Segregation, Choice Based Letting and Social Housing: How Housing Policy Can Affect the Segregation Process

In this chapter we investigate the process of ethnic minority segregation in English social housing. Successive governments have expressed a commitment to the contradictory aims of providing greater choice – through the introduction of choice based letting – for households accessing an increasingly marginalised social housing sector whilst also expressing a determination to create more mixed communities and neighbourhoods. We consider the concept of choice in the context of a heavily residualised social housing sector, arguing that, for social housing tenants at least, the concept of real choice is a misnomer. We draw on research that has utilised unique administrative data and analysed the moves of all entrants into and movers within the social renting sector over a ten year period in England. The conclusion is that the introduction of choice based letting has influenced the residential outcomes of ethnic minorities and resulted in highly structured neighbourhood sorting that has segregated minority populations into the least desirable neighbourhoods of English cities.segregation, choice based letting, social housing, housing policy, UK

Machine Learning for Indoor Localization Using Mobile Phone-Based Sensors

In this paper we investigate the problem of localizing a mobile device based on readings from its embedded sensors utilizing machine learning methodologies. We consider a real-world environment, collect a large dataset of 3110 datapoints, and examine the performance of a substantial number of machine learning algorithms in localizing a mobile device. We have found algorithms that give a mean error as accurate as 0.76 meters, outperforming other indoor localization systems reported in the literature. We also propose a hybrid instance-based approach that results in a speed increase by a factor of ten with no loss of accuracy in a live deployment over standard instance-based methods, allowing for fast and accurate localization. Further, we determine how smaller datasets collected with less density affect accuracy of localization, important for use in real-world environments. Finally, we demonstrate that these approaches are appropriate for real-world deployment by evaluating their performance in an online, in-motion experiment.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Neighbourhood Effects, Housing Tenure, and Individual Employment Outcomes

This paper investigates whether individuals living in neighbourhoods with high concentrations of unemployment are less likely to enter work if they are unemployed and more likely to lose their job if they are employed. The main challenge in the neighbourhood effects literature is the identification of causal neighbourhood effects. A particular problem is that individuals do not randomly select neighbourhoods to live in: the selection process is often linked to the labour market situation and potential of individuals. To get more insight in neighbourhood effects we run separate models for social renters and owner occupiers. This study uses anonymised individual level longitudinal data from the Scottish Longitudinal Study for 1991 and 2001 with multiple neighbourhood scales operationalised. Based on the results we argue that any apparent neighbourhoods effects that were present in models of the full population are at least partly an artefact of different neighbourhood selection mechanisms. The conclusions of the paper call for a more nuanced treatment of neighbourhood effects and the development of models that seek to include neighbourhood selection from the outset.neighbourhood deprivation, neighbourhood effects, labour market outcomes, longitudinal data, Scotland

The Effect of Neighbourhood Housing Tenure Mix on Labour Market Outcomes: A Longitudinal Perspective

This paper investigates the effect of different levels of neighbourhood housing tenure mix on transitions from unemployment to employment and the probability of staying in employment for those with a job. We used individual level data from the Scottish Longitudinal Study (SLS), a 5.3% sample of the Scottish population, covering a 10 year period. We found a strong negative correlation between living in deprived neighbourhoods and labour market outcomes (getting or keeping a job). We found a small, but significant, positive correlation between living in mixed tenure (40-80% social housing) streets and transitions from unemployment to employment. In the conclusion we discuss the extent to which we think these results can be interpreted as 'neighbourhood effects' or selection effects.tenure mix, neighbourhood effects, labour market transitions, deprivation, longitudinal data, Scotland

Neighbourhood effects research at a crossroads. Ten challenges for future research

The authors acknowledge financial support from the Marie Curie programme under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) / Career Integration Grant n. PCIG10-GA-2011-303728 (CIG Grant NBHCHOICE, Neighbourhood choice, neighbourhood sorting, and neighbourhood effects).Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

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.PostprintPeer reviewe

Social Mobility: Is There an Advantage in Being English in Scotland?

This paper seeks to unpick the complex effects of migration, country of birth, and place of residence in Scotland on individual success in the labour market. We pay specific attention to the labour force experience of English-born residents in Scotland, whom the cross sectional literature suggests are more likely to achieve high occupational status than the Scottish born residents. Using data from the Scottish Longitudinal Study – linking individual records from the 1991 and 2001 Censuses – and logistic regressions we show that those living in, or moving to Edinburgh, and those born in England and Wales are the most likely to experience upward occupational mobility.escalator region, social class, social mobility, longitudinal data, Scotland

Overseas investment into London:Imprint, impact and pied-a-terre urbanism

This paper focuses on the spatial imprint and social impacts of the emerging geographies of concentrated overseas investment into London’s high-end real estate market, particularly the boroughs of Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea. Framed by literatures on the 1% and the super-rich, and based on a mixed methodological approach of qualitative interviews with intermediaries and a quantitative mapping of overseas investors using 2011 census data, the results speak to the pervasive nature of “safe-haven” seeking in London real estate and its attendant transnational provenance set within a laissez-faire regulatory framework. In so doing, it makes an important contribution to the geographies of the super-rich, the class geographies of London, and the broader sense that overseas investors are producing what we call “pied-à-terre” urbanism which builds on a conventional gentrification framework (exclusionary displacement and a more affluent incoming group) but also exceeds it in several ways, leading to an increasingly socially attenuated landscape. This exceeding relates to: a different kind of rent gap, in that it is not speculative but safe-haven seeking, a guaranteed return on investment, and occurs without previous disinvestment; the agents are not traditional gentrifiers; the transnational nature of the process, with no attachment to particular places like in the traditional gentrification model; and a process focused on super-prime areas and completely independent of the existing gentrification process in London

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Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108591/1/mila12063.pd

Living in deprived neighbourhoods in Scotland. Occupational mobility and neighbourhood effects.

The idea that living in a deprived neighbourhood negatively affects the occupational mobility of residents has been embraced enthusiastically by many policy makers and academics. As a result, area based initiatives are now widely used to improve an individual's life course through the diversification of the neighbourhood in which they live. However, these area based initiatives have received increasing criticism from academics stating that there is no solid evidence base that neighbourhood effects really exist. One of the main problems is that many studies use cross-sectional data which does not allow the separation of cause and effect. We use longitudinal data from the Scottish Longitudinal Study (SLS) to investigate the influence of neighbourhood context on employment outcomes. The SLS allows us to follow individuals between 1991 and 2001, using linked records from both Censuses. Using this data we examine whether, for employed individuals, living in a deprived neighbourhood reduces occupational mobility using ISEI scores; for individuals out of work, we examine whether living in a deprived neighbourhood reduces their chances of obtaining work. Using regression models, we control for a range of individual and household characteristics. All other things being equal, those individuals living in more deprived communities should experience significant negative effects accrued from their neighbourhood if the neighbourhood effects thesis is to be confirmed