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Arguably the first significant shot of the 2022 federal election campaign came in then Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese's 2021 budget reply speech when he pledged that: 'A Labor Government I [...]

Social housing policies in neoliberal contexts have become residualized. The notions of housing vulnerability and vulnerable populations emerged as a new organizing principle for the housing policy agenda and interventions in many countries. However, there is no cohesive and shared understanding of the characteristics and types of vulnerable households and housing situations, nor the drivers and consequences of different forms of vulnerability. This leads to questions about how to apply the concept to address people's right to housing. This special issue presents research into what housing vulnerability means in different world regions, what structures and systems may be driving it, and the variety of experiences of housing vulnerability. These studies use different theoretical frameworks, methodologies, and empirical contexts to examine factors and initiatives that drive or counter housing vulnerability, fostering a dialogue towards critical housing research and policy agendas that meet our expectations of housing as a human right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article brings together feminist and critical theoretical perspectives on vulnerability to critique normative framing of vulnerability in housing. Vulnerability is often positioned as the problem affordable housing policies and programmes are designed to address). Feminist conceptions of vulnerability, by contrast, consider vulnerability as a universal condition. From a feminist perspective, I explicate the ways in which the Canadian housing regime constructs precarity in three ways: a reliance on precarious employment, positioning vulnerability as an inherent characteristic of populations, and finally through an imagined separation between nonmarket housing and (transnational) market practices. I suggest feminist conceptions of vulnerability offer a potent way forward to rethink the housing system. This recognition of shared vulnerability that is differentially felt might turn us away from targeted and population-specific interventions and instead direct attention to the housing regime itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It took 50+ years of federal housing policy and municipal planning to transform Canada into a homeownership society. Over the past three decades, these efforts also coincided with significant periods of public austerity that curtailed social expenditures, especially in terms of social housing. Thus, as homeownership became "locked-in" as the dominant form of tenure, housing vulnerability became further entrenched. From the 1990s until the present day, government action to end housing vulnerability has remained at an impasse. We call this development pathway the housing vulnerability deadlock to draw attention to the interplay of economic and political mechanisms that have impeded government action. In this article, we describe the mechanisms constituting this deadlock and reflect on the prospects of breaking out of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since around 2008 there has been a sharp decline in homeownership rates in many OECD countries, particularly among young adults. This may reflect changing preferences for more flexible housing options or a decline in affordability due to a combination of house price increases and more difficult access to finance (mortgage loans, deteriorating labour market conditions, insufficient income, etc.). We first examine how these trends affect Austria as a whole and then focus on two regions with long-term policy strategies to promote homeownership through tailored housing subsidy programmes (Lower Austria, Vorarlberg). We use survey data from three sources (Microcensi, EU-SILC, HFCS) and regional administrative data. Our results show that young adults (up to 35) are less likely to become homeowners in 2020 than in 2010, although this is more pronounced for the middle-aged (35–49) than for younger people. We show that the analysis at national level is insufficient, as there are large differences between regions and between types of dwelling. Focusing on the regional level reveals that price dynamics in urban areas, which exceed income developments, appear to be the main drivers. As young households participate less in homeownership than previous generations, this points to a latent and deepening problem of intergenerational equity. Current regional policies to promote homeownership do not reach the necessary scale to counteract the dominant market trends. We discuss regional policy options that make use of the Austrian housing policy framework and focus on increasing the overall supply of housing rather than exclusively on demand-side measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Older people seeking affordable housing in the mainstream housing tenures such as home ownership, private renting and social housing face increasing difficulties in accessing and remaining in appropriate housing. The mainstream housing tenures face pressure due to widening housing affordability problems in home ownership and the private rental sector in many advanced economies, exacerbated by declining investment in social housing. Hybrid housing models are often promoted as affordable and sometimes appropriate and adequate housing options for older people. These models combine aspects of ownership and renting in diverse ways, often posing challenges for tenure-based housing policies. Drawing on the case of Australia, the paper presents the findings of an institutional review of the production, consumption, management, and exchange of land lease communities, often marketed as a more affordable form of housing for older people compared to the more established hybrid form of retirement villages. Noting difficulties in scoping the size and significance of the land lease community sector from current data collections, we find (a) entry of large institutional investors risks undermining the relative affordability of the sector for older people; (b) security of occupancy is a critical policy issue and (c) concentration in rural areas raises concerns around risk of natural disasters and access to aged care