scholarly journals Social Mix Policies in the French Eco-Districts: Discourses, Policies and Social Impacts

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
Machline E. ◽  
Pearlmutter D. ◽  
Schwartz M.
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
High Rise ◽  
Social Mix ◽  
Social Mixing ◽  
Local Residents ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
State Subsidies

In the 1960s, France built large high-rise developments to house poor and immigrant populations. This policy led to the rise of crime and violent unrest in those developments. Responding to that failure, France has tried, especially since the eighties, to promote a social mix policy in its new housing developments. In the first decade of the twenty first century, France elaborated an eco-district (eco-quartier) program whose guidelines emphasize the goals of this social mix policy together with affordability in public social housing. In light of these developments, this paper focuses on the socio-economic aspects of French eco-districts, especially with respect to low-income populations. The eco-quartier housing distribution has shown that social mix goals are barely reached. In affluent cities, where property prices are high (such as Paris, its middle-class suburbs and some large cities), the municipalities build eco-quartiers in substandard neighborhoods, to attract middle class families. In average cities, some municipalities have implemented more social housing than planned, to provide developers with access to State subsidies and loans – but can still privilege the middle-class in the allocation of the resulting housing. In the poorest French towns, eco-quartiers can improve living conditions for local residents but do not effectively promote social mixing.

“They're Colonizing My Neighborhood”: (Perceptions of) Social Mix in Canada

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 486-505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra M. Bucerius ◽  
Sara K. Thompson ◽  
Luca Berardi
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Public Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
The United States ◽  
Urban Neighborhoods ◽  
Neighborhood Revitalization ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Social Mix ◽  
Regent Park

In recent years, urban neighborhoods in many Western nations have undergone neighborhood restructuring initiatives, especially in public housing developments. Regent Park, Canada's oldest and largest public housing development, is a neighborhood currently undergoing ‘neighborhood revitalization’ based on the social mix model. One tenet of this model is the idea that original public housing residents are benefiting from interactions with middle class residents. Based on qualitative interviews and ethnographic observations with original housing residents as well as new middle–class homeowners, we examine whether cross–class interactions actually occur “on the ground” in Regent Park. By examining an iteration of the model that differs with respect to the direction of resident movement—that is, the revitalization of Regent Park involves more advantaged residents buying into the once low–income neighborhood, as opposed to providing lower–income residents with housing vouchers to move out of the community (and into more affluent neighborhoods across the city)—our study provides a unique contribution to the existing research on social mix. In particular, our research examines whether the direction of this resident movement has any distinct or demonstrable impact on: (1) the daily perceptions, attitudes, and actions of original and new residents, and (2) the nature of cross–class interactions. Second, unlike the vast majority of studies done in Europe and the United States, which are conducted “postrevitalization,” we examine the effects of neighborhood revitalization as the process unfolds.

scholarly journals Isolated and dependent: women and children in high-rise social housing in post-war Glasgow

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 794-813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn Abrams ◽  
Linda Fleming ◽  
Barry Hazley ◽  
Valerie Wright ◽  
Ade Kearns
Keyword(s):  
Social Housing ◽  
High Rise ◽  
Women And Children ◽  
Post War

scholarly journals Delivery of Community Support Services for Older Adults in Social Housing

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 910-911
Author(s):  
Matthew Yau ◽  
Christine Sheppard ◽  
Jocelyn Charles ◽  
Andrea Austen ◽  
Sander Hitzig
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Support Services ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Community Support ◽  
Community Agencies ◽  
Visible Minorities ◽  
Community Support Services

