Social Housing Policy

In the past decade, urban regeneration policy makers and practitioners have faced a number of difficult challenges, such as sustainability, budgetary constraints, demands for community involvement and rapid urbanization in the Global South. Urban regeneration remains a high profile and important field of government-led intervention, and policy and practice continue to adapt to the fresh challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century, as well as confronting long-standing intractable urban problems and dilemmas. This Companion provides cutting-edge critical review and synthesis of recent conceptual, policy and practical developments within the field. With contributions from 72 international experts within the field, it explores the meaning of ‘urban regeneration’ in differing national contexts, asking questions and providing informed discussion and analyses to illuminate how an apparently disparate field of research, policy and practice can be rendered coherent, drawing out common themes and significant differences. The Companion is divided into six parts, exploring: globalization and neo-liberal perspectives on urban regeneration; emerging econceptualizations of regeneration; public infrastructure and public space;
housing and cosmopolitan communities; community centred regeneration; and culture-led regeneration. The concluding chapter considers the future of urban regeneration and proposes a nine-point research agenda. This Companion assembles a diversity of approaches and insights in one comprehensive volume to provide a state-of-the-art review of the field. It is a valuable resource for both advanced undergraduate
and postgraduate students in Urban Planning, Built Environment, Urban Studies and Urban Regeneration, as well as academics, practitioners and politicians.

At the heart of this proof of evidence is an evaluation of the regeneration benefits and disbenefits of the First Development Site (FDS) proposals for the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) Land. In my evidence I will describe, explain and analyse how the FDS proposals are likely to impact on the Aylesbury Estate and contribute to the well-being of Estate residents in Sites 1b and 1c, in the interests of the residents and in the wider public interest. In order to do this I will provide an explanation and discussion of four complex concepts: ‘gentrification’, ‘community’, ‘regeneration' and ‘mixed communities’.  Gentrification, due to its conceptual weaknesses, struggles to encompass the complexities of the FDS proposals.

Mixed communities-led regeneration is supported by independent academic research for the benefits it can bring. Despite this, it is regarded by some objectors and academics as de facto gentrification. That position is not tenable and objectors have to explain how the disbenefits of the FDS scheme outweigh the obvious and substantial benefits in the short, medium and long term. The policy and practice of mixed communities are not perfect and do not offer utopian solutions in the case of the Estate. It is evident though, that this approach in the present socio-economic climate, has the capacity to deliver genuine improvements to troubled estates, the Aylesbury included.

I conclude that the FDS proposals will bring genuine aspirational regeneration to the Estate. The FDS proposals are likely to bring significant sustainable improvements in the conditions of Aylesbury residents suffering from aspects of deprivation, often multiple in nature. Others to benefit will be incoming residents who find a home in the FDS, especially an affordable one, and those who find employment during the long construction phase and after completion. Nevertheless, a long term view must be taken regarding: safeguarding, delivery and resourcing of this estate regeneration programme.

Finally, I conclude that under section 226, the Council must show that the FDS proposal for the CPO Land promotes or improves one or more of the: social, economic or environmental well-being of the area. This is right and proper because the FDS scheme impinges on tenants’ and leaseholders’ property rights. There are undoubtedly and unfortunately some disbenefits associated with the CPO proposals. However, drawing on the evidence presented in this proof, I am convinced that the regeneration benefits of the FDS scheme for the CPO Land are substantial, guaranteed to be delivered and far outweigh the disbenefits. I look forward to the CPO being confirmed so that the benefits can be achieved, to improve the lives, livelihoods and life chances of Aylesbury Estate residents.

