scholarly journals Beyond renovation: Addressing Europe’s long housing crisis in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 096977642110434
Author(s):  
Carlos Delclós ◽  
Lorenzo Vidal
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Public Spending ◽  
Housing Affordability ◽  
Housing Cost ◽  
Housing Conditions ◽  
Housing Crisis ◽  
Financial Framework ◽  
The Right ◽  
Climate Neutrality

This commentary reflects on the potential of European Union institutions to address the continent’s crisis of housing affordability, which was well underway before the COVID-19 pandemic and has been exacerbated in its wake. Despite having no direct competencies in housing policy, European Union norms and policies shape housing conditions in significant ways. The greater level of public spending on housing renovation enabled by the 2021–2027 multiannual financial framework and NextGeneration European Union funding signals a welcome shift away from austerity. However, investment alone is not enough to advance the right to housing and may even reinforce existing inequalities. Plans like the Renovation Wave and the Affordable Housing Initiative must strive not only for climate neutrality but also for housing cost and tenure neutrality. Beyond pandemic recovery plans, this commentary argues that a more thorough departure from the market-based approach underlying the European Union’s institutionality is needed to tackle the roots of the current housing problematic.

scholarly journals LOOKING UPSTREAM: THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN AFFORDABLE HOUSING, NURSING HOME USE, AND UNMET CARE NEEDS IN THE COMMUNITY

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S155-S156
Author(s):  
Meghan Jenkins Morales ◽  
Stephanie Robert
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Home ◽  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Protective Factor ◽  
Population Aging ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Housing Cost ◽  
Housing Crisis ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Income Model

Abstract In the U.S., population aging is coinciding with a growing affordable housing crisis. Evidence suggests that housing security contributes to health, but less is known about how affordable housing affects aging in place. We use a nationally representative sample (n=5,117) of older community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries from the 2015 National Health and Aging Trends Study to test the association between housing cost burden (HCB) and moving to a nursing home, death, or remaining in the community by 2017. Among 2017 community-stayers (n=4,836), we also test the association between HCB and unmet care need, defined as experiencing a consequence related to 12 mobility (e.g., stayed in bed), self-care (e.g., skipped meals) and household (e.g., no clean laundry) activities. HCB is the proportion of income spent on rent or mortgage: low (<30%), moderate (30-50%), severe (≥50%), or home paid off (referent). Among nursing home movers, 26% had moderate or severe HCB in 2015 compared to 16% of community-stayers. Informed by the person-environment fit perspective, weighted stepwise regression models (multinomial and logistic) adjust for race, age, sex (Model 1), self-rated health, probable dementia (Model 2), living with others and high income (Model 3). Severe HCB is significantly associated with nursing home entry (RRR=2.66, SE=0.89) and this association is only partially mediated by health factors (RRR=2.16, SE=0.72) and resources (RRR=1.95, SE=0.64). Among community-stayers, severe HCB is significantly associated with unmet care need across all models. This study suggests that affordable housing is an important protective factor for older adults to age well in the community.

scholarly journals Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 25-29
Author(s):  
Beatriz Pérez de las Heras
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
70Th Anniversary ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Studies ◽  
European Elections ◽  
Political Cycle ◽  
Financial Framework ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
Climate Neutrality ◽  
The Eu

Following the European elections of May 2019, the European Union (EU) opened a new institutional political cycle for the period 2019-2024. The year 2020 initiates a new time when the EU will have to tackle pending issues, such as United Kingdom’s exit or the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework, while addressing new challenges, such as the achievement of climate neutrality or the development of the European Defence. In addition, the EU will commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration on 9 May 2020, which will be an important and propitious event to take stock of the European political project and look to the future. This issue 62/2020 of Deusto Journal of European Studies includes contributions that deal with some of the issues and challenges the EU will face in the coming years.Published online: 02 April 2020

Placing and Studying the Action

2020 ◽  
pp. 38-58
Author(s):  
Paul Lichterman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
The United States ◽  
Housing Affordability ◽  
Housing Conditions ◽  
Housing Crisis ◽  
Civic Action ◽  
Institutional Processes ◽  
Big Picture

