Alcohol Misuse Among Older Adult Public Housing Residents

Low-income older adults living in public housing are at heightened risk for substance misuse. This study identified the prevalence of alcohol misuse among older public housing residents (n?=?187) and explored predictors of problem drinking. Including weekly drinking levels and binge drinking, 23% of the sample engaged in problem drinking behaviors. Logistic regression analysis revealed that race, gender, employment status, years smoking, and illegal drug use were significant predictors of problem drinking. No residents were receiving substance abuse treatment. As the number of older adults increase, training social workers to assess and treat alcohol misuse in older adults is critical.     

Addressing older women's homelessness: service and housing models

There is limited understanding of the nature and extent of older women's homelessness in Australia and how it can be alleviated. The aim of this project is to ascertain the combination of program and housing models that is likely to be most effective in addressing older women's homelessness. The data comprise interviews and correspondence with 14 Australian and international stakeholders. The findings draw on insight from housing, gerontology and gender studies, and highlight the need to match welfare and housing programs with the diverse life experiences and current needs of older women. Alongside flagship models of practice in housing provision are assumptions within housing and homelessness sectors of what older women need. There is a lack of understanding that most older women in housing crisis have limited knowledge of the welfare sector, and with provision of mainstream housing (and community aged care if needed) will live independently. Traditional homelessness programs and specialised supportive housing, associated with both seniors and homelessness sectors, are appropriate for women who have lived with ongoing disruption and substantive health concerns. Addressing older women's homelessness in Australia requires a range of services and housing responses, with increased attention given to a discourse of housing – affordable, secure housing – rather than continued discourse of homelessness.     

The long-term consequences of youth housing for childbearing and higher education

The lack of housing in areas where young adults have greater opportunities to study and get work complicates young adults’ entry into the adulthood. Difficulties in accessing housing may therefore delay childbearing and may negatively have an effect on education opportunities. To increase housing accessibility, some municipalities have earmarked apartments for young adults. These “youth dwellings” are criticized for being small and not necessarily facilitating family formation and fertility, better suiting students’ needs. We have in this paper compared the long-term pattern of childbearing and education for young adults that entered their housing market through small cheap youth housing with those youngsters that received a rental apartment from the ordinary housing stock. To be able to draw the conclusion that differences in fertility and educational pattern between these two groups comes from the different housing situation and not from differences in in preferences when it comes to childbearing or individual prerequisites for higher education, we have used a geocoded data and information on the individual’s family background as well as a matching technique to create a comparison group that are similar to the treatment group in several aspects. The present results indicate that building affordable housing that is small and space efficient is sufficient and positive if the aim is to promote higher education. Affordable housing is on the other hand not enough to promote childbearing, instead, it seems to inhibit childbearing until there is a possibility of moving on in the housing career. Our result also indicates that the next step need not necessarily be homeownership, as earlier research has indicated. Entering the housing market via youth housing and then being able to move on to rental accommodation in the ordinary housing market also seems to have a positive effect on overall childbearing, although moving to cooperative housing or owned housing has an even larger effect.     

Making a home, finding a job: investigating early housing and employment outcomes for young people leaving care

This paper presents findings from a new study of outcomes for young people leaving care funded by the Department for Education and Skills. It reports findings for a sample of 106 young people in relation to progress made in housing and employment some 12–15 months after leaving care. The generally poor employment outcomes of care leavers are acknowledged, but ingredients that make for success are also highlighted, including the value of settled care and post‐care careers, sound career planning and, significantly, the value of delaying young people’s transitions from care. Early career paths also interconnect with how young people fare in housing, in developing life skills and with other problems in their lives after leaving care. Housing outcomes were more encouraging and predominantly shaped by events after leaving care, and faring well in housing was the factor most closely associated with positive mental well‐being in young people. Some groups that are at risk of faring badly are identified, including young people with mental‐health problems, young people with persistent offending or substance misuse problems and, in some respects, young disabled people. The implications of these findings for leaving care services are considered.     