and other services. These issues are often overlooked in housing policy and pose challenges for other policy domains including income support, social care, and health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As with many Anglophone nations, Australia displays a dualistic housing system dominated by private ownership and private rental, both of which demonstrate an ongoing and intensifying lack of affordability. Despite extensive public subsidisation, rates of ownership have dropped in recent years while the proportion of renters is increasing. Alongside calls for private rental reforms to make this more appropriate as a form of long-term tenure, there is growing interest in intermediate tenure forms to allow easier access to ownership, ease the pressure on the country's marginalised social housing, and provide a greater range of options. Due to their small scale and relative newness in Australia, intermediate tenures such as shared equity, community land trusts, and housing co-operatives remain under-researched and unfamiliar, with previous research showing limited interest in shared equity products amongst potential buyers. This paper presents data from more recent focus groups amongst would-be buyers, showing latent market interest in resale-restricted products, with policy and market implications of both national and international relevance. The work also highlights a role for research in fostering awareness and understanding of such models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After decades of battling the quantitative and qualitative housing deficits, Latin American countries are seeing new types of challenges in housing. Neoliberal policies favouring individual (low-cost) homeownership have weakened social trust and solidarity between neighbours, and some housing areas face poor urban amenities. An example of this is Chile, where housing policy measures have brought adverse effects such as deteriorating housing quality and the relocation of families to peripheral areas. This has caused the breakdown of family ties, community life, and social cohesion. Although various studies on the housing deficit in Chile have been carried out, these studies have not comprehensively addressed the multiple dimensions of housing. Therefore, this review explores how Chilean housing policies have addressed the housing deficit from four dimensions: quantitative, qualitative, urban, and social. To this end, we reviewed Chilean housing policies and programmes and their response to the housing deficit from the neoliberal period onwards. We found that these policies and interventions have focused on solving the quantitative and, to a lesser extent, qualitative and urban deficits while sparsely addressing the non-physical or intangible social dimension. We conclude this article with recommendations to address the social deficit of housing in future policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing influences life chances and trajectories through many roles, differently and in relation to the socioeconomic characteristics of people and population groups. This article uses the concept – 'housing niches' to present an alternative, bottom-up, plural and bundled view of housing and advantage. Using a large, representative sample of an Australian rental population (the Australian Rental Housing Conditions Dataset [ARHCD]), our analysis describes housing as multidimensional, bound across other aspects of people's lives. Understanding advantage requires methodologies that capture risk as cumulative, mediated by multilevel social processes that expose and select particular populations to particular residential environments that contribute to people's multiple disadvantage. Housing niches compel research and debate on comprehensive housing policy as not only necessary, but to have an imperative of cumulative risk and more broadly, inequality and poverty reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In metropolitan areas, rising house prices make it more difficult for low- and middle-income people to access affordable housing. However, the availability of affordable rental housing in metropolitan areas serves the survival and social sustainability of all social groups in urban areas. Despite the critical importance of rental housing affordability at the metropolitan level, studies on this issue, especially spatial studies, are limited. This article spatially analyzes housing affordability for low- and middle-income households in Istanbul, a city experiencing a neoliberal housing policy. The methodology of the study is based on an analysis of rental housing affordability in the metropolitan area of Istanbul by taking into account the polycentric structure of Istanbul, the central grading (center, subcenters, and periphery), and regular and irregular housing subregions. The findings of the article demonstrate that low- and middle-income households in Istanbul have no access to affordable rental housing in the city center and limited access to the subcenters. Furthermore, low- and middle-income households have access mainly to irregular housing areas within the city. The findings imply that without social policies, they will be excluded from central or regular housing areas. This points to the critical role of social policies in neoliberal housing markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities of the Global South are often unable to invest in developing urban housing. Land value-based tools for developing low-income housing, like India's In Situ Slum Redevelopment (ISSR, part of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana—Urban scheme), seek to balance welfare and economic agendas, but have not achieved expected results. ISSR's focus on attracting private capital to redevelop India's slums reflects a perceived rent gap on slum lands. This paper dissects this perception using a probabilistic simulation model to assess the scheme's feasibility and profitability, integrating data on slums, real-estate markets and policy incentives. The paper proposes a Land Shape Index, identifying slum land shape as a critical—and overlooked—determinant of rent gap. Finding little to no rent gap on slum lands across big and small cities—reflected in ISSR's low uptake—the paper argues that land value-based capital-led slum redevelopment is unlikely to gain traction and scale. These analyses provide avenues for policy introspection, practice, and lessons for housing studies in India and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential mobility, the movement of households within urban areas, is an important issue for urban planning and development. However, little is known on how residential mobility intentions are shaped in densifying cities. