National Housing Policy Research Articles

Vertus et vices du développement de l’accession à la propriété

Why is it necessary to become a homeowner? Jean-Claude Driant examines the arguments for and against policies that support the growth of homeownership in France. He wonders whether the present government has abandoned the caution that up until now has guided national housing policy. Since the 1970s, successive governments have continuously made the growth of homeownership a major issue in housing policy. Ever since Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's 1974 election campaign, the slogan “France: a

Proposal for the need to develop consumer oriented senior co-housing

고령화 사회에 직면하여 고령 인구의 절대적인 비율을 차지하고 있는 건강하고 자립 가능한 고령자를 지원하기 위한 적절한 방안 중의 하나는 쾌적한 주거환경 정비를 통한 양질의 고령자 주택공급이다. 그러나 현재 우리나라 고령자를 위한 주택과 시설은 턱없이 부족하다. 따라서 고령자 주거 문제를 보다 심층적으로 분석하고 이를 바탕으로 한 정책프로그램을 체계적으로 발전시켜 나가야 한다. 서구 선진국 등에서 운영되고 있는 시니어 코하우징은 고령자 자활공동체를 지향하는 고령자 주거의 한 형태이다. 고령자가 가족이나 정부의 보호에 의존하지 않고 지역사회의 일원으로 기여할 수 있으며 각종 편의시설과 문화활동 등을 공유하면서 여가생활을 즐기며 공동체 문화를 육성하고 제한된 공간을 효율적으로 사용하는 장점을 가지고 있다. 또한 고령층의 건강 증진에도 기여하여 사회적 비용을 절약하며 지역사회에도 청년고용 및 세금 확보와 소비를 통한 경제순환 효과를 가져올 새로운 고령자복지모델이 될 수 있다. 본 연구는 사생활은 보존하되 공동생활의 장점을 접목한 주거 형태인 시니어 코하우징이 고령자들에게는 심리적 안정감과 행복감, 편리한 노후 생활을 제공하는 동시에 1인 가구의 증가와 고령화에 따라 등장하고 있는 각종 사회 경제적 문제에 효과적으로 대처할 수 있는 대안임을 널리 알리고자 한다. 이를 위해 선진 각국의 시니어 코하우징의 실태와 그 운용방식 등을 고찰하였고, 현재와 미래의 수요자가 될 고령자를 대상으로 그들이 원하는 주거환경에 대한 심층 대면조사를 실시함으로써 수요자를 위한 시니어 코하우징의 개발 필요성에 대한 제안을 하고자 한다. 아울러 이 연구가 추후 고령자를 위한 국가 주거정책의 기초자료로 적극 검토되기를 희망한다.In the face of an aging society, one of the appropriate measures to support healthy and self-sustainable elderly population is providing comfortable housing. However, housing and facilities for the elderly in Korea are severely lacking. Therefore, there is a need to analyze the elderly housing problems profoundly and subsequently develop policies for solutions. Senior co-housing implemented in the Western countries is a self-supporting community. where the elderly does not rely on protection by the government or their families. Instead, they contribute as a member of the community cherishing the various convenience including facilities and cultural activities using the limited space with efficiency. This eventually promotes elderly health saving social expenses which then can be used for youth employment and tax security becoming a new elderly welfare model that brings positive effects of economic circulation. This study aims to inform that the concept of senior co-housing, which provides a peaceful, private and comfortable environment for the elderly is an effective solution to the various social economic problems arising in the aging society. Through detailed examination of the senior co-housings in developed countries and in-depth face-to-face survey of the residential environment desired by the elderly people who are the current and future consumers, we propose a need for the development of a consumer oriented senior co-housing. We also hope that this research will be actively considered as a basis for national housing policies for elderly people in the future.

HOUSING CRISIS IN ALGERIA: CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES

The provision of good quality housing remains a major problem facing policymakers in developing countries, with Algeria being no exception. The Algerian policy focuses on ensuring the provision of housing to low-income households who cannot house themselves adequately. This article presents an overview of the Algerian housing policies focusing on the issues encountered by governments since independence in 1962. This entails presenting the history of Algerian housing policy, including colonial, after independence and new Algeria. This will not be completed without reviewing the different national housing plans and policies introduced by the Algerian government, focusing on the housing achievements and deficits. Using qualitative analysis of secondary data through narrative and inductive approaches, this research argues that a significant change in how these programmes are currently structured is urgent. Thus, there is a need to find a new approach to finance the construction of public and private housing units and reduce dependence on the Public Treasury.