廉租住房住户：社会支持网现状分析与建构策略——来自贵州省贵阳市的实证研究

随着我国廉租住房保障制度的实施,廉租住房住户作为一个特定聚居群体逐渐形成,完善的社会支持网络是他们维持日常生活、应对危机的重要保证。廉租住房住户社会支持网主要由非正式支持构成,在经济困难解决、情感宣泄和社交支持三方面起着重要作用,但该群体社会支持网较脆弱,网络规模小、结构单一,部分住户甚至缺乏基本的社会支持。这样的社会支持网现状难以有效地化解日后生活过程中可能遭遇的生活危机与困难,这既无益于个体生活状况的安定,也无益于社会秩序的稳定。因此,本文尝试提出廉租住房住户社会支持网络的建构策略,即以社区为平台,以社区服务组织和社区工作者为依托,以赋权理念为指引,以廉租住房住户需求为基础来帮助他们建构多类型、多主体介入的社会支持网络。     

Prioritizing Choice: Perceptions of Neighborhood Social Cohesion for Residents in Subsidized Housing

ABSTRACT

Many families living in poverty rely on housing subsidies. Housing subsidies restrict the housing stock and neighborhood choices for families living in poverty. Fortunately neighborhood social cohesion can protect families from many of the deleterious consequences associated with living in a low-income neighborhood. This study uses panel data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Making Connections initiative to test the role of public housing types on perceptions of neighborhood social cohesion. The probability sample used in the study consists of 2,470 households living in low-income neighborhoods in ten cities in the United States. Results show that public housing residents, both housing choice voucher users and non-housing choice voucher users, on average, report lower neighborhood social cohesion than their non-public housing neighbors. Results also show that moving to a new neighborhood consistently predicts improved neighborhood social cohesion while moving to public housing predicts declines in perceived neighborhood social cohesion. Choice in where one lives seems to play an important and positive role in perceptions of neighborhood social cohesion. Based on these data, it is suggested that policy makers and housing providers prioritize choice in the development and delivery of public housing.     

The impacts of housing factors on deprivation in a world city: The case of Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a typical example of a world city that faces escalating poverty and housing problems. Problems related to housing are crucial in determining deprivation. By means of hierarchical linear regression on a representative survey of Hong Kong residents in 2014, this study examines the impacts of household income and housing factors on the deprivation of residents in Hong Kong. The study indicates that income level has a crucial effect on the deprivation level of households; whereas housing cost per capita, living area per capita, and living quarter problems significantly influence deprivation. A small interacting effect exists between household income and housing factors, which do not influence the independent effects of living area per capita and living quarter problems on deprivation. For the public rental housing residents, only the effect of living quarter problem on deprivation is significant, whereas for private rental housing residents, living area per capita and living quarter problem have a significant effect. Among all the models, housing expense per capita is a significant factor only in model for overcrowded households. The study recommends that improving the maintenance and renovation schemes for public and private housing with poor living environment is a good strategy to improve housing conditions and deprivation. The study suggests that anti‐poverty policies must consider strategies and measures that can improve the housing factors, including housing expenses, living density and living quarter maintenance problems, especially for those residents with high living density, such as those living in bed spaces, cubicles, and subdivided flats.     

The roles of social support and family resilience in accessing healthcare and employment resources among families living in traditional public housing communities

This study relied on theories of family resilience to examine and differentiate the roles of community social support and family resilience in regards to access and utilization of healthcare and employment resources for public housing residents. The study assessed 234 public housing residents and used structured regressions to test the role of family resilience, internal and external community social support on outcomes associated with economic mobility. Results suggest that external community social support is associated with increased access to and use of health and employment resources. Additionally, residents with higher levels of resilience sought social support from outside of their communities to a greater degree, thereby increasing their access and use of resources. Increases in internal community support were associated with increases in external community support, but alone, limited access to and use of resources. Implications of the findings for policy, interventions, and future research are discussed.     

Sheltered Housing and Community

This paper considers the role of sheltered housing following the introduction of new community care arrangements in 1993 and examines the continuing uncertainty about its exact role as community care continues to develop. It reports on a study conducted in Shropshire, using a postal survey and interviews with older people and service professionals. The study highlights the importance of sheltered housing for older people, particularly in relieving them of concerns about maintenance and repairs, social isolation and security. These factors were crucial for their overall peace of mind and quality of life. While only a small proportion of tenants received help under social services' community care arrangements, the additional support, monitoring and service coordination provided by wardens helped some of them to remain in sheltered housing when residential or nursing home care might otherwise have been necessary. Sheltered housing was overwhelmingly popular with older people — but their satisfaction was closely associated with the availability and quality of the warden service. Although sheltered housing is not currently in vogue in housing policy, the paper argues that it plays a vital role in local provision for older people and needs to be more closely integrated into community care policy, while at the same time preserving the characteristics that make it popular with its residents.     

