Anti-social Behaviour Strategies - Individualistic or Holistic?

Anti-social behaviour, both criminal and non-criminal, has been at the top of the political agenda for some time. Within the housing management arena it is seen as a problem that can affect the whole standing of an area or estate and influence other functions including allocations and void control. This paper looks at the various strategiesadopted by local housing authoritiesto deal with anti-social behaviouramong their tenants. It is argued that whereas the problem has in the past been seen as part of managing 'difficult to let' or 'problem' estates it can now arise throughout an authority's stock due to processes such as the residualisation of social housing. This has led to the adoption of strategies which individualise the treatment of anti-social behaviour rather than addressing the wider difficulties faced by many anti-social tenants. Anti-social behaviouris placed within the ongoing debatesaround 'problem' estates, their causes and solutions. The recommended 'good practice' strategies are set out and consideration is given to the effect of the adopted strategies on the future role of housing management policy and personnel.     

The immobility of social tenants: is it true? Does it matter?

The low level of residential mobility in England, particularly in the social sector, has been a continuing topic both in the literature and among policy makers. The period 1995–2007 was one of relatively rapid tenure change as well as sustained economic growth which could be expected to have increased mobility across tenures but also the costs of immobility in both the labour and housing markets. It was also a period where allocations to the social sector were increasingly concentrated among more vulnerable households. Given these trends does social housing continue to stand out as particularly immobile? If so is the relative immobility an outcome of who lives in social housing rather than how the sector is managed? And do low levels of mobility have significant negative impacts generating labour market inefficiencies and poor use of social housing? This paper uses Survey of English Housing data for the decade of growth from the mid 1990s to examine the drivers of mobility across tenures and how these have changed over the period, with particular emphasis on outcomes in the social sector. These drivers are described and modelled for the study period and suggest that social sector tenants with similar characteristics are much less mobile than households in other tenures but that the costs of this immobility, while difficult to quantify may well be quite limited.     

‘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.     

Anti-social or intensively sociable? The local context of neighbour disputes and complaints among social housing tenants

The prevalence of neighbour disputes among social housing tenants is often seen as the outcome of social residualisation and the physical characteristics of social housing. While such explanations have usefully drawn attention to the structural sources of problem neighbours in the social housing sector, rather than reduce them to the anti-sociality of tenants, this work has been disconnected from a consideration of the social and interactive contexts of neighbouring more broadly and its influence on how neighbour problems emerge and are managed in specific situations. In response, this paper examines the conditions that lead to the formation of a distinct style of neighbouring among social housing tenants, one that is prone to conflict and tension because of its intensively sociable, as opposed to anti-social, nature. Drawing on mediation data from Dispute Resolution Centres in Queensland, Australia, this paper illustrates how intensive modes of neighbouring combine with disadvantage and close physical proximity to create the conditions for neighbour problems to arise.     

Opportunities and Constraints in State Housing Policy: The Example of Tasmania's ‘Affordable Housing Strategy’

The lack of Commonwealth government funds for public housing has encouraged state governments across Australia to develop ‘Affordable Housing Strategies’ to address the problems that result from the shortage of housing available for low-income households. However, to date there has been limited discussion of the implications of these affordable housing strategies and their significance as a form of policy intervention. This article highlights the Tasmanian Government's ‘Affordable Housing Strategy’ as a case study to illustrate the obstacles that confront state housing policy makers. These include difficulties in securing partnerships with the private sector, an inability to influence macro-economic policy settings, fluctuations in the property market cycle and a reliance on small and uncertain budgetary allocations. However, there is limited scope to address some of the problems that have undermined previous state and Territory housing policy initiatives by reaching agreements with local government to ease planning controls for social housing, boosting the capacity of the community housing sector and using additional budgets judiciously.     

