Housing Policy Regime in Lithuania: towards liberalization and marketization

This paper reviews housing policy development in Lithuania in the light of previous literature which reinterprets Esping-Andersen’s work on welfare regimes and adopts it to study housing policy. It seeks to highlight the major features of the Lithuanian housing policy. The findings of this paper reveal that the Lithuanian housing regime exhibits many features which are common under the liberal one. Most significant of these are low de-commodification for those who have to buy or rent a home for the market price, increasing stratification based on income and the dominant position of the market in housing production, allocation and price determination. However, a detailed examination of the Lithuanian housing policy reveals that the housing policy system, despite having many features similar to the liberal one, has been operating in different social and economic settings as a result of unique historical experience of the communist housing policy (massive production of low quality apartment blocks during the communist era, which currently need substantial renovation) and consequently drastic changes in the housing field since 1990s (massive privatization of the housing stock and decentralization of the housing management system). The Lithuanian housing policy regime could be characterized as a regime with the higher owner-occupation compared to other welfare state regimes, but the lower economic power of the owners to take care of their property maintenance, repair and renovation.     

Estimation of indirect economic loss caused by house destruction in a natural disaster

Designing appropriate post-disaster emergency and recovery housing policies requires accurate estimation of the indirect or “flow” loss generated by the involuntary displacement of households to housing other than their own destroyed homes. We employed the stated choice method to measure residence choice following a hypothetical disaster in a procedure developed to estimate flow loss due to house destruction. This method was applied to households in the city of Nagaoka in Niigata Prefecture to estimate flow loss for a range of residence types and residence attributes following relocation. The results revealed that the relocation residence type itself (such as a shelter, temporary dwelling, rental housing, or one’s own home) had a substantial effect on residence choice. Regarding residence attributes, residential expenses such as rent, housing loans, and spaciousness had a significant effect on residence choice. Moreover, we found that respondents placed a very high value on living in their own home compared with other residence types, indicating that subsidizing the prompt repair and rebuilding of private homes is likely to be an effective recovery support policy. In addition, a cost–benefit analysis of our results revealed that rent subsidies are more efficient than the construction of public housing as a means of financially assisting economically constrained households after a disaster.     

The actualization of neoliberal space and the loss of housing affordability in Santa Monica,California

This paper reveals the contingent aspect associated with the actualization of a neoliberal space. The paper examines the material, institutional, and economic conditions necessary for a neoliberal agenda to transform its urban policy objectives into a material reality. The study follows changes in housing conditions in Santa Monica, California from 1990 to 2008. During this period, the confluence of three sets of events led to the actualization of a neoliberal space. First, housing damage from the 1994 Northridge earthquake removed “dead capital” from the housing sector. Second, subsequent administrative actions at the local level and more importantly deregulation legislation at the state level eliminated rent control regulations and created market incentives that favored upscale development. Finally, the state’s economic recovery generated a substantial flow of private investments into the real estate market. These combined factors led not only to the dismantling of affordable housing in Santa Monica, but also to the erosion of residents’ and local authorities’ ability to manage housing choices and, consequently, to a historic restructuring of Santa Monica’s physical and social space. These changes had a disproportionately and negative effect on low-income and minority renters.     

The social housing sector in Prague and Warsaw: trends and future prospects

The paper provides an overview of trends and processes of change affecting new social housing provision in Prague and Warsaw. The local responses are reviewed within the context of changes to the national housing system defining the performance of municipal and non-profit housing sectors. The research analyses the mix of policy instruments implemented in three major policy domains—regulatory, fiscal and financial—to promote the production of new social housing in the two cities. The system of new social housing provision is examined as a dynamic process of interaction between public and private institutions defining housing policy outcomes. The outcomes are evaluated through a series of indicators related to housing output, stability of investment, differentiation of rents, affordability and choice. The overview demonstrates how significant shifts in regulatory and fiscal policy, coupled with decentralization of responsibilities for social housing, limit the opportunities for more efficient performance in the sector and its growth. This is particularly evident in Warsaw, where the sector operates as a social safety net. New social housing in both cities has better quality and remains affordable, but access is constrained and waiting times have increased. The research highlights the problem of declining output, dwindling financial resources, and lack of cost recovery due to universal rent control. This is eroding the sustainability of social housing, potentially leading to lower investment and subsequent privatisation. In Warsaw, housing allowances are a municipal responsibility making the liberalization of rents difficult, while Prague has moved in the direction of rent deregulation with a more robust system of means-tested housing support provided by the central government. Such policy choices map a different trajectory for the future of social housing.     