The housing fulcrum: Balancing economic and social factors in housing research and policy

Abstract

We discuss the pivotal role that housing plays for both social and economic outcomes. All people need to be housed, and housing circumstances help determine social outcomes, especially for vulnerable groups. We outline an analytical framework that treats housing as a dynamic system, incorporating the life‐cycles of both individuals/households and houses. Each is long‐lived; decisions impact on housing for decades. This approach is relevant to the development of housing research and housing policy. We illustrate the issues with reference to the relationship between rental yields and measures of deprivation across New Zealand. The surprising nature of this relationship has consequences regarding potential poverty traps and wealth disparities. While highlighting an important housing market issue, any policy response to this issue is complicated by the need to take account of the life‐cycles of both individuals and of houses, and by the long‐lasting impacts of decisions.     

Nowhere to go: Housing pathways of college students with foster care and homelessness experience

This study builds on previous research to understand longer term housing experiences in late adolescence and early adulthood for vulnerable college students. Using a biographical, qualitative method, we study high school and college housing and family circumstances for 27 students with homelessness or foster care experience enrolled in 4-year colleges in Georgia. We identified three different housing pathway types in high school—family homelessness, unaccompanied youth and foster care. Housing instability and frequent moves were common in high school among all housing pathway types. In college, students who were able to find low or no-cost housing and those who identified a foster care pathway in high school achieved greater housing stability. Others students experienced a continuation of housing instability that began in high school. Additional funding to cover the cost of on-campus housing would likely contribute to increased stability. Additional strategies, such as rental assistance programmes tailored for college students, may be needed to address housing instability for vulnerable college students. More research on the unmet housing needs and the consequences of housing instability during college for homeless and foster youth is needed to further a housing policy agenda that focuses on practical solutions.     

The Effects of Housing Costs on Nursing Home Diversion

Abstract

This article examines the effect of the housing market on nursing home diversion and/or transition. Prior evaluations of federally funded diversion/transition efforts indicate that lack of housing may be a significant impediment to diversion policy efforts. We test this charge by examining the transition rates in all 351 municipalities in Massachusetts, using a data set of over 15,000 individuals seeking to remain or transition home between 2010 and 2014 through Massachusetts' Options Counseling program and their relation to key indicators of housing quality and affordability, including housing burden, crowding, and incomplete kitchen and plumbing facilities. We also control for demographic indicators identified in previous findings, which are age, level of frailty, and whether seniors live alone. We do not find a significant relationship between housing affordability or quality and successful nursing home diversion. This fact suggests that consumers are not as sensitive to housing costs and conditions as previously expected. Future research should continue to investigate the economic and social conditions behind this fact in the context of home value appreciation, incidence of home ownership, and the ability of seniors to offset nursing home costs through accumulated home equity.     

Privatising social housing in Taiwan

This article first reviews how the concept of privatisation has been referred to in the current restructuring of the social housing system, especially in the case of the UK. The term 'privatisation' is then examined in greater detail and its wider meaning is discussed. By using the network approach, privatisation in relation to housing can be understood in terms of the changing combinations of agents involved in providing social housing, which gives rise to the commodified impact on the distribution of social housing. By using the privatisation process of social housing in Taiwan as an example, three distinct combinations in terms of providing social housing are identified. With an increasing number of social housing units being provided by the marketised social housing model where private agents control the process of providing social housing, along with more market rules being involved in the provision and the partial removal of means tests in relation to the distribution of social housing, the privatisation of social housing development in Taiwan is having a major impact on equity.     

Residential satisfaction in scattered-site public housing projects

In the 1950s and 1960s public housing was built in big central projects. Since 1976 it has been dispersed. The change to smaller projects scattered throughout a city has raised questions about the satisfaction of the residents who have been separated from former neighborhoods of friends, relatives, and often jobs. This study interviewed 160 residents in eight scattered-site public housing projects in Charlotte, North Carolina. Despite relocation, the occupants clearly were satisfied. Their satisfaction was related to an improvement over previous residence, the quality of the dwelling unit, feeling at home in the neighborhood, shortness of time in residence, and overall satisfaction with life. Characteristics of the neighborhood in which residents expressed a high level of satisfaction were the size of the project, access to schools, and presence of “good” people. The neighborhood characteristics creating the greatest dissatisfaction and the greatest differences between the individual scattered-site projects were access to public transportation, shopping and jobs.     

Housing Stability and Problem Gambling: Is There a Relationship?

