Rented Housing and Market Rents: A Social Policy Critique

The private rented sector of the British housing market has been in decline since the beginning of the present century; that decline has continued apace since the end of the Second World War. A proposed solution for the stemming of this demise is the removal of present rent controls and the substitution of free market conditions so that rents find their own market levels. This, so it is argued, would enable landlords to obtain a proper return on their housing investments and lead therefore to an increase in supply and an ending to the present disinvestment from this housing sector. This article disputes this thesis. In the first place it is argued that “market rent” is a problematic concept and raises complex issues of distributive justice and social policy — which its advocates ignore. Secondly, it is argued that a free market solution is ahistorical in that it takes no account of the past failure in Britain of privately rented housing; and similarly it ignores the complex web of historical circumstances behind its decline — attributing the decline to the single causal factor of rent control. Thirdly, it is suggested that a market solution is sociologically misconceived because it ignores the characteristics and needs of those social groups dependent upon this sector. Finally, on grounds of practicability it is proposed that a free market in rented housing may be quite inappropriate for the rump of housing stock remaining in the private rented sector; and that, given the current social and economic constraints operating in the housing market as a whole, any revival of this sector is unlikely even with enhanced rental inducements. It is thus concluded that a free market solution is misconceived and would merely serve to impose an ideological straightjacket upon the provision of a basic human need.     

Rent Control: its Costly Repercussions

This article examines the theory and practice of rent control in the UK and elsewhere in order to contribute to the important debate on the future of the private rental sector in the UK. Our opposition to rent and eviction controls is unequivocal. We shall show that wherever rent control has been imposed the effects have been, at best, adverse and at worst, appalling. The effects on the quantity and quality of a housing stock can be so devastating that one Swedish socialist economist, Assar Lindbeck (1967) concluded: “In many cases rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city — except for bombing.” Controls which lead to an excess demand for housing foster unfortunate practices such a discrimination on various grounds other than willingness and ability to pay rent, and the creation of a black market. Rent and eviction controls also have a major impact on the mobility of labour. The encouragement to immobility can lead to the perpetuation of structural imbalances in an economy prompting rigidities which can have considerable economic and social costs.     

Young People, Housing Benefit and the Risk Society

This paper draws on debates about the risk society to examine the impact of the "single room rent", a restriction in the housing benefit scheme that applies to single people under 25 living in privately rented housing. Drawing on qualitative interviews in six localities in England, the paper examines young people's ability to gain access to and afford privately rented accommodation while receiving housing benefit. It argues that the single room rent restriction has not only cut their housing benefit entitlement but also created more uncertainty for young people. Consequently, it has enhanced rather than ameliorated the risks faced by young people on low incomes in the private rental housing market.     

Just a little “froth”: Tracing Greenspan's ideology

Although not receiving the attention it deserves, Greenspan's rhetorical rationalization of the extraordinary developments in the housing market contributed significantly to its unsustainable expansion between 2002 and 2006. His rhetorical campaign served to justify his regulatory inaction, much like the language masking the stock market bubble of the 1920s. Informed by this historical pattern, this paper offers a rhetorical analysis of the housing market developments as represented in Alan Greenspan's last speech on the housing market in September 2005, near the peak of the housing market euphoria, as the Fed's outgoing chairman. Although Greenspan explicitly recognized many signs of the bubble, his ideology prevented him from making necessary inferences regarding the true extent and potential ramifications of the bubble burst for the broader economy.     

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.     

Marginality amidst plenty: Pathways into homelessness for older Australians

In this paper, drawing on in‐depth interviews, we illustrate that despite the significant overall increase in the wealth of older Australians over the last two decades, a sizeable proportion of older Australians (65 and over) are in a vulnerable accommodation situation and many face the possibility of finding themselves homeless. This is especially so for those older Australians who are dependent on government for their income and are living in private rented accommodation. We show that the changing nature of the housing market means that often our informants were not able to find affordable, adequate and secure accommodation. The death of a spouse, rent increases and eviction are common precipitators of a slide into a situation of imminent homelessness. The restructuring of the welfare state and the virtual freeze on the building of social housing means that older private renters who face eviction often have nowhere to turn. Besides not being able to rely on the market or government, many have minimal or no family and social networks.     

