Housing Question Research Articles

Screening and social prescribing in healthcare and social services to address housing issues among children and families: a systematic review

ObjectivesHousing is a social determinant of health that impacts the health and well-being of children and families. Screening and referral to address social determinants of health in clinical and social...

The Terms of Dwelling

This thematic issue re-articulates the question of housing as an architectural and planning problem and examines how architecture can contribute to reduce the divorce between housing provision and architectural research. The articles included in the issue investigate the terminology used to designate housing as a way to question the relation between housing, architecture, and planning, and investigate and theorize the language of housing in relation to the emergence of new and varied modes of inhabiting. Built on a heterogeneous corpus of terms, the articles offer a new outlook on the current housing crisis and the role of architecture in it. The papers unpack selected housing terms via close historical inquiry of specific case studies, housing typologies, policies and codes, discourses, and schemes, and contribute to explore the social, economic, political, and design dimensions of housing by inquiring the origin, evolution, codification, and diverse usage and meanings of selected terms. This collection of terms defines a theoretical frame to recasting architecture as a crucial aspect of housing provision, reconnecting design to policy and finance, and laying the ground for envisioning the capacities of architecture in a post-neoliberal society. Specific terms, concepts, and notions are examined by the authors in relation to their understanding in the housing discourse and practice, while other terms are analyzed in relation to their multiple origins and changing meanings, when terms migrated in diverse fields (normative, political, planning, administrative, financial) or across countries, disciplines, and cultures.

Die Wohnungsfrage als Teil der sozialen Frage

The housing question in German cities manifests itself in the shortage of affordable housing for an ever-increasing section of inhabitants. It is part of the new social question: the growing divide in German society. The housing issue exacerbates the social consequences of the inequal development of income and wealth. It is to be observed in the inequality of rental levels, restrictions in the choice of housing and includes exposing individuals to the risk of eviction. In addition, low-income households are concentrated in neighbourhoods that contribute to their disadvantages. The article argues that issues of housing, employment and income, public infrastructure and services together constitute the housing question and have to be tackled accordingly. It also discusses the responsibilities which the local authorities will be faced with when having to deal with the situation.

PLANNERS’ ALCHEMY ACHIEVED? HOW NIMBY AND YIMBY REPRODUCE THE HOUSING QUESTION

AbstractA laissez‐faire Yes‐In‐My‐Back‐Yard (YIMBY)‐ism is not a solution to Not‐In‐My‐Back‐Yard (NIMBY)‐ism; rather it represents the other side of the coin of capitalist development. YIMBYism reproduces the ‘Housing Question’ as Engels posed it, by shifting housing problems across time and space, and in their form. Until YIMBYism contains a critique of capitalist uneven development, it will not fundamentally address the causes of housing problems.

The Housing Question, ground rent theory, and differentiation vs. homogenization

This essay takes Engels’ The Housing Question as a provocation to (1) apply ground rent theory to housing (something which Engels neglected to do) and (2) investigate Engels’ conflation of housing struggles with the concerns of a “backwards” peasantry. I show that applying Marx’s ground rent theory to housing illuminates aspects of the housing question heretofore unexamined—in particular, the significance of the relationship between landowner and capitalist in housing. I then show that Engels’ dismissal of housing struggles and land-based struggles more broadly is rooted in the specious belief that proletarianization homogenizes people. Engels’ spurious logic nonetheless sets in relief an important connection: I suggest that only through grasping what Cedric Robinson has called racialization or differentiation and what Sylvia Wynter has named nonhomogeneity can we recognize the theoretical and practical centrality of housing and other land-based struggles to revolution and abolition.

Organizing with tenants and fighting rightist resentments: A case study from East Germany

Through two neighborhood case studies in the rapidly upgrading East German city of Leipzig we discuss political implications of urban restructuring. Scrutinizing tenants’ rightist and racist reactions to the housing question, we argue that residential alienation affects people’s sense of place in a divisive manner, which in turn impacts both their interpretations of urban change and their respective practices. Based on our analyses of scapegoating and territorial stigma, we critically discuss the potential of activist intervention, drawing from two qualitative and ethnographic research projects, as well as activist experience in neighbourhood organizing.

Revisiting Engels’ ‘housing question’: Work and housing conditions of immigrant platform delivery riders in Barcelona

In his 1872 The housing question, Friedrich Engels addressed the housing problems faced by the proletarian migrant workers in major industrial centres. He asserted that they could only be solved by first resolving their harsh working conditions in the capitalist mode of mass production. Presently, with transnational migrant flows to urban centres and the mass acceptance of the digital platform economy, the housing question manifests itself, among other expressions, in the case of immigrants working in this digital contract-based market. While the platform economy provides immigrants with quick access into a host country’s labour market, the income insecurity and high risks associated with such work put them in a state of precariousness. Through the framework of Engels’ proposed action lines and analysis of observations and interviews with immigrant riders working for the food delivery platforms Glovo and Deliveroo, the paper highlights the negative impacts that this contemporary capitalist model of work, the municipal housing plan and the ongoing Covid-19 crisis have on the immigrant riders’ residential and working conditions in Barcelona, Spain, a city facing a severe rental housing shortage. Lastly, it suggests that, while the social market economy in Spain can be reformed to ameliorate the negative impacts of the platform economy on immigrant riders, bridging the gap between immigrant housing provision and employment inclusion would need to consider decent labour and housing as rights for residents, immigrants included, asserting the currency of Engels’ ideas.

