Public Housing Research Articles

Housing systems, housing insecurity, and life satisfaction: a multilevel analysis of 158,765 individuals in 32 countries

Across nations, housing insecurity has been shown to affect life satisfaction. However, it is unclear (a) for whom housing insecurity affects life satisfaction and (b) whether and how housing systems moderate the association between housing insecurity and satisfaction. This study aims to reduce such knowledge gaps. We used data from the Gallup Poll that collects socioeconomic status and living standards from 158,765 individuals in 32 countries between 2016 and 2022. Multi-level regression was conducted to estimate the association between housing insecurity and life satisfaction, and the moderating effects of individual level employment status and country level housing systems. Housing insecurity significantly predicts a decrease in one’s life satisfaction. However, the association between housing insecurity and life satisfaction is moderated by individual level employment status and country-level housing characteristics. In low homeownership countries compared to high homeownership countries, the impact of housing insecurity on life satisfaction is more attenuated for part-time workers than for full time workers. Similar results are found for countries with a larger social housing stock when compared to those with lower stock. Investing in social housing not only reduces housing insecurity, but it is also conducive to mitigating the impact on the life satisfaction of the socioeconomically disadvantaged.

Introduction to the Special Issue: New Perspectives on Public and Social Rental Housing in the Nordic Countries, part two

Introduction to the Special Issue: New Perspectives on Public and Social Rental Housing in the Nordic Countries, part two

Home boundaries: a socio-spatial analysis of Cairo’s housing market. Using justified plan graph (JPG) theory

Purpose This paper aims to define the socio-spatial considerations of apartment users in Cairo, during their decision-making process. It provides a set of socio-spatial guidelines for professional architecture designers that are based on regionalist sociological theories and the evaluation of participant responses. These guidelines can also help users choose better plan configurations or make socially conscious adjustments as formal residential interiors in Egypt are not arranged based on social interaction at home or the cultural specificity of the region. On the other hand, users have little clue about choosing better plan configurations for sustainable social relationships. Moreover, the private housing sector has mostly neglected the social boundaries that traditionally shaped home interiors. This is because the designers focus on physical attributes to satisfy market demand and economic aspects. Design/methodology/approach The research reviewed past literature on the impact of different home arrangements relative to inhabitant and social relationships. Simultaneously, preliminary open-ended sorting surveys were undertaken at the Cityscape 2020 exhibition. Based on the results, a comprehensive online survey was developed to map the socio-spatial preferences of users. Finally, a sample of 150 apartment plans was analyzed by using the justified plan graph (JPG) theory to reveal the most common arrangements in the speculative market, measuring unit depth. Findings The findings of this study will benefit the following: practitioners, including architects and real estate developers, will be able to learn about end-user preferences and offer better products (residential units). Designers can rely on a reference that visualizes recommended home arrangements in the form of justified graphs. This research will expose the academic theories that currently shape residential plans and those that are overlooked and need to be applied. Academics, on the other hand, will learn about the market, and the extent of the influence of architectural theory. Originality/value The value of this paper lies in the gathering of theoretical recommendations on traditional home arrangements and investigating the preferences of both professionals and laypeople when choosing between apartments. The open-ended study in this research will test its efficiency in the Egyptian context and serve as a reference for future social studies. It highlights the importance of cultural adequacy and how to design homes related to local residents’ natural lifestyle, by doing so, people will be able to overview the options available in the market and how to manipulate their own houses to control or encourage different social interactions.

Objectives and Barriers to Promoting Social Housing Policy in Urban Finland

Objectives and Barriers to Promoting Social Housing Policy in Urban Finland

Alive and Kicking? Resident Democracy in Nordic Social Housing: The Cases of Denmark and Finland

Alive and Kicking? Resident Democracy in Nordic Social Housing: The Cases of Denmark and Finland

Social sustainability in public housing: insight from social network analysis of recent residential developments in Enugu, Nigeria

Despite the growing need for public housing schemes to contribute to the attainment of sustainable residential neighbourhoods in line with the Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG 11), the extent to which such schemes are achieving this in countries in the Global South is yet to be determined. This study investigated the social sustainability of three public housing estates in the Enugu Urban area, Nigeria, with a view to understanding their social sustainability indices. A cross-sectional survey of randomly selected 160 residents of the estates was done and the data analysed using descriptive and social network analyses. The findings revealed that the sampled housing estates recorded moderate social sustainability values due to differing availability and use of public spaces, and associational activities. The study implies that the provision of public spaces and facilities is vital in enhancing the social sustainability of mass housing developments.

