From Asset Based Welfare to Welfare Housing? The Changing Function of Social Housing in Ireland

This paper examines a distinctive and significant aspect of social housing in Ireland—its change in function from an asset-based role in welfare support to a more standard model of welfare housing. It outlines the nationalist and agrarian drivers which expanded the initial role of social housing beyond the goal of improving housing conditions for the poor towards the goal of extending homeownership, and assesses whether this focus made it more similar to the ‘asset based welfare’ approach to housing found in South-East Asia than to social housing in Western Europe. From the mid-1980s, the role of Irish social housing changed as the sector contracted and evolved towards the model of welfare housing now found in many other Western countries. Policy makers have struggled to address the implications of this transition and vestiges of social housing's traditional function are still evident, consequently the boundaries between social housing, private renting and homeownership in Ireland have grown increasingly nebulous.     

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.     

Constructing Renters as a Threat to Neighbourhood Safety

The physical and social organization of the urban environment plays a central role in the formation of individual perceptions of crime. This paper examines how the presence of rental housing is constructed as a risk to neighbourhood safety by urban homeowners. The presence of the ideology of homeownership fosters a social context in which renters are constructed as disinvested and irresponsible individuals. As a result, renters are perceived to pose both an indirect and direct threat to the safety of a neighbourhood. Data from 23 semi-structured interviews with urban homeowners are used to illustrate this process. The paper concludes by considering how these perceptions adversely affect tenants and perpetuate spatial patterns of inequality.     

After poverty reduction: trajectories of U.S. urban neighborhoods that escaped high poverty during the 1990s

Based on the Neighborhood Change Database, this study tracks U.S. urban neighborhoods that escaped the high-poverty category during the poverty reduction trend in the 1990s and explores their poverty transition patterns in the subsequent decade. Escaped neighborhoods exhibit a significant propensity to relapse back into high poverty. This study found several neighborhood characteristics to be associated with a neighborhood’s ability to resist poverty relapse, such as high educational attainment and residential stability of the inhabitants. Homeownership is also found to be a neighborhood stabilizer, but its effect varies by specific racial and ethnic groups.     

Rethinking Federal Housing Policy

Problem: Federal housing policy is made up of disparate programs that a) promote homeownership; b) assist low-income renters’ access to good-quality, affordable housing; and c) enforce the Fair Housing Act by combating residential discrimination. Some of these programs are ineffective, others have drifted from their initial purpose, and none are well coordinated with each other.

Purpose: We examine the trends, summarize the research evaluating the performance of these programs, and suggest steps to make them more effective and connected to each other.

Methods: We review the history of housing policy and programs and empirical studies of program effectiveness to identify a set of best principles and practices.

Results and conclusions: In the area of homeownership, we recommend that the federal government help the nation's housing markets quickly find bottom, privatize aspects of the secondary mortgage market, and move to eliminate the mortgage interest deduction and replace it with a 10-year homeownership tax credit. In the area of subsidized rental housing, we recommend that the current system of vouchers be regionalized (or alternatively, converted into an entitlement program that works through the income tax system), sell public housing projects to nonprofit sponsors where appropriate, and eliminate some of the rigidities in the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. In the area of fair housing, we recommend that communities receiving Community Development Block Grants be required to implement inclusionary zoning programs.

Takeaway for practice: In general, we recommend that federal policy build on proven programs; focus on providing affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families and provide the funding to meet that goal; avoid grandiose and ideological ambitions and programs; use fewer and more coordinated programs; offer tax credits, not tax deductions; and promote residential filtering.

Research support: Partial funding support was provided by the National Science Foundation.     

Small Area Variation in Homeownership

The aim of the study is two-fold. First, it adds to the existing state-of-the-art housing research by suggesting the implementation of new econometric methodology. Specifically, the study adds to earlier studies of homeownership by adding spatial impacts. It advocates simultaneous adjustment for intra-municipal correlation and heterogeneity as well as spatial spillover patterns between municipalities. It concludes that ignorance of controlling for intra-municipal correlation, heterogeneity and spatial spillover skews conclusions regarding effects of the determinants of homeownership. Furthermore, it finds that endogenous as well as exogenous spatial spillovers are essential parts of specifying demand for homeownership. Specifically, the demand for homeownership spills over and stimulates demand in neighbouring municipalities, and house prices and incomes exert positive effects on demand for homeownership in neighbouring municipalities. Second, as is clear from the above empirical conclusions, the study adds to existing empirical research and knowledge.     