Post-neoliberal housing policy? Disentangling recent reforms in New York, Berlin and Vienna

In cities worldwide, the housing question has returned. As demands and proposals by housing movements have grown bolder, city governments are implementing new policies, ranging from small tweaks to major overhauls. This paper takes a close look at New York City, Berlin and Vienna, assessing their current housing policy landscapes. We evaluate to what extent those cities’ recent housing reforms depart from the dominant, neoliberal policy landscape of recent decades and can be categorized as ‘post-neoliberal’. We do so through the criteria of affordability, decommodification and democratization. The three selected cities display varying histories of housing systems and neoliberalization, enabling us to search for post-neoliberal policies in three distinct institutional contexts. We find a common pattern across cases: recent reforms have improved affordability and dampened hyper-commodification, but little has been done to address the democratization of housing and planning systems. By way of conclusion, we discuss some of the structural factors that impede attempts at developing a genuinely post-neoliberal transformation of local housing policies.

Extending the Architecture of Collective Housing: Towards Common Worlds of Care

This article addresses the question of collective housing from the standpoint of two key notions in the contemporary architectural debate: care and the commons. With this objective in mind, a series of analytical parameters are put forward. The aim is to contribute to broadening and qualifying our understanding of the production and management of the collective habitat. As an illustration of each of the ideas expounded in this this paper, insightful examples of recent Spanish architecture are specifically selected and commented, as well as two case studies chosen to elaborate upon their particularities. They all share the fact of being projects, partly or wholly, designed by women, a matter which has had particular relevance in the creation of more sensitive, diverse and integration of built environments. At a time of acute health, economic and social crisis, as well as isolation and insecurity, more than ever, there is an urgent need for inspirational new ways of living and thinking in common.

Screening Discordance and Characteristics of Patients With Housing-Related Social Risks

Healthcare systems are increasingly interested in identifying patients' housing-related risks, but minimal information exists to inform screening question selection. The primary study aim is to evaluate discordance among 5 housing-related screening questions used in health care. This was a cross-sectional multisite survey of social risks used in a convenience sample of adults seeking care for themselves or their child at 7 primary care clinics and 4 emergency departments across 9 states (2018-2019). Housing-related risks were measured using 2 questions from the Accountable Health Communities screening tool (current/anticipated housing instability, current housing quality problems) and 3 from the Children's HealthWatch recommended housing instability screening measures (prior 12-month: rent/mortgage strain, number of moves, current/recent homelessness). The 2-sided Fisher's exact tests analyzed housing-related risks and participant characteristics; logistic regression explored associations with reported health (2019-2020). Of 835 participants, 52% screened positive for ≥1 housing-related risk (n=430). Comparing the tools, 32.8% (n=274) screened discordant: 11.9% (n=99) screened positive by Children's HealthWatch questions but negative by Accountable Health Communities, and 21.0% (n=175) screened positive by the Accountable Health Communities tool but negative by Children's HealthWatch (p<0.001). Worse health was associated with screening positive for current/anticipated housing instability (AOR=0.56, 95% CI=0.32, 0.96) or current/recent homelessness (AOR=0.57, 95% CI=0.34, 0.96). The 5 housing questions captured different housing-related risks, contributed to different health consequences, and were relevant to different subpopulations. Before implementing housing-related screening initiatives, health systems should understand how specific measures surface distinct housing-related barriers. Measure selection should depend on program goals and intervention resources.

Waqf and the Urban Housing Question: Islamic Land Donations for Housing in Bangkok

AbstractThe city of Bangkok, Thailand faces the sorts of housing problems that are experienced throughout the Global South, where urban housing is unaffordable to large numbers of residents or is of extremely poor quality. Standard economic analysis suggests that privatization of land will enable the free market to solve the housing problem. Anne Haila, a leading urban economist, turned this mainstream logic on its head, claiming that land privatization worsens housing problems. She also argued that systems based on sharing are needed. Bangkok sought to solve its housing problem with conventional methods of public housing and social housing, but that policy was unsuccessful. This article recommends the application of core Islamic social and moral values: social responsibility and generosity. The use of non‐private land, such as religious waqf land, offers an effective alternative housing system. Waqf land practices demonstrate the philosophy of Islamic philanthropy, as I show in a case study of how waqf land is used in Bangkok. The evidence demonstrates that a sharing alternative can help alleviate urban problems. This study is just one example of a practice within the Islamic collective philanthropic spirit.