European Union Housing Policy—An Attempt to Synthesize the Actions Taken

Adequate housing conditions are an indicator of a decent life, whereas the lack is one of the main reason behind so-called social exclusion. The importance of housing, in ensuring the social safety of citizens, as well as supporting social equity, has been emphasized for decades. Housing, however, also has an important economic dimension. A developed housing sector, in a broad sense guaranteeing the right to housing, is indicated as one of the main conditions for long-term economic growth. The significant role of housing, in deepening integrational processes on the old continent, has also been observed by the European Union. This article is a review and comprises of an attempt to synthesize arguments justifying the need to expand the European Union policy to include housing-related issues. For this purpose, a historical context of the perception of the role of housing in the process of European integration is presented; it characterizes the main phases of incorporating housing into EU policy, as well as indicating the most important areas and instruments of the European Union’s influence on the housing policy of member countries, along with an assessment of their results. The work makes use of the method of the critical analysis of literature, as well as an analysis of EU legal regulations, accounts, and reports referring to the housing sphere. Studies confirm the need for active involvement, aimed at including housing in the scope of EU competencies. The undertaken initiatives of a political, social, economic, environmental, and legal nature are the main forms of recommendations, propositions, and instruments supporting the implementation of common values. Studies conducted to date indicate that the implementation of a single EU housing policy for all member states is neither a simple nor desired task. A more effective solution would unquestionably be seeking out general solutions, addressed to groups of countries functioning under similar conditions. A European housing programme, which holds the status of European law supporting national housing policies, should be such a solution.

Institutional conformity, entrepreneurial governance and local contingency: Problematizing central-local dynamics in localizing China's low-income housing policy

Central-local dynamics are crucial to understand the implementation of China’s reform policies and regional economic development. Until recently, the research has focused on either end of the political spectrum, celebrating the top-down channeling of neoliberal-like reforms led by the central government or detailing the bottom-up process of policy innovation and entrepreneurism centred on local states. Knowledge is not substantial about how the central state interacts with local authorities in the localization of central public policies and, to a lesser extent, why some policies are properly implemented at the local level but others not. Through investigating the implementation of major national low-income housing policies in Chengdu and Shanghai, we interrogate three proposed theoretical constructs: political conformity, entrepreneurial governance and local contingency. Results show that institutional conformity manifests in cross-scale consistency in policy goals, political obligation of local states to conform to the central authority, and balance between local incentives and central state sanctions. In the process of balancing local and central interests, the local development priorities are framed along the line of local state entrepreneurism favoring fiscal responsibility, economic efficiency, and economic growth. Finally, locally contingent factors often interact with and mediate external forces and have a significant impact on localizing public policies in China.

Genealogies of Ghana’s housing crisis: the role of colonial interventions and neoliberal reforms

The urgent need to develop and increase housing units has always featured prominently in electioneering campaigns in Ghana. Successive governments have developed countless programmes to deal with the housing deficit, but there has not been a significant improvement. As we write, the government of Ghana is grappling with a housing deficit of over two million units. But why has this problem remained intractable despite what seems like concerted efforts by various administrations to provide affordable housing for Ghana’s more vulnerable populations? Focusing on the 2015 National Housing Policy, this article critically reviews Ghana’s various housing policies and reforms, exploring how colonial policies and neoliberal reforms are separately and jointly implicated, in fundamental ways, in Ghana’s currently engulfing housing crisis. Our findings reveal that the yawning gap noticeable in Ghana’s overall effort at housing provision for the populace, is rooted in the colonial logic of piecemeal intervention. This same logic has continued to traverse successive Ghanaian housing policies through the immediate postcolonial era, the adjustment years, and the current period.

An Evaluation of National Housing Policy Related to Plantation Housing in Sri Lanka

Cities People Places journal is the official journal associated with the ‘Cities People & Places’ (ICCPP) Annual Conference being organized by the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. Two ICCPP conferences were held in Colombo in 2013 and 2014 and these have established the event as a credible academic endeavor that can bring together academics and practitioners in the fields of urban design, architecture and allied arts. By generating a mass and diversity of knowledge on urban spaces, people and places in cities, the conference is contributing to a greater understanding of cities and urban settlement systems in the modern world. This publication consolidates the development of this knowledge to be made available to a wider spectrum of academics and practitioners.

Asset-rich and cash-poor: which older adults value reverse mortgages?