Property-based redevelopment and gentrification: The case of Seoul, South Korea

The urban experiences of South Korea in times of its rapid urbanisation and economic growth show that wholesale redevelopment had been a dominant approach to urban renewal, leading to redevelopment-induced gentrification. This was led by a programme known as the Joint Redevelopment Programme, transforming urban space that was once dominated by informal settlements into high-rise commercial housing estates. This paper tries to explain how this approach was possible at city-wide scale in its capital city, Seoul. Through the examination of redevelopment processes in a case study neighbourhood, it puts forward three arguments. First, the development potential arising from the rent gap expansion through under-utilisation of dilapidated neighbourhoods provided material conditions for the sustained implementation of property-based redevelopment projects. Second, this paper critically examines the dynamics of socio-political relations among various property-based interests embedded in redevelopment neighbourhoods, and argues that external property-based interests have enabled the full exploitation of development opportunities at the expense of poor owner-occupiers and tenants. Third, South Korea had been noted for its strong developmental state with minimum attention to redistributive social policies. The Joint Redevelopment Programme in Seoul was effectively a market-oriented, profit-led renewal approach, in line with a national housing strategy that favoured increased housing production and home-ownership at the expense of local poor residents’ housing needs.     

An objective analysis of the relationship between quality of life and socio-economic characteristics in Kumasi,Ghana

Increasing urbanisation and the growth of urban areas in cities in developing countries present major challenges for local governments, policy makers and urban planners even though the phenomenon offers opportunities. Studies focusing on the quality of life (QoL) help in assessing objectively, urban conditions which inform urban policy and planning. Using Kumasi as a case study, this paper investigates the relationship between quality of life and socio-economic characteristics such as gender, age, marital status, educational background, household income and housing type. To this end, the paper uses data from 500 households to examine the relationship between urban dwellers socio-economic characteristics and quality of life index in Kumasi. Findings indicated that objective QoL varied considerably with some of the socio-economic variables (household income and housing type) in the study area and these variables contributed significantly to the objective quality of life in Kumasi. The paper concludes that there are six (6) dimension of quality of life in Kumasi.     

Assessing income-wise household environmental conditions and disease profile in urban areas: Study of an Indian city

The main objectives of the present study are: (i) to assess the income-wise household environmental conditions of the sampled households in Aligarh city, (ii) to examine income-wise disease profile of the population, (iii) to assess the relationship between income and four most occurring diseases, (iv) draw out inter-relationship between income, non-ideal household environmental conditions and environment related diseases. The quality of life and diseases in any urban areas get reflected by the immediate neighborhood in different parts of the city which depends upon the income strata of the households, their way of living, and their understanding of their household environment. This is because it is the household environment, which exerts the most and immediate influence on the life of the people. This study was carried out in order to assess household environmental conditions (i.e. housing conditions, bathroom and sanitation conditions, water supply conditions, water logging conditions, household garbage and solid waste, household pests, indoor air and indoor noise pollution) and their effect on the health of the resident population of Aligarh city. The method includes household survey of Aligarh city using questionnaires. The sampled households were classified into five income groups from very low to very high. Relationship was tested between income and household environmental conditions and also between income and diseases using Chi-Square technique. About 55% of the total sampled households suffer from diarrhea/dysentery, 43% jaundice, 42% malaria and 41% respiratory diseases. About 40% suffer from skin diseases, small pox/chicken pox. All these diseases are a result of poor household environmental conditions. Whereas 35% people reported other diseases (i.e. heart disease, hypertension and diabetes), only 14.42% households reported of tuberculosis. The study concludes that there exists a significant positive relationship between income level and household environmental conditions, and also between income and various diseases among sampled households of Aligarh city.     