A tale of two cities – rental housing in Budapest and Sofia in the 1990s

The paper describes the findings of a study conductedduring 1997–1998 on changes to the structure of rentalhousing provision in two post-communist cities,Budapest and Sofia. After nearly a decade of `transition' to market economies, the public rentalsectors have shrunk dramatically and becomeresidualised. Despite the rapid privatisation andassociated growth of owner-occupation there is littlesign that the privately rented sector (PRS) isregaining any of its pre-communist stature as theprincipal form of housing provision. There is almostno company landlordism and 80 percent of thelandlords in both cities let out only one property.They are mainly `incidental' landlords who haveinherited or previously owned the property. Few havebought it as an investment. There are few signs ofinstitutional support for the PRS in either city.Despite this common context, the reasons for thedevelopment of the PRS in the two cities aresignificantly different. In both cities the PRSaccounts for about 4 percent of households. But inSofia nearly half the landlords let out their ownhouse for income, depressing their housing consumptionagainst a back-cloth of poverty and desperate need forincome. `Landlords' move in with relatives or to`second homes'. Thus a large number of landlords arealso tenants in another property. In Budapest, unlikeSofia, new entrants to this market have fallen sharplyin the last 18 months. High taxation, falling realhouse prices and over-supply of property, followingthe rapid privatisation of the state rental housingstock, are the underlying problems inhibiting thegrowth of this sector. There is no sign of a return tothe tenure that was the foundation of their urbandevelopment, although explanations for this differbetween the two societies. The `transition to themarket', at least in housing, continues to be parlousand immature.     

Housing stress and mental health of migrant populations in urban China

Social epidemiological studies have long understood housing as a social determinant of mental health. However, most studies have focused on the formal housing sector and the conceptualisation of housing is limited to the housing per se. This study aims to bridge the gap by investigating the mental health impact of housing disadvantages concerning the migrant population in China, who are largely excluded from the formal housing sector. Drawing from recent writings on stress as the intermediary agent between modern city life and mental illness, the study examines the relationship between housing and neighbourhood conditions, perceived stress and mental health status. Using a large-scale survey conducted in twelve Chinese cities in 2009, this research found that informal housing tenants have the highest level of perceived stress and worst mental health status compared to dormitory tenants and formal housing residents. Poor housing conditions are significantly associated with perceived stress but not with mental health, while the neighbourhood social environment significantly predicts both perceived stress and mental health. The paper concludes by calling for more ethnographic research on migrants' resilience and stress-coping strategies and more attention in urban planning and housing policy to address the vulnerability and adversity of migrant settlements.     

Struggles and opportunities at the platform interface: tenants’ experiences of navigating shared room housing using digital platforms in Sydney

Digital platforms have shaped the ways of navigating and occupying shared housing properties in the private rental market. Online platforms reconfigure the geography of housing searches and allow potential tenants to identify and enquire about shared properties while transcending local and national boundaries. Urban scholarship has viewed these platforms as real-time, fine-grained, big datasets for investigating housing markets. However, limited attention has been given to tenants’ experiences of using online platforms, and the extent to which these platforms facilitate access to housing. Drawing on interviews with tenants [n?=?35] in Sydney, this paper explores tenants’ experiences of searching, negotiating and securing shared room housing advertised on digital platforms. The findings highlight that shared housing digital platforms operate on the logic of peer-to-peer interaction between landlords and tenants via user-generated listings. These platforms allow tenants to compare rental prices, locations and characteristics of shared properties through ‘computerised algorithms’. Shared housing tenants, nonetheless, face a series of challenges, especially related to misrepresentation of property conditions, fake profile identity of advertisers, upward pressure on rental prices and high competition for listed properties, all of which influence their housing search and living experiences. Digital platforms emerge as complex socio-technical assemblages that are difficult to regulate as city authorities struggle to formulate effective mechanisms to govern technology-led social change. The paper provides valuable insights into housing informality and tenant exploitation at the platform interface and calls for platform governance.

     

The Provision of Furnished Accommodation by Local Authorities

Providing furnished accommodation is one of the means by which local authorities can provide a benefit to their residents in response to the government's attempts to limit social security expenditure. The provision of furniture can also be used to increase lettings in hard to let areas and to reduce the turnover of property. This paper describes the spread of furnished lettings among different authorities and considers in detail the introduction of part-furnished accommodation in Newcastle upon Tyne. The service provided in Newcastle is evaluated using the local authority's tenancy records and interviews with tenants. The results showed clear benefits to both the council and its tenants in providing furnished accommodation.     