This chapter examines the fight for housing affordability, which is just one instance of civic action. Advocates across the coalitions and organizations in this study talked about housing “affordability” as one of their primary concerns, and often the biggest one. When they said housing in Los Angeles was unaffordable and there was a “housing crisis,” they usually meant housing was too expensive for many ordinary Angelenos or frequently unavailable at an affordable price. Using the same language of affordability, it makes sense to ask about the big picture. Is housing unaffordability usually temporary or chronic? Does it result from deep, institutional processes or contingencies relatively easy to alter? Does it affect only particular kinds of people or places? It makes sense to ask about this study's locale too. What might make housing conditions and problems in Los Angeles distinctive, or characteristic of life in the United States, or global, or maybe all three? The chapter provides a brief sketch of crucial contexts that affect the affordability of housing and make it potentially a problem.

scholarly journals The housing crisis in Australia and New Zealand: A comparative analysis through policy lenses

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-223
Author(s):  
Don Amila Sajeevan Samarasinghe ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Housing Affordability ◽  
Housing Crisis ◽  
Housing Policies ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
The World ◽  
The Government

Housing affordability is a prominent issue across the world. There is a growing concern that the number of people experiencing homelessness is rapidly increasing. As a solution, many countries, including Australia and New Zealand, have introduced housing policies aimed at providing affordable houses to low-to-medium income families. Over recent years, several affordable housing policies have been introduced in both Australia and New Zealand, including public housing initiatives, rental subsidies, accommodation supplements, state housing programmes and the provision of social housing. New Zealand launched the KiwiBuild programme in 2018 to increase housing affordability. Unfortunately, in 2019, KiwiBuild was unable to deliver its targeted primary objectives set by the Government. This study features a comparative analysis, primarily focusing on comparing and contrasting affordable housing policies in Australia and New Zealand. Subsequently, it discusses the reasons why the KiwiBuild programme failed. It makes recommendations based on policies used in Australia with a view to improving affordable housing policies in New Zealand. This research contributes and adds to the existing body of knowledge about affordable housing policies in both Australia and New Zealand. The recommendations will be helpful for future researchers who wish to develop workable policies to assist with affordable housing-related issues in New Zealand.

The people push back: protests for affordable homes for all

Housing Shock ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 191-216
Author(s):  
Rory Hearne
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Public Land ◽  
Housing Crisis ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
Grassroots Groups ◽  
The People ◽  
Take Back ◽  
The Right ◽  
The City ◽  
Over Time

Housing has always been a deeply political issue given its centrality to people’s lives. However, how it is politicised and treated, and its prominence in political and public debate, has changed over time. Housing is now becoming a political battleground of the 21st century between big finance, government and citizens seeking affordable housing. This chapter details the new housing protests and movements in Ireland challenging evictions and rising homelessness, and the scandal of derelict properties and high rents, and are campaigning for the use of vacant public land for affordable homes for all and the inclusion of the right to housing in the Constitution and law. A housing movement has been increasingly active in Ireland since 2014, responding to growing homelessness, and rental and mortgage arrears crises. Activity initially involved a number of small grassroots groups working incrementally to develop strategies and tactics around how to tackle the housing crisis in Ireland. A larger housing social movement erupted sporadically in 2016 over plans to demolish and redevelop Apollo House, a former government office block, and then in a more sustained manner in 2018 with the Take Back the City and Raise the Roof campaigns.

A wicked problem

2019 ◽  
pp. 23-46
Author(s):  
Nick Gallent
Keyword(s):  
Structural Change ◽  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Productivity Growth ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Wicked Problem ◽  
Housing Cost ◽  
Fundamental Change ◽  
Housing Crisis ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Status

Delivering broader access to decent, affordable housing is a wicked problem – a seemingly intractable challenge that has incubated in a political space. There are numerous competing explanations of the housing cost crisis and each explanation reveals a particular political leaning and a preference for either incremental action (aimed at protecting the status quo) or deeper structural change, which would be difficult to achieve given that the housing crisis is differently experienced depending on the market position of particular groups and actors (generating divergent self-interest). This chapter unpacks the nature of the housing crisis as a wicked problem, showing how and why remedies are highly contested and single actions are unlikely to deliver the fundamental change that is needed – largely because housing has become the centre of economic gravity in many countries, owing to the financialisation of land and housing and increased reliance on asset sheet growth, as a substitute for productivity growth.

scholarly journals Australian local governments and affordable housing: Challenges and possibilities

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-33
Author(s):  
Alan Morris ◽  
Andrew Beer ◽  
John Martin ◽  
Sandy Horne ◽  
Catherine Davis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Housing Policy ◽  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Home Ownership ◽  
Housing Affordability ◽  
Local Government Area ◽  
Housing Crisis ◽  
Nation Wide Survey ◽  
Almost All