地方政府行为与住房市场健康发展研究——一个研究框架

住房市场是一个分散、区域性分割的市场,中央政府无法直接调节,对住房市场的微观调控是地方政府的职责之一。地方政府在住房市场的职责贯穿从住房生产到房屋消费的各个环节,涉及确定需求、土地供应、存量管理、基础设施建设等众多领域,有时甚至直接给特定群体提供住房。以地方政府行为视角建立一个分析框架,重点剖析地方政府在住房市场中的职责,住房市场利益相关者及管制创新,住房健康发展的内在机制,中央—地方在住房市场既分工又协作的二级管理模式有效运转的约束条件,地方住房战略制定及其有效性等问题,有助于促进我国住房市场的健康发展。     

Women,Health and Housing Assistance: Implications in an Emerging Era of Housing Provision

Women and the households that they head are over‐represented among the most economically and socially disadvantaged households in Australia. Recent changes in the provision of housing assistance for low income households in Australia have distinct implications for women and this paper examines the implications of these changes. Shifting the emphasis in housing assistance away from publicly provided and rent‐controlled housing to direct subsidisation of rents for private tenants has important, largely negative, consequences for the health, affordability and security of housing for many women. This situation is made worse given the current housing affordability crisis in Australia; a crisis that extends across all private housing tenures.     

Do people respond to low probability risks? Evidence from tornado risk and manufactured homes

Whether people perceive and respond to low-probability natural hazards is a research question of considerable policy relevance. We obtain evidence by considering the response of housing choice to tornado risk for manufactured homes. The vulnerability of manufactured housing, combined with its growing share of the U.S. housing market, has led to proposed mandates for community shelters in mobile home parks. Expected utility theory, however, predicts that households should account for tornado risk in their housing choice. We test for an effect of tornado risk on manufactured housing demand using cross-sectional state data, as well as counties in three tornado prone states. We find that people do respond to tornado risk; our estimates indicate that each expected annual state tornado death per million residents reduces demand for manufactured homes by about 3%. The estimated quantity effect is consistent with the market studies of the price elasticity of manufactured homes.     

购房：制度变迁下的住房分层与自我选择性流动

本文基于2010年广州市的千户问卷调查数据,利用内生转换回归模型,发现了住房市场化改革过程中住房分层机制中的自我选择性：在1998年前的体制内,能力强的人倾向于不购房,而在1998年前的体制外和1998年以后,能力强的人倾向于购房。在1998年前的体制内,不购房者如果购房,其住房等级会下降;购房者如果不购房,其住房等级会上升。在1998年前体制外和1998年后,那些人力资本或政治资本高的居民实际购房时,其住房等级会更高;购房者如果不购房,其住房等级会下降。由此可知,权力机制与市场机制是影响住房分层的结构因素,政治资本或人力资本的高低是住房分层的必要条件,而非充分条件。“政治资本或人力资本高的居民住房等级也高”的论断从某种意义上忽视了居民的自我选择过程。     

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.     

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。     

Housing of Seniors in the Czech Republic: Challenges for Social Services

The article focuses on the housing market, the behavior and motivations of senior households to move or to stay in place. Knowing if and why seniors decide to move at retirement is a critical factor for the establishment of social service policies in terms of their structure, location, and provision.

This study uses secondary data based on information about Czech households collected by the Czech Statistical Office (CSO). The data are annually collected via sample surveys of the income and living conditions of households (EU-SILC). The sample covers more than eight thousands of households. Analyzed data cover the period 2007–2012 when the abolishment of rent regulation in the Czech Republic took place. It is hypothesized that an impact like this might increase the willingness to move and reveal the factors which underlie the decisions of particular households.

The results indicated that most Czech households that decided to move during the study period were driven by the increased financial burden of housing. Other factors, including the availability of social services and public utilities within the current location, played only minor roles. It seems that Czech senior households act in a very pragmatic and rational manner when deciding whether to stay in place or move, with the majority of households preferring not to move. Social policies should, therefore, concentrate on providing services for the current locations rather than on the construction of new social housing.     

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.     

