Housing of Limited Property Rights: A Paradox Inside and Outside Chinese Cities

This paper develops a prototypal theoretical framework for analyzing property inalienability and applies it to housing of limited property rights in China, which includes so-called ‘small-property-rights housing’ in the countryside (SLPR housing) and the affordable housing programme in the city (ALPR housing). The integrated analysis of ALPR and SLPR housing focuses on inalienability restrictions to ownership entitlement. By preserving current property use, inalienability can address externality, public good and even macro-economic problems that arise from property sales. Both ALPR and SLPR provide good empirical support for the theoretical hypotheses. Moreover, they demonstrate some important functions of inalienability in a transitional economy, including helping to maintain macro stability as well as being an important tool for implementing partial reform strategy. Inalienability is also a second-best tool to protect private property rights against the intervention of local political forces. However, various problems with ALPR and SLPR housing show that inalienability is also a rough tool that needs to be improved or replaced in order to achieve micro-economic efficiency.     

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.     

Housing Inequality and Social Class in Europe

On the basis of European Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) data, this paper conducts a comparative analysis of housing conditions in different European countries by focusing on social class. The variance in housing conditions by social class could provide further insights about the divergence/convergence hypotheses stemming from the comparative analysis of living conditions of European countries. To support this claim, two main dimensions of housing inequality will be identified: tenure and housing well-being. A micro-level data analysis was performed, in order to take account of individual and family costs of access and maintenance of ownership in settings and in periods (such as the present day) of rising housing prices and income resources that decrease in terms of amount and stability. The aim is thus to demonstrate that, despite the difference in well-being in Europe between owners and non-owners (on the average the firsts are better off), homeowners cannot be regarded as a privileged category per se.     

Housing Vacancy and the Shrinking City: Trends and Policies in the UK and the City of Liverpool

In the context of the discourse around shrinking cities, the aim of the paper was to try and better understand and differentiate the various types and causes of urban housing vacancy and to ask whether policy responses including planning policies appropriately reflect this variety. The paper briefly discusses the issue of shrinking cities, before considering theoretical explanations for housing vacancy and examining the relationships between population change, housing vacancy and policy responses in the Liverpool conurbation. Conclusions are then drawn about the nature of housing vacancy and the effectiveness of policy responses.     

住房制度变迁驱动下的中国城市住区空间演化

自改革开放以来,中国的城市住区建设被纳入到改革发展的宏观制度环境当中,住房政策经历了一系列重要的调整和变革。受社会制度背景和住房政策影响,中国的住区空间发展也经历了福利制均质单位空间、市场化住区分异和保障制度影响下住区空间等不同阶段。而当前住房保障制度影响下的住区空间发展也面临着新的问题和矛盾。旨在通过对各个时期社会背景和政策制度作用下的城市住区空间回顾及对当前住区问题分析,探讨现阶段中国住区空间发展问题的解决思路。     

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.     

Housing ownership and housing wealth: new evidence in transitional China

Ever since housing was transformed from the most important welfare benefit to the most valuable form of private property through radical housing reform in 1998, housing allocation mechanisms in China have been characterized by the coexistence of market logic and socialist legacy. Thus, the Chinese housing system exhibits a transitional nature as the country moves away from a socialist housing system towards a privatized housing system. Using the 2011 Chinese Household Finance Survey, we not only examine these changes in private ownership of housing, but also give an updated evaluation of the privatization process with new empirical evidence. We develop a conceptual framework and an empirical analysis to shed light on distinct housing inequality patterns in transitional urban China. Our results show that both socioeconomic characteristics and socialist institutions contribute to housing inequality, but they follow different paths in the reform and have different impacts on housing inequality.     

Housing careers,intergenerational support and family relations

Abstract

The home and family have always been mutually embedded, with the former central to the realization and reproduction of the latter. More recently, this mutuality has taken on a more critical salience as realignments in housing markets, employment and welfare states in many countries have worked together to undermine housing access for new households. In this context, families have become increasingly involved in smoothening the routes of young adults members up the ‘housing ladder’ into home ownership. Intergenerational support appears to have become much more widespread and not just confined to familialistic welfare regimes. The role of intergenerational support for housing remains, however, highly differentiated across countries, cities and regions, as well as uneven between social and income classes. This introduction to the Special Issue explores how the role of housing wealth transfers has impacted the renegotiation of the generational contract. In doing so, it sets the scene for the articles that follow, each of which contribute significantly to advancing understanding of housing as a key driver of contemporary social relations and inequalities.     

Income Differentials and Housing Costs in Cities and Suburban Areas

Abstract

The first part of this paper examines housing expenditure and income variations in Australia's mainland capital cities. Housing costs are then related to spatial variations in average household income within the Perth metropolitan area using data from the 1986 census.     

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.     

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.     

A systematic review of outcomes associated with participation in Housing First programs

Housing First (HF) models have gained popularity among many politicians, policy-makers, and social service providers. Proponents of this model argue for its strength by drawing on research evidence. In other words, the use of HF is deemed an ‘evidence-based practice.’ Despite this, a strong synthesis of the evidence used to champion these models is lacking. This article seeks to address this gap, with a review focused on outcomes associated with participation in HF programs. Specifically, we investigate the details of program design coupled with specific outcomes, so as to better inform future action and research. We conclude that the research forming the evidence base for HF is methodologically strong. However, additional research is needed to determine the benefits of HF for diverse populations. Additional research is also required to conclusively determine the impact of HF on substance use and psychiatric treatment. We recommend that policy-makers consider the needs of local populations when developing and implementing HF programing.     