This research attempts to understand the continued paradox of housing availability and housing shortage for the rural poor in India. Scholars and planners have often explained this phenomenon in terms of affordability of the poor. The limited capacity of the very poor to repay the initial loan provided to obtain ownership inhibits many to access the facilities. In addition, some schemes demand that the beneficiaries already possess a piece of land, which can be used to avail the financial assistance for ‘pucca’ construction. In this thesis, we focus on the socio-cultural aspects of the target beneficiaries that plays an important role in the acceptance or rejection of schemes in addition to their affordability. Consequently, we argue that the ‘success’ of providing a safe shelter to the poor depends on both the aspirations of the beneficiaries and an appropriate policy mapped by the provider. By reconstructing the life chances and life styles of two shelter settlements constructed for the economically weaker sections in rural Kerala, an attempt is made to examine the notions of ‘satisfaction’ and ‘success’ as perceived by the beneficiaries.
Most research in this domain is largely appraisal or evaluation conducted soon after occupation and from the policy perspective or provider’s point of view. We therefore find little consensus on defining satisfaction and success when such ‘housing projects’ are discussed. In this thesis, we therefore have adopted a definition of success as:
A housing project can be termed as success when there is an intra-generational upward economic and social mobility of most of the families and they continue to live in the same settlement. 
In order to apply this definition we set out with three main objectives;
    1. To study the role of government policy in affecting the success and failure of housing projects in Kerala.
    2. To analyze the influence of the physical, social and cultural factors such as materials, technology, safety, social status and social interaction on the success of public housing projects for the poor in Kerala.
    3. To understand the inter-relationship between the government policies, physical, social and cultural factors in determining the success and failure of the housing projects for the poor.
To operationalize these objectives, we drew up a list of indicators that reflected the housing policy of the government; the physical modifications beneficiaries make to their houses, and the social and cultural background of the respondents that impact on the design and use of the house. We therefore see the house here as more than the mere provision of a shelter. It is a marker of the individual’s identity and status in the society.
We then selected two comparable projects in Kerala that were constructed about three decades ago and conducted a detailed survey of the respondents. We re-constructed the life stories of each family from the time of moving into the house and their subsequent efforts for upward economic and social mobility. As the objective was to examine the notion of satisfaction from the beneficiaries’ perspective this method of a comparative case study seemed suitable, which enabled us to view a project over a long period of time. The two projects selected were:
    • The Koothatukulam settlement under the OLHS, which was a special programme of the Kerala government to address the rural poor, and
    • The Marianad project constructed by an NGO – Trivandrum Social Service Society
Both came under the ‘Provider Approach’ to housing where the beneficiaries were identified after the houses were constructed. These two projects were selected as they represented some similarities but also some differences. They were located in two different districts of Kerala, one inhabited by a homogenous community (fishermen) the other a heterogeneous group. Both followed the twin house design but with a variation, one was constructed as part of an integrated development effort, the other purely as a scheme for providing shelter. They, thus, presented interesting points of convergence and departure that facilitated comparison. Data was collected from the respondents with the help of a schedule, which was complemented with semi- structured interviews with other stakeholders such as government officials, social workers and local panchayat leaders.
The data collected was classified and the indicators selected from literature were used for analysis. This involved examining the policy indicators such as extent of plot, technology used, beneficiary participation among others. We found that, while the plot size was larger in Marianad (10 cents) it was much smaller in Koothatukulam (4 cents). These ‘given’ by the provider impacts on the modifications, division (partition) among family members and subsequently impacts on the extent of satisfaction  of the beneficiary. Indicators representing physical structure of the house include design aspects and the ‘freedom to modify’ to cite an example. The twin house design of the Marianad house that shared a wall on the shorter side provided greater privacy and more space to modify or extend. In contrast, the Koothatukulam design, which shared the wall through all the three rooms, provided not only limited the possibility of extension but also added to lifestyle problems between neighbours. Poor maintenance on one side easily caused damage to the other side (such as termite attack). To give an example of a cultural indicator, we examined the perception of the house as a symbol of ‘social status’. Our analysis revealed that in the larger society such houses and its occupants are considered low in the social hierarchy. Distance is maintained and even marrying into families who live in such houses is avoided. Therefore, when the fishermen in Marianad were able to improve their economic status, they invested in re-modelling the house using modern materials. Marianad now presents itself as a middle-class settlement. Conversely in Koothatukulam, we found the residents aspiring to sell the house and move out of the ‘colony’ if economic status permits, thus trying to escape the social stigma of living in a ‘colony’.
The main contribution of this thesis has been to provide a framework mapping the inter-play of indicators across the domains - policy, physical and socio-cultural. We argue that satisfaction and success has to be understood in a holistic perspective where due attention has to be paid to the socio-cultural dimensions of the target beneficiaries. Any programme to house the poor has to be both location specific (technological factors to be considered) and community specific. Such an approach, we envisage could ensure the aid to develop the house as an asset in this context. We also observe that though the provider approach has been widely substituted by the facilitator approach to housing the poor, several advantages still remain in a provider approach. The facilitator approach excludes those who do not own a piece of land – such as the poorest but who will be eligible under the provider approach. Or the facilitator approach encourages the beneficiary to make his own decision on design and technology which have led to poor quality construction or ill-planned designs. Our tentative framework hopes to draw the attention of policy makers and other providers to address the salient variables identified while implementing or planning shelter programmes for the rural poor in India.

Mauritius is an island nation east of African continent. It is a developing country and following neo-liberal policies to boost the economy. On the flip side the country is witnessing housing shortage and numerous affordable housing schemes by the Government have failed to address the deficit. One of the main reasons of housing crisis is the land ownership pattern in the country which is dominated by the private landlords. This paper attempts to assess the affordable housing policy of Mauritius from housing adequacy perspective and attempts to provide solution to the same.

Résumé

Au Maghreb, les évolutions récentes des politiques d’habitat social sont marquées par l’émergence de l’approche participative du développement et par l’introduction de dispositifs multi-acteurs d’ingénierie sociale. À travers des regards croisés sur les programmes de logement en Algérie, au Maroc et en Tunisie, l’objectif de cet article est d’apporter une lecture critique des modalités de participation de la société civile dans les projets d’habitat social au sud de la Méditerranée. Alors que les instances internationales recommandent un processus plus inclusif, plus équitable et plus efficace que les interventions stato-centrées habituelles, la résorption de l’habitat insalubre se heurte en pratique à de multiples défis socioéconomiques, organisationnels et politiques.