Housing strategies in low income urban communities in Accra,Ghana

As the rent-free compound housing system in Ghana gradually became unpopular, there was the need for state intervention in housing provision. Housing became an important part of the country’s developmental policies through state interventions prior to the late 1970s. The economic crises in 1979 forced the country to opt for Structural Adjustment Programme, compelling the state to relax on its efforts to provide housing for the public. The paper uses the mode of economic integration framework to discuss the various housing forms in the country. It argues, housing provision led by the private sector creates remarked differences between housing for the higher and lower income groups. The study uses two low income communities in Accra to explain different ways by which the urban poor in Ghana accommodate themselves amidst the country’s housing problems. The study concludes there is an alternative to the housing crises in the country which could be found in the public-private investments in the rental form of the compound housing system.     

L'organisation capitaliste du territoire et le problème du logement en Italie

The capitalistic organization of territory and the housing problem in Italy.This paper provides the first results of a research programme regarding the selective and spatially differentiated use of the Italian territory by private capital in the housing sector.According to the 1971 census, in Italy there were 63,8 million rooms for 53,2 million inhabitants. As regards the 1951 census the increase of rooms has been of 26,5 million, i.e. of 70.9%, as against an increase of 15,6% of the population. In this period the investment in dwelling-houses has represented about 30% of total fixed investments which is more than in the other E.E.C. countries.The Italian building stock (with a medium average of 1.2 rooms per inhabitant), is theoretically sufficient to satisfy the population needs. This ratio, however, drops to 1.06 if we exclude the 7.6 million rooms in non-inhabited houses (“holiday houses”, new unsold houses, abandoned homes because of emigration or because of their poor conditions).Moreover, more than one third of the Italian population lives in overcrowded conditions (less than one room per person) and poor standard houses are 40% of the total.This is not only due to the fact that public investments in the housing sector have been insignificant (6% in the last ten years), or to the unequal social distribution of revenue, but also, moreover, to the speculative character of the building activity.The economic analysis shows that between 1951 and 1971, in the expansive stages of housing production, net incomes of the building and land sector have increased more rapidly than the total earned incomes and that they have been higher than the amount of investments in the sector. So, building and land estate rent have been among the main components of the Italian capitalistic accumulation through the exporpriation of a prominent share of wages. At the same time, the ever increasing growth in housing prices both for sale and for rent has forbidden the fulfilment of the needs of the lower classes, extending in an abnormal way the production of luxury and “holiday houses” to satisfy the requirements of the higher classes. This is the cause of the above mentioned contradiction between the amount of the unused or subused building stock and the existence of a large number of sub-standard and/or overcrowded houses.This mechanism of accumulation-expropriation worked because of a specific spatial structure. Its main character consists in a strong geographical concentration of the basic activities and of the population. 53.3% of 1960–1971 housing production has concentrated in 4.7% of the Italian communes with more than 20,000 inhabitants.The analysis carried out on a stratified sample including 1,524 communes allowed us to reach the following results: 1. We find situations of greater unsatisfaction of the needs in the largest industrial metropolitan north-western areas and in the underdeveloped southern communes with strong emigrations. 2. We have had the highest offer for houses, as regards the needs, in the communes with less than 5,000 inhabitants, in the communes with less than 250,000 inhabitants, with prevalently tertiary functions, and in the districts where development is more equilibrated, from a territorial point of view (i.e.: north-eastern Italy). 3. The mechanism of accumulation-expropriation worked mainly in the industrial areas and it grows at the ever increasing growth of agglomerations and urban overcrowding, determined by strong migratory flows. 4. Building activity of tertiary communes has been led, mainly, by the higher-class expansion of consumptions. 5. The same kind of demand has given rise to the strong increase of “holiday houses” which interests large periurban, coastal and Alpine areas. 6. The housing sector becomes in this way a component of territorial disequilibriums, caused by the industrial and tertiary polarization and it is inclined to enlarge them by the artful increase of urban rent. 7. This use of territory has the aim to encourage incomes removal among different social classes and to contribute in this way, to the process of capitalistic accumulation. But, by doing this, it causes a kind of growth, in the housing sector, which is unable to satisfy lower-class needs for houses. 8. The attainment of this last purpose would, therefore, mean an efficient regional planning and the elimination of urban rent, conditions which are in opposition to the maintenance of the present economic and social structure of the Italian economy, of which speculative building and rent sectors are, nowadays, essential components.     