For an increasing proportion of Australian households, the Australian dream of home ownership is no longer an option. Neoliberal housing policy and the financialisation of housing has resulted in a housing affordability crisis. Historically, Australian housing policy has afforded only a limited role to local government. This article analyses the results of a nation-wide survey of Australian local governments’ perceptions of housing affordability in their local government area, the possibilities for their meaningful intervention, the challenges they face, the role of councillors and councils’ perceptions of what levels of government should take responsibility for housing. Almost all of the respondents from Sydney and Melbourne councils were clear that there is a housing affordability crisis in their local government area. We apply a framework analysing housing policy in the context of neoliberalism and the related financialisation of housing in order to analyse the housing affordability crisis in Sydney and Melbourne. We conclude that in order to begin resolving the housing crisis in Australia’s two largest cities there has to be an increasing role for local government, a substantial increase in the building of social and affordable housing and a rollback of policies that encourage residential property speculation. JEL Codes: R31, R21

Housing affordability sets us apart: The effect of rising housing prices on relocation behaviour

Urban Studies ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 004209802094348
Author(s):  
Tim Winke
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Housing Prices ◽  
Real Estate Market ◽  
Housing Affordability ◽  
City Centre ◽  
Housing Cost ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Time Dynamics ◽  
Quasi Experimental

Life course events such as new offspring or job loss affect a household’s demand for housing. At the same time, dynamics in the real estate market constrain where households find affordable housing. In a quasi-experimental design, this study examines the effect of increasing local housing prices on the relocation behaviour of low- and medium-income households. Difference-in-difference panel regressions using propensity score matching show that with rising local rental prices, low-income households are more likely to remain in their current housing and sustain higher levels of housing cost burden. If they move, they relocate further out of the city centre and to neighbourhoods with high unemployment rates. Rising housing markets facilitate socio-spatial segregation as middle-income households remain in economically better-off neighbourhoods. The findings highlight the additional costs of increasing housing prices in terms of the misallocation of housing and the spatial concentration of vulnerable households at the outskirts of cities.

How global is the affordable housing crisis?

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Coupe
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Policy Transfer ◽  
Housing Affordability ◽  
Housing Crisis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Detailed Picture ◽  
Gallup World Poll

Purpose This paper aims to determine to what extent the housing affordability crisis is a “global” crisis and to what extent there is a variation across countries and over time, in who is concerned about housing affordability. Design/methodology/approach The author analyses data from about 500,000 respondents from over 140 countries and uses both descriptive statistics as well as regression analysis (using a random effects within between model [Bell et al., 2019]). Findings The findings show that concerns about housing affordability are widespread both within and across countries but the extent of these concerns depends greatly on the country, the subgroup and the indicator analysed. Moreover, in many countries, more people worry about other aspects of life than about housing affordability. Research limitations/implications The global diversity in the housing affordability crisis suggests that one should be cautious when extrapolating research findings for a given country to other countries or when proposing housing policy transfer across countries. Practical implications The specific nature of the housing affordability crisis varies substantially across countries. Policymakers thus should be aware that there is no guarantee that a housing affordability policy that was effective in one country will also be effective in another country. Originality/value This paper is original in its use of the Gallup World poll, a unique survey, which is done world-wide and hence is ideally suited for the purpose of this paper, providing a much more detailed picture of the global housing crisis than so far available in the literature.

scholarly journals Viewpoint: Turning streets into housing

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1061-1073
Author(s):  
Adam Millard-Ball
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Autonomous Vehicles ◽  
Housing Affordability ◽  
Right Of Way ◽  
Housing Costs ◽  
Accessory Dwelling Units ◽  
Potential Strategy ◽  
The Right ◽  
Street Width

I argue that wide residential streets in US cities are both a contributor to homelessness and a potential strategy to provide more affordable housing. In residential neighborhoods, subdivision ordinances typically set binding standards for street width, far in excess of what is economically optimal or what private developers and residents would likely prefer. These street width standards are one contributor to high housing costs and supply restrictions, which exacerbate the housing affordability crisis in high-cost cities. Planning for autonomous vehicles highlights the overprovision of streets in urban areas. Because they can evade municipal anti-camping restrictions that restrict the use of streets by unhoused people, autonomous camper vans have the ability to blur the distinction between land for housing and land for streets. I propose two strategies through which excess street space can accommodate housing in a formalized way. First, cities could permit camper van parking on the right-of-way, analogous to liveaboard canal boats that provide housing options in some UK cities. Second, extending private residential lots into the right-of-way would create space for front-yard accessory dwelling units.

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