIM to study how the perceived efficacies of these management agencies affect WTP is proposed.     

‘Ma and Pa’ Landlords and the ‘Risky’ Tenant: Discourses in the New Zealand Private Rental Sector

Social constructions of what it means to let and rent housing are revealed in language and are intimately tied to housing outcomes for both landlords and tenants. This paper is concerned with the socially constructed identities of landlords and tenants in the private rental sector and how these are revealed in language. Fairclough's methods of discourse analysis coupled with Habermas' ideal speech situation and theory of communicative action are used to form an analytical framework for examining public debate and discourse on the private rental sector in New Zealand. It is argued that current discourses about tenants and landlords are the result of public debate and stereotypes that have failed to incorporate the experiences of tenants, and further that these stereotypes conceal the multiplicity of identities and motivations for behaviour of both landlords and tenants.     

Designing trust: how strategic intermediaries choreograph homeowners’ low-carbon retrofit experience

ABSTRACT

In the Netherlands, as in other European countries, the uncertain, fragmented character of the low-carbon retrofit market hampers a transition towards sustainable housing. Connecting homeowners to supply-side actors of low-carbon retrofit procedures, products and technologies in ways satisfactory to homeowners forms an important, challenging task. Service design for the benefit of a customer-centric perspective might be a solution. This paper investigates the potential role of strategic intermediaries as agents of change located between supply-side actors and homeowners. It asks how strategic intermediaries choreograph low-carbon retrofit experiences of homeowners through the design of a ‘customer journey’. Trust is a crucial determinant. This paper distinguishes between three customer-journey designs in which, depending on the role envisioned for homeowners, a different trust relation is foregrounded: a private design envisions homeowners as passive consumers who trust in the expertise offered by the intermediary; a civic design envisions homeowners as engaged consumer-citizens who trust their neighbours as reliable service representatives; and a public design envisions homeowners as critical customers who trust in the retrofit technologies and products offered. This implies an important role for policy actors in realizing ways for scaling up and institutionalizing all three low-carbon retrofit customer-journey designs on a national level.