Friedrich Engels on state socialism

In the ideological legacy of Friedrich Engels, the critique of ‘state socialism’ has a prominent, if overlooked, place. According to this conception, the essence of socialism is that the existing state intervenes in the capitalist economy and society with reforms to benefit the working class. The first section of this article outlines Engels’ critique of state socialism. It mentions how left geographers have approached his remarks on the trend, specifically in regard to the housing question, nationalisation and liberal democracy. The second part highlights the contemporary significance of Engels’ conception of proletarian emancipation – as contained in his critique of state socialism. Engels’ remarks can help clarify the objective conditions for socialism, conditions that some left geographers continue to ignore. It brings Engels insights to bear upon the Syriza Party in Greece, Corbynism in the UK, Bernie Sanders in the USA and the ‘Pink Tide’ in Latin America.

The Question of Housing, Between Crisis and Opportunity. The Case of CIAM VI

The Question of Housing, Between Crisis and Opportunity. The Case of CIAM VI

Varieties of Social Democracy and Cooperativism: Explaining the Historical Divergence between Housing Regimes in Nordic and German-Speaking Countries

AbstractThe historical-comparative study of social democracy and cooperative organization are the foster children of historical sociology. This article offers a first account of systematic ideological differences in social-democratic ideology regarding private ownership and different cooperative traditions in the housing sphere of Northern European and continental German-speaking countries. The long-run trajectory of housing welfare regimes in these two country groups has been one of divergence: Nordic countries have moved to Anglo-Saxon levels of high homeownership, high levels of mortgage indebtedness, and house price increases, whereas private tenancy, lower indebtedness, and lower price increases still characterize their German counterparts. Based on historical case studies of Germany and Norway, we argue that the divergence in these two countries can be understood by the different social-democratic and cooperative solutions to the urban housing question from the 1920s onward. Supported by a pro-ownership social democracy, Norway started to develop housing cooperatives of the owner cooperative type, whereas German social democracy was in favor of associations of the tenant cooperative type. The differential growth of these two types of cooperatives and disparities in social democratic party ideology contributed to the urban housing divergence between the two country groups that has been observed ever since. We argue, more generally, that varieties of social democracy and welfare-anticipating cooperative organizations are important in helping us understand the welfare differences between countries.

Migrant accommodation as a housing question, and how (not) to solve it

This paper looks at migrant accommodation in Berlin. In recent years, there has been a visible increase in camps to accommodate migrants. Rather than solely considering this as a reaction of repressive state actors aiming to contain the movement of migrants, the paper emphasizes another factor to explain the proliferation of camps: a neoliberal city and the resulting shortage of affordable housing. The budget cuts, austerity and privatizations in the 2000s converge with a border and asylum regime that reacted to an increase in arriving migrants since 2015. In this way, a new relational understanding of the camp and the city is configured: camp accommodation becomes part of a broader housing question. This housing question is materialized in a peripheral and substandard form of accommodation, as well as in the increasing permanence of camps. Based on in-depth field research, this paper adds new empirical knowledge to explore this context. The paper looks at current attempts to solve the housing question and problems of camp accommodation. Official approaches of planning ‘better’ camps are problematized as they do not engage with the roots of the housing question: the political economy of the city, a capitalist city that shapes urban space in terms of exchange rather than use value. Finally, alternative attempts are presented. Some aim to create practical solutions like shared housing projects, while others are targeting broader levels of the housing market in Berlin. By opening the question of camp accommodation to housing movements, another political perspective arises: to include migrants in the call to create a Right to the City and housing for all.

Housing Vancouver, 1972–2017: A personal urban geography and a professional response

The forum includes a research paper, preceded by a brief introduction and followed by five short responses from Pablo Mendez, Loretta Lees, Margaret Walton‐Roberts, Ilse Helbrecht, and Alison Mountz. Mountz's introduction sets the context for the paper and makes some framing remarks on David Ley's career. The main paper examines the housing question in Vancouver, in the period from 1972 to 2017. Re‐examining a number of Ley's research projects over this period, three broader themes are explored: the continuity of the housing crisis, and its reconfiguration over the period under study; the contrast between innovative and interventionist housing policy in the 1970s, with the later withdrawal of the state from significant intervention while endorsing market solutions; and the new centrality of housing as an empirical and analytical category in current human geography. This period saw upscaling from the 1970s welfare state to neoliberal globalization, including wealth immigration and off‐shore property investment that accelerated serious metropolitan affordability problems. Following this research paper, colleagues and former students respond to the paper and locate the contributions in David Ley's broader career. Their commentaries address Ley's key contributions to debates in human geography, including his work on gentrification, urbanism, urban activism, global migration, art, aesthetics, and ethnography.

Anthropological understanding of culture – the key for designing Romani housing

Purpose This paper aims to demonstrate a possible way in which cultural elements of minorities, in the specific case of the Romani, can be researched and operationalized in certain guidelines for