Abstract

Comparative Assessment of Social Housing Policy in the Maghreb: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia

In the Maghreb, recent changes in social housing policies have been marked by the emergence of a participatory approach to development and the introduction of multiplayer social engineering mechanisms. Through a comparative assessment of housing programs in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, this paper takes a critical look at the mechanisms of civil society involvement in social housing projects on the south coast of the Mediterranean. Whereas international authorities recommend a more inclusive, more equitable, more effective process than the usual State-centred initiatives, addressing the problems of unsanitary housing poses significant socioeconomic, organizational and political challenges in practice.

This is an open source public document produced in connection with a UK urban regeneration CPO public inquiry. It should be read in association with other public inquiry documents including my proofs and those of Loretta Lees. In evidence, Professor Lees drew the Inspector’s attention to her current Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded research project. Attention was also drawn to the ESRC website which was said to contain a copy of the relevant research bid document. In fact, the website contains only a summary (appendix 1) of the full bid document that was submitted in evidence on 31 January 2018. The website identifies Professor Lees as the Principal Investigator. At the outset, I would note that the general subject of Professor Lees’ ESRC research outlined in the bid is welcome and necessary. The wish to evaluate the impacts of estate regeneration policy is commendable. That said, this response statement is intended to help the Inspector and the Secretary of State (SoS) understand the relevance of the research bid in the light of this CPO Public Inquiry and the evidence of Professor Lees. This statement provides a response to the research brief as it was called in evidence, for the ESRC project above. The brief is, in effect, the research bid that secured the funding for the project. This response is in two parts: 1) a response to the full research bid and 2) a response to the Abstract that is published on the ESRC website. This website Abstract contains the reference to Mr Boris Johnson’s “Kosovo-style social cleansing” that was referred to in oral evidence by Professor Lees.

Since the Global Financial Crisis, the notion of securitization has become familiar to urban scholars, though research has been limited to mortgage-backed securities. This paper attempts to delineate the distinctive urban outcomes of securitization techniques applied to real estate, taking Hong Kong REITs (H-REITs) as a case study. It examines the way through which liquid H-REIT capital anchors into the built environment, and how this process impacts the life of local communities. The study shows that the urban dynamics of REIT investment contrast with the corporate environment and asset management objectives of the initiator/sponsor groups of H-REIT structures, a set of characteristics that are captured by the notion of “management styles.” Amongst the three management styles identified in the paper, those developed by the Hong Kong family-based groups have not been sufficiently active to produce significant effects on the built environment. In contrast, the Link REIT has an aggressive value enhancement strategy that has reconfigured the social geographies of retail consumption across the whole territory, to the detriment of social housing estate residents. These results support the recognition that the financialization of the built environment tends to exacerbate social polarization and to trigger political conflicts, but they must be weighed against the contingent conditions in which real estate securitization take place.

This article argues that cultural values can act as dominant norms and subvert the state's official law in the awarding of post-disaster shelters to Typhoon Ondoy (Tropical Storm Ketsana) victims in a housing project in the Philippines. Applying some tenets of legal pluralism and some qualitative data from a case study, this article aims to show how the key Filipino cultural values of "palakasan," "sakop," and "padrino system" acted as the key unofficial laws or informal norms in the government's post-disaster housing project for Typhoon Ondoy victims, thereby sidestepping the official legal provisions on the awarding of housing units to disaster victims. Specifically, it describes how these cultural values undermined the implementation of the official law on the qualification of applicants and proper awarding of housing units to beneficiaries under the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction Management Act of 2010 and the Urban Housing and Development Act of 1992 in the Southville 8 Housing Project (S8HP), a governmental post-disaster housing project in Rodriguez, Rizal. In a highly politicized environment with plurality of stakeholders and norms in S8HP, the official state regulations became colonized by some powerful groups' dominant cultural values that acted as "unofficial laws" in the distribution of the housing units as shown by this study, resulting in the awarding of shelters to disqualified beneficiaries, forfeiting the intended effects of the state law. Ultimately, it argues that the law is not what the official state law says "it is' but what powerful individuals and groups say "it is" in actual social practice. It debunks the belief of legal formalists who advocate legal positivism and centralism, claiming that the law can deliver what it promises under the "rule of law" principle.

Stigmatisation of social housing, however, is a complex problem and many aspects of this phenomenon remain poorly understood. There is strong evidence from other European countries that this problem operates in an uneven fashion. Some social rented estates have a very positive public image while others are very stigmatised and in many countries local government provided social housing is more stigmatised than that provided by the non-profit sector (McCormick et al, 2012; Arthurson, 2013). There is little evidence as to whether stigmatisation operates in the same way in Ireland, however. To date, the impact of stigma in the social housing sector has been the subject of relatively limited research, particularly in the Irish context. Although regeneration strategies often aim to combat stigma they rarely include detailed strategies to achieve this goal. Furthermore, the effectiveness of measures to destigmatise social housing has not been well researched in Ireland and the international evidence indicates these measures have yielded  mixed results (McCormick et al, 2012; Arthurson, 2013).