Abstract Community support services are an integral component of aging in place. In social housing, older adult tenants struggle to access these services due to the siloed nature of housing and health services. This study aims to describe the relationship between community support services and social housing for older adults and examine ways to optimize delivery. Data on government-funded community support services delivered to 74 seniors’ social housing buildings in Toronto, Ontario was analyzed. Neighbourhood profile data for each building was also collected, and correlational analyses were used to examine the link between neighbourhood characteristics and service delivery. Fifty-six community agencies provided 5,976 units of services across 17 service categories, most commonly mental health supports, case management and congregate dining. On average, each building was supported by nine agencies that provided 80 units of service across 10 service categories. Buildings in neighbourhoods with a higher proportion of low-income older adults had more agencies providing on-site services (r = .275, p < .05), while those in neighbourhoods with more immigrants (r = -.417, p < .01), non-English speakers (r = -.325, p < .01), and visible minorities (r = -.381, p < .01) received fewer services. Findings point to a lack of coordination between service providers, with multiple agencies offering duplicative services within the same building. Vulnerable seniors from equity-seeking groups, including those who do not speak English and recent immigrants, may be excluded from many services, and future service delivery for seniors should strive to address disparities in availability and access.

Limits of the current implementation of incremental housing

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Goran Ivo Marinovic
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Housing Policy ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Bank Loans ◽  
Housing Project ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Specific Location ◽  
Current Implementation ◽  
Incremental Housing

In the case of conventional public housing, urban planners and policymakers design the layout of a housing project in a specific location and then estimate how many households can afford a home. This housing policy has been pursued as a legitimate solution for housing low- and middle-income households where the houses are individually financed by bank loans or mortgages raised by the occupants. John Turner criticised conventional housing solutions by affirming that ‘developing governments take the perspective of the elite and act as if the process of low-income houses were the same as in high-income countries and the same as for the small upper-middle class of their own countries’. Bruce Ferguson and Jesus Navarrete extend this argument with their critique of distributing finished houses to low-income populations and then requiring long-term payments, which are harmful to the beneficiaries. They note that ‘governments think of housing as complete units built by developers that households must purchase with a long-term loan rather than as a progressive process’.

Attitudes and Perceptions Related to Smoking among Pregnant and Postpartum Women in a Low-Income, Multiethnic Setting

1998 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 267-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline L. Dunn ◽  
Phyllis L. Pirie ◽  
Harry A. Lando
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Low Income ◽  
White Women ◽  
Smoking Behavior ◽  
Smoke Exposure ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Smoking During Pregnancy ◽  
Attitudes And Perceptions ◽  
Passive Smoke ◽  
Local Residents

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into attitudes and perceptions about smoking during pregnancy, passive smoke exposure, barriers to quitting, and program preferences among women in a low-income, ethnically diverse setting. Design. Nine focus group discussions were conducted with African-American, Native American, and white women. Discussions were moderated by local residents who shared the same ethnic background as group participants. Setting. Discussions were held in neighborhood centers and clinics in an urban area. Subjects. A total of 57 women participated. Moderators recruited participants from within their social networks and from neighborhood programs. The informal process of recruitment did not allow calculation of response rates. Measures. A series of open-ended questions with selected probes was used to guide the conversation. Results. Participants were aware that smoking during pregnancy is harmful and were concerned to varying degrees about their smoking behavior. Most women who smoked took active steps to reduce the risks. Actions were frequently accompanied by beliefs that rationalized moderate levels of smoking. While concerned, women were uncertain about what constituted harmful, passive smoke exposure. Personal barriers to quitting included being around others who smoked, feelings of stress and boredom, addiction, and not believing smoking is dangerous enough. Participants tended to value pregnancy-related advice from female friends and relatives over advice from professionals. Conclusions. Results suggest that many women respond to warnings about smoking during pregnancy, but actions are not necessarily measured, in quit rates. Misconceptions about the risks may help to rationalize continued smoking. Subjects lacked knowledge about how best to reduce the risks of passive smoke. Educational efforts may be effective when directed at networks of women who share information. The nature of qualitative data collection prevents extrapolation of these results to a larger population.

Failed Markets

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 38-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfonso Valenzuela Aguilera
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Financial Markets ◽  
Housing Market ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Financial Capital ◽  
Low Income Population ◽  
The Past ◽  
Politica Publica ◽  
Housing Needs

A confluence between the state, the housing market, and the rationale of financial capital has led to excessive growth of social housing in Mexico in the past two decades. This growth has been one way of channeling excess capital into global financial markets rather than the result of a public policy to address the housing needs of the low-income population. Durante las últimas dos décadas la confluencia entre el estado, el mercado de la vivienda y la lógica del capital financiero ha llevado a un crecimiento excesivo de la vivienda social en México. Este crecimiento ha sido una manera de canalizar el excedente de capital hacia los mercados financieros internacionales en vez del resultado de una política pública para resolver las necesidades de vivienda de la población de bajos ingresos.

