Search Results

Why Building More Housing Will Not Work

Rob Imrie

in Concrete Cities: Why We Need to Build Differently

A fallacy of our building culture is that there is a shortage of housing which is the root cause of a crisis that includes unaffordability and homelessness. A proffered solution is to build more ... More

A fallacy of our building culture is that there is a shortage of housing which is the root cause of a crisis that includes unaffordability and homelessness. A proffered solution is to build more housing, a supply side argument that, as Pettifor (2018: 1) notes, is a conventional wisdom ‘bought into’ by everyone, ‘from the government, to housing charities, to housebuilders’. This ‘wisdom’ goes more or less unchallenged, and propagates swathes of volume house building that do little to tackle the problems of housing shortfalls. Chapter 7 challenges the ‘building as solution’ argument, and argues for a ‘less is more’ approach that tackles the complexities relating to people’s inability to get access to good quality housing. Part of an approach ought to be to build less and to work better with what exists, including bringing back into use the 210,000 long term empty homes in England (Westwater, 2019). It also means changing how people get access to housing, including reforming housing finance, rent controls, and a paraphernalia of other systems that, if left untouched, will mean that building more housing is ineffective.Less

Rehousing Homeless Persons

IAN LOVELAND

in Housing Homeless Persons: Administrative Law and the Administrative Process

This chapter argues that the issue of local housing supply can be a crucial determinant of both the conduct and content of Part III decision-making. At the most basic level it is evident from the ... More

This chapter argues that the issue of local housing supply can be a crucial determinant of both the conduct and content of Part III decision-making. At the most basic level it is evident from the data already presented that all three authorities modelled their administrative behaviour according to their perception of the Act's requirements. ‘Homelessness’, ‘priority need’, ‘intentionality’, and ‘local connection’ were key players in each council's decision-making processes.Less

Britain’s cities today: a progress report

Anne Power and John Houghton

in Jigsaw cities: Big places, small spaces

This chapter examines the origins of the Sustainable Communities Plan within the divided and unequal cities, challenging the sustainability of the plans for ‘boom and abandonment’, particularly the ... More

This chapter examines the origins of the Sustainable Communities Plan within the divided and unequal cities, challenging the sustainability of the plans for ‘boom and abandonment’, particularly the intense urban growth proposed for the South of the country. It notes that in 2003 the government set out its big-picture of vision of continuing urban growth for England in the Sustainable Communities Plan, a radical attempt to ‘re-balance’ housing supply and demand in all parts of the country. It claims that the progress report presents a mosaic of encouraging dynamism and new thinking, alongside worrying signs of decrepitude and mistakes.Less

Why Is Housing So Expensive?

Yue Chim Richard Wong

in Diversity and Occasional Anarchy: On Deep Economic and Social Contradictions in Hong Kong

According to the traditional point of view, demand for residential flats outstrips land supply because of high housing prices. Another viewpoint claims that housing prices soar because of an array of ... More

According to the traditional point of view, demand for residential flats outstrips land supply because of high housing prices. Another viewpoint claims that housing prices soar because of an array of government regulations on zoning, planning, as well as other restrictions on buildings. Professor Edward Glaeser of Harvard University discovered that the housing crisis in the States was chiefly triggered by the high cost imposed by zoning and other land use controls. This chapter glances at two factors that modify the housing supply environment and the consequences posed to society by high property prices.Less

The Origins of Neighborhood Change

George C. Galster

in Making Our Neighborhoods, Making Our Selves

This chapter argues that the metropolitan housing market primarily drives neighborhood change. It models this market as an interconnected array of submarkets segmented by housing quality. Within each ... More