Are public housing projects good for kids after all?

Are public housing projects good for kids after all?

Enhancing the building resilience in a changing climate through a passive cooling roof: A case study in Camas (Seville, Spain)

Renovating buildings is a crucial mission for the coming decades to combat energy inefficiencies and produce a resilient building stock. The inefficient thermal envelope has significant implications for occupants, especially for families lacking the financial resources to maintain a healthy and comfortable indoor environment. In scenarios where households cannot afford or utilize HVAC systems and high temperatures are more frequent, building retrofits should prioritize reducing heat loss in winter and passively lowering indoor temperatures in the cooling season. This work introduces a new solution to enhance the liveability of a social housing building in southern Spain by integrating a double-skin roof with a conventional retrofit strategy, which incorporates passive cooling techniques – night ventilation and an evaporative cooling system – for effective heat dissipation based on available commercial solutions. An extensive monitoring campaign was conducted over three years to evaluate the thermal comfort of occupants and the risk of overheating in naturally conditioned buildings before and after renovation following two impact assessment methods: real-time data-based and simulation-based. The real-time data-based method compared the indoor conditions of a dwelling with a conventionally retrofitted roof to one with a double-skin roof, indicating that the dynamic roof maintains a ceiling temperature lower than the air temperature throughout the summer while the conventional roof acts as a heating surface. On the other side, the simulation-based method compared the observed indoor conditions with a double-skin roof enabled during 2023 to the initial stage and a double-skin roof disabled scenario, using calibrated building energy models. The natural cooling roof solution almost eliminates the overheating events, leading to a reduction of 94.1% and 76.9% in discomfort degree-hours compared to the initial stage according to the ASHRAE adaptative and Fanger comfort models, respectively. Additionally, the results indicate that conventional retrofits can increase the risk of overheating when a cooling system is not considered. Integrating a cool roof solution requires only an extra implementation cost of 31€/m2 compared to a conventional solution, having an operational cost that represents less than 3% of the minimum monthly income in the social housing district.

Rental housing types and economic wellbeing in Canada

The aim of this article is to examine the association between different types of rental housing and household economic wellbeing. Its main objective is to better understand how the different types of assistance promoted by housing policies contribute to the reduction of material hardship among renter households. To achieve this objective, the study is based on the creation of an original typology designed to catch the different models of social and non-market housing that characterize the rental housing system in Canada. The research design it adopts controls for compositional effects linked to housing policy through a matching procedure that reduces the imbalance existing between households residing in social housing and the rest of the population. The analyses produced demonstrate the importance of promoting and maintaining social and non-market housing models that favour rent-geared-to-income housing, guarantee long-term affordability, and value public and co-operative tenure models.

A Brief History of Social Housing in Spain: Residential Architecture and Housing Policies in the 19th and 20th Centuries

A Brief History of Social Housing in Spain: Residential Architecture and Housing Policies in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Assessing the burden and health implications of service interruptions in New York City public housing.

Assessing the burden and health implications of service interruptions in New York City public housing.

COVID-19 and the biopolitics of stigma in public housing: dividing practices and community boundaries in pandemic times

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 ‘hard lockdowns’ in Melbourne, Australia in 2020 targeted public housing estates thus trading on perceptions of risk associated with public housing as some of the most stigmatised sites in post-industrial cities. This article draws on interviews with Melbourne public housing tenants on their experience of COVID-19 lockdowns to analyse the place of stigma in residents’ accounts. Pairing Wacquant et al's (2014) concept of 'territorial stigma' with sociological work on the biopolitics of stigma we consider the dynamics of stigma, tracing how it functions to delimit community boundaries and justify pandemic containment measures. Residents navigate multiple layers of stigma, including stereotypes of public housing, normative judgements of neighbouring residents, and a broader public housing system riven with structural issues. Members of these communities are both the targets of stigma and seek to distance themselves from those seen as vectors of stigma. Our participants report mobilising social distancing strategies couched in normative assessments of perceived risk based on physical appearance, presumed drug use and past conduct. We explore the implications of these enactments of territorial stigma and trace the logics of abjection that construct public housing as deprived urban zones, home to abject ‘Others’ perceived as threatening the health of the community.

