Social Capital and Housing Tenure in an Adelaide Neighbourhood

In this article we compare and contrast elements of social capital across different housing tenures in an Adelaide neighbourhood. Using the results of 530 self-completion questionnaires and in-depth qualitative interviews with 16 people we assess perceptions of conflict across housing tenures and between socio-economic groups, feelings of acceptance and belonging in the local neighbourhood, and levels of involvement in local formal and informal networks. While only a small number of questionnaire respondents reported negative views of socio-economic diversity in the area a theme emerging in the qualitative data indicated that housing tenure was relevant to some of these negative perceptions. Respondents from across different tenure types also reported differences in feelings of acceptance in the neighbourhood, and involvement in formal and informal networks. The study findings suggest that housing tenure is relevant to the development of neighbourhood-based social capital, and that this factor needs to be considered by social planners, housing policy makers and others involved in implementing social mix policies. In addition, the findings indicate the need to consider the community housing and public housing tenures in their own right, given the different models of housing provision, rather than collectively under the common banner of social housing as most research studies do. It is recommended that the full diversity of housing tenure is considered in any future analysis.     

Social Capital and Housing Tenure in an Adelaide Neighbourhood

In this article we compare and contrast elements of social capital across different housing tenures in an Adelaide neighbourhood. Using the results of 530 self-completion questionnaires and in-depth qualitative interviews with 16 people we assess perceptions of conflict across housing tenures and between socio-economic groups, feelings of acceptance and belonging in the local neighbourhood, and levels of involvement in local formal and informal networks. While only a small number of questionnaire respondents reported negative views of socio-economic diversity in the area a theme emerging in the qualitative data indicated that housing tenure was relevant to some of these negative perceptions. Respondents from across different tenure types also reported differences in feelings of acceptance in the neighbourhood, and involvement in formal and informal networks. The study findings suggest that housing tenure is relevant to the development of neighbourhood-based social capital, and that this factor needs to be considered by social planners, housing policy makers and others involved in implementing social mix policies. In addition, the findings indicate the need to consider the community housing and public housing tenures in their own right, given the different models of housing provision, rather than collectively under the common banner of social housing as most research studies do. It is recommended that the full diversity of housing tenure is considered in any future analysis.     

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.     

The use and abuse of housing tenure

This paper examines the concept of housing ‘tenure’ and its use in housing research. We argue that this concept is in fact misused. This occurs in two ways. First, it is frequently assumed that taxonomic collectives of tenure like ‘owner‐occupation’ necessarily correspond with significant concrete categories such as housing quality or social status. Second, abstract categories like ‘housing class’ or ‘consumption cleavages’ are identified with specific tenures. In both cases ‘tenure’ is taken well beyond the relations of occupancy and ownership which the term actually describes, and in both cases this leads to severe loss of information and of analytical sensitivity. The paper challenges the use of tenure as some overall shorthand and ends by considering some alternative ‘shorthands’ which better describe the social relations of housing.     

The importation of social mix policy in Italy: A case study from Lombardy

The proliferation of quasi-market rental models has characterised the rearrangement of housing policy in Italy. These new models aim to differentiate the supply of social housing by including groups from the middle class, and to remedy the traditional public housing system's tendency to produce spatial concentrations of low-income population. They are thus associated with the notions of tenure diversification and ‘social mix’. This analysis focuses on the rearrangement of housing policy in the context of Bergamo, by analysing the implementation of a new social housing model, namely ‘moderate rental’, and evaluating its effectiveness as a tool of tenure diversification within neighbourhoods characterised by high concentrations of public housing apartments and low-income households.     

The unraveling of Amsterdam’s unitary rental system

The Netherlands has traditionally been considered an iconic ‘unitary’ rental housing market in which social and private sectors directly compete. More recently however, this unitary market has been undermined by changes in the status of housing associations, the privatization of social housing stock and the promotion of home ownership. It has subsequently been suggested that the Netherlands is drifting toward a ‘dualist’ system in which social and private sectors are critically unequal. This paper takes on this claim, providing, on the one hand, palpable evidence of the waning influence of the unitary housing system in the Netherlands and, on the other, a deeper examination of processes of dualisation as well as the outcomes. We focus on Amsterdam, where housing privatization has been most intense. We specifically draw on a geospatial analysis of changing tenure distributions at the neighbourhood level as well as a household analysis of the shifting profile of tenants and home owners to show how the unitary rental market, which helped establish Amsterdam as an iconic ‘just city’, has been unraveling. We demonstrate the relevance of the unitary/dualist model to understanding contemporary urban processes, especially those featuring social and economic polarization.     