This report aims to address these shortcomings in the evidence base regarding stigma and social housing. By analysing the extent, causes, perceptions and implications of stigma in Irish social housing estates and assessing the effectiveness of the strategies which aim to combat stigma, the research furthers understanding of stigmatisation in different social housing sectors in Ireland and offers recommendations for policy and practice interventions to combat stigma. Thus, this study examines stigma in local authority provided social housing (which encompasses approximately 70 per cent of social housing in Ireland) and social housing provided by housing associations (the independent not-for-profit charities that mainly provide social housing for people registered on local authority housing waiting lists and are sometimes known as approved housing bodies or voluntary housing bodies). This study uses a mix of different research methods to gain a comprehensive overview of the various dimensions of stigma in the Irish social housing system. These include: a review of the research literature on the nature of, and responses to, stigma in social housing; an analysis of large-scale survey data to measure the potential for or likelihood of stigmatisation and case studies of efforts to combat stigma in three social rented neighbourhoods in Dublin (Ballymun, Fatima Mansions and Clarion Quay).

Il riassetto delle politiche abitative italiane è stato caratterizzato dalla proliferazione di nuovi modelli locativi di 'social housing'. Essi sono stati orientati ad articolare maggiormente un'offerta di edilizia pubblica considerata residuale ed inefficacie, estendendo la stessa a specifiche categorie sociali di classe medio-bassa ritenute funzionali alla crescita urbana. Tali modelli locativi sono così spesso associati all'idea di social mix, dove enfasi è posta sulla necessità di rimediare agli effetti distorsivi connaturati al sistema di edilizia pubblica tradizionale (in particolare in termini di concentrazione spaziale di popolazione a basso reddito). L'analisi si concentra sul riassetto delle politiche abitative nel contesto di Bergamo, in Lombardia, analizzando l'implementazione di un nuovo modello di social housing denominato 'canone moderato' e investigando la sua efficacia nel promuovere social mix entro quartieri periferici ad elevata concentrazione di edilizia pubblica. La ricerca intende così contribuire a colmare la lacuna nel dibattito accademico sull'importazione delle politiche di social mix nel contesto dei paesi del sud Europa.

While population losses have accompanied urban development since the emergence of the first cities, it has only been quite recently that "shrinkage" has become a field of research in its own rights. Critical scholarly research stands in a somewhat difficult relation to this situation. On the one hand, there are numerous contributions calling for a general "acceptance" of shrinkage and more "openness" towards planning for a reduced population size. On the other hand, one can find contributions that criticize the limits of existing rightsizing policies, describing smart shrinkage as an exclusionary project, or set it into a context of the current austerity moment. The evaluation of this new round of urban policies is thus controversial. The common denominator of the papers in this special issue is a call for both widening the perspective on rightsizing policies by embedding them into a wider context of neoliberal urbanization and a demand for more attention towards context-specific pathways, dynamics and outcomes. At the same time, we want to highlight not only the local specificities but also provide a comparative political economy perspective on shrinking cities.

The debate on social mix lies at the intersection of disadvantaged neighborhoods and gentrification research. Also, current public debates around activists and concerned tenants criticize that the city accelerates gentrification with its top-down insertion of higher-class clientele.  The other side argues that a social mix promises to alleviate poor families out of their misery: The literature argues that services will return and a better habitus which will then lead to upward mobility for the disadvantaged and the neighborhood is deconcentrated from poverty (Byrne 2003 or Chaskin 2010 or Goetz 2003). However, this way, not the actual reasons of poverty are being treated and the services are not provided in favor of a social democratic reasoning of the city but because it caters to a consumerist middle-class lifestyle (Zukin 2013). Whoever of the poor can follow, will be able to gain social capital, the others will be isolated and displaced.
The current social mix debate lacks one significant factor: the understanding of the agency of the disadvantaged/working-class community. While the discourse usually sets a middle-class lifestyle as a normative model for all working-class and low-income families, the community’s individual ideas of what a ‘good' life means to them is a different story altogether and will be the center of this investigation. The center of the data collection will be the ‘green’ infill development in the Bronx at Arbor House 770  and/or a development site where the new buildings has not yet been established, as in the planned infill development at 120 3rd Avenue, in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn or the Holmes Towers on the Upper East Side.

Combatting stigma in public housing is a key concern among policy makers in the Republic of Ireland and internationally and this paper critically assesses the mechanism most commonly employed to achieve this – ‘income mixing’ or ‘poverty deconcentration’ of public rented neighbourhoods by encouraging households with a wider mix of incomes to live there.  This is most commonly achieved by ‘tenure mixing’ - providing private housing alongside public housing on the grounds that occupants of the former tenure tend to have higher incomes than occupants of the latter.  To do this the paper draws together empirical research on three public housing neighbourhoods in Dublin - Ireland’s capital and largest city - and insights from the critical geography and urban studies literature, to critically examine the effectiveness of tenure mixing as a public housing destigmatizing tool.  The analysis presented here demonstrates that tenure mixing often produces contradictory results – in terms of reduced external stigma but heightened internal or within neighbourhood stigmatization.  It links these outcomes to the policy and socio-economic contextual factors which we argue which play a central but underappreciated role in shaping the implementation of tenure mixing and its impact on public housing stigmatization.

