Exploring housing careers among Ghanaians in Toronto,Canada

The argument that a successful housing career plays an important role in the immigrant integration process has been well established in the literature. Most studies on immigrant housing career do so without reference to the housing situation of immigrants in their homeland. Since housing career relates to sequence of dwellings people occupy throughout their life-course, an analysis of immigrants housing career should also begin with immigrants housing situation in the homeland. Unless we understand the sequence of dwellings that immigrants occupy throughout their life course in both the country of origin and host society, we will fail to fully comprehend dynamics of their housing career over their life-course. Using mixed method, this study illustrates the role of housing career in the integration process of Ghanaians in Toronto in the Canadian society. The study adds to the housing career literature by capturing the sequence of dwelling that immigrants occupy throughout their life course in both the country of origin and destination country.     

Citizen Participation in Housing Requisition in Shanghai

The changing regulatory regime in Shanghai requires residents' participation to approve housing requisition decisions for inner-city redevelopment projects. Such policy reform creates a new discourse for urban redevelopment and housing requisition schemes. This article examines how and to what extent government authorities shape citizen participation in residential relocation and housing requisition in Shanghai. The analysis of this regulation regime helps us to better understand the importance of the role of residents in the decision-making of inner-city redevelopment. This article concludes by discussing policy implications of the regulations, including equitable outcomes particularly benefiting disadvantaged groups of people.     

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.     

保障性住房公众满意度影响因素研究

保障性住房建设项目作为国家惠民利民的一项安居工程一直得到社会各界的认可和重视。但是尽管政府在这方面投入了诸多人力物力以满足这类消费人群的需求,这一领域仍然出现了一些不满意的声音。因此,特从保障性住房居民的角度出发,尝试运用解析结构模型的方法建立保障性住房满意度影响指标体系结构模型,并在青岛市保障性住房满意度的实例调查中加以应用,验证分析了影响保障性住房公众满意度的主要因素,以便为政府的保障性住房建设工作提供一定的借鉴和参考,从而有针对性地提升公共服务质量。     

Post-transitional housing systems: China and Russia compared

Existing housing regime theories are established in the Western marketised contexts and have limited applicability in post-transitional housing systems. This paper compares Chinese and Russian housing systems since transition to obtain more understanding of post-transitional housing systems and the housing challenges facing these economies currently. A conceptual framework that investigates housing system operation through the interaction between housing market operations and housing policies in three spheres—production, exchange and consumption—is used in the analysis. The comparison shows that different strategies applied in transition, particularly regarding the government’s role, have contributed to different housing system outcomes in these two countries. It further supports existing research which shows that post-transitional housing systems are still transforming and are characterised by an essential deviation from Western marketised systems. Thus, housing systems in transitional economies are better understood from a more hybrid and dynamic view, rather than a single and static perspective.     

Settlement and housing experiences of recent immigrants in small- and mid-sized cities in the interior of British Columbia (Canada)

Relatively little is known about immigrants’ settlement experiences in small- and mid-sized Canadian cities, including their access to local services and their housing experiences and outcomes—both of which are key factors in successful integration. This study considered immigrants’ settlement experiences, including their access to local services and their housing experiences and outcomes, in the cities of Kelowna and Kamloops, with a focus on the housing rental market, and reliance on community services. The results of the study include recommendations for improving immigrants’ settlement and integration in urban areas in the interior of British Columbia. Survey data were gathered between April and August 2015 from 80 recent immigrant renters in the cities of Kelowna (40) and in Kamloops (40). Findings suggest that immigrants find their housing more difficult than anticipated, largely due to unexpectedly high costs and unfamiliarity with the Canadian housing system. Few immigrants in either city relied on local community organizations or government-sponsored ones to find a place to live and/or a job upon arrival in Kelowna or Kamloops, although those who did found them very helpful. Immigrants relied mostly on their family and friends for initial assistance, but would have preferred to have received more information prior to or on their arrival. They recommended that settlement and housing services offer more direct assistance to new immigrants. For policies to succeed in attracting and retaining immigrants to these cities in British Columbia’s interior depends on the presence of (a) more subsidized/affordable housing; (b) job opportunities that match immigrants’ qualifications and that offer an adequate income; and (c) quality services and programs to integrate new immigrants into the community.     