Good dwellings for all: The case of social rented housing in Sweden

During the last decade many European countries have experienced a decline in the production of social rented housing, and there has also been an increase in sales of such dwellings. However, in Sweden social rented housing is still treated as an integral part of Social Democratic housing policy. According to this policy it should not be regarded as a residual tenure only to people in special need of housing. On the contrary, the official goal is to make it as efficient as other tenures in providing good dwellings for all. In order to popularise this tenure a number of measures have been introduced during the 1980s, such as diversification of the stock, decentralisation of management, increasing tenants’ influence and ambitious renewal programmes. Sales of municipal housing have been kept at a low level, although more sophisticated forms of privatisation have been observable. This paper reviews recent tendencies in social rented housing in Sweden, ending up with a discussion of its political basis and prospects.     

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.

     

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.     

‘You can’t put your roots down’: housing pathways,rental tenure and precarity in older age

Abstract

In light of housing affordability concerns, we examine older people’s experiences of renting within a context of enduring home-ownership norms and aspirations. Adapting Clapham’s housing pathways framework, we ask: How is rental tenure experienced by older people who have encountered precarity in their housing history? Drawing on interviews with 13 older tenants, we observe the uneasy relationship between tenure insecurity and housing quality, and tensions between choice and luck in experiences of renting in later life. Three pathways related to renting in older age were apparent: life-long renting; loss of homeownership through adversity; and deliberate decisions to transition to renting. We note that challenges encountered in current and previous housing situations lead to diverse narratives of precarity in later life. These precarious experiences can be exacerbated by intersecting uncertainties associated with health, financial and personal circumstances. Older tenants’ housing pathways and experiences illuminate ways in which precarity can disrupt opportunities for ageing well and ageing in place.     

The affordability of “affordable” housing in England: conditionality and exclusion in a context of welfare reform

Abstract

Contemporary debates around affordability have largely focused on homeownership and private renting. This article considers the affordable social rented sector in England, in which reforms to social welfare assistance, reduced security of tenure, and a shift towards mid-market rents, are changing access to ‘affordable’ housing for those on the lowest incomes. Drawing on in-depth interviews with housing associations and stakeholders, the article highlights the increasing use of affordability assessments for prospective tenants. These assessments interact with mid-market rental products to increase the potential for exclusion from affordable housing on the grounds of ability to pay. This conditionality is applied not only at the point of tenancy access, but also at renewal of fixed-term tenancies. The research highlights that the combination of welfare and housing policies, in the context of a financialising housing association sector, has the potential to erode access to social housing for those who are perceived as a financial risk, reshaping the focus of social housing.     

‘From Choice to Chance’: choice-based letting use in forced tenant relocations in New South Wales,Australia

Abstract

The redevelopment of large social housing estates has emerged as a central policy response to address housing affordability and social housing crises in Australia. These projects, often done in partnership with the private sector, are seen as opportunities to leverage government land assets and increase densities to expand social and private housing stock. While extensive research has been conducted on the rationale and processes of estate renewal, less attention has been paid to tenant relocation practices. This is the focus of this article. In particular we explore the New South Wales Government’s use of a choice-based letting program called ‘My Property Choice’ (MPC) that involves tenants bidding via a ballot system for available social housing properties. We argue, despite policy rhetoric emphasising resident ‘choice’, MPC emerges as a chance-based process for tenants seeking to ‘win’ their desired relocation destinations.     

Movement Into and Out of the Private Rental Sector in England

The private rental sector in England is often regarded as a largely transitional tenure. It is seen as forming the lower rung of a hierarchical tenure ladder, up which households move over time on the way to an ultimate destination of owner occupation or, failing that, social rented housing. It has been recognised, however, that households may 'fall out' of the two main tenures and return to private renting. Drawing on data from the 1996-97 Survey of English Housing, this paper examines the characteristics of households that had moved into or out of the private rental sector in the previous 12 months. Although the sector remains a net exporter of households, it was found that only part of the reverse flow back into private renting could be accurately described as a process of 'falling out' of the two main tenures. A significant share of the movement from social housing into private renting was due to households who had moved in order to live in a better house or neighbourhood. The paper outlines the reasons for this phenomenon and discusses its implications for the role of private renting in England.     