Sustaining tenancies by ‘caring-with’: care ethics in social housing tenancy management

ABSTRACT This article contributes to scholarship that conceptualises housing, particularly social housing, as an infrastructure of care. Care for people with housing needs that cannot be met in the private market is shaped through the provision of social housing, and social housing can also be a site for caring (and careless) practices and relations. Using qualitative data gathered in interviews with tenancy managers at one of the largest social housing providers in Victoria, I argue that tenancy management must be understood as an integral pillar of the caring infrastructure social housing can provide. Tenancy managers who participated in this study understood tenancy management in social housing as a caring practice. They described their role as oriented around sustaining the tenancies of people with high and complex support needs who would otherwise be at high risk of homelessness. However, tenancy managers also faced consistent barriers to the enactment of tenancy-sustainment-as-care, which emerged when caring relationships between the actors involved in sustaining a tenancy broke down. This paper focuses on their experiences of overcoming barriers, resolving conflicts, and successfully sustaining tenancies. The analysis shows that ‘caring-with’ – i.e., working relationally to build collaborative networks of care-givers and care-receivers – can support tenancy sustainment.

The influence of the residential environment on well-being and personal projects: Perspectives of young people living in public housing

Public housing provides low-income households with affordable housing. The few studies of young public housing residents have focused on the negative aspects of these residential environments, such as the presence of economic hardship or substance abuse. Few studies have looked at the possible positive influence of public housing on the lives of the young people who live there. This qualitative study explores the influence of housing and neighborhood on the well-being and personal projects of young people living in public housing. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 young people aged 14 to 20 living in public housing in a large city in Quebec, Canada. A thematic analysis led to the identification of five themes that describe the components of the residential environment that influence young people's well-being and personal projects: 1) parks, playgrounds and nature, 2) services and activities, 3) privacy, 4) relations with the neighborhood; and 5) the quality of the built environment. Implications for environmental psychologists and for improving public policies and supporting the well-being of young people living in public housing are discussed.

Planning your dream home safely: Understanding Regulations and Avoiding Public Housing Savings Breaches

The reality is that having a decent home is still the dream of most people, especially those with middle to lower income. The scarcity between the need and availability of houses is still an unresolved problem, so access to decent and affordable housing is still very limited. This study investigates Government Regulation Number 25 of 2020 and Law Number 4 of 2016, which respectively regulate the operation of the Public Housing Savings Fund (Tapera). The purpose of this study is to understand the Tapera regulations and identify administrative violations that may occur. This research method uses a descriptive approach to understand regulations and identify forms of administrative violations and sanctions in the implementation of Tapera. The results show that to ensure the continuity of the program, the management of Tapera funds must be carried out in a transparent and accountable manner. The government and financial institutions must ensure that fund management is carried out with high transparency and accountability. Administrative sanctions imposed for violations of the provisions of this law are very important to ensure the stability and sustainability of the Tapera program.

The brazilian house: from Oca to My House, My Life

The present article addresses the development of housing typology in Brazil, from indigenous dwellings to "Minha Casa, Minha Vida" homes. The objective is to succinctly recount the trajectory of Brazilian housing typology, a rich and multifaceted narrative reflecting the country's cultural diversity and socio-economic challenges over centuries. The development of social housing projects aims to provide decent housing for low-income families, generating demand for labor and reducing unemployment. The proposed methodology is based on a historical and comparative approach, using bibliographic and documentary sources to examine transformations in architecture and Brazil's socio-economic context over the years. Furthermore, the article specifically studies the "Minha Casa, Minha Vida" program, providing a qualitative analysis of its effectiveness in promoting access to decent housing and its social, economic, and environmental implications.