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative survey material from the densifying inner city of Oslo, Norway, we investigate potential drivers of intentions to live longer in a neighbourhood of a densifying inner city. Findings show that dwelling ownership, dwelling size, perceived neighbourhood safety, and socializing with friends and neighbours locally are all associated with intentions to live longer in a neighbourhood. Residents of older compact neighbourhoods are found to participate more frequently in activities locally and seem to have stronger local social ties than residents of newly densified neighbourhoods. Moreover, residents' insights suggest that newly densified neighbourhoods are often inadequately designed or developed in terms of physical attributes, and this may contribute to possible moving intentions. These findings shed further light on the challenging path towards liveable urban densification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing is a key empirical entry point into the lifeworlds of refugees in host societies. To date, scholarly work has mainly focused on the first phase of arrival, that of asylum accommodation. Here I extend the scope of post-arrival housing research by looking into the housing trajectories of refugees after they have received protection status. This contribution reveals their lived experiences on the regular housing market, which exposes them to contingency, inaccessibility and exclusion. Based on interviews with 20 households who received refugee status in Belgium after 2015, the article puts the urban studies notion of displacement into dialogue with the notion of precariousness in housing studies, arguing that refugees develop a sense of continued displacement. The analysis captures how post-arrival housing trajectories make refugees relive the exclusionary nature of forced displacement, as they not only struggle to secure housing but are also unable to once more find home and fixity. The article highlights the importance of considering refugees' housing experiences as vehicles to further understand already existing housing difficulties in host societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green gentrification is a potential side effect of the temporal change of green spaces via various improvements. This paper suggests that green gentrification may occur even when green spaces remain unchanged. Spatially-explicit datasets and econometric models were used for this purpose. We found that in the case study city, Lodz (Poland), residential change is linked to the housing market (i.e., the number of property transactions and their prices). However, the strength of this association depends on the proximity to temporarily unchanged parks. We also found that the value of park proximity among housing buyers rises, suggesting the increased desirability of living close to parks, resulting in more intense residential change close to parks than in other locations. Therefore, scholars should consider green gentrification as a process that may be induced by time (in)variant green spaces. More emphasis is needed in housing studies to explore how changing residential preferences are related to gentrification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes how the right to the city has been implemented in Ecuadorian housing policy after it was recognized in the 2008 Constitution, focusing on the link between this right and the right to housing. Based on the policy design framework, the study seeks to explore to what extent the set of policy instruments developed in the period 2009–2020 have been consistent with the right principles proposed in Constitution. Some limitations are identified, such as the prevalence of a housing policy model that disregards social production as an alternative and is disconnected from broader strategies of equitable urban development. The absence of indicators that account for the right to the city, and the lack of strategies that facilitate the articulation between the housing and land management competencies of the central and municipal governments are other fundamental constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses coliving as a product shaped to attract both young professionals in a student-style accommodation and investors of various scales, while integrating new geographies and housing types into capital accumulation. Taking Brussels as case-study, it answers the question 'how are new residential products created by the financialization process affecting the private rental sector?' by combining quantitative and qualitative methods. The paper also provides results on intra-urban geographies of financialized housing. First, coliving is aimed at a particular market segment consisting of young international workers attracted by the international functions of Brussels. To attract this clientele to a student-style accommodation, operators must promote a unique experience. Second, the Brussels coliving market illustrates that the financialization of the private rental sector relies notably on the creation of new products shaped so that investors of various scales can easily inject their capital. Third, most Brussels coliving establishments remain small-scale projects located in renovated old single-family houses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy poverty, i.e., inefficient heating and insufficient access to energy services, can turn a shelter into a health hazard. We find that substandard housing and ineffective heating is associated with a higher risk of poor health in an urban context. We surveyed people living in two middle-sized cities in a coal-dependent region of Poland and used objective and subjective indicators of energy poverty and self-assessed health status. We demonstrate that people who live in substandard housing are more likely to exhibit poor musculoskeletal and cardiovascular outcomes, by 10 and 6 pp, respectively than otherwise similar people living in suitable housing conditions. We show that energy-poor people who