The quasi-market based re-regulation: effects of setting housing association rents in England

This paper outlines the current structure of housing association rents in England and examines critically the social rent-setting policy dilemmas. The paper charts the marked change of direction seen since the 1980s, with a switch from a deregulated approach giving housing associations freedom from central control within a clear accounting framework to set rents at least to cover costs, to a more regulated rent-setting system based on individual property values and local earnings levels. Using rental data from housing associations’ Regulatory and Statistical Returns, the study shows that social rents are now set on quasi-market principles that simulate some aspects of a real market reflecting the characteristics of the property, but continuing to be sub-market reflecting the lower household income of social tenants. However, the constraints of the rent-setting formula reduce the capacity of housing associations to undertake proper maintenance and improvement of existing stock. This will become a particular issue for those in London and the North of England where rents now only just cover operational costs.     

Control and care: landlords and the governance of vulnerable tenants in houses in multiple occupation

Houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) in which tenants share facilities are housing an increasing proportion of vulnerable adults who have limited affordable housing options. However, knowledge about how these types of property are managed is limited. In this paper, we examine the governance function of HMO landlords from the perspective of landlords/landlord agents and the tenants that live within their properties. The landlord exercises control through formal and informal risk assessment of tenants and close surveillance of them. These control mechanisms may also involve direct or indirect provision of support and care to some tenants. This illustrates the complex relationship between care and control and the extent to which both are integral to the housing management of vulnerable tenants living in HMOs. We suggest that this dual function calls for a critical examination of what constitutes a ‘good landlord’.     

The creation of the incapable social tenant in Flanders,Belgium. An appraisal

As long as the social rented sector housed traditional families and the allocation procedures were rather loose, there was little commotion about the sector. A combination of a change in family structures, economic changes, and the strengthening of allocation procedures in favour of those most in need did change perceptions. Marginalisation and ghettoisation, especially of high-rise social housing estates, became buzzwords. This paper deals with the causes of these changes and with their implications. The marginalisation discourse calls for enlarging the target groups and estate-specific allocation procedures (to obtain a `social mix'). It illustrates a profound desire to diminish the number of ethnic minorities, single parents, single-person households and all kinds of people with a weak income profile who gain access to social rental housing. Furthermore, this discourse is reaching a crescendo: after it was started in the early 1990s by staff members of local social housing companies, it passed through the union of the social housing companies, the umbrella organisation of the sector, and parliament, reaching its greatest momentum so far in early 2002 when it was adopted by the Flemish housing minister. The counterpoint to this negative discourse is the high degree of satisfaction among social tenants, as observed in a study carried out in 1999. In our paper we will try to explain the background of these opposing trends and the possible consequences for the social rental housing in general and for tenants in particular.     

Low-income Tenants in the Private Rental Housing Market

The private rented sector (PRS) in England has often been described as having a ‘residual’ role in accommodating low-income households who are unable to gain access to social housing. This paper examines the accuracy of this residual role thesis. It does so using secondary analysis of the 2007 English House Condition Survey. The paper shows that the PRS plays a disproportionately important role in accommodating households living in poverty. It also shows that the odds of being income poor are the same for private tenants as for social housing tenants and three times higher than for owner-occupiers. It is concluded that, as a source of accommodation for low-income households, the role of the private rented sector is not residual at all. In addition, the paper assesses how well accommodated low-income households are in the PRS compared with non-poor private tenants and with low-income households in social housing and owner-occupation.     

Tenant Participation and Social Housing in the UK: Applying a Theoretical Model

Tenant participation is becoming an almost ubiquitous feature of the planning and provision of social housing. A range of opportunities has been (and is being) created by and for tenants to participate in the planning, provision and evaluation of housing services. Yet while local authorities and other social landlords may be keen to consult tenants, and tenants themselves often want to make their voices heard, there is a perennial problem in actually getting people involved. This paper provides a comprehensive framework for understanding this important question. It then reports on recent research that applies the framework in two different contexts: tenants' associations and tenant management organisations. The implications for housing policy and practice are discussed.     