弘扬民居传统文化 创造特色时代住宅

针对中低收入家庭的住房保障这一重大社会问题,研究保障性住房设计,已成为建筑师所面临的现实任务。方案＂民居·庭院·住宅＂,以弘扬民居传统文化为设计理念,提出创造以人为本、融入自然、高科技含量、低成本高质量的特色时代住宅,进而保障中低收入家庭平等的居住权利。     

Transnational ties and intra-immigrant group settlement experiences: A case study of Indian Bengalis and Bangladeshis in Toronto

Transnational theories have established that, after migrating to a new country, migrants often maintain their pre-existing social, economic, and political ties to their home country. The extent to which however, transnational institutional and social connections may affect the residential location and housing experiences of immigrant and refugee groups, and why and how these experiences differ within broadly defined immigrant groups such as the ‘South Asians’ remains unexplored. Building on transnational theory and previous research on the housing trajectories of new Canadians, this paper examines the housing experiences of two recently arrived ‘South Asian’ subgroups in Toronto–Indian Bengalis and Bangladeshis. By highlighting important intra-immigrant group differences, the study reveals how diverse transnational ties affect their neighbourhood choice and the type, tenure, and quality of housing when they first arrived in Toronto.     

Welfare reform and the intra-regional migration of beneficiaries in New Zealand

This paper investigates the net effect of major cuts in welfare benefits and associated changes in the delivery of housing assistance on the relocation behavior of beneficiaries. It does so against an international literature which has documented the tendency of welfare recipients to adjust their costs of living by moving from urban to rural settlements. The paper reviews the literature on welfare and migration, introduces a theoretical framework based on a metropolitan labour market and then tests several hypotheses about the possible effects of benefits cuts on spatial adjustment. The research design uses quinquennial census data to compare core beneficiary relocation patterns with those of non-beneficiaries before and after the cuts to welfare benefits in the Wellington region of New Zealand in 1991. The period following the benefit cuts in New Zealand was characterised by increasing job opportunities which helped to mitigate their adverse effect and made it difficult to identify a more general down-market residential adjustment. While a downward adjustment in housing consumption by core beneficiaries was identified, residential movement from urban to the cheaper settlements in adjacent rural areas was only observed from former State house areas where the income effects of benefit cuts were compounded by increases in rents on former State houses. Thus, while this paper supports the findings of independent sample survey work, our census based analysis underscores the highly contingent nature of that response. Evidence of urban-rural migration is placed in the context of the government's `remote area policy' which attempts to dissuade beneficiaries (who are receiving a social security benefit related to their employment status) from moving without good reason to `remote' locations where job prospects are weak. The paper raises the more general policy issue where benefit cuts, designed to stimulate more active job searching among the unemployed, actually prompt some beneficiaries to relocate to the urban fringe and in some cases to remote parts of the country where job prospects are weak. The theoretical and policy implication of this paper is that there are geographical correlates to the reservation wage which need to be integrated into thinking about the participation consequences of setting benefit levels.     