AbstractHome equity represents a substantial share of retirement wealth for many older persons, particularly in Asia where national housing policies have encouraged home-ownership. This paper explored the potential for reverse mortgages to help ‘asset-rich and cash-poor’ older Singaporeans unlock their home equity while ageing in place. The empirical analysis was based on a nationally representative survey of home-owners age 50+ in the 2018 Singapore Life Panel (N = 6,258). Our analyses showed that the average older home-owner holds some 60 per cent of total net wealth in housing equity, suggestive of high demand potential for reverse mortgage products. Nevertheless, actual interest in such products was much below potential demand. Only one in four older home-owners indicated interest in commercial reverse mortgages if these were to become available; a larger majority had never heard of the financial product. Interest in reverse mortgages was positively associated with product awareness and self-rated product understanding. This implies that a critical step towards building consumer interest would be to enhance awareness of such products and simplify related contract terms. Having a mortgage, fewer children, financial literacy and preparedness for retirement were also positively associated with interest level. These results have implications for targeted interventions to enhance consumer awareness and spur interest in reverse mortgages, especially in ageing societies where older people have built up substantial equity through the housing market over time.

Housing construction issues in Irkutsk province (based on Vlast Truda materials)

The article aims to select and study negative and positive materials on housing construction policies in Irkutsk province in 1921-1922 published in the Vlast Truda newspaper. These are materials on redistribution, preservation, and renovation of apartments, reconstruction of buildings, construction of affordable housing for workers and employees. Special attention is paid to the housing construction stages: building design by drawing and design offices, production of building materials, selection of qualified personnel, tendering for construction works. An analysis of living conditions of urban and rural residents is carried out. In this period, the systems of housing distribution and accommodation payment were based on the differentiated principle, taking into account the privileged party and government support. Newspaper periodicals as the most accessible and prompt source can help to recover lost information and find new facts when assessing the new national housing policy. At the same time, materials were presented on behalf of the editorial board which speaks for their subjectivity. There were no critical materials, but there were unverified facts. The article emphasizes the continuity of the Communist Party and Soviet press of the 1920s and modern Russian newspaper publications on the issues of housing construction whose improvement can raise the level of economic development and living standards.

Wspólnie czy indywidualnie? Na własność czy wynajem? Wszystkim czy wybranym? Dylematy współczesnej polskiej polityki mieszkaniowej

The article contains an overview of the housing situation in Poland in three dimensions: the availability of housing, the capacity to buy or rent a dwelling and the quality of housing standards in the context of the national and local housing policies. It begins with an assessment of the scale and dynamics of residential investment in Poland over the last 30 years. In the next part, the author estimates the economic return on housing investments, stressing that expectations as to the growth of housing prices in Poland are the key determinant of investment decisions. As the analysis shows, the promotion of housing ownership has had negative social effects and, with temporarily cheap and available money, has fuelled the growth of housing prices.

Wyzwania współczesnej polskiej polityki mieszkaniowej

The article presents the author’s insights into the Polish housing policy in the context of the country’s current housing needs and challenges. Special attention is given to the role of housing policy and citizens’ right to adequate and affordable housing, which are the main determinants of the national housing policy development. The author first defines the housing policy, the principles of its effectiveness, and describes its instruments. Next, she overviews the beginning and the achievements to date of Polish housing strategies and programmes, comparing them with the newest National Housing Programme (NHP). In the final section, the author assesses current housing needs in Poland and identifies how the NHP responds to the challenges of contemporary housing policy. The article draws on national and international statistics and the relevant literature on the subject.

A habitação para a população de baixa renda no Brasil: termos e conceitos difundidos pela Política Nacional de Habitação

Em âmbito nacional, é possível fazer uso de um termo e de um conceito generalistas que caracterizem e definam qualquer habitação produzida pela e para a população de baixa renda no Brasil? Na intenção de responder a esse questionamento, este artigo apresenta o resultado das análises desenvolvidas nos documentos oficiais referentes à Política Nacional de Habitação, instituída no país em 1946. O objetivo foi identificar termos e conceitos empregados pelo Governo Federal para caracterizar e definir a habitação da população de baixa renda no país. O percurso histórico aqui elucidado evidenciou que os termos “Habitação Popular” e “Habitação de Interesse Social” foram os mais citados nos documentos oficiais nacionais. Entretanto, apesar das semelhanças, esses termos possuem conceitos distintos, que foram reformulados ao longo dos anos de modo a se adaptarem aos interesses da Política Nacional de Habitação e à situação socioeconômica do país.