This chapter argues that the metropolitan housing market primarily drives neighborhood change. It models this market as an interconnected array of submarkets segmented by housing quality. Within each submarket, there is latitude for independent adjustments of demand and supply but submarkets also are interconnected by actions of households, owners and converters of existing dwellings, and builders of new dwellings. Exogenous shocks impinging initially on one submarket create signals that eventually lead to systematic but non-uniform repercussions throughout the submarket array. These adjustments of demanders and suppliers fundamentally engender the neighborhood change process, which manifests itself in alterations in the composition of residents and the physical character of the dwellings. If such changes are persistent and consistent across a number of neighborhoods, there will be second-round effects on the local retail sector and the fiscal capacity of the local public sector. These impacts, in turn, feedback to magnify the initial impetus of neighborhood change. The chapter presents the first fundamental proposition of this book, the proposition of externally generated neighborhood change. It states that most forces causing neighborhoods to change originate outside the boundaries of that neighborhood, often elsewhere in the metropolitan area.Less

Housing in an ‘opportunity society’

Malpass Peter

in Social Policy Review 17

This chapter describes the recent developments in housing, examining a series of key themes that include affordability, housing supply, and governance. Particular attention is given to the potential ... More

This chapter describes the recent developments in housing, examining a series of key themes that include affordability, housing supply, and governance. Particular attention is given to the potential implication of the final report of the review of housing supply in England. The chapter provides a critique of how New Labour's emphasis on ‘choice, responsibility, and opportunity’ in housing continues to worsen the inequalities in this area of social policy.Less

Austerity’s legacy: risk, opportunity and a new form of central–local relations?

Janice Morphet and Ben Clifford

in Reviving Local Authority Housing Delivery: Challenging Austerity Through Municipal Entrepreneurialism

This chapter reviews how local authorities in England have taken a range of initiatives to respond to super-austerity and face the twin crises of managing housing demand and supply. It discusses the ... More

This chapter reviews how local authorities in England have taken a range of initiatives to respond to super-austerity and face the twin crises of managing housing demand and supply. It discusses the restructuring of the form of local government and the creation of new unitary authorities or merging council administrations. It also explores the involvement of a range of direct activities for the local government to meet specific needs for housing and generate more income through property acquisition and investment. The chapter investigates the extent to which local authorities have engaged in asset- and income-generation approaches. It describes how councils have continued to extend their activities in a cumulative way, as they gain more confidence and learn from others.Less

Planning and the Assessment of Housing Need and Demand

Geoffrey Meen and Christine Whitehead

in Understanding Affordability: The Economics of Housing Markets

The land use planning system in Britain is frequently seen as a key constraint on increasing housing supply and this is the topic for Chapter 9 in conjunction with an analysis of the development and ... More

The land use planning system in Britain is frequently seen as a key constraint on increasing housing supply and this is the topic for Chapter 9 in conjunction with an analysis of the development and use of household projections in determining housing requirements. Household projections had, and continue to have, very real impacts on how land supply and prices are determined and therefore on how many new homes are provided. The chapter discusses the development of the regulatory system starting from the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act and the role of the public sector in overcoming post-war shortages. The chapter then moves on to examine the development of concerns about the negative impacts of planning from the 1970s. The question arises whether this approach remains relevant in a market-led economy. The chapter also considers alternatives to the English land use planning model, notably the use of zoning systems in many countries with comparable pressures.Less

Neighbourhood planning and the spatial practices of localism

Quintin Bradley, Amy Burnett, and William Sparling

in Localism and Neighbourhood Planning: Power to the People?

This chapter examines the use of statutory planning powers to effect spatial change by neighbourhoods in England. Neighbourhood planning is unusual in that a tailor-made set of statutory powers was ... More

This chapter examines the use of statutory planning powers to effect spatial change by neighbourhoods in England. Neighbourhood planning is unusual in that a tailor-made set of statutory powers was devised and offered to communities to give them distinct rights within the development planning framework. Where much research on neighbourhood planning has focused on its impact on community governance and the management of place, the chapter is concerned with the implementation of a set of spatial practices, and the use by neighbourhoods of a specific, and quite limited, framework of land-use planning to achieve their goals. It addresses the approach taken by neighbourhoods to the key challenge of housing supply, before reviewing the use of planning policy to highlight the goals of social sustainability in regeneration and public infrastructure, and considering the environmental measures and low-carbon alternatives promoted in neighbourhood plans. The chapter concludes with an assessment of what is distinctive about the spatial practices of neighbourhood planning and their impact on land and property markets.Less