Relocation of urban poor in Chicago: HOPE VI policy outcomes

The HOPE VI program was created in 1992 as a tool for public housing authorities in the US to deconcentrate poverty in project-based public housing neighborhoods. As part of the process, thousands of public housing residents have been required to relocate. They have the option to move to temporary housing in another project unit, to leave the subsidized housing system all together, or to participate in local housing voucher programs. This study focuses on those public housing residents in Chicago who move with a housing voucher certificate. The purpose of the study is to evaluate and reveal the relocation outcomes of these voucher users, both numerically and geographically. Conditions in their origin and relocation tracts are examined using 1990 and 2000 US census data to determine if they relocated to less poor and segregated neighborhoods. Evidence shows that voucher users are moving in an outward direction away from the central city. This movement is reshaping the landscape of advantage and disadvantage in Chicago: suburbs are becoming poorer while the old neighborhoods are gentrifying. Poverty is highly concentrated in the neighborhoods chosen by most voucher recipients, but not as high as the poverty levels which existed in the old neighborhoods. Mapping relocation shows that outcomes vary geographically, demonstrating the importance for future research to address spatial and contextual differences.     

Social and economic vulnerability of coastal communities to sea-level rise and extreme flooding

This paper assesses the socioeconomic consequences of extreme coastal flooding events. Wealth and income impacts associated with different social groups in coastal communities in Israel are estimated. A range of coastal flood hazard zones based on different scenarios are identified. These are superimposed on a composite social vulnerability index to highlight the spatial variation in the socioeconomic structure of those areas exposed to flooding. Economic vulnerability is captured by the exposure of wealth and income. For the former, we correlate the distribution of housing stock at risk with the socioeconomic characteristics of threatened populations. We also estimate the value of residential assets exposed under the different scenarios. For the latter, we calculate the observed change in income distribution of the population under threat of inundation. We interpret the change in income distribution as an indicator of recovery potential.     

Locational Decisions and Residential Preferences of Taiwanese Immigrants in Australia

Since the 1980s, the increase of Asian migrants in large cities has contributed significantly to the cultural landscape of Australia, especially in the city suburbs. Based on the Census and in-depth interviews of 103 Taiwanese migrants, this research examines the location decisions and residential preferences of Taiwanese migrants in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. The reasons for choosing the state, the particular city, and specific area of residence are probed into. The survey shows that migrants moved to Australia mainly for children’s education, lifestyle and political instability reasons. The main reasons for choosing to settle in Sydney were favourable business opportunities, and the northern part of Sydney was preferred. Those who chose Brisbane are attracted by the good climate there, and the residents preferred the Sunnybank area. Melbourne was chosen for the good education it offers, and areas on transportation lines near good schools are selected. Choice of residence was based mainly on their needs and their resources which may change over time. In general, they always choose to locate in close proximity to their family, friends and Taiwanese communities. Their locational choice depends on income and housing budget, proximity to good schools and shopping centers, and information from friends or earlier migrants. Based on such factors, this study clearly demonstrates that the Taiwanese immigrants are fundamentally different from early Chinese settlers who once aimed to settle at Chinatown locations.     

Urban policy and the rise of gated housing in post-socialist Poland

The aim of this article is to investigate regulations regarding housing and spatial planning to determine the extent to which these have influenced the development of gated housing in Poland since 1989. The focus is on how government policy with regard to spatial planning and housing, together with the law on property and ownership, influences the emergence and development of gated forms of housing in the country. Legal regulation documents concerning issues of housing and spatial planning between 1990 and 2013 have been studied. The article argues that the liberal policies and legal regulation in the country is resulting in a disregard for spatial planning and housing, but also the lack of integrated urban policies. Existing spatial plans are of a consultative nature and bear no regulatory capacity, at the same time as housing programmes and spatial planning in the country is strongly in favor of private investors and new construction. All these shortcomings have created a differentiated housing market, one in which housing developers maximize their profits by constructing gated housing complexes, combined with a tendency among those who have the means to move to newly built housing behind gates. The long period of developer-friendly policies and governmental support of purchasers of new construction, have resulted in increased popularity of gated communities in Poland and their spread to many Polish cities.     