De ciudadanías insurgentes a planificadores, urbanos. Organización social en la urbanización del campamento Manuel Bustos de Viña del Mar

Several decades have passed since the installation of the Chilean Model of Public Policy, but the promise of ‘the end of slums’ is still yet to be fulfilled. Despite the government’s claimed intentions, informal settlements have persisted and have even expanded since the '90s. A recent ethnographic study has exposed the formation and urbanization of Chile’s largest slum: Manuel Bustos, Vina del Mar. The community is founded on principles of collaboration and the empowerment of social leadership, both of which have enabled a breakaway from the top-down logic of national housing policies. Instead, the Manuel Bustos community has implemented an independent model of participatory planning that produces and maintains habitat formation. Broad social participation has allowed the community to position their demands on the public agenda, resulting in the specification of urbanization. This process is a response not only to the requirement of the right to adequate housing, but also to the right to the adequate services that cities provide. In their own right, residents of Manuel Bustos have transformed their status from insurgent citizenships formed in the slum, into competent urban planners of an independently founded city.

A critical perspective on policies for informal settlements in Portugal

While informal settlements in Portugal are not a recent phenomenon, planning and housing policy responses and results have been inconsistent. In 2012, the Amadora Municipality, within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, resurrected the PER (Special Rehousing Programme), which was first launched in 1993 to remove informal settlements and rehouse inhabitants. This paper offers a critical analysis of the objectives, practices and results of the programme in Amadora and, particularly, regarding Bairro 6 de Maio, where most people were evicted without being relocated. It will discuss how informal settlement policies have been applied in Portugal over the past century and assess the New National Housing Policy, showing that integrated, effective policies regarding informal settlements are still lacking. The findings will suggest a change of the approach in addressing the phenomenon in order to guarantee the right to housing and to the city for inhabitants.

Quality Housing: Perception and Insights of People in Benin City, Nigeria

The need to ensure the production of quality housing has been of remarkable interest to the government of Nigeria, as housing quality is considered to be a symbol of a country with an effective housing delivery system. However, government policy responses to the need to provide quality housing achieved little or nothing. Indeed, the actual provision of housing came nowhere close to the targets specified in the national housing policy. Many houses in Nigeria are obtained through other modes of formal and informal delivery processes, which influence the timing, quality, location and cost of housing. Moreover, there is little consensus on what constitutes ‘quality’ housing, and why different forms of housing delivery—within the public and private sectors—are predominantly failing to deliver what people consider to be ‘quality’. This study was conducted to provide insights on how different stakeholders perceive and make sense of quality housing, and these stakeholders include tenants, home-owners, government officials and Community Development Associations (CDAs) in Benin City. This was achieved through the analysis of data generated from the semi-structured interviews. This paper contributes to knowledge by providing newer dimensions to which housing quality can be defined as one which is spacious, clean, accessible and habitable in terms of the finesse of the interior of the building. It should have good water supply and electricity supply; the environment should be quiet and conducive and the structure/building or house should be accessible by roads. It should be secured and comfortable.

An appraisal of home ownership for senior citizens in Nigeria

PurposeThe Nigerian Government has been left behind in the planning of homes for the senior citizens as they are aged and retire from service. The possible outcome is untimely death of many because of contagious illness associated with the dilapidated environment in their abode. Hence, this paper attempts to investigate the hindrances of home ownership faced by senior citizens and proffers possible policy solutions.Design/methodology/approachA phenomenology type of qualitative research was adopted and 30 participants were interviewed. That is, ten from four different state government agencies and 20 senior citizens using purposive and snowball sampling techniques and data saturation was also achieved. The data derived were analysed using MAXQDA 2018 and through a thematic analysis.FindingsThis paper found that Nigerian low-income senior citizens (LISCs) who owned houses lived more stable well-being. Whilst the level of home ownership was completely dissatisfying as failed mortgage finance, corruption in the pension scheme, relaxed National Housing Policy implementation and inadequate senior citizens’ home ownership policy were identified as the encumbrances.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper is limited to exploring the root cause of LISCs’ inability to gain home ownership and proffering possible solutions. Future research is needed to use relevant information in advancing home ownership policy for the low-income groups across the states in Nigeria and other developing countries.Practical implicationsThis paper recommended that government should impose housing construction on three acres and above, mitigate corruption, establish special housing loan scheme for senior citizens, sustain rent-to-own policy and land subsidy in cities to enhance senior citizens’ home ownership. These recommendations form part of the paper's practical implications.Originality/valueThis paper demonstrates that existing housing policies are yet to consider the senior citizens regarding enhancing their home ownership status.