保障性住房建设过程中影响工程质量的因素及解决办法

保障性住房是党和国家关注低收入家庭和弱势群体的民生工程,其工程质量直接影响人民群众的生活质量,同时也是人民群众最现实、最关心、最直接的利益,是全面构建和谐社会的基础,抓好保障性住房工程质量具有重要的现实意义。论文着重分析了保障性住房建设过程中影响工程质量的因素,并提出了解决办法。     

Intersections of inequality in homeownership in Sweden

Abstract

Inequalities relating to ownership of housing have become a major issue de jour in many Western societies. This article examines how the distribution of homeownership in Sweden relates to two factors widely seen as significant to such inequalities, namely parental tenure status and place of birth. We use longitudinal registry data to examine the bearing of these two factors on individual-level tenure progression since the beginning of the 1990s for persons at different stages of their housing careers. We extend existing understandings of Swedish homeownership patterns by demonstrating that inequalities relating to place of birth and parental tenure intersect with one another in ways that substantially advantage certain subgroups while disadvantaging others, and by demonstrating that experiences of entry into homeownership have in recent years been changing in markedly different ways for these different subgroups. Overall, Swedish homeownership inequalities, far from dissipating, appear to be hardening along existing lines.     

Housing Consumption and Housing Inequality in Chinese Cities During the First Decade of the Twenty-First Century

During the first decade of the twenty-first century, Chinese cities have experienced the unprecedented housing development and marketization, which has profoundly changed housing consumption. Using the latest census data, this paper provides the first evaluation of housing consumption in Chinese cities during 2000–2010. Not surprisingly, housing consumption has improved significantly over time, especially in the first five years due to more rapid marketization. Yet, housing inequality has increased significantly over time, especially across education groups. There is also significant spatial inequality at provincial level; yet, it has generally declined over time except inequality in homeownership and subsidized housing. Improved housing consumption and a complex pattern of housing inequality are two main characteristics of housing consumption during this decade.     

Individual Development Accounts for Housing Policy: Analysis of Individual and Program Characteristics

Homeownership is a desirable goal for most Americans and is considered an integral part of the American Dream. Empirical studies indicate homeownership has many positive outcomes. However, homeownership is not prevalent among low-income populations. Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) are matched savings accounts designed to help the working poor save for a home or other assets. This paper examines the savings outcomes of IDA participants saving for a home in the American Dream Policy Demonstration, which was the first large-scale test of IDAs. Data were collected from 1997 to 2001 on 1176 participants saving to purchase a home. Results indicate that low-income IDA participants can successfully save when provided structured opportunities. This paper examines individual and program characteristics that are important to explaining saving behaviors. Implications for policy makers, program administrators, and future research are given.     

Local housing-market effects on tenure choice

The main objective of thepresent study is to find out which marketfactors affect homeownership attainment aftercontrolling for individual human capital. The1980 and 1990 individual Census data (PUMS) inthe U.S. are used to investigate the contextualinfluences on choosing two types of housing:single- and multi-family housing. Trichotomoustenure choice models are applied to fourrepresentative age groups. The study takesadvantage of the multi-level design, allowingrelationships between individual and housingmarket characteristics to vary from place toplace. One finding is that market variations aswell as individual characteristics affecttenure choices. The authors argue that researchon homeownership attainment should not onlyconsider individual or household attributes butshould be sensitive to spatiality thatrecognizes market effects. The conclusion isthat housing research needs to be comprehensiveenough to understand the complex interactionbetween the individual's human capital and themetropolitan housing-market characteristics.     

Marriage-induced homeownership as a driver of housing booms: evidence from Hong Kong

Abstract

Buying a home for marriage is customary in many societies. Traditionally, therefore, young couples getting married is a key driver of demand for homeownership. Yet the idea of marriage-induced demand for homeownership is a relatively underexplored component of housing price change. We examine the role of marriage-induced demand for homeownership in Hong Kong, a relatively self-contained housing market with fewer options for migration than most large cities. We use an instrumental variable strategy to test the hypothesis that more unmarried individuals at the prime age for marriage increases housing prices. We find that an additional one thousand marriage-aged but unmarried individuals leads to a seven per cent increase in housing prices. These findings confirm the importance of demographic factors such as cohort size and marriage rates on housing price projections, housing needs assessments, and housing policy.     

Housing Policy,Housing Assistance and the Wellbeing Dividend: Developing an Evidence Base for Post-GFC Economies

This paper discusses the recent evolution, at a time of turmoil within global financial markets, of Australia's housing system and considers the effectiveness of housing assistance responses formulated to assist lo- income Australians. Following the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), housing was recast in the public and political consciousness and received substantial policy attention. In this era of rapidly declining housing affordability as well as threats to the supply of housing finance, the Australian Government renewed its approach to housing assistance. The paper examines housing assistance in Australia and assesses individual outcomes in terms of a ‘wellbeing dividend’. It draws upon on a survey of 1700 low-income households to examine individual outcomes for health and wellbeing across three of Australia's major forms of housing assistance. The research clearly shows that while housing assistance makes a positive contribution to wellbeing, not all forms of assistance are equal.     