Why there? Developers' rationale for building social housing in the urban periphery in Latin America

Inadequate housing has become endemic to Latin American cities for over six decades. All that has changed has been who is going where. In the 1960s, the rural poor who came to the city solved their housing needs by building their own informal settlements on peri-urban lands. Today, the urban poor relocate to peri-urban housing complexes built by the private sector with state subsidies. Why have these new housing units for low-income households been built in peri-urban areas? This paper examines some of the mechanisms behind the location of the urban poor in cities, with a specific focus on the role developers have played in the construction of affordable housing in peri-urban areas of Brazil and, Mexico. The paper explores these mechanisms through interviews with affordable housing developers. We found that economies of scale – and not land prices – explain developers' preference for building in peripheral areas. Initial savings that accrue to developers due to lower land prices in the periphery are offset by the cost of having to build basic onsite infrastructure. Plus, large lots – which are available almost exclusively in urban peripheries – enable developers to achieve significant cost savings because these large lots make it possible for developers to build more than 500 units. In addition, weaker municipal regulations and fewer bidders, both of which are typical for projects in difficult-to-access peripheral locations, make for a shorter and easier approval process for these large housing projects.     

Spatial assimilation? The development in immigrants’ residential career with duration of stay in Denmark

Many studies have shown that immigrants’ residential situation differs from that of natives and that factors other than housing needs and financial situation influence immigrants’ options and choices concerning housing and neighbourhood. Research has indicated that immigrants might have a stronger preference for renting due to insecurity about their future situation and that especially newly arrived immigrants tend to live in immigrant-dense, so-called multi-ethnic, neighbourhoods. However, the spatial assimilation theory claims that in the course of time immigrants will move to other kinds of housing and neighbourhoods. In this paper, the residential careers of immigrants in the first years after their arrival are examined and compared with Danes. The hypothesis tested is that over time the housing situation of immigrants gets closer to the comparable one for Danes. It is a longitudinal study based on data from 1985 to 2008 on non-Western immigrants in Denmark. The results show that non-Western immigrants steadily increased their presence in social housing and multi-ethnic neighbourhoods during their first 10 years of stay; then, their presence stagnates; and after 15 years, it declines. Part of the initial increase in the frequency of living in multi-ethnic neighbourhoods was not due to individual choices among immigrants but could be ascribed to the increasing number of multi-ethnic neighbourhoods over time. The study confirms spatial assimilation, also when controlling for degree of economic integration, but the change was not dramatic over the 24 years covered by the study.     

Residential mobility of Chinese immigrants: An analysis of housing conditions and tenure structure

For a long period of time, immigrants have played an important role in the development of Hong Kong. With an influx of over 50,000 immigrants from mainland China on a yearly basis, this is truer than ever in Hong Kong. The behavior of these immigrants is a worthwhile topic for researcher. This study focuses on various aspects of housing, ranging from the tenure choices and housing conditions to the residential mobility of new Chinese immigrants in Hong Kong. Thus far, the literature has rarely explored situations that arise when immigrants have the same racial background as the people in the host cities. This research is intended to fill this gap in knowledge. Our findings reveal that Chinese immigrant households tend to start off overwhelmingly as private renters in the housing market. They also tend to live in inferior housing. However, as the duration of their residence in Hong Kong lengthens, the types of tenure become more diverse and the quality of their housing improves, indicating an upward mobility in terms of housing conditions.     

Public Housing as Control: Spatial Policy of Settling Immigrants in Israeli Development Towns

This paper examines the relationship between inter-ethnic power relations and public housing policy for immigrants in Israel since 1948. Based on a comparative analysis of Israeli policy of housing Mizrahi immigrants in the 1950s and Russian immigrants in the 1990s, the paper argues that despite the perceived decline in the state's capacity, the implication of public housing policy has remained unchanged since the 1950s. By moving Jewish immigrants into development towns in sparsely populated and overwhelmingly Palestinian regions of the country, Israeli policy has served to Judaize these regions and to reinforce ethnic stratification among the country's Jewish population. In this manner, Israeli public housing policy was neither consistent with conceptions of post-Second World War public housing policies in welfare states nor with the recent impact of globalization and the free-market dynamics on public housing policies.     