ABSTRACT

Despite negative consequences, few studies have explored problem-gambling risk and housing stability. This article examined whether gamblers with stable housing would be at lower problem-gambling risk than those with transient/unstable housing. Community-recruited 15- to 85-year-old gamblers (n = 312) provided structured telephone interviews of their gambling problems, substance and psychiatric conditions, and sociodemographics, including current living situations. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition, Text Revision gambling criteria classified three gambling groups. Results show that for every one non-problem gambler, 0.24 subthreshold gamblers experienced stable housing (95% CI = 0.08–0.79). Future research necessitates further delineation of the relationship of housing stability and problem-gambling risk.     

“It was like leaving your family”: Gentrification and the impacts of displacement on public housing tenants in inner‐Sydney

In March 2014, the minister responsible announced that all of the approximately 600 public housing tenants of Millers Point and the Sirius Building in inner Sydney are to be moved and the properties sold. Millers Point is probably the oldest public housing area in Australia. The Sirius Building was purpose built for public housing tenants in the late 1970s. The article briefly examines the gentrification process in the Millers Point area. However, the main focus, drawing on six in‐depth interviews with public housing tenants who are still residents in the area and 13 who have moved, is an examination of the impact of the government's removal announcement and the actual displacement of residents. What this article illustrates is that the place attachment of most of the interviewees was profound and the removal announcement and the actual move were devastating. Interviewees spoke of deep sadness and anxiety at the thought of leaving what they considered a unique and genuine community. Residents who had moved told of their isolation and melancholy at having lost their local social network. The research shows that the human cost of policies and not revenue should always be the central consideration.     

A multilevel analysis of perceived intergenerational mobility and welfare state preferences

Previous scholarship suggests that the effect of perceived intergenerational mobility on attitudes related to social justice, inequality and redistribution is more salient than the effect of individuals' objective intergenerational mobility. However, virtually no studies have attempted to link individuals' perception of experiencing intergenerational mobility and their support for different welfare state programmes. In my study using nationally representative and comparative survey data for 33 Western European welfare democracies and post‐socialist transition societies, I found that perceived intergenerational mobility is associated with support for certain welfare state programmes. Results from multilevel linear probability models indicate that subjectively downwardly mobile individuals are less likely to support education and healthcare expenditure and more likely to prefer targeted assistance of the poor, while subjectively upwardly mobile individuals oppose extra spending on housing and old‐age pensions. The described associations are more vividly manifested in post‐socialist societies than in the analysed Western European democracies.     

市场化转型下的住房不平等——基于CGSS2006调查数据

基于CGSS2006调查数据,运用多层线性模型分析方法,揭示了市场化改革对住房不平等程度,以及住房资源分配机制的影响作用。研究表明,在地区层面,地区市场化的推进虽然有效提高居民的住房水平,但在一定时期内也拉大住房资源分配的贫富差距,地区市场化水平与住房不平等程度之间存在倒“U”型曲线关系;在个体层面,体制内外职工的住房差异已不显著,但政治精英在住房资源的占有上更具优势。     

Loneliness in senior housing communities

There are many studies on loneliness among community-dwelling older adults; however, there is limited research examining the extent and correlates of loneliness among older adults who reside in senior housing communities. This study examines the extent and correlates of loneliness in three public senior housing communities in the St. Louis area. Data for this project was collected with survey questionnaires with a total sample size of 148 respondents. Loneliness was measured using the Hughes 3-item loneliness scale. Additionally, the questionnaire contained measures on socio-demographics, health/mental health, social engagement, and social support. Missing data for the hierarchical multivariate regression models were imputed using multiple imputation methods. Results showed approximately 30.8% of the sample was not lonely, 42.7% was moderately lonely, and 26.6% was severely lonely. In the multivariate analyses, loneliness was primarily associated with depressive symptoms. Contrary to popular opinion, our study found the prevalence of loneliness was high in senior housing communities. Nevertheless, senior housing communities could be ideal locations for reducing loneliness among older adults. Interventions should focus on concomitantly addressing both an individual’s loneliness and mental health.     

Renting in New Zealand: perspectives from tenant advocates

Currently, around a third of New Zealand’s households, and half its population live in rental accommodation. The proportion of tenant households is growing. Tenant advocates, who are a first port of call for tenants experiencing difficulties in their housing situation, can provide unique insight into the experience of renting in New Zealand. This article presents key themes generated from semi-structured interviews with tenant advocates. Tenants are confronted with issues of poor housing quality, insecure housing, high rents relative to income, lack of autonomy, and difficulty asserting their legislative rights. These aspects of renting in New Zealand are likely to have adverse effects on health. Tenant advocates play an important role in supporting tenants to better housing. Their knowledge of the relationship between a landlord and tenant, particularly in times of trouble, means they can provide unique perspectives on policy solutions.