Migration, remittances and regional development in Southern Morocco

Although Morocco has evolved into one of the world’s leading emigration countries, the systematic study of the developmental impact of migration in migrant-sending regions in Morocco and the Maghreb has been relatively neglected after a temporary surge of pessimistic studies in the 1970s. Empirical work from this region has therefore been largely absent from the lively theoretical debate on migration and development. This study attempts to re-establish this link through qualitative research and a survey among 507 non-migrant, internal and international migrant households in the Moroccan Todgha oasis. The study shows that international migration and remittances have significantly contributed to economic development, improved standards of living and enabled the partial emancipation of subaltern ethnic groups. International migrant households invest more than others in housing, agriculture and other enterprises. Risk spreading and income stabilisation rather than increasing incomes seem to be the prime rationale behind internal migration, although internal migration tends to facilitate the education and international migration of younger household members. Remittance expenditure and investments have stimulated the diversifying and urbanising regional economy and have triggered a counter-flow of “reverse” internal migration. However, several structural constraints prevent the high development potential of migration from being fully realised.     

Of tidy gardens and clean houses: housing officers as agents of social control

This paper seeks to contribute to the theme of institutional geographies by exploring how the prevailing socio-spatial order is recreated and legitimated in the ways in which public rented housing is managed and delivered by housing associations and local authorities in the UK. The public rented sector has been increasingly catering for the most vulnerable sections of the population who are dependent on state benefits and cannot afford any other form of housing. As a result, housing staffs have found themselves having to take on a welfare role which entails controlling and policing social tenants who are seen to be causing disorder in society. This paper shows how a dominant housing management discourse reproduced by policies and staff at both front-line and management levels is that of an emerging ‘underclass’ promoted by right wing politicians and the media since the 1980s. According to dominant housing management discourse the members of this underclass are disrupting traditional patriarchal and capitalist institutions and values. Tenants’ houses and gardens not conforming to culturally and socially acceptable standards of cleanliness and tidiness symbolises tenants’ lack of conformity to the prevailing institutional order. Drawing on in-depth interviews with housing officers and managers, and observations of interviews between staff and tenants in six housing organisations, this paper analyses the ways in which housing organisations seek to control social tenants through the imposition of certain norms of cleanliness over their houses and gardens.     

青海湖流域人类福祉认知及综合评价

千年生态系统评估（MA）是全球范围内第一个针对人类福祉与生态系统之间的联系,通过整合各种资源,构建多尺度、综合评估各个组分之间相互关系的重大项目. 以MA框架中对人类福祉的定义为依据,通过参与式农户评估,初步探讨了青海湖流域居民对日常生活满意度的认知,采用多指标评估法综合评估了青海湖流域的人类福祉水平. 结果表明：受年龄、性别、受教育程度等因素的影响,环湖居民对日常生活中的衣、食、住、行、收入等方面的认知程度差别明显;总体来看,青海湖流域人类福祉综合分值仅为0.454,收入状况和食物安全是其最主要的影响因素,对人类福祉的贡献值分别为0.074和0.147;分县域而言,共和县人类福祉得分最高,为0.483,海晏县略低,其次是天峻县,刚察县得分最低,仅为0.448. 收入状况和食物安全也是制约分县域居民福祉的关键因素. 因此,改善青海湖流域居民家庭层面的物质资产是提高其福祉的有效途径.     

The city in an era of restricted car usage: Some further observations and policy responses

This paper is written in response to a previous one by LEE and WOOD (Geoforum, 11, 17–29, 1980) in which they outlined some possible effects of future oil shortages on urban form and social structure. Australian cities appear to be among those likely to be most seriously affected and evidence presented here indicates that some adjustments within the urban housing market are already beginning to take place. However, according to the trade-off model of residential structure, the effects of increased travel costs on household income distribution patterns are likely to be less far-reaching than Lee and Wood suggest. The reactions of some Australian planning authorities are also outlined.