Conclusion: negotiating the housing market over the next decades

Andrew Beer, Debbie Faulkner, Chris Paris, and Terry Clower

in Housing transitions through the life course: Aspirations, needs and policy

This concluding chapter reviews the assumptions that led to the major research project which supports this book. It draws out some of the key lessons that were uncovered on the dynamics between ... More

This concluding chapter reviews the assumptions that led to the major research project which supports this book. It draws out some of the key lessons that were uncovered on the dynamics between housing and the life course in the twenty-first century. The discussion also sheds more light on how the housing markets and systems of housing supply are likely to evolve over the coming decades, and what this will mean for populations.Less

Priority Need and Homelessness

IAN LOVELAND

in Housing Homeless Persons: Administrative Law and the Administrative Process

This chapter analyzes the interpretation and application of two of the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977's discretion-laden components: priority need and homelessness. It identifies a few threads ... More

This chapter analyzes the interpretation and application of two of the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977's discretion-laden components: priority need and homelessness. It identifies a few threads which might begin to offer tentative explanations of why each authority exhibits differential awareness of and conformity to lawful decision-making procedures and outcomes. Eastern's limited housing supply appears, for example, to be a dominant influence on the HPU's generally restrictive implementation of s.58 and s.59.Since Western was not suffering an acute housing shortage, one would have to look elsewhere to explain its equally rigid insistence that women applicants pursue legal remedies.Less

Introduction

in Extending Themselves: User Initiated Transformations of Government-built Housing in Developing Countries

This introductory chapter first sets out the book's purpose, which is to argue that transformations are a valid activity in housing supply and should be supported as part of a country's housing ... More

This introductory chapter first sets out the book's purpose, which is to argue that transformations are a valid activity in housing supply and should be supported as part of a country's housing policy. It then describes the structure of the book; the presentation of the data; space syntax diagrams; sampling and sub-samples; and government-built housing in developing countries. The chapter also discusses government-built housing in Mirpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Medinet Nasr, Cairo and Workers' City, Helwan, Greater Cairo, Egypt; Asawasi and Suntreso, Kumasi, Ghana; and Mbare and Highfield, Harare, Zimbabwe.Less

The housing squeeze

in Extending Themselves: User Initiated Transformations of Government-built Housing in Developing Countries

This chapter discusses the following: the scale and nature of the housing shortage; housing adjustment theory; housing stress, shocks, and triggers; the choice between moving and improving; household ... More

This chapter discusses the following: the scale and nature of the housing shortage; housing adjustment theory; housing stress, shocks, and triggers; the choice between moving and improving; household size and composition; increase in housing space; increase in house size through transformation; habitable space; proportion of space that is habitable; occupancy rates of main households; space and rooms occupied before and after transformation; and increase in space per person through transformation.Less

New solutions?

Ruth Lupton

in Poverty Street: The dynamics of neighbourhood decline and renewal

This chapter provides a discussion on the solutions for the problems of housing and labour. The major advantage of stock transfer was that it offered an unprecedented opportunity to improve housing ... More

This chapter provides a discussion on the solutions for the problems of housing and labour. The major advantage of stock transfer was that it offered an unprecedented opportunity to improve housing conditions. Apart from the improvement of the existing stock, the other major development since the first acquaintance with the areas was the open discussion of the social and economic value of mixed-income and mixed-tenure neighbourhoods and the development of specific plans to break up poverty clusters. In the absence of stock transfer, funding housing improvements at neighbourhood level was difficult. Local authorities were also looking to reduce poverty concentrations by changing the tenure mix of neighbourhoods. The overall picture in 2001 was more optimistic than in 1999, and there were prospects of tackling housing-demand and -supply problems in the longer term.Less

