What can we learn from international developments in social housing?

OTB Research Institut

Secure occupancy in rental housing: A comparative analysis. Country case study: Austria

This research had been carried out at request of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI).OTB ResearchOTB Research Institute for the Built Environmen

European housing strategies, financing mechanisms and outcomes

Housing SystemsOTB Research Institut

A review of structurally inspired approaches in housing studies: Concepts, contributions and future perspectives

Housing studies is a broad field, which has ploughed the disciplines of political economy, radical geography and sociology since the 1970s, making use of structural theories, concepts and methods. These studies have embroidered notions of human agency engaged in different aspects of housing provision, consumption and exchange, with the concepts of class and power embedded in historically contingent social and economic structures. Researchers have argued that housing is not only subject to commodification, but vulnerable to shifting circuits of capital, changing modes of social regulation and crises prone regimes of capital accumulation. These structurally inspired studies aim to explain why different modes of provision have been generated and highlight processes which exacerbate social inequality and promote uneven development. Some researchers, informed by causal explanations even propose an agenda for change. This paper reviews their contribution since the 1970s, when widely read authors such as Castells and Harvey, directed our attention towards the relative power of human agency in structures influencing the production, consumption and exchange of housing, providing a critique of more benign policy orientated research. It reviews the influence of developments in locality studies, state theory, comparative historical analysis and urban sociology and the use of frameworks such as structures of housing provision (Ball) and regulation theory. Critical Realist ontology, implicit in structural accounts now explicitly inspires research on homelessness and the causality of property relations, circuits of savings and investment and different modes of consumption and their crises prone, cumulative role in shaping mode of housing provision. Castells and Harvey continue to inspire housing researchers, informing analysis of the US mortgage market crises, highlighting switching circuits of capital, redlining and racial inequality. This paper evaluates the contribution of this rich body of research and its important role in the development of explanatory theories and policy critique.Housing SystemsOTB Research Institut

Secure occupancy in rental housing: A comparative analysis. Country case study: Flanders (Belgium)

This research had been carried out at request of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI).OTB ResearchOTB Research Institute for the Built Environmen

Ontology and causality in comparative housing studies: Explaining the different role of limited profit housing in Vienna and Zurich

It has been argued in detail elsewhere that debates and indeed misunderstandings in comparative housing research often arise because housing systems and their development can be perceived and therefore analysed from a range of theoretical positions (Lawson, 2006). This paper considers a number of ontological alternatives and also examines the concept of change in housing studies, contrasting different approaches to causality. It is argued that in order to understand and explain different forms of housing consumption, it would be beneficial to focus on the changing definition of interdependent emergent relations in their contingent context which includes path dependent institutions and ideologies mediating the integral processes of housing promotion, finance, construction, management and consumption. This approach is inspired by the critical realist philosophy of Bhaskar (1979) further developed and applied to social science by Sayer (2000) and Danermark et al, (2002), which is concerned with the complex and layered nature of reality, embracing both perception and meaning, actual events and underlying social relations and has been applied to explanations of various housing and urban phenomena (Lawson, 2006, Fitzpatrick, 2005, Banai, 1995, Cloke et al, 1991). This paper briefly reviews progress in comparing and explaining different phases in housing history and proposes a way forward. A tentative application is made by comparing the role and market position of limited profit housing in Switzerland and Austria, two case studies often overlooked in Anglo housing research and never compared. No attempt is made to provide a detailed chronology; rather the emphasis here is on the application and revision of theoretical concepts concerning emergent relations, path dependency and the variety of capitalism thesis. The final section argues that the comparative historical explanation of two rental dominated housing markets is relevant to broader debates in housing policy and touches on a number of theoretical dilemmas. This concluding discussion sharpens the focus of emergent relations and institutional path dependency as causal terms in housing development, emphasizes the dynamic and scalar role of state structures in this process and highlights the variety of capitalist accumulation strategies in housing systems, which include an integral role for nonprofit housing in rental markets.OTB Research Institut

Secure occupancy in rental housing: A comparative analysis. Country case study: The Netherlands

This research had been carried out at request of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI).OTB ResearchOTB Research Institute for the Built Environmen

The regulation of social housing outcomes: A micro examination of Dutch and Austrian social landlords since financing reforms

Since the 1990s, significant changes affecting financial arrangements have permeated both the Dutch and Austrian system of social housing provision. Potentially, these changes could have influenced the role and performance of social landlords in both countries. This paper explores the actual impact of these changes in terms of their social performance and production outcomes. In doing so, it brings together two complimentary perspectives: one examining the institutional developmental processes of regulation, supervision and financing and the second focusing on the organisational level. Following an outline of the broad shifts encountered by providers, this paper takes a closer look at day to day influences currently mediating the development priorities and outcomes. It focuses on a number of housing outcomes in terms of production levels, tenure outcomes and affordability. It also postulates the causal mechanisms which may have generated differences between each case by examining both the wider institutional environment and the day to day constraints affecting the project development and the portfolio management process.OTB Research Institut

Borrowing risk among young home owners: Prevention, alleviation and the promotion of sustainable alternatives: draft paper

During the 1990s, amidst spiraling house prices and accessible credit, national governments in the Netherlands, the US, Australia and the UK promoted home ownership in rhetoric and policy as the main stream housing solution for working households, also for those with a low income. Recent instability in housing prices is particularly concerning for new entrants into the home ownership market. Young households, purchasing at the height of the boom have been saddled with considerable debt. Those purchasing in declining markets have been left little equity in their home. Repayment arrears, especially amongst borrowers affected by the worsening recession and with sub prime mortgages are on the rise in Australia, the US and the UK. This phenomenon raises questions about the way mortgage markets operate and the role of regulatory agencies therein. This paper examines borrowing risk amongst young home owners, highlighting the situation in Australia, where home ownership has been the centre piece of housing and welfare policy for almost a century. The first section reviews national and international developments in housing markets, with a focus on the generative causes of mortgage default, debates concerning mortgage market regulation and emerging policy responses. the second section combines the use of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey with other quantitative sources to investigate the repayment capacity of young Australian borrowers with high loan value ratios. The final section argues for a three pronged approach to address mortgage default, which is not only preventative and alleviates mortgage related stress but also promotes alternative forms of mortgage arrangements that promote housing affordability and security.Housing SystemsOTB Research Institut

Comparative housing research in the new millenium: Methodological and theoretical contributions from the first decade

Comparative housing research encompasses a broad range of strategies and foci, which has promoted the exchange of information, catalysed policy development and encouraged theoretical debate. This presentation briefly outlines the different purpose (policy description, evaluation, strategic understanding and theoretical explanation), logical strategy (hypothesis testing, interpretation, model building and revision), multiple field of focus (locality, tenure, institution, household, individual, social relations, financial arrangements, organisations, welfare regimes, state’s role and neo-liberalism) and diverse contribution to theoretical debates made by comparative housing research in the 2000s. It summarizes recent progress, emerging from a range of social science disciplines, which has contributed towards key debates concerning shifts in housing institutions and governance, divergent housing regimes and welfare systems, unitary, integrated and dualist rental markets, social exclusion and neighbourhood decline, forms of housing tenure and their rise and fall, organisational behaviour and networks, local responses to globalisation, the nature of home and socially constructed housing experiences. This presentation encourages researchers to reflect on these differences and developments and contribute towards progress in the coming decade of comparative housing research.OTB Research Institut