The Influence of Immigration on Global City Housing Markets: The Canadian Perspective

Current demographic trends in Canada include population aging and declining household growth. These trends generally result in falling housing demand and stable or declining house prices. Housing markets in Canada's major cities, however, have been characterized by increases in demand and prices in recent years; due in large part to the influence of arriving immigrants. The destinations of 76 percent of international immigrants to Canada are the three global cities—Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal—where they have a very significant effect on housing demand, particularly as under current immigration policy many of those arriving come with considerable wealth. Their influence, however, is much broader and includes the growth of exclusive, prosperous immigrant neighbourhoods, new architectural designs and other neighbourhood changes. Not all immigrants, however, arrive with wealth. Many are poor, live in less attractive neighbourhoods and pay unrealistic amounts of their inadequate incomes for poor quality housing. Some end up homeless on the street. The role of immigrants in housing markets is an important consideration for urban and housing policy.     

Creating a new home. Somali, Iraqi and Turkish immigrants and their homes in Danish social housing

Housing researchers are increasingly focusing on how different groups of residents use their dwelling and transform it into a home. In this article, we look at the homes of immigrants in Danish social housing. The article is based on qualitative interviews with Somali, Iraqi and Turkish immigrants, and it includes a review of the literature regarding the home in general, as well as a discussion on the home for immigrants. Some authors argue that the home and the meaning of the dwelling are socially constructed rather than depending on universal human needs. This means that immigrants from other cultures might find another meaning in the concept of ‘home’ than their Danish neighbours. Thus the main issue for our research is to ascertain the extent to which immigrants are able to identify with their dwelling and to establish ‘home’ in Danish social housing. Does the meaning of the dwelling amongst immigrants differ from the one we, according to the theory, would expect from other residents? And to what degree does the physical framework of Danish social housing support or maybe conflict with immigrants’ expectations, traditions and routines? Our analysis suggests that the home is as important for immigrants as for their neighbouring residents and that immigrants often attach the same affordances to the home. Our analysis also shows that the establishment of home requires time and that the length of time it takes depends on the number of good experiences when settling in Denmark.     

Spatial Assimilation in Denmark? Why do Immigrants Move to and from Multi-ethnic Neighbourhoods?

In most European countries ethnic minorities have had a tendency to settle in certain parts of cities—and often in social housing—together with other immigrants in so-called multi-ethnic neighbourhoods. An explanation for this could be low income combined with lack of knowledge of the housing market and discrimination, which limits the housing possibilities for ethnic minorities. Another explanation could be that for different reasons immigrants choose to settle in so-called ethnic enclaves where they can find an ethnic social network, which can support them in their new country. In traditional research literature about immigration it has been shown that for many immigrants living in enclaves has been a temporary situation. The ‘spatial assimilation theory’ says that this situation ends when the family has become more integrated in the new society and then moves to another part of the city. This paper provides evidence to support both explanations of why ethnic minorities move to and from multi-ethnic neighbourhoods.     

Housing Attainment of Immigrants from the former Soviet Union in Israel: A Cost/Benefit Approach

The present study examines the extent that national housing policy and demographic and human capital factors affect the odds of homeownership and quality of housing. A cost/benefit theoretical conceptualization with a sample of 19 000 Russian immigrants who arrived in Israel in 1989-90 was used to examine how the benefits of homeownership (location, size and pricing) 'stood against' a set of costs (commuting time required, housing age and size). A set of demographic and human capital factors were employed to control for socio-economic effects such as age, gender, family size, labour force participation and occupational status. The benefits of homeownership for immigrants in Israel also proved to involve some costs: migrating to smaller localities and commuting to metropolitan areas where occupational opportunities are higher. The findings suggest that while homeownership is widespread, it imposes a burden on new immigrants as well. This implies that social policy with regard to housing, especially low-priced housing, should consider the possibility of expanding public and market services in an appropriate way that will increase social inclusion and lessen the likelihood of structural segregation.     

Differentiated Urban Citizenship and Housing Rights: Analysing the Social Impacts of Urban Redevelopment in Globalizing Istanbul

There is growing interest in the transformation of urban citizenship and the changing right to the city of the urban poor under neoliberal restructuring of cities in the Global South. This article examines a ‘squatter settlement transformation project’ in Istanbul that is intended to contribute towards the transformation of Istanbul into a global city. The transformation projects are based on private homeownership, incorporate the urban poor into a new ‘property regime’ and allocate them differentiated access to housing in the city. Using qualitative data, this article traces the unequal outcomes of the project for its displaced residents and demonstrates the emergence of ‘differentiated urban citizenship’. This emergent urban citizenship regime in Turkish cities organizes the distribution of substantive housing rights based on social inequalities among the urban poor, and thus consolidates and perpetuates these inequalities in society.     