A win-win situation? Urban regeneration and the paradox of homeowner displacement

2021 ◽  
pp. 0308518X2110500
Author(s):  
Yinnon Geva ◽  
Gillad Rosen
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Population Change ◽  
Urban Regeneration ◽  
High Rise ◽  
Market Choice ◽  
Contractual Agreements

This paper examines urban regeneration outcomes for homeowners through a mixed-methods analysis of population change in six redevelopment sites. Israel's national urban regeneration policy presents itself as a ‘win-win’ mechanism, claiming that it mitigates displacement. This claim is tested and discussed through the theoretical lens of state-led gentrification and displacement. The Israeli program relies on contractual agreements between private homeowners and developers and provides homeowners with newly built high-rise condominium units. Consequently, homeowners can choose how to capitalize on their new property – whether to inhabit, let or sell. We argue that their choice reflects the preferences and varied capabilities of owners. While homeowners are relatively protected from direct displacement, the variance in owner capabilities may lead to economic pressures that chiefly impact vulnerable low-income owners. We suggest that the Israeli model of sharing the benefits from housing commodification glosses over the capability gap and frames potential displacement pressures as market choice features.

The Political Implications of Urban Displacement: Notes from Two Fieldwork Research Projects in Casablanca

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-36
Author(s):  
Laura Guarino ◽  
Stefano Portelli
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Social Pact ◽  
Local Residents ◽  
Resettlement Programs

Abstract Resettlement programs have always been in the political agenda of public institutions and administrators of Casablanca since its growth during the French Protectorate. Today real estate and private multinational capital sneak into local and national powers, pushing public authorities to clear land for new urban development through demolition and resettlement of local residents. The dwellers of areas such as the old town centre (medina) and the slums (karyan) increasingly react to displacement by challenging this urban agenda frontally with their bodies and words, but often also deploying what James Scott calls “weapons of the weak”, i.e. implicit acts of resistance and symbolic dissent. Reversing Asef Bayat’s statement, we consider residents of these stigmatized neighbourhoods “revolutionaries without a revolution”, partisans of an intimate cause of their own, that aims at having a home and surviving in a hostile city. Our reflections are the product of two separate fieldwork researches: one with the inhabitants of informal neighbourhoods, another with residents and former residents of the old medina. The two cases show how resettlement affects the sense of belonging and of cohesion of low-income classes by uprooting the founding element of the everyday life: the house. The uncertainty about the possibility to keep their own home deeply conditions the implicit social pact with the monarchy apparatus, and may represent one of the conditions that are undermining the allegiance to the monarchy itself.

Favelas, Affordable Housing, and Authoritarian Urbanism in the Era of Mass Eradication in Rio de Janeiro, 1960s–1970s

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leandro Benmergui
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Rio De Janeiro ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Urban Infrastructure ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Military Regimes ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Right ◽  
The City

As the number of favelas and poor residents of Rio de Janeiro grew quickly by the mid-20th century, they became the object of policymaking, social science research, real estate speculation, and grassroots mobilization. After a decade in which local authorities recognized the de facto presence of favelas but without legally ascertaining the right of permanence, the 1960s and early 1970s witnessed the era of mass eradication. Seemingly contradictory—but complementary—policies also included the development of massive low-income housing complexes and innovative community development and favela urbanization experiences empowered by community organizations with the assistance of experts committed to improving the lives of poor Cariocas (residents of Rio). Favelas in Rio were at the crossroads of a particular interplay of forces: the urgent need to modernize Rio’s obsolete and inadequate urban infrastructure; the new administrative status of the city after the inauguration of Brasilia; and the redefinition of the balance of power between local, municipal, and federal forces in a time of radical politics and authoritarian and technocratic military regimes, Cold War diplomacy, and the transnational flows of expertise and capital.

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