Principles for evaluating the quality and sustainability of social housing architecture projects

This article critically examines the principles for assessing the quality and sustainability of social housing architecture projects, using the Mucajá Housing Complex, located in Macapá, Amapá, as a case study. Through a qualitative research methodology, including document, design, bibliographic, and photographic analysis, the physical and environmental aspects of the housing complex will be evaluated. The article identifies how the principles of flexibility, functionality, accessibility, and the sustainable use of natural resources were incorporated into the Mucajá project, analyzing its ability to meet the present and future needs of the residents, as well as its contribution to environmental preservation. The results indicate that the Mucajá Housing Complex does not satisfactorily meet most of the Principles of Sustainability and Quality in Housing Project Design. It highlights the complete absence of verifiers that meet the Principle of Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and the Principle of Flexibility, as well as the high inaccessibility of the Complex. This demonstrates that the housing complex is disconnected from most sustainability indicators.

Indoor environment sensor systems for healthier homes: a feasibility study in social housing

ABSTRACT This study examines the feasibility of using an indoor environment sensor system to improve property management and health in social housing. Over a 6-year period, sensors were installed and maintained in 280 homes to monitor temperature, humidity, and air quality, with the sensor data provided to residents and the Housing Association (HA) through co-designed dashboards. Employing a mixed method sequential research design, feasibility was evaluated using the RE-AIM model. From the residents’ perspective, monitoring the indoor environment was acceptable, but adoption rates of the dashboard were low and there was minimal evidence of its effectiveness in prompting changes in behavior. From the HA perspective, the system proved effective in identifying high-risk homes, prompting the HA to reach out to vulnerable residents, and provide more timely support and maintenance. The system also facilitated long-term monitoring, planning, and helped the HA achieve its social objectives and legislative responsibilities. Despite initial technical challenges, HA staff expressed a desire to continue using the system, integrate it with existing infrastructure, and expand its deployment to more homes. However, scaling the intervention would require careful planning. In conclusion, sensor systems are a feasible intervention that holds promise in helping to address health risks in underserved communities.

Exploring how social housing residents interact with building openings in a hot-humid climate

In a hot-humid climate, natural ventilation is the most recommended strategy for obtaining thermal comfort indoors. The residents' behavior in opening windows and doors to promote natural ventilation is crucial for predicting thermal comfort, especially for low-income housing where energy costs can exceed household budgets. This study identifies residents’ behavior in social housing in northeast Brazil (a hot-humid climate), focusing on actions to regulate thermal comfort with natural ventilation. The methodology comprehends field research, surveys, data processing, and analysis. Interviews with 375 individuals across two social housing complexes reveal the significant role of security and cultural factors in window control behavior. The results highlight the considerable role of security and cultural factors in shaping occupant behavior concerning window control. The residents indicated that they are stimulated to open the windows and doors right after they wake up and close them at bedtime or when leaving the house. Occupancy is a significant driving factor, but the sleep period (unconscious state) plays a crucial role in determining the closure of openings, even to housing units with a 2.0 m high wall on the plot land limits and security bars on windows. This study contributes to the understanding of the complex interplay between security, cultural factors, and thermal comfort regulation, proposing valuable insights for design and policy interventions aimed at improving living conditions in similar contexts.

Associations of residential greenness with behavioural, physical, and mental health: a Hong Kong study during the fifth wave of COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT Exposure to greenspace is protective of physical and mental health, but its role during the COVID-19 pandemic is unclear. We examined cross-sectional associations of residential greenness with behavioural, physical, and mental health outcomes during the fifth wave of COVID-19 in Hong Kong. A questionnaire of n = 160 participants assessed frequency of greenspace visits, physical activity from the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, and physical and mental health based on the 12-item Short-Form Health Survey. Residential greenspace was measured in terms of number of greenspace within a 400-m buffer, proximity to greenspace, and Landsat-derived Normalised Difference Vegetation Index as a metric of quality. Residing in higher greenness tertiles within 400 m was associated with higher odds of at least weekly visits to greenspace (OR = 3.23, 95% CI: 1.20-8.69 for the middle and OR = 5.62; 95% CI: 2.08-15.21 for highest tertiles) relative to the lowest exposure tertile. The count of residential greenspace was protectively associated with physical and mental health outcomes. The beneficial association between greenness and weekly usage remained robust at 500 m and was significant only among private housing residents. Policies towards scaling up and optimising residential greenness may constitute important public health interventions for enhancing population-level health and resilience during societal shocks