use coal or a wood stove have a 24 pp higher likelihood of respiratory disease than the energy-poor who live in flats connected to district heating. We also find that a significant amount of the explained variance in the probability of respiratory disease is attributable to energy poverty. To improve the housing conditions and reduce the risk of poor health outcomes, we recommend two policy instruments: 1) a full subsidy for thermal retrofits and connecting multi-family buildings to the district heating network and 2) a targeted energy voucher for clean heating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past decade has seen the growth of Short-Term Lets (STLs) through Airbnb and other platforms. Measuring the scale of this activity is challenging as platforms appear unwilling to share data. Most research on Airbnb uses data from commercial sources but this raises issues of equity in access and transparency. Open data exist, but geographic and temporal coverage is limited. We consider whether these open data can be used to study the STLs sector, using a city in Scotland. Using 2017 data to construct: (i) property-level estimates of income; and (ii) through comparisons with rents in the long-term rental market, an area-level vulnerability index to identify neighbourhoods at greatest risk of properties switching from long-term to short-term renting. This index is strongly associated with the growth of Airbnb listings over two years. We conclude that open data can provide a valuable basis for research and policy. We discuss strategies for improving knowledge about this sector including through new data collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While field experiments are valuable in their ability to objectively analyse patterns of discrimination, research that focuses on reducing discrimination is systematically lacking. The present study addresses this gap. Building on both cognitive and behavioural processes that steer discriminatory decision-making and insights from diversity literature, we develop and test the effectiveness of a training intervention which is tailored to the specific context of the housing market, with 113 students in real estate. We develop our training around three theoretical mechanisms of discrimination that are measured through a specified vignette experiment in pre- and post-tests. Our results show a reduction in statistical and customer taste-based discrimination after the training, but no change in agent taste-based discrimination. The driver for this reduction in discrimination is being more selective on majority candidates rather than increasing the chances of ethnic minority candidates. Additionally, we found that training has no effect on taste and that most of these effects remain present on the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canadians are experiencing a housing affordability crisis, but little attention has been paid to its ethno-racial and nativity disparities. Using data from the 2016 Canadian Census, we assess whether the likelihood of living in unaffordable housing (i.e. spending 30% or more of pretax income on housing costs) varies by ethno-race and nativity status, and identify the social factors contributing to these differences. We show that Middle Eastern and North Africans (MENAs) are most, and Whites are least, likely to live in unaffordable housing. Results from decomposition analyses suggest that MENA individuals' high unaffordable housing rates are largely attributable to their high unemployment rates. The high unaffordable housing rates of East and South Asians are mainly associated with their higher propensity to live in urban areas with expensive housing. Immigrants are generally more likely than Canadian-born co-ethnics to live in unaffordable housing. Blacks and Southeast Asians are exceptions. As many governments take steps to address housing affordability crises, they should curtail the influence of structural barriers that preclude ethno-racial minorities from living in affordable housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Affordable housing is among the biggest policy challenges facing cities worldwide. Treating New York City as a case study, this paper reviews a multifaceted toolkit to combat the housing crisis. Specifically, the analysis focuses on how the government incentivises real estate developers to build affordable housing, with both financial incentives such as tax abatements, tax credits and loans funded by tax-exempt bonds and non-financial means such as zoning regulations. The study demonstrates both the successes achieved by New York City and the unintended consequences that emerged from these interventions, and the research argues that beyond financial and economic considerations, long-range spatial planning factors play a pivotal role in the formulation of effective affordable housing policies. The research underscores the need for policy makers globally to take a holistic approach and integrate various elements of city growth to address the intricate challenges posed by housing crises in urban environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Planning Education & Research is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article uses a subsample of low-income American Voices Project respondents who rent their homes to examine how households coped with housing insecurity at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. First, some renters reported more housing stability because of the expansion of existing programs. However, access to and distribution of these resources was uneven. Second, renters continued to rely on social ties to secure housing but the interpersonal and financial issues that often arise with such arrangements remained during the pandemic. Third, the pandemic provided some renters with reason to request and receive flexibility in payment plans on existing leases, though landlord largess was far from universal. Our findings reveal the limitations of temporary policy responses that are administered in uneven ways, require eligible individuals to seek out and enroll in novel benefit programs, and do not intervene directly in markets to increase supply or control prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kinship structures among Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (2SLGBTQI+) individuals differ from conventional nuclear