Opportunities and Constraints in State Housing Policy: The Example of Tasmania's 'Affordable Housing Strategy'

The lack of Commonwealth government funds for public housing has encouraged state governments across Australia to develop 'Affordable Housing Strategies' to address the problems that result from the shortage of housing available for low-income households. However, to date there has been limited discussion of the implications of these affordable housing strategies and their significance as a form of policy intervention. This article highlights the Tasmanian Government's 'Affordable Housing Strategy' as a case study to illustrate the obstacles that confront state housing policy makers. These include difficulties in securing partnerships with the private sector, an inability to influence macro-economic policy settings, fluctuations in the property market cycle and a reliance on small and uncertain budgetary allocations. However, there is limited scope to address some of the problems that have undermined previous state and Territory housing policy initiatives by reaching agreements with local government to ease planning controls for social housing, boosting the capacity of the community housing sector and using additional budgets judiciously.     

Social housing allocation,choice and neighbourhood ethnic mix in England

Driven by a concern about the negative side effects of ethnic concentration neighbourhoods, many European governments aim to create more ethnically and socio-economically mixed neighbourhoods. At the same time, housing policy aims to give tenants more choice in how and where they live. The objectives of these two policies might conflict as offering people choice has the potential to increase self-segregation, especially across ethnic groups. This paper studies the effect of choice-based letting on (self) segregation in housing association stock in England. We analyse whether households who let their property under choice-based letting end up in neighbourhoods with different levels of ethnic concentrations than households who are matched to a dwelling using the traditional allocation system. We focus on how the effect of choice-based letting differs for ethnic minority households and non-ethnic minority households. Using unique data on all lettings made in the housing association sector in England in 2006/2007 and an ordered logit regression model we show that ethnic minority households are more likely to let a property in an ethnic concentration neighbourhood than non-ethnic minority households. Ethnic minorities letting their property under choice-based letting are the most likely to accept a dwelling in an ethnic concentration neighbourhood.     

In search of profit: housing association investment in private rental housing

The traditional mission of housing associations in England is to provide non-profit housing let at sub-market rents to low-income and disadvantaged households. And yet in recent years, large ‘property developer housing associations’ have begun to invest in for-profit private rental homes let at market rents. Despite long waiting lists for their accommodation, these housing associations are mainly letting their for-profit rental homes to middle-income tenants rather than their traditional low-income clientele. Drawing on a ‘historical institutional’ conceptual framework, and combining structural and ‘agency’ explanations, this paper explores the reasons for this new trend. It argues that investment by large developer housing associations in for-profit and more upmarket rental homes will become increasingly important relative to their non-profit social housing. Over time, this ‘partial recalibration’ of their landlord role is likely to gradually transform the institutional rules, everyday practices and norms that shape their behaviour.     

Welfare Safety Net or Tenure of Choice? The Dilemma Facing Social Housing Policy in England

This paper considers the future role of social rented housing in England. It is based on an analysis of policy trends over the past 30 years, and a critical examination of current policy dilemmas. The central contention is that there are fundamental tensions underlying the present government's policy objectives to maintain the ‘safety net’ role of social housing but at the same time widen access to the sector so that it becomes a more mixed ‘tenure of choice’. The paper charts the marked change of direction seen since 2000, with a switch from a highly rule-bound approach emphasising equity in housing allocations, to a more consumerist system stressing choice. Survey data and statistical returns are analysed to illustrate the changing mix of households entering social rented housing and to reveal the sector's varying role in regions characterised by contrasting housing market conditions. The paper charts the spread of the ‘choice-based lettings’ approach and discusses the possible implications of this development for the pattern of rehousing outcomes, and for the sector's broader role. It is concluded that, in higher demand regions such as London and the South, it remains very difficult to see how a social sector continuing to contract can widen its role from that of safety net for the most disadvantaged.     

Room Sharing in Sydney: A Complex Mix of Affordability,Overcrowding and Profit Maximisation

The shared housing sector is a growing private rental submarket. Researchers have sought to analyse the drivers of this growth, the benefits of shared housing for tenants, landlords and wider urban systems, as well as risks for tenants and local planning systems. Yet, there is limited research exploring the diversity of the shared housing sector. In particular, analysis of room or space sharing with non-related adults is lacking. This paper explores the characteristics, geography and impact of room sharing across Sydney. By analysing online accommodation listings this paper provides insights for policymakers seeking to monitor and regulate shared room accommodation.