Condition Of Housing Stock Research Articles

Energy Poverty Indicators in Ukraine: Definition and Statistical Assessment

An important step on the way to setting up a socio-economic trajectory of the national economy development in the context of Eurointegration process and to achieving a stable energy support of social needs is the approval and implementation of the Energy Security Strategy of Ukraine, being now under consideration of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. A strategic goal of the Strategy is defined as the guaranteed accessibility of energy sources and energy resources for all the types of consumers. However, given the rapidly declining standard of living, the government policy aimed at increasing energy tariffs has led to the increased share of households unable to meet their basic energy needs.
 The inability of households to meet their basic needs (to heat dwelling facilities in winter or to pay the bills) due to poor assess to energy services is defined in EU countries as energy poverty. In practice, determining the energy poverty includes the assessment of the share of total household or individual income spent for energy sources. But this share is not fixed by the Energy Community or the European Union, neither unified methodological approaches to determining vulnerable categories of population nor factors of energy poverty do exist, which highlights the topicality of this study.
 The conditions and standard of living of Ukrainian households are analyzed in view of their belonging to energy vulnerable ones. An assessment of basic features of households is made, to characterize the condition of housing stock and the modernization of housing; the availability of modern electric devices; the parameters of heating and cooling facilities; the parameters of water boiling facilities; the material condition of households and the structure of their total spending; the solvency of households. The information base for this study is the data obtained from the national sample survey on the accessibility and use of energy by Ukrainian households, held in 2019 on line on the USAID Project of Energy Security by the initiative of the State Statistics Service of Ukraine.
 The results of the study were summed up to build a set of indicators designed to provide a comprehensive picture of the main factors provoking energy poverty in Ukraine. It is argued that further use of the proposed method will enable for the adequate assessment of the scales and the depth of the energy poverty of Ukrainian households for elaborating effective measures to protect vulnerable population strata. It also emphasized that regular monitoring of energy poverty cannot be implemented with a reliable database that is yet to be created in Ukraine.

Organizational And Technological Preparation Of Measures To Ensure The Reliability Of Buildings

The reasons for the negative dynamics of the current state of the country's housing stock and, in particular, the growth of hazardous and dilapidated housing are analyzed. The analysis established that the main cause of the unsatisfactory technical condition of housing stock are huge difference in strength of structures, components and systems of residential buildings, along with the extremely low level of maintainability, poor maintenance, not compliant to regulatory requirements, insufficient volumes of capital repairs of residential buildings, both in the past and currently. The problems of ensuring the reliability and operational and technical suitability of residential buildings at all stages of the life cycle are considered. Conceptual approaches to creating a system of organizational and technological preparation of measures to ensure the reliability of residential buildings throughout the life cycle- from design and construction to disposal (demolition). Methods of economically justified reservation of reliability of structures, elements and systems of residential buildings at the design and construction stages are presented. The methodological principles of development in the design and estimate documentation of instructions for the organization of technical operation, as well as forms and methods of organizational and technological preparation of operation and capital repairs are described. The necessity to create a unified system of organizational and technological preparation of complexes of measures covering all stages of the life cycle of residential buildings, which will improve the state of the housing stock of our country, is shown.

Condition and Prospects of the Development of the Housing and Utilities Sphere in the Mari El Republic

The article has considered the conceptual foundations of business management in the housing and utilities sphere. The condition of housing stock in the Mari El Republic, as well as housing and the state of utility facilities and systems, has been monitored. A forecast for providing the Republic’s population with social housing and the priority regional project of the comfortable urban environment formation has been presented.

Основные тенденции жилищной экономики российских городов

Urban environment quality and quality of living patterns are the key factors for Russian cities’ competitiveness increase. They both are to a large extent driven by the housing economy characteristics. The article provides analysis of basic trends in housing economy of Russian cities including:
 
 housing consumption;
 structure of housing and ownership rights;
 housing price dynamics and the level of housing affordability;
 condition of housing stock and utility infrastructure, investment in renovation of the housing stock;
 state of competition at hosing market and supply elasticity to demand for differentiated and good quality urban environment;
 state regulation of the housing economy — support for demand and supply, taxation policies.

EMPLOYING HEAT VULNERABILITY MAPPING TO INFORM WEATHERIZATION PROGRAMS IN 3 US CITIES

Background Vulnerability mapping is a popular tool for investigating spatial relationships among community characteristics. Temperature exposure risks are unequally distributed, disproportionately burdening the elderly, minority and poor residents. As cities aim to reduce the burden of temperature-related morbidity and mortality, weatherization programs are poised as an option for implementing protective measures. Aims We expanded upon a methodology for heat vulnerability mapping (Reid, 2009) using fine-scale environmental, socio-economic, demographic, health and housing data. Methods Principal component analysis was conducted using 1 m resolution land cover classifications, ZIP code-level cardiovascular and respiratory disease prevalence, and census block group demographics that may contribute to vulnerability in three US cities: Detroit Michigan, Cleveland Ohio, and Washington D.C. Vulnerability scores were calculated and mapped for each city. Block groups comprising the 10% most vulnerable for each city are selected and presented to include parcel-specific housing characteristics. Results Factor scores include elderly/isolation, socio-economic/demographic vulnerability, and non-vegetated areas. 2010 census block groups (n=881) for Detroit were assigned heat vulnerability index values (6-17) and mapped with corresponding housing data. The most vulnerable areas of the city are located along the urban core where elderly populations are highest. Age and condition of housing stock are overlaid to elucidate areas of the city where housing characteristics may contribute to additional vulnerability to temperature. Results for Cleveland and Washington DC are mapped and presented. Conclusions Vulnerability mapping incorporating fine-scale data provides neighborhood-specific analyses for use in targeted decision-making for climate adaptation programs. Inclusion of housing stock data informs weatherization programs that target vulnerable groups. This research begins to address potential co-benefits of weatherization efforts as it relates to heat vulnerability.

Helping Home Owners to Help Themselves? Recent developments housing renewal policy in housing renewal policy

This paper reviews developments in private sector housing renewal policy in England and Wales in the 1980s, and looks forward to the 1990s in the light of new legislation which came into operation in July 1990. Initially the paper looks at evidence on the condition of housing stock and at demographic, economic and social trends affecting dwelling stock condition and the ability of households to repair, improve or maintain their dwellings. It then examines government policies to privatise both the administration of housing renewal and the financing of investment during the 1980s and examines the reasons for the failure of these policies. The paper discusses the provisions of the 1989 Local Government and Housing Act relating to housing renewal and concludes that the new framework is too limited in the help which it provides and that the resources available are inadequate. If low income home owners trapped in poor housing conditions are to be helped with the repair and maintenance of their home sit will be necessary to develop a range of other measures. These may include subsidised loans, equity sharing mechanisms, savings and insurance schemes, and the provision of practical help through home improvement agencies. A better understanding of how people make investment decisions is also needed. Finally the government should take steps to regulate the building industry and to increase the supply of skilled labour and competent firms working in the housing renewal sector.