families. Heteronormative models of family and cohabitation impact housing options, resulting in the marginalization of queer households in Canada. This paper examines systemic factors in federal, provincial, and municipal policies, focusing on two specific policies: Multigenerational Home Renovation Tax Credit and Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods, which limit housing provision for 2SLGBTQI+ individuals. Using Toronto as a case study, it evaluates how these policies affect the household needs of 2SLGBTQI+ adults based on queer kinship and identifies opportunities for change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of affordability in housing policy signalled a critical shift away from the priorities of housing need. This displacement of need by affordability can be understood as an act of economic valuation in which market price becomes the standard against which housing policies are measured. In this article I draw on John Dewey’s neglected theory of value to examine the relation between price and need. I apply this theory to an investigation of the assessments of housing need carried out by municipal authorities to establish quotas for the delivery of affordable housing in England. I argue that the shift from need to affordability has separated the concept of value from the process of valuation and resulted in a displacement of housing policy goals. I conclude that the systemic failure to address affordability problems in global housing markets should direct our attention to the failure of price to adequately value a prized goal of public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractHousing cooperatives are being reconsidered in many countries worldwide as potentially relevant actors in the provision of affordable housing. This is also the case in Latin America, characterised by neo-liberal housing policies that have led to an increasing financialization of housing and marginalisation of the poor. Uruguay is an exception, with housing cooperatives playing a key role in the provision of affordable housing. For over two decades its Federation of Mutual Aid Housing Cooperatives (FUCVAM) has been advocating and actively supporting the establishment of cooperative housing in the region. In this paper, we examine the opportunities and challenges of housing cooperatives to penetrate in Colombia and El Salvador’s housing systems, two countries historically characterised by neo-liberal housing regimes. Based on empirical research in Uruguay, Colombia, and El Salvador, we will analyse the socioeconomic, political, and institutional factors that enable or constrain the emergence of housing cooperatives and their sustainability over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the temporal tactics of continually renewed coloniality—where some impasses are made to appear insurmountable while others demand swift solutions—in relation to housing and mining at Borroloola in Australia's Northern Territory. Distinct policy and regulatory regimes encourage analyses that set housing and mining apart. Yet together they signal the settler state's simultaneous remedial and extractive orientations to remote Aboriginal communities. Mining leeches into housing, and housing is a promise extracted from late liberal recognition, for community members forced to wait for promised amenities while fighting for long‐term environmental protections. The analysis demonstrates the central significance of temporal control to settler colonialism: by selectively deferring action; by producing the appearance of actions that are not actually taken; and by intervening to expedite processes that serve the interests of extractive capital. We argue that the confection of intermittent urgency to intervene is a key feature of the deferrals enacted by Australian settler governance, as it rations remedial solutions and displaces harms into mortgaged futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe aim of this article is to examine the association between different types of rental housing and household economic wellbeing. Its main objective is to better understand how the different types of assistance promoted by housing policies contribute to the reduction of material hardship among renter households. To achieve this objective, the study is based on the creation of an original typology designed to catch the different models of social and non-market housing that characterize the rental housing system in Canada. The research design it adopts controls for compositional effects linked to housing policy through a matching procedure that reduces the imbalance existing between households residing in social housing and the rest of the population. The analyses produced demonstrate the importance of promoting and maintaining social and non-market housing models that favour rent-geared-to-income housing, guarantee long-term affordability, and value public and co-operative tenure models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contemporary urban areas, a growing 'generation rent' is finding shelter in expensive and precarious private rental housing. Tenant organisations and legislative initiatives have been pushing to improve housing conditions for renters, yet have been met with strong resistance. Intense policy and academic debates have ensued. This paper delves into the discourses used by dominant actors involved in legislative changes affecting the private rental sector in Catalonia and Spain. Through a critical discourse analysis of the positions of governments, opposition parties and landlord organisations, we identify three main arguments employed to limit or contest 'post-neoliberal' measures favouring tenants: 'the vulnerable landlord', 'the counterproductive effects' and 'the violation of property rights'. Each of these arguments is placed under theoretical and empirical scrutiny, revealing important weaknesses. By unsettling dominant discourses, we contribute to advancing the terms of the debates and sketch out the coordinates for a counter-discourse informed by critical theory and the interests of renters rather than rentiers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractSocial capital is recognised as an important resource for people experiencing poverty, yet conceptualisations of its relationship to homelessness are underdeveloped. Some studies show that social capital can protect against the risk