Assisted Self‐help Housing in Mexico: Advocacy, (Micro)Finance and the Making of Markets

AbstractThis article examines forms of housing finance that offer poor households opportunities for sourcing resources for construction work through non‐mortgage microloans. In Mexico, these housing microfinance schemes have recently been incorporated into national housing policies. On a global level, the past 10 to 15 years have seen the emergence of institutional investment in microfinance. I reflect on these processes in this article by bringing critical accounts of financial inclusion in development studies and the debate on financialization within urban studies and beyond into dialogue. I combine micro‐ and macro‐scale perspectives to examine how households become financial clients and how finance gains influence by expanding capitalist markets into the informal housing sector. This discussion is based on policy review and document analyses and an empirically grounded account of an assisted self‐help housing case study. In the article I draw on three focal concepts—risk, debt and marketization—to highlight the ambivalences of the expanded access to finance for poor households engaged in self‐organized building practices. These ambivalences emerge from the multiplicity of operational logics and motivations in the field of housing provision for the poor, and the profoundly conflicting rationalities of financial‐ and social‐sector actors.

As exigências da política nacional de habitação e a sua operacionalidade na cidade de Cajazeiras (PB)

Este artigo é parte do trabalho de conclusão do curso de Serviço Social na Faculdade Santa Maria, Cajazeiras - PB no ano de 2017. Aqui, foi analisado a operacionalidade da Política Nacional de Habitação (PNH) no Conjunto Habitacional Recreio na cidade de Cajazeiras na Paraíba, e se a construção contemplou as exigências da produção de habitação de interesse social, sendo esse direcionado para a população de baixa renda. Enfatizou-se a implementação da Política Nacional de Habitação (2004) através do programa Minha Casa Minha Vida, priorizando o subsistema de interesse social. Os procedimentos metodológicos foram de caráter qualitativo, com pesquisa documental e de campo. Para coleta dos dados, adotou-se a observação em campo, e a entrevista. Os resultados revelaram que a operacionalidade da Política Nacional de Habitação (PNH) aconteceu de forma conflituosa, pois foram identificadas falhas no processo que envolveu o Conjunto Habitacional Recreio referente aos critérios de qualidade e conforto das famílias, bem como a não concessão da documentação definitiva, além de infraestrutura incompleta. Apesar disso, é inquestionável a importância dessa política para o acesso à moradia. Hoje, diferente dos últimos governos, enfrenta-se o verdadeiro desmonte da Política Nacional de habitação.

Realizing housing justice through comprehensive housing policy reform

ABSTRACT A globally connected, locally centred housing justice movement calls for comprehensive reforms of policies that influence the distribution and affordability of housing. To date, this movement has yet to influence U.S. federal housing policy, which has historically prioritized tax expenditures supporting homeownership over affordable rental housing subsidies for low-income households. This paper takes these appeals to housing justice seriously and asks, ‘What would a conception of housing justice offer to housing policy makers seeking to enact comprehensive housing policy reforms designed to shift the balance of federal housing policy priorities away from homeownership towards the satisfaction of low-income households’ basic housing needs?’ I propose a conception of housing justice grounded in the ideal of civic equality, apply civic equality toward the evaluation of current U.S. federal housing policy, and propose a comprehensive national housing policy reform that is consistent with civic equality. The proposed ‘negative housing tax’ extends the idea of a negative income tax to a tax on housing consumption and capital gains from home sales. The revenues generated from the tax provide funds to support a guaranteed monthly housing allowance that would be distributed to those facing the most severe housing needs.

A DIMENSÃO RACIAL NAS POLÍTICAS URBANAS E HABITACIONAIS

This article investigates how racial dimension is incorporated into Sao Paulo's Urban Planning, with focus on public policies that address the right to housing. we will seek, through the analysis of Municipal Housing Plans (PMH) of Sao Paulo (2009-2024), identify if the specificity of the subjects was considered in the process of formulating housing policies municipalities, as provided by federal regulations, such as the National Housing Policy (2004) and the Racial Equality Statute (2010). The documental analyzes allow us to conclude that, despite the denial of the right to housing and the city to reach more intensively the occupied regions of the city mostly by the black population, that the racial issue does not appear as an important variable on the development of Sao Paulo's housing policy.