This paper takes a long view perspective on estate regeneration with reference to Clapham Park, a large social housing estate in London. This estate was one of 39 areas in England included in the Labour Government’s New Deal for Communities (NDC) flagship regeneration programme which ran for ten years during the 2000s. This programme is an exemplar of New Labour’s brand of roll-out neoliberalism involving both communitarian and privatization strands. The research involves a multi-method case study of the estate before, during and after the NDC. The findings are analyzed in relation to neoliberalism, managed decline, and the dialectical interplay of regeneration and degeneration. Housing improvement was slow and limited during the NDC period itself, while post-NDC progress has been spatially uneven across the estate, with some refurbishment and redevelopment but also continuing housing deprivation. Tenants who had originally been supporters of the NDC were disillusioned with post-NDC housing and physical environment progress. The paper illustrates how regeneration and degeneration have intertwined over the long term, and concludes by highlighting the tensions within the NDC public-private partnership programme that attempted to meld together two ultimately contradictory governance logics - communitarian and market - that configured New Labour’s estate regeneration policy.

Public or ‘social’ housing provision in many nations in the Global North is increasingly being driven by neoliberal strategies that include austerity cuts and market-led privatization. This context raises an important question of how likely the state’s reliance on the private sector can ensure that housing remains available and accessible to more disadvantaged low-income groups. To help answer this question, we draw on a comparative study of social housing provision for disabled people in England and Chile; two pioneers of neoliberal reform in this sector. Using interviews with key stakeholders, our findings reveal that the neoliberal reform strategies being employed have tended to dilute the statutory duties of providing accessible housing and to undermine disabled people’s choices in finding appropriate homes. Such lessons are timely and important in order to remain cognisant of the spaces of neoliberal abandonment that are leaving many people unable to gain access to appropriate housing.

This essay tells the story of an extended and complex conflict between San Francisco and HUD and the creative solution that emerged from their negotiations. The conflict concerned the application of a community preference to a proposed senior housing development that would be located in a traditional African American neighborhood in San Francisco and its potential violation of federal fair housing law. After a brief background discussion of some of the policy and legal issues raised by community preferences, the essay tells the story of the conflict and its resolution. The essay concludes with reflections on the potential value of the solution to other similarly situated cities in the context of ongoing gentrification and displacement.

With the growing urban population in India there is a concern about the shortage as well as affordability of houses. To fulfill the shortage and make affordable houses in 2014, Prime Minister Awas Yojana Housing for All (PMAY HFA) for urban areas was launched. This paper makes an attempt to understand the challenges and opportunities presented by this program in the state of West Bengal. The paper finds that beneficiary led construction is the only strategy that dominates in the construction of affordable houses. Moreover no in situ slum redevelopment project has been taken up under this program so far in the state. Several enlisted beneficiaries opted out from projects due to various issues - inability to pay the beneficiary

Das Erkenntnisinteresse dieser Forschungsarbeit liegt in der Einflussnahme von Frauen als Auftraggeberinnen und Planerinnen im öffentlich geförderten Geschosswohnbau in Österreich. In den 1990er Jahren werden erstmals und auf frauenpolitischer Verwaltungsebene mehrere, sogenannte frauengerechte Modellwohnprojekte initiiert und unterstützt.
Deren Ziele sind die baulich-räumliche Umsetzung von vielfältigen Wohnbedürfnissen, Alltagsbezügen und Lebensformen von Frauen und damit die Veränderung der tradierten Rollenzuschreibungen im Haushalt sowie die höhere Beteiligung von Fachfrauen in der Wohnbauplanung. Längerfristig sollen diese in den geförderten Wohnbau übertragen werden.
Die folgenden drei Forschungsfragestellungen werden behandelt: Von welchen Erfolgen und Misserfolgen sind die selbstbestimmten Maßnahmen der Frauen in den Entwicklungen der Projekte gekennzeichnet? Welche Raumkonzepte können realisiert werden und welche Innovationen sind dabei erkennbar? Welche Impulse und Wirkung haben die Projekte und ihre Begleitmaßnahmen für den geförderten Wohnbau?

This report examines the mechanisms for funding the capital and revenue costs of providing council housing (ie. local authority provided social housing) in Ireland.  These mechanisms are unusual in the Western European context insofar as the capital costs of providing council housing in Ireland are funded entirely by government grants (not loans which are the norm internationally) and the revenue costs of managing and maintaining these dwellings are funded by tenants rents.  However in contrast to the norm in most other Western European countries, in Ireland  council housing rents are not linked to the costs of service delivery but rather to tenants incomes.  The report assesses the effectiveness of these funding mechanisms from the perspective of social housing supply and also the efficiency of housing management and maintenance they enable.  It concludes that arrangements for funding the capital costs of council housing provision in Ireland have driven a boom/bust pattern of social housing output.  This output pattern is also strongly pro cyclical because output has risen as the housing market and wider economy has boomed and declined during busts.  Although the system of income related rents used in the Irish council housing sector has a anti-poverty impact which is valuable in view of the low average incomes of tenants, this revenue stream generates inadequate income for effective housing maintenance and contributes to the over-reliance on large scale refurbishment and demolition and rebuilding of council housing in Ireland.