of homelessness, whilst others show that reliance on social capital by people already experiencing homelessness rarely enables them to exit homelessness and can in fact render them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Building on these insights, we develop a framework for conceptualising the relationship between stable housing and social capital. Drawing on analysis of qualitative interviews with people experiencing homelessness in London, we demonstrate how, in the absence of stable housing, people experiencing homelessness lack key conditions that enable the accumulation and effective use of social capital. These include the ability to practice reciprocity, achieve recognition, and exercise autonomy in social relationships. We conclude that stable housing is a precondition for utilising social capital to ameliorate, rather than exacerbate, vulnerability, lending further evidence to support Housing First policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The struggle for a dignified life is an extensive path that includes different dimensions of living, inhabiting and building, of disputing space and property. Frequently it begins with the search for access to housing, but it is fed by struggles for access to health, education, work. In response to these demands, in the last decade, in Ecuador, the production of social interest housing has increased while the sense of struggle of the population has been limited. Through an ethnographic approach to the beneficiaries of the "Casa para Todos" project in the Ecuadorian Amazon, and a detailed analysis of the form of government and housing policies, the question is answered, in what way has the Ecuadorian State generated oppression and subordination to through the production of social interest housing and its parallel public policies? The results show that the way of acting of the State and its strategy, consciously or unconsciously to create a subordination of the poor, is successful. The action of the State through agreements with the beneficiaries is aimed at generating powerless people, who remain in a constant state of uncertainty and arbitrariness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractEthnic inequalities in housing in England are entrenched and long-standing. Minority ethnic groups are more likely than the White British population to experience housing disadvantage and deprivation. In recent years, little attention has focused on what steps housing policy is taking to promote race equality. This study fills this gap in knowledge. Focusing on four key housing policy interventions, it traces the policy approach to race equality in England since 2000. A paradigmatic shift is revealed. Previously, policy actively promoted race equality. Inequalities remained but progress was made tackling disadvantage. In contrast, the contemporary policy approach is characterised by non-intervention. This shift is related to the retreat from multiculturalism and increasing influence of postracial notions about the fading legacy of racism, allied with neoliberal understandings of inequality as the product of individual responsibility and choice. In conclusion, the paper calls for research to scrutinise these presumptions and explore whether policy is following a similar trajectory in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use and housing development policies are crucial for promoting housing affordability. As municipalities have considerable power over these policies, local variations in affordability measures occur. Focusing on three Finnish municipalities (Helsinki, Tampere, and Turku), this study analysed differences in promoting affordability. A content analysis based on expert interviews (N = 22) and policy documents showed how one of the municipalities (Turku) differed from the other two. Turku had less administrative capacity for policy implementation and more volatility in social rental housing targets, which indicates a less active role in steering the housing market compared to Helsinki and Tampere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada's post-Second World War policies on urbanism were first outlined in an obscure government document – the 1944 report of the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Planning of the federal government's Advisory Committee on Reconstruction (known colloquially as the 'Curtis Report'). This article uses the tools of Historical Institutionalism and extensive archival research to analyse the Curtis Report. It examines antecedent conditions in the Depression and war; permissive conditions during the wartime housing crisis; the actors and choice of options at the critical juncture; the reactions during implementation and the path-dependent municipal planning and suburbanization outcomes of the report. The Curtis Report is identified as a critical juncture for major changes in housing and community planning that set Canada on a different course than the UK or the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on an ethnography developed with social movements derived from the eviction process of an old popular district in the city of São José dos Campos, São Paulo, Brazil, we analyze how an idea of neighborship is applied to the processes of struggle and their outcomes. In 2004, a land of over 1,000,000 m2, owned by a bankrupt industry, was occupied by an entire district of over 5,000 people. This "illegal" occupation had been going on for almost 8 years when a court decision ordered the land to be vacated. The case of the Pinheirinho dos Palmares neighborhood, as it was known, became an emblematic example of Brazilian housing policies, with its violent eviction drawing the entire country's attention. This article deals with the struggles that the evicted residents started and that resulted, at the end of almost 5 years, in the construction of a new district by the state, based on a new housing program. We are going to analyze how concerns about organizing the new neighborship from the old neighborhood relations were fundamental in the geographical and architectural production of the new district. The article seeks to intertwine the notions of resistance and neighborship, responsible for the new configuration of the district. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing is a long‐lived asset whose value is sensitive to variations in expectations of long‐run growth rates and interest rates. When a large fraction of households has leverage, housing price fluctuations cause large‐scale redistribution and consumption volatility. We find that a practical way to insure the young and the poor from the housing market fluctuations is through a well‐functioning rental market. In practice, homeownership subsidies keep the rental market small and the housing cycle affects aggregate consumption. Removing homeownership subsidies hurts old homeowners, while leverage limits hurt young homeowners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the state of affordable housing in England, with a focus on regional variations in space standards and standardized dwelling layouts widely used by volume housebuilders. Space standards are not statutory and therefore adopted inconsistently across development types or building typologies in England. The study draws on data obtained from planning applications, analysing 153 housing developments and 9876 newly constructed affordable housing units from different regions in England that were completed and marketed in 2021. Based on this, the study compares space standards and their effectiveness as well as the use of standardized unit types. The analysis reveals that apart from London, the most recent Nationally Described Space Standard (2015) is not yet widely used. Instead, Housing Quality Indicators that preceded the new national standards continue to be the norm for houses built outside of London. The findings demonstrate that there is a high level of standardization in affordable housing in terms of dwelling size and layout, with widely used standard house types often determining the design and size of dwellings more than space standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Canada, emerging discussions about colonialism and ongoing retrenchment from the welfare state, including social housing, accentuate the urgency of addressing housing need in ways that uphold both human and Indigenous rights. Through questionnaires and interviews with 28 non-profit housing providers in British Columbia, Manitoba, and New Brunswick, this paper examines the intersection of human and Indigenous rights with the provision of low-rent non-market housing. It identifies barriers and strategies to advancing the right to housing in Canada’s settler-colonial capitalist context and, in doing so, articulates possibilities for new policies upholding housing as a human and Indigenous right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between household compositional change and residential mobility of subsidized householders. Data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Annual Longitudinal Files 2005–2018 is used to measure household compositional change and mobility for subsidized householders in the Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs. Householders are 67% more likely to move when a change in household composition occurs. Members entering the household induce larger estimated mobility effects than members exiting the household. Although the odds that a householder move are associated with a household compositional change is greatest in the Housing Choice Voucher program for tenant-based vouchers, there is still a strong association with household compositional changes and mobility in Public Housing and for project-based voucher units where options for mobility are limited. The results have implications for future research on program design factors such as occupancy standards in subsidized housing in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among housing observers, Vienna is typically treated as a posterchild of decommodification, showcasing the power of politics to tame the profit motive in housing. We argue that this view requires nuance. In the regulated private rental market, which accounts for one-fifth of all housing units in the city, commodification has become a trait of Vienna’s housing system over the last three decades. Based on policy analysis and transaction data we trace the state promoted intensification of commodification and the rise of corporate owners. We show how, together, they substantially transformed regulated private renting by opening and exploiting regulatory loopholes to maximize returns. We then demonstrate, based on survey data, how this was accompanied by improved housing quality in the sector, yet also by rising rents, affordability burdens, and housing insecurity. The paper balances existing accounts of Vienna’s housing system, while also speaking to debates around the revival of private renting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the lead–lag relationships between the levels of housing affordability of different regions of the U.K. By utilizing government data, a number of housing affordability indicators are constructed to explore whether spatial diffusion exists between different regional submarkets of first-time homebuyers over the period of 2000 – 2021. The results reveal that during periods of economic expansion, housing unaffordability tended to diffuse from regions of slower economic growth to regions of higher economic development. It is further evident that in the aftermath of the GFC, the London housing market Granger-caused other regional markets in terms of housing (un)affordability. Lastly, the U.K'.s decision to leave the EU in 2016 seems to have led to more divergence between the submarket regions, which in a Granger causal sense, have become less causally correlated in terms of pricing. We conjecture that the causal interactions between the different regional housing submarkets exist with the lead–lag relationships governed primarily by their underlying macroeconomic fundamentals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing issues are a major contributor to companion animal relinquishment in the United States and beyond. In this study, we analyze a database of shelter intake records from 2019-2023 from 21 shelters across the United States to assess rates and subtypes of housing relinquishment, characteristics and outcomes of the relinquished animals, and longitudinal trends in housing relinquishment. Housing issues represented 14% (n = 28,424) of overall intakes in the broader database (N = 1,021,204 total intake records). Housing relinquishment subtypes were unspecified (54%), pet-related restrictions (27%), landlord issues (8%), housing loss (5%), and