Sharing Equity with Future Generations: An Evaluation of Long-Term Affordable Homeownership Programs in the USA

Shared equity initiatives provide homeownership opportunities to low- and moderate-income families who buy homes at below-market prices. The appreciation that can be earned by resellers is limited to preserve the homes' affordability at resale. This article analyses affordability, personal wealth, security of tenure, and mobility outcomes for seven shared equity programs across the USA. Homebuyers earned returns that were competitive with what they would have received if they had invested in stocks or bonds. In addition, homes remained affordable to lower income buyers over time as the homes were resold. Homeownership under these programs was sustainable: there were very low delinquency and foreclosure rates and many families who sold their homes were able to use their sales' proceeds to purchase market-rate homes. Owners also showed little evidence of being locked in place, and moved to new homes at rates near the national average.     

Securitization,the Global Financial Crisis and Residential Capitalisms in an East Asian Context

This paper offers an analysis of the housing impact of the recent financial crisis in an East Asian context, specifically Hong Kong. In doing so, the paper argues that much of the current political economy analysis in this area has been overly focused on mortgage securitization as the centrepiece of liberal housing finance systems. The paper also shows that an understanding of the limited development of mortgage securitization in Hong Kong lies in the embedded actions of institutional agents. The paper seeks to contribute to ongoing policy debates about the differential impact of the financial crisis on housing markets and to broader theoretical conceptions of ‘residential capitalisms’. In relation to the latter, the aim is to strengthen the East Asian dimension of these discussions and to reinforce arguments regarding the importance of the embedded actions of agents in shaping housing finance systems.     

Housing market dualization: linking insider–outsider divides in employment and housing outcomes

Abstract

Past decades of economic growth, relatively widespread employment security and expanding mortgage markets promoted growing homeownership. Recent years have witnessed this growth undercut across advanced economies, evidenced by a rise in other tenures and increasing housing precarity. Studies have shown that these housing outcomes follow more fundamental changes in labour markets. By adapting the established concept of labour market dualization to housing, this paper examines how employment and housing positions are intertwined under late capitalism, and how their relationship has changed through the Global Financial Crisis. Examining the salient case of the Netherlands through household-level data from the LISS panel, we demonstrate that being a labour market ‘outsider’ vastly increases the likelihood of being an ‘outsider’ across housing market dimensions, in terms of housing equity, affordability and prospective asset accumulation. Comparing housing and labour dualization over 2008 and 2016, we further show that the share of multiply disadvantaged households has grown substantially, both among labour market insiders and outsiders.     

居住环境品质优化下的中国社区规划演变研究 ——以广州市保障房社区为例

社区是社会治理的基石,构筑共建共治共享的社会治理模式是新时代对社区规划的顶层设计指引,也是国外社区规划的魅力所在。国内的社区规划长期聚焦于对物质空间的刻画,但随着政府和公众对居住环境品质关注度的提升,社区规划正逐步转型,但转型程度尚有待探索。以广州市早期及新建成的保障房社区为例,从居住环境品质的角度对规划实施成效及公众参与的影响程度进行比较评价。结果显示,保障房社区规划的制度设计与技术标准均有提升,规划编制与实施也更多地吸纳公众的意见。为社区规划的转型与社区共同缔造提供参考。     

Shared Equity Homeownership: A Welcomed Tenure Alternative Among Lower Income Households

Shared equity homeownership (SEH) is a form of resale-restricted, owner-occupied housing for lower income households that remains affordable in perpetuity. This study explores the evaluations of and reception to SEH relative to existing tenure options by potential beneficiaries of a SEH program in Nashville, TN. Fourteen focus groups with 93 participants were conducted among lower income renters, prospective homebuyers, and delinquent homeowners. Findings revealed that 73 per cent of participants expressed interest in SEH. Participants perceived that SEH was more likely to deliver individual, community, and economic benefits than rental or homeownership options in the market. However, participants also maintained concerns about program design, development, and location of shared equity homes. Findings suggest that SEH development may be viable in localities with relatively affordable housing markets, and a large proportion of targeted beneficiaries comprehend and perceive a need for this tenure alternative.     

Collateral Damage? Transforming Subprime Slum Dwellers into Homeowners

Homeownership has been elevated to the position of a superior form of tenure, offering seemingly limitless benefits from capital gain to more abstract notions of security, empowerment and good citizenship. The international discourse on housing policy has mirrored this privilege, particularly evident with the celebration of Hernando de Soto and his promotion of formal property rights as the solution to global poverty. Formalisation schemes are said to provide a route to economic prosperity by transforming ‘slum dwellers’ into ‘homeowners’, offering a route to access formal credit and ending the undercapitalisation of the poor. Drawing on the example of de Soto-inspired MKURABITA titling scheme in Tanzania, this paper questions the favour of ownership policies in the Global South in the wake of the subprime crisis.