Obligations and Expectations: Perceived Relationship between Transnational Housing Investment and Housing Consumption Decisions among Ghanaian Immigrants in Canada

Transnational housing investment is a pervasive practice among many migrant groups residing in various destination countries; including Ghanaian migrants living in Canada. For many, the need to engage in transnational housing investment is beyond the standard rationale and has two prime significance; symbolic and practical utility. Engagement in this endeavour requires substantial financial commitments over extensive periods of time with potential consequences for various aspects of immigrants’ lives in their destination areas including their housing consumption. This paper examines perceived influence of such long-term commitments on housing consumption decisions among Ghanaian immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The findings show that although engagement in transnational housing is associated with constraints on immigrants’ decision to enter homeownership, type of dwelling to rent and the neighbourhood choices, it was also associated with a sense of pride, success and integration into Canadian society. The paper concludes that a broader theoretical discussion of housing integration is necessary. Specifically, it calls for a redefinition of the measures of immigrant housing integration in particular – which narrowly considers destination parameters – to one that includes transnational factors as critical in moving the debate on understanding immigrant integration in general.     

Housing supply and residential segregation in Ireland

The article examines the role of housing supply in ethnic diversity and the residential segregation of Asian, African and eastern European immigrants from Irish nationals in Ireland. Housing supply is defined as the proportions of new housing, private rental accommodation and social housing among all housing units in an electoral district. Multivariate regressions reveal that, among all three housing supply variables, the proportion of private rentals had the largest effect on ethnic diversity and immigrant— Irish segregation. Areas with higher proportions of private rental units were more ethnically diverse, had greater presences of Africans, Asians and eastern Europeans (as opposed to high concentrations of Irish nationals) and exhibited greater integration between each of the three immigrant groups and Irish nationals. The article concludes with a discussion of immigrant assimilation and questions whether the patterns of residential integration observed would further facilitate other forms of social inclusion for immigrants in Irish society.     

The planning of microdistricts in post-war North Korea: space,power, and everyday life

In the 1950s, the Soviet Union and other communist countries developed a unique method for allowing socialist ideology to manifest in urban spaces. The theory of the microdistrict was invented to establish self-contained urban units that included both housing and public amenities and resulted in a tremendous change in the planning of communist cities. Because microdistricts satisfied the communities’ social requirements and facilitated mass-produced urban housing, the North Korean regime enthusiastically appropriated the microdistrict concept to fit its own reality. This theory has been applied to the country’s urban projects since 1955, a time when the urban population grew rapidly and construction boomed. The design and construction of microdistricts reflected North Korea’s power relation and substantially impacted everyday life. Thus, to more thoroughly understand post-war North Korean society and its urban planning principles, the microdistrict theory should be carefully examined. In light of this historical background, this paper analyses urban projects that were designed based on this theory and explores the impact of the microdistrict theory on the structure of large cities in North Korea.     

The developmental state in the global hegemony of neoliberalism: A new strategy for public housing in Singapore

Among existing projects of neoliberalization, Singapore is noteworthy for its authoritarian state, which is not only proactive in adopting neoliberal principles to attract global capital but is also cleverly appropriating this process to buttress the state’s political legitimacy. Public housing is selected as one of the main platforms with which to secure the consent for neoliberalism in this scenario. In the past, Singapore’s public housing system successfully established a homogeneous city–state convenient for a production site. The shift to post-Fordism, however, has required a sense of heterogeneity shaped by individual consumerism. Efforts are being made to create “quality housing” listed at the upper end of public housing catalogues and evidenced by star projects with predesigned themes that promise a distinctive, stylish, and cosmopolitan life. Tailored for those who are “better-educated, better-informed, well-travelled, and with higher earning power”, these projects are paving the way for a heterogeneous public housing landscape powered by and supporting the discourse of an open, cosmopolitan Singapore. Assisted by the institutional deregulation and financial liberation of the resale market, the heterogeneous housing landscape leaves space for speculative capital through the consumption of space. This new strategy in public housing, which mediates between the governing body and the governed, reveals the constant negotiation among the developmental state, the (transnational) capital, and the burgeoning class-relevant forces that are collectively directing Singapore toward neoliberalism.