The Limits and Potentials of the Housing Market Enabling Paradigm: An Evaluation of China's Housing Policies from 1998 to 2011

This paper examines the housing policies in China in the last 14 years in the context of the international debate on the World Bank's housing market enabling strategy to improve low-income housing provision in developing countries. A review of China's urban housing outcomes reveals housing price inflation and shortage of affordable housing in the fast expanding housing market. The paper analyzes policies to increase both demand for and supply of housing and argues that these policies have contributed to worsening affordability. This situation has been exacerbated by problems in the institutional framework managing the housing sector. The paper concludes that market enabling alone is not sufficient to achieve a satisfactory housing outcome for low- and middle-income groups in Chinese cities. It advocates more effective and direct public intervention for enhancing social housing provision and tightening market regulation to address both market and government failures to improve housing conditions for lower income groups.     

住房消费中住房公积金的贡献度——以典型城市为例的实证研究

住房公积金制度是我国政策性住房金融体系的核心,先后经历了支持住房建设、支持住房需求和制度完善等三个阶段,成为城镇职工住房保障体系的重要组成部分.本文试图对公积金的住房保障功能进行定量测度,建立了住房公积金的住房消费贡献度模型,并以上海、杭州、湖州、常州和重庆等典型城市2006年度的市场统计数据为基础,对这些城市住房消费中住房公积金的贷款贡献度、还款贡献度、利息节省率和家庭月收入还贷率进行了测算和比较,分析了它们与房价、家庭收入、公积金缴存比例和贷款最高限额等因素的关系,并据此提出了建立公积金政策与房价、家庭收入水平联动机制,中央与地方共同确定公积金贷款与商业贷款利差,严控公积金月缴存额上下限等政策建议.     

Favoured Owners,Neglected Tenants: Privatisation of State Owned Housing in Hanoi

This paper presents selected findings from the project ‘Privatisation of public housing in Hanoi, the impacts on housing quality and social equality’ which was financed by the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA). The project analyses the consequences of privatisation on the housing conditions of those tenants and owners who live in privatised and partly privatised multi-family apartment buildings. This paper focuses on the consequences of privatisation on the housing and living conditions of tenants compared to those of owners, and presents findings. The paper concludes that privatisation actually helps to strengthen the existing inequity between different social groups, in the sense that the privatisation policy supports senior government officials, many of whom are well situated both financially and socially, and ignores poor and low-income households. Privatisation also contributes to enhancing the inequality between better-off housing areas and poorer ones. Mixed ownership, and the lack of regulations about the duties and rights of owners and tenants after privatisation, also lead to serious degradation of common areas in all residential blocks.     

Housing Tenure Preferences in the Post-privatisation Period: The Case of Slovenia

The privatisation of social housing transformed many transitional countries in Central and Eastern Europe into societies with predominant homeownership and a marginalised rental sector. The case of Slovenia shows that, despite a low level of government support of homeowners, the homeownership rate has remained at its unsustainably high level and households continue to express strong preferences for homeownership. The paper explores factors explaining current homeownership preferences in Slovenia. A comprehensive model of housing preferences is built. The model follows the proposition that tenure preferences are strongly influenced by general cultural norms and factors characterising the social, economic and political environments. The model is tested using structural equation modelling based on a survey of Slovenian households. The results reveal that the strong preferences for homeownership in Slovenia can be explained by the firm perceptions of the financial advantages of homeownership and by the lack of available rental alternatives.     

‘Take whatever you can get’: practicing Housing First in Alberta

Abstract

Housing First (HF) is an increasingly widespread and influential response to chronic homelessness. Programs using an HF approach typically rely on market apartments to house homeless clients as rapidly as possible. This reliance means HF programs are dependent on the availability and affordability of market housing. Little attention has been given to how shortages of affordable rental housing influence the practice of HF. To address this gap, we undertook qualitative research in Alberta, Canada. Interviews with service providers revealed that high rents and low vacancy rates had profound impacts on program operations, and complicated efforts to follow HF principles. Clients often experienced delays in being housed and felt pressure to accept the first apartment they were offered. In response, HF programs devoted resources to improve relationships with landlords. Ultimately, however, reliance on market housing undermined programs’ ability to fulfil the potential of HF in the Alberta context.     

Development Pathways of Large Housing Estates in Post-socialist Cities: An International Comparison

Large housing estates in former state-socialist countries had been hardly affected by social erosion before the political changes. However, the emergence of new, capitalist forms of housing after 1990 started to endanger the position of large housing estates on the local housing market. The question was repeatedly raised in the literature about whether large housing estates of post-socialist cities would experience physical decay and social downgrading similar to the West. This paper investigates the socio-economic differentiation of large housing estates in the former state-socialist countries using a case study approach. Housing satisfaction and mobility of residents in four post-socialist housing estates were analysed through a standardised household survey. Empirical data confirm that despite their similar physical appearance, the attitude of people towards large housing estates and their position on the local housing market vary significantly. The authors conclude that even though socialist large housing estates are affected by social downgrading, nevertheless they represent relative social stability and can offer affordable housing to people who are at the start of their housing career.     

Policy Review: Reforming Private Housing Finance: Evaluating the Achievements of the Clinton Administration

The financial infrastructure of guarantees, insurance and regulation that underpins US housing markets is an important federal policy tool. Historically, housing policy in the US has relied much more heavily on regulating private market actors to achieve public goals, than it has on direct expenditures. But the commonalities between the US and restructured welfare states such as the UK and Canada have become more striking in recent decades. Similar dilemmas face policy makers in many settings: if homeownership is to be the centerpiece of housing policy, how do we ensure it is affordable and sustainable for those once served by a larger social housing sector? If direct expenditures are to be cut back, with what do we replace them? The story of the Clinton administration's efforts to reform the US financial infrastructure illustrates how these dilemmas have been addressed (although obviously not resolved) in a specific instance.     

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.