Investors,taxation and the housing boom

In recent years considerable attention has been paid to the activity of investors in private rental housing. Underpinning this interest has been the perceived effects of changes during the 1980s to the tax treatment of investment in private rental housing. Of particular interest has been whether or not landlords should be able to ‘negatively gear’, or deduct from their taxable income the interest losses they incur on the rental properties. According to real estate lobby groups, the federal government's decision in July 1985 to ‘quarantine’ negative gearing in residential investments decimated the supply of private rental housing, and this in turn was said to be the prime reason for escalating rents and tightening vacancy rates in some capital cities. The campaign by the real estate lobby groups received considerable media coverage and eventually led to one of the few policy backdowns by the current federal government. In August 1987, and in an otherwise very tight budget, negative gearing was fully reintroduced.     

Support for tenure mix by residents local to the Carlton Housing Estate,Melbourne, Australia

In this paper, we report on the level of support for tenure mix policies of residents living proximate to the Carlton Housing Estate mixed tenure redevelopment in Melbourne Australia. In a telephone survey of 200 residents living in the area surrounding the estate, the majority of respondents were supportive of tenure mix. Those who were financially comfortable or only spoke English were significantly more supportive than those reporting more difficult financial circumstances or who spoke a language other than English. The reasons for support for tenure mix included avoiding ghettoization, building community and social role modelling. The reasons for opposing tenure mix reflected a concern for the loss of public housing, a view that public and private tenants would not want to be co-located and that public tenants weren’t as deserving as others of living in a good inner city location. There were also concerns from both groups about how tenure mix might work in practice. Policy implications are discussed.     

Making a Rental Property Home

English-language literature on the relationship between home and dwelling has largely focused on the benefits of homeownership and (to a lesser extent) social rental in facilitating ontological security. Less consideration has been given to the experiences of private tenants. This paper draws on findings of a study on security of occupancy to discuss the ability of private renters to exercise control over their dwellings in Australia. The paper discusses the limitations of Australian legislation, within its policy, market and cultural context, in enabling private tenants to exercise control over their dwellings, and compares the Australian situation with Germany to demonstrate that alternative approaches that afford more control to private tenants are possible in rental systems dominated by private rental. The paper concludes with a call for a wider debate about the importance of home and the impact of social norms regarding the purpose of different types of tenure on housing policy and thus on the rights and well-being of tenants.     

Social Cohesiveness of Disadvantaged Communities in Urban South Korea: The Impact of the Physical Environment

This paper examines the impact of the physical environment and residents' perception and use of the environment settings on the social cohesiveness of disadvantaged communities in South Korea. Multiple regression and qualitative analysis were applied based on the data collected in four public rental housing estates in Seoul accommodating the lowest income households. This paper argues that social cohesiveness could be operationalised in shared norms and trust, attachment to housing estate and social networking. It was found that the characteristics of social cohesiveness were different across the same type of public rental housing estates, and that this variance was partly due to the different conditions of the physical environment. It was also found that a more positive perception of the physical environment and the more frequent use of facilities generally enhanced community cohesiveness. Desirable land use mix and housing types around the housing estates, preferable community facilities, housing block design and more effective refurbishment programmes within the estates were recommended.     

Housing Tenure and Neighbourhood Social Capital

Prior research finds a positive association between social capital and community well-being, ranging from decreased crime to greater local economic development and resiliency. Using a nationally representative sample from Canada, this study explores the specific impact of housing tenure (homeownership vs. renting) on three forms of neighbourhood social capital: bonding (trust, exchanges among neighbours and sense of belonging to one’s community), bridging (participation in local organizations) and linking social capital (voting in municipal elections). Findings suggest a positive association between homeownership and forms of bonding social capital and, to a lesser degree, linking social capital, but no clear effect on bridging social capital. Length of residence, having children at home, education, being a visible minority and region also emerged as significant in many models. We argue that exploring further housing stabilization and community-building efforts among rental properties – both public and private – might yield important social capital returns.     

Ending Security of Tenure for Social Renters: Transitioning to ‘Ambulance Service’ Social Housing?

Drawing on international comparative research, this paper examines recent policy moves to withdraw security of tenure in social housing in England and Australia. We contend that there are theoretical and empirical grounds for believing that tenure security is crucial both to social housing tenants themselves and to conceptualisations of the sector. Starting from this premise we analyse the underlying rationale(s) for phasing out open-ended social tenancies. First, we consider the ‘welfare dependency’ argument and the claim that ‘conditionality’ mechanisms will incentivise social renters to (re)engage with the labour market. Second, we interrogate the, arguably more influential, rationale which stresses equity considerations in ensuring that scarce social housing resources are targeted to those in greatest need. We conclude by reflecting on the implementation prospects for this high-level policy reform, arguing that individual social landlords' motivations will be crucial in shaping the practical impacts of the new regime.