Nel mondo occidentale vi è una definizione cui molti autori e specialisti ricorrono nel tentativo di ritrovare una matrice comune di senso e che è stata proposta dal Comitato europeo di coordinamento per l’edilizia sociale (CECODHAS ) per cui l’housing sociale è un insieme di attività per fornire alloggi adeguati, attraverso regole certe di assegnazione, a famiglie che hanno difficoltà nel trovare un alloggio alle condizioni di mercato perché incapaci di ottenere credito o perché colpite da problematiche particolari.
In Italia il Social Housing  (SH) è una particolare politica ormai orientata alla selezione di beneficiari secondo modelli di tipo generalista in cui l’attenzione delle politiche è tutta sulla individuazione di soglie di reddito e di costo abitativo. Ciò in funzione di una situazione dello stock abitativo in cui la proprietà privata domina il mercato senza che sul versante pubblico, a differenza di quanto è accaduto nel resto d’Europa, sia avvenuto un forte rilancio dell’housing a finalità sociale. La prima difficoltà nelle analisi ma anche nelle sintesi del fenomeno complesso della casa è dato dalla necessità di distinguere il SH dall’edilizia residenziale pubblica. Anche quest’ultima è di difficilissima comprensione proprio a partire dalla sua natura di politica composita che comporta problematiche di svariata natura interpretativa proprio a partire dai suoi fondamenti giuridici.
E' importante definire il campo di indagine che per questo contributo e gli altri ospitati nel volume è limitato al fenomeno che riguarda la legge regionale del 2012 e che quindi esclude il problema ERP che presenta caratteristiche assai differenti e che almeno poggia su elementi di urgenza ed indifferibilità apparentemente più eclatanti e che sono all'attenzione continua da parte dei media e quindi della politica nazionale e regionale. Dall'esame dei documenti ed in particolare di quelli ANCE, Federcasa, (ecc.) ossia in qualche modo 'di parte' emerge la distanza dagli approcci dello Stato che in effetti appare sempre di più come un esattore che tende a spremere , dopo il 2011, l'unica risorsa patrimoniale 'in mano agli italiani'. Gli aspetti più vicini alla dimensione dell'agire del piano e del progetto risultano in questi ambienti argomentativi assai laterali, impliciti, quasi inutili. Dobbiamo chiederci la ragione. Ciò soprattutto perché il social housing nel senso più ampio che riguarda e comprende l'ERP, ha caratterizzato la nascita delle politiche per il governo urbano sotto la spinta della prima industrializzazione e non solo in Europa o in Occidente. La casa per tutti o solo per i poveri a seconda delle tradizioni di welfare nei vari paesi (secondo la distinzione tra modelli universalisti e selettivi di Esping e Andersen, 1990) è un principio che deriva dalla necessità di governare le città moderne in un modo che mai si era verificato prima e che richiedeva non più interventi particolari in specifiche città ma richiedeva il possesso collettivo di principi condivisi di diritti generali: l'urbanistica è nata anche così e su questo dato dovrebbe ancora trovare fondamento. Invece non è più così. Lo Stato tratta le problematiche sociali come può ed in base alla sua propria capacità di spesa (ovviamente) pubblica. Poiché lo Stato non può più nemmeno intuire il livello di protagonismo degli interventi Gescal o sembra addirittura un'altra Italia il fenomeno Ina Casa che pur nelle sue criticità e contraddizioni rimane una delle più importanti conquiste in materia di utilizzo dei principi di economia civile nell'azione pubblica orientata alla crescita ed allo sviluppo sia in termini di quantità della risposta alla domanda abitativa di un paese sostanzialmente cancellato dalle guerre e anche in termini di qualità sia nella ricerca dei nuovi principi di garanzia per la cittadinanza in urbanistica che di qualità abitativa e di ricerca innovativa in architettura. Il rinnovato interesse per il SH in Italia in urbanistica coincide con la ripresa di attenzione per il tea della perdita progressiva dei livelli di trans disciplinarietà che è stata alla stregua di cuore/motore nelle esperienze del golden age per l’Ina Casa (Scassellati, 1998; Trapani, 2009) e al cui approccio fortemente integrato bisogna ritornare (Fabbri, 2013). La posizione paternalista dello Stato è un lontano ricordo nel Social Housing come in urbanistica. Resta tutto il problema del passato dopo la cancellazione di Gescal e degli IACP e non c'è l'ombra di una soluzione attuale, integrata, generale e specifica come servirebbe.