Targeting ‘local’ needs

Madhu Satsangi, Nick Gallent, and Mark Bevan

in The rural housing question: Community and planning in Britain's countrysides

One of the revealing tactics for addressing housing supply pressures in the rural areas is the selective targeting of ‘local’ needs. This involves giving priority access to ‘local people’. Priority ... More

One of the revealing tactics for addressing housing supply pressures in the rural areas is the selective targeting of ‘local’ needs. This involves giving priority access to ‘local people’. Priority access to specified groups is often a requirement, written into a planning obligation where affordable housing is delivered through an exceptional permission or secured as a planning gain within a private development. In some instances, occupancy conditions have been attached to all new housing developments in an area. The local planning authority which enabled the scheme through its development control function has the responsibility to ensure that housing for local needs fulfils this purpose. This tactic is revealing: first, it highlights the indirect nature of the public response to the need for affordable housing; and second, it shows how authorities address the specific needs of a part of the housing market without increasing the general supply thereby mustering local support for development. However, this tactic has several issues and dilemmas. This chapter discusses the issues attached to the selective targeting of the ‘local’ needs. First, it discusses the controversy surrounding the priority given to ‘local people’. Second, it examines the effectiveness and the success of the tactic. Third, it analyses the implications of the giving priority to local needs on the general supply of housing as well as the undesirable consequences of the tactic. Fourth, the chapter discusses the people that should be given priority — it identifies who is ‘local’. And finally, the chapter discusses to what extent the tactic can be used to widen the social mix and create more ‘sustainable’ rural communities.Less

New residents in rural areas

Madhu Satsangi, Nick Gallent, and Mark Bevan

in The rural housing question: Community and planning in Britain's countrysides

In the early decades of the twentieth century, the majority of rural areas were losing population. These changes in the population patterns of rural areas were brought about by the emergence of ... More

In the early decades of the twentieth century, the majority of rural areas were losing population. These changes in the population patterns of rural areas were brought about by the emergence of commercial farming, industrialisation, clearance, and closure, hence forcibly moving people out of their lands, eradicating traditional ‘common rights’ and enforcing private ownership. These rural processes have led to the consolidation of land ownership in the hands of a few people; the rise of modern capitalism; and the move towards scientific enlightenment. In addition, the rural processes also led to out-migration and the depopulation of rural areas. This chapter discusses the emergence of new residents in rural areas. After the war period, counter-urbanisation began to return the rural population to its pre-war level. However, these were not the same residents who have toiled the land, rather they are residents with town or city-based jobs who come to the countryside to retire or to purchase second homes. Many of these new residents were ‘consumers’ who were not part of the ‘productive life’ of the countryside. These new residents brought with them new perceptions of what village life should be, new aspirations and different values. In this chapter, two questions are addressed and examined: first, what put the countryside on this trajectory, and second, what implications do the changing population level and resident characteristics have on housing need, housing supply and the rural housing question?Less

Does Environmental Remediation Benefit the Poor?

Jacob L. Vigdor

in The Political Economy of Environmental Justice

This chapter examines a number of important caveats for the prediction that cleanup triggers price increases. An important factor is that many environmental justice communities have low occupancy ... More

This chapter examines a number of important caveats for the prediction that cleanup triggers price increases. An important factor is that many environmental justice communities have low occupancy rates for their housing stock. These vacancies represent slackness in housing supply conditions. Even if cleanup increases the demand for housing in the community, the slack may be more than able to absorb this new demand without any effect on prices. Showing the importance of such exceptions, this chapter then examines communities near Superfund sites and finds little evidence for increases in housing prices after they became eligible for federal cleanup dollars by being listed on the Superfund National Priority List.Less