unhoused owners (5%). Large (mean weight: 55 lbs) and small dogs (mean weight: 11 lbs) were most common. Pit bull-type dogs comprised 12% of the overall relinquishments and mixed-breed dogs were 35%. Most animals had a live outcome, but live outcomes decreased over time (p < 0.001, z = -6.91, slope = -0.11), and pit bull-type dogs (X2(1) = 243.63, p < 0.001) and animals relinquished by unhoused owners (OR = 0.64, p < 0.05) were most at risk of euthanasia or other shelter death. Over the study period, intakes due to loss of home increased (p < 0.001, z = 9.82, slope = 0.29), while intakes due to pet restrictions (p < 0.001, z = -6.82, slope = -0.17) and landlord issues decreased (p < 0.001, z = -4.89, slope = -0.08). Overall cat intakes increased (p < 0.001, z = 3.60, slope = 7.34), while dog intakes decreased (p < 0.001, z = -4.89, slope = -0.08). The number of intakes that were pit bull-type dogs (compared to all other breeds) decreased over time (p < 0.001, z = -4.56, slope = -0.06), as did average animal weight (p < 0.001, z = -4.42, slope = -0.07) and age (p < 0.001, z = -7.88, slope = -0.16). We discuss these findings in the context of the previous shelter and pet-friendly housing research and broader housing trends and policies in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mixed-income initiatives represent promising anti-poverty strategies that assist families living in public housing in the United States. However, little is known about the extensive cross-sector partnerships required for implementation. We address these knowledge gaps by exploring partnerships within the South City Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI) in Memphis, Tennessee. The following research questions guide the study: (1) what is the structure of inter-organizational relationships within the South City CNI partner network? and (2) what collaboration processes emerge within the network structure regarding communication, collaboration, and trust? Utilizing an exploratory case study design that leveraged social network analysis (SNA) and in-depth interviews, we found that the South City CNI was relatively dense and moderately centralized. A core group of partners was central for coordinating information and resources, but roles and positionality changed across each network. The presence of a high-capacity lead organization and multiple bridging organizations aided implementation. We conclude by discussing implications for practice, policy, and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe conceptualization of the neoliberalization of social housing has been largely dominated by Harloe’s models, which define it as the transition from a ‘mass’ to a ‘residual’ model. However, this definition fails to capture the emergence of ‘affordable’ housing policies. Blessing suggests instead conceptualizing neoliberalization through privatization and marketization. This definition helps analyze the focus on the diversification of the supply into mid-market rents. Drawing on mixed-method research, this paper demonstrates the relevance of Blessing’s analysis. To illustrate this, I will take the example of a large French intercommunality, which appears as non-neoliberal due to the absence of residualization. Our findings demonstrate that marketization and privatization have, however, influenced the nature of social housing provision by leading to an absolute decrease in low-rent units through demolitions and sales, and an increase in mid-market rent housing units. In conclusion, the findings emphasize the need for researchers to delve into the issue of social housing exclusion and its underlying mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With trends of urbanisation on the rise, providing adequate housing to individuals remains a complex issue to be addressed. Often, the slow output of relevant housing policies, coupled with quickly increasing housing costs, leaves individuals with the burden of finding housing that is affordable and in a safe location. In this paper, we unveil how transit service to employment hubs, not just housing policies, can prevent individuals from improving their housing conditions. We approach this question in three steps, applying the workflow to 20 cities in the United States of America. First, we propose a comprehensive framework to quantify housing insecurity and assign a housing demographic to each neighbourhood. Second, we use transit-pedestrian networks and public transit timetables (GTFS feeds) to estimate the time it takes to travel between two neighbourhoods using public transportation. Third, we apply geospatial autocorrelation to identify employment hotspots for each housing demographic. Finally, we use stochastic modelling to highlight how commuting to areas associated with better housing conditions results in transit commute times of over an hour in 15 cities. Ultimately, we consider the compounded burdens that come with housing insecurity, by having poor transit access to employment areas. In doing so, we highlight the importance of understanding how negative outcomes of housing insecurity coincide with various urban mechanisms, particularly emphasising the role that public transportation plays in locking vulnerable demographics into a cycle of poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews a large number of scholarly articles in the housing field spanning the last thirty years, from 1993 to 2022 by implementing bibliometric analysis method. We examine scientific outputs, identify influential articles, journals, international collaboration and evolution of research trends. Keywords such as "Housing price," "Housing policy," "Affordable housing," "Homeownership," "Housing market," "Urban planning," and "Neighborhood" have been identified as the most prevalently cited terms during this period. Furthermore, the prominence of terms such as "China," "Gentrification," "Public housing," "Social housing," "Homelessness," "Migration," "Urbanization," "Energy," "Inequality," "Land use," "Gender," and "Foreclosure" have grown in importance, pointing to future research trends. The analysis also reveals that articles pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic predominantly address the comprehensive effects of the virus on aspects of mental and physical health, consumer behavior, and economic and societal challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]