L’intervento riguarda la dimensione politica dell’accesso alla casa. Tale dimensione politica si articola lungo varie sfaccettature fra loro correlate. Anzitutto ci sono le premesse ideologiche soggiacenti alle politiche abitative, con le radici politiche ben identificabili  cui può essere attribuita la scelta di favorire la proprietà della casa in Italia, con l’obiettivo altrettanto politico, fra gli altri, di contenere il conflitto sociale. Ci sono poi le conseguenze istituzionali di tali posizioni politiche, con lo scarso sviluppo dell’edilizia popolare se confrontato con quello di altri paesi; da cui discendono  anche  le  conseguenze  sociali,  con  lo sviluppo  storico  di  movimenti  per  il  diritto  alla  casa,  di  natura conflittuale, che va nella direzione opposta rispetto a quella auspicata dalla scelta politica originaria. Si tratta dunque di un tema complesso e intrinsecamente politico, che non può essere analizzato fermandosi alle chiavi di lettura che fanno perno sulla mera legalità, solo apparentemente oggettiva e neutrale.

On account of their size, their social importance and the radical way in which they are architecturally formulated the housing complexes of the post–war period provoke an ongoing critical discussion of the questions: “How do we want to live?” and “How should we live?” Opinions are very much divided over the dimensions, the normative floor plans, and the social structure of these large housing developments. The debate seems to be conducted between three different camps. There are those who suggest that there is a direct causality between form and function and attribute the social tensions within housing complexes to their external structure. Others uphold the autonomy of architecture and in the process either do not consider social policy and the residents or even hold them responsible for the negative image of this form of housing. The text that follows below can be allotted to the third camp: this viewpoint recognizes the complex interaction between form and political, economic, and social practices and
examines their relationship to the autonomous development of the form of housing, which has its own history of development and an inherent rationality.

Starting from architecture’s ability to operate using its own tools in a heterogeneous field between ideological, economic, and political practices, in this text consideration is given not only to how new social demands on existing housing can be met but also to how, in view of these hotly debated buildings, architects can in the first place adopt a critical and socially relevant approach.

Abstract Food security is at the heart of governmental agendas of developing countries. In Latin America, urban agriculture (UA) offers an interesting alternative to ensuring a sufficient, safe and nutritious food supply for urban populations. However, Latin American cities have been subject to radical transformations in the last decades, most apparently through the expansion of social housing. The main objective of this research is to analyze the social perceptions and feasibility of UA in Mexican social housing neighborhoods. The Merida city was used as a representative case study. Structured interviews were given to 65 key stakeholders across different categories (residents, urban government officials and technical experts). The results indicate a nonexistent perception of UA in Merida, despite the secular agricultural tradition of the Yucatan region. Nevertheless, respondents agreed in their interest in potentially developing UA activities to improve diets, increase green areas, support local economies, and reduce CO2 emissions. The main perceived barriers for UA are the prevalent model of housing, with a very limited floor area, and the current approach to urban planning, which lacks non-built-up areas. Significantly, large artificialized zones create suitable areas to implement UA on extended rooftops. Finally, stakeholders demand the intervention of authorities at different levels (Federal [national], State [regional] and local) as a requirement to develop UA properly. The main pathways for this support should be to prepare new urban and housing policies and introduce economic incentives.

In November 2020, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) finally released its long awaited White Paper, “The Charter for Social Housing Residents”. This White Paper attempts to solidify some of the ideas set out in the equally optimistically titled Green Paper—“A new deal for social housing”—published in August 2018. In our view, it is constructive to consider the White Paper in its historical context and in the light of current trends in regulation generally. We essentially ask three questions. Is there anything new? What is missing? And crucially, will it make a real difference for tenants?

Contribución a Crítica Urbana 12: Derecho a la Vivienda
En abierto: http://criticaurbana.com/
“Lo inesperado ha ocurrido. Si hace dos meses nos hubieran contado que  decenas  de  gobiernos  iban  a  inaugurar  marzo  de  2020  con  decretos  y  políticas  urgentes  para  contrarrestar  la  precarización  residencial,  habríamos  pensado  en  un  bonito  cuento  de  ciencia  ficción o historia alternativa.”

Garland, C. (2014) ‘As Barriers Fall, Contingency Becomes Possibility: Protest Resisting and Escaping Containment and Categorization’, Part II Identity, Embodiment and Categorisation in Eds. Lamond, I. and Spracklen, K. 'Protests as Events: Politics, Activism and Leisure (London: Rowman & Littlefield International) Hardback ISBN/9781783480760 Paperback ISBN/978-1-78348-077-7 eBook ISBN/978-1-78348-078-4 

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781783480760

The study is aimed to describe the interior design of housing units which are part of the Relocation Housing Project of National Housing Authority (NHA) in the community of Guadalupe Heights, Tacloban City. The purpose of the study is to address the low satisfaction, grievances and requests of the resident-beneficiaries which are sensitive to the needs of client-beneficiaries customized to the situations of vulnerable sectors particularly the senior citizens, PWD, pregnant women and children.