“农转非”、人力资本回报与收入不平等——基于分位数回归分解的方法

随着中国城镇化进程的推进,越来越多的农村户籍人口实现了身份转换,成为制度认可的新市民。本文利用中国综合社会调查（CGSS）数据发现,即使户口状况相同,"新市民"与"老市民"之间依然存在一定的收入差距。分位数回归及其分解的结果显示,"农转非"人群在劳动力市场上仍受到制度性或非制度性歧视,且歧视程度随着分位数的变化呈现倒U型趋势。同时,"农转非"人群内部也存在较大的差异,歧视降低了自致型"农转非"人群相较于城市原居民的禀赋优势,而外致型"农转非"人群则面临人力资本劣势与就业市场歧视的双重压力。     

Is Housing First for Mental Health Community Support Possible During a Housing Shortage?

Supported housing programmes for people with chronic mental health needs have shifted towards approaches that rely on housing first, which prioritizes access to a permanent home in the community. How do support programmes with this assumption manage the market constraints of a shortage of affordable housing? The article examines empirical mixed method data (interviews and programme data) about the experience of managing this problem in the Mental Health Housing and Accommodation Support Initiative (HASI) in New South Wales, Australia. HASI provides clinical mental health services, housing support and housing if needed, for people who are not yet living independently in the community. It found that the housing shortage affected the ability of the providers to implement the intended programme design at three early steps in the support: determining eligibility; prioritizing access between people with and without housing; and managing entry to the programme when they did not have housing. As a result, some otherwise suitable applicants were not prioritized for entry into the programme or their entry was delayed until they were housed. The providers adjusted the programme to the housing market realities, which compromised the programme intentions. The policy lessons are that programmes need strategies to provide housing for people who require it; assist people to find or apply for housing; and support people while they wait for housing. These approaches enhance the coherence of programmes, build on integration mechanisms and respond to the housing context.     

Density zoning and class segregation in U.S. metropolitan areas

Objectives:Socioeconomic segregation rose substantially in U.S. cities during the final decades of the 20th century, and we argue that zoning regulations are an important cause of this increase.Methods. We measure neighborhood economic segregation using the Gini coefficient for neighborhood income inequality and the poor-affluent exposure index. These outcomes are regressed on an index of density zoning developed from the work of Pendall for 50 U.S. metropolitan areas, while controlling for other metropolitan characteristics likely to affect urban housing markets and class segregation.Results. For both 2000 and changes from 1990 to 2000, OLS estimates reveal a strong relationship between density zoning and income segregation, and replication using 2SLS suggests that the relationship is causal. We also show that zoning is associated with higher interjurisdictional inequality.Conclusions. Metropolitan areas with suburbs that restrict the density of residential construction are more segregated on the basis of income than those with more permissive density zoning regimes. This arrangement perpetuates and exacerbates racial and class inequality in the United States.     

体制分割与中国城镇居民的住房差异

在混合经济形态下,“市场”与“再分配”权力之间的良性制衡的关系尚未形成,相反却在一定程度上对社会不平等的形成表现出层叠效应。对住房不平等的经验分析表明,当前（住房市场化时期）的住房不平等状况很大一部分是由房改前的住房分配过程和住房私有化改革过程导致的,社会成员越是接近体制的核心部门,其住房优势就越突出。这一经验研究发现表明,制度变革的渐进性和路径依赖使得根植于体制分割的社会不平等在尚未充分消退的同时,改革之前导致社会差异形成的体制分割因素依然在一定程度上活跃于当前的社会不平等中,且有可能会随着市场化的推进叠加于源自于市场的社会不平等,甚至经由市场的作用进一步延续并放大。     

市场转型与职业性别垂直隔离

在社会学研究中,把男女劳动者进入不同职业称之为职业性别的水平隔离,而男女劳动者在同一类职业中从事地位不同的工作,则是职业性别的垂直隔离。本文关注中国市场转型过程中职业性别垂直隔离的趋势。笔者从2009年八大城市调查数据发现：即使在没有性别水平隔离的中性职业中,也同样存在着性别垂直隔离,且市场转型加剧了职业性别垂直隔离程度。     

我国住房抵押贷款二级市场的构建

住房贷款抵押一级市场是抵押贷款活动的创造过程,二级市场是指销售抵押和转售抵押.二级市场可以为一级市场提供稳定长期的资金来源.缺少二级市场的住房贷款抵押市场永远是不完整的市场.我国目前基本具备了建立住房贷款抵押二级市场的可行条件,要建立的住房抵押贷款二级市场有三种方式可以选择.