Assessing NGO Empowerment in Housing Development Frameworks: Discourse and Practice in the Philippines

Amid the rise of democratization movements since the 1980s, many governments in developing countries have proactively introduced the ideas of decentralization and devolution into the policy arena. In the pursuit of democratic planning processes where civil society is encouraged to be a part of the formal decision-making system, articles advocating the empowerment of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been included into a series of legislations. This shift was soon reflected in housing development frameworks for the poor, leading to the formulation of a new approach called "enablement." The Philippines' experience for the last two decades follows this line of development. Filipino NGOs are now prescribed as a catalyst to add further dynamism to the improvement of substandard living environments. Empirical findings of this study exemplify that NGO empowerment has been increasingly accelerated by the combination of NGOs' self-endeavors and governments' initiatives. By utilizing the paradigm shift under the enablement approach, NGOs are engaged in the attempt of alliance-formation and network-building to expand their influence. Contrary to ideals, however, NGO empowerment may reveal some adverse effects such as excessive dependency on NGOs and distorted representation by NGOs. Moreover, the professionalization of NGOs is an additional factor which generates hierarchization at the grass-roots level. This study suggests that further research analyze the depth and width to which NGO empowerment has been penetrated in order to precisely capture the processes and consequences resulting in disempowerment.     

老年住宅的市场需求与供给策略--以广州为例

老年住宅市场的形成是我国经济发展、人口政策和社会因素共同作用的结果,也是房地产经济持续发展的一种途径和房地产产业资源优化配置的需要。以广州为例,影响老年宜居住宅需求的主要因素依次为人均可支配收入、人均住宅面积、人口老龄化水平、城市住宅价格、区域经济发展状况等,为释放和满足老年宜居住宅需求,应该形成由政府部门、公共机构、房地产企业、家庭和社区等共同参与的多元化供给主体模式,并构建针对不同消费群体的老年住宅供给体系。     

中国城镇住宅财富效应的微观检验

在生命周期假说的基础上,文章构造了一个城镇居民资产与城镇居民人均消费关系的模型,并利用1978-2006年的数据,分阶段实证研究了我国城镇居民住宅资产对城镇居民人均消费的影响。实证研究发现,我国城镇房地产市场不具有财富效应。住宅供给结构不合理和住宅市场信息不对称是造成我国城镇住宅市场不具有财富效应的重要原因。      

住房贫困问题是中国城市化的核心问题——基于中国如何跨越“中等收入陷阱”的思考

国际经验表明,只有那些有能力在城市化过程中解决住房贫困问题的国家或地区,才有可能最终实现对"中等收入陷阱"的成功跨越;反之,一个国家或地区则可能长期陷入"中等收入陷阱"的泥潭中不能自拔。中国正处于从中等收入国家向高收入国家跨越的历史性阶段,从工厂集体宿舍、"城中村"、"群租房"等现象中看到中国城市的住房贫困问题存在不断加剧的趋势。如果这种趋势不能从根本上得到扭转,中国将可能步拉美国家后尘,长期挣扎于"中等收入陷阱"的泥潭之中。中国未来城市化的核心,即所谓"人的城市化"的核心,不在于户籍制度的开放,更重要的是解决城市的住房贫困问题。     

中国居民自有住房虚拟租金的一个估算

居民自有住房服务价值应纳入GDP核算,但各国对自有住房服务虚拟租金的估算方法存在差异,当前主要的核算方法为市场租金法和使用成本法。采用使用成本法对中国居民自有住房虚拟租金重新估算,发现2004—2012年间居民自有住房虚拟租金年均达3.2万亿元,最近三年年均达到4万亿。中国统计部门基于建筑成本估算的虚拟租金大大低估了居民居住支出,2004—2012年间年均低估达2.3万亿元,近三年年均低估达3万亿元。调整后的居住消费占GDP比重达到11%~14%,高于官方6%的统计数据,仅自有住房虚拟租金的重新调整就提高了4%~5%的居民消费率,随着居民收入提高,城市化进程加快,居住消费支出还将增长。     

A Qualitative Study on Home Modification of Rural Caregivers for People with Dementia

Opinions about the responsibility for procuring sheltered housing in Norway have been studied among people 50 and older. Until recently, Norway offered standard public provision, where the state has been the central provider and organizer of care for the elderly. The results indicate great support for public responsibility for providing sheltered housing for the frail elderly, which is only marginally affected by background characteristics. However, older people's attitudes as to whether they would choose private housing provision are affected by income, age, and knowledge of the market, and many are uncertain. Women and low-income groups are overrepresented among those who are uncertain.     

统筹城乡住房发展的必要性及对策

中心村建设是新农村建设的重要内容，发展保障住房以满足广大城市中低收入者的住房需求则是我国城市面临的重要任务。统筹城乡住房发展，修改和制定与城乡住房发展和住房流通相关的法律法规和措施，制定自上而下的城乡住房发展建设统筹规划，将是城乡住房发展少走弯路，提高城乡建设效率，促进城乡合理发展的有效途径。     

Predictors of college-student food security and fruit and vegetable intake differ by housing type

ABSTRACT

Objective: We assessed whether college-student characteristics associate with food security and fruit and vegetable (FV) intake and whether these associations differ in students in housing with and without food provision. Participants: 514 randomly-sampled students from a large, Midwestern, public university in 2012 and 2013 Methods: Ordered logistic regression tested how student characteristics associate with food security. Linear regression tested how student characteristics associate with FV intake. Analyses were stratified by housing type – that is, housing with food provision (dormitory, fraternity/sorority house, cooperative) vs. housing without food provision.Results: Only among those living in housing without food provision, males (p = 0.04), students without car access (p = 0.005), and those with marginal (p = 0.001) or low (p = 0.001) food security demonstrated lower FV intake. Conclusions: Housing with food provision may buffer the effects of student characteristics on food.     

Tests of statistical hypotheses and their use in studies of natural phenomena

Contrary to ideas suggested by the title of the conference at which the present paper was presented, the author is not aware of a conceptual difference between a “test of a statistical hypothesis” and a “test of significance” and uses these terms interchangeably. A study of any serious substantive problem involves a sequence of incidents at which one is forced to pause and consider what to do next. In an effort to reduce the frequency of misdirected activities one uses statistical tests. The procedure is illustrated on two examples: (i) Le Cam’s (and associates’) study of immunotherapy of cancer and (ii) a socio-economic experiment relating to low-income homeownership problems.     

长沙市经济适用住房货币化补贴的实践与思考

长沙出台了一系列安居政策，其中有一项重要的举措就是停止新建经济适用住房，全面实施经济适用住房货币化补贴方式，这是一次重大的变革和尝试。分析长沙实施经济适用住房货币化补贴的背景、具体做法，详细剖析经济适用住房兴建与货币化补贴的利弊，提出实施经济适用住房货币化补贴要注意的几个问题。