The Descriptive Research Design is used by the researcher to describe the responsive and relevant interior designs essentials to decent shelters of vulnerable groups of population---children, senior citizens, PWD and women. with 5 respondents from PWD, pregnant women, senior citizens and household with children. a survey-questionnaire is used to achieve the objectives of the study.    A self-formulated instrument is consisting of 3 parts--- (1) the personal profile of the occupants in the relocation site; (2) the level of satisfaction of resident-respondents with their home experience; and (3) the unique needs of the occupants associated with the interior designs that would make their experience more satisfying and comfortable. The second part of the questionnaire is a 5-point Scale Likert Type questionnaire consist of 5 question items that describe the respondents’ psychological and physical level of satisfaction. The third part of the questionnaire is an open-ended questionnaire that made the respondents more vocal and expressive of their discontent, grievances and idea or suggestions for improvement. The study dealt with secondary data---printed and electronic to meet the objectives of finding the interior designs sensitive to the needs of the occupants; the interior designs that promotes sustainable materials. Treatment of Accounts and Transcriptions are code and analyzed based on the content. They are sorted, tallied (frequency) and grouped into categories. Categories are combined that consist the themes which correlate to each other that form the same and or similar contents. Analyses of codes and categories are aimed to group the descriptions, opinions and feelings of respondents into themes of interior designing.

The narrative accounts of the resident-informants described the interior designs of their homes to be “unsatisfactory” they do not address the comfort, safety, spatial conditions, order, ambiance and climatic conditions that suit the special needs of the vulnerable population groups namely, Children, Senior Citizens, PWD, and Pregnant Women. For the improvement of their well-being. The study is concluded that the Relocation Housing Units in Guadalupe Heights, Tacloban City are generally at a “Needs Improvement” status. The provision of shelters by the government agencies and NGOs overlooked the special needs of the marginalized sectors which are unique from others for the improvement of their well-being and that enable the family to take good care of their elders, PWD, pregnant members and children. The housing projects somehow violated the Art. 3 of P.D. No. 603 rights of children and enabling laws provided in RA 7610 an RA 9262 Republic Act No. 9994 policies for the welfare of Senior Citizens Republic Act No. 7277 policies for the welfare of PWD, and Republic Act No. 9710 policies for the welfare of Women. 

In recent years, the housing system in Italy face huge problems, mainly due to the need to provide social housing for new population groups who have previously not been seriously affected by the housing shortage. Apart from the current economic situation which implies the scarcity of resources for housing, the widening of the housing gap can also be attributable to social marginalisation and to the difficulties faced by low-income buyers in paying housing costs. The first dimension of the problem arises from the new housing demand from different segments of the population with special needs (e.g. single parent families, young couples, low-waged working families, the students, the immigrants, the elderly), whose incomes are too little for market housing and too high to qualify for public social housing. The second dimension of the problem on the other hand, arises from the scarcity of public sector funds for meeting the housing requirements of this new "grey" population. Af...

En este libro analizo los tiempos, espacios y lugares que se produjeron, articularon y disputaron durante la implementación de los Programas Federales en Avellaneda, haciendo énfasis en las relaciones entre actores que compartieron las trincheras de su ejecución cotidiana: trabajadores de base, funcionaries y vecines.
Parto del supuesto de que toda política pública se produce, reproduce y transforma en los territorios de su implementación, y que del encuentro cotidiano entre actores emergen matices y nuevos desafíos para sus ejecutores. También me guío por la siguiente pregunta: ¿Cómo se producen, significan, articulan y disputan, desde la perspectiva de les actores que interactúan cotidianamente en su implementación, los tiempos, espacios y lugares de la política pública de construcción de vivienda social?

Without proper attention, houses disassemble. In public housing, property management regimes are charged with performing the repairs and maintenance necessary to combat this entropic tendency. This article argues that such governance regimes can accelerate housing’s disassembly, through rules that restrict housing interventions, bureaucratic technologies that misrecognize housing failure, and processes that defer and delay necessary fixwork. It analyzes Indigenous housing in the Northern Territory of Australia, in terms of three specific legal-bureaucratic instruments and the temporalizations they constitute: the lease and promise; the tender and repetition; the condition report and waiting. The article considers the effects of these pairings in Alice Springs town camps and the challenge of thinking beyond bureaucratic housing regimes.

The proliferation of quasi-market rental models has characterised the rearrangement of housing policy in Italy. These new models aim to differentiate the supply of social housing by including groups from the middle class, and to remedy the traditional public housing system's tendency to produce spatial concentrations of low-income population. They are thus associated with the notions of tenure diversification and 'social mix'. This analysis focuses on the rearrangement of housing policy in the context of Bergamo, by analysing the implementation of a new social housing model, namely 'moderate rental', and evaluating its effectiveness as a tool of tenure diversification within neighbourhoods characterised by high concentrations of public housing apartments and low-income households.

The distinction between dual rental systems and unitary rental markets is refined and developed. In particular, unitary rental markets are defined as markets in which barriers to non-profit providers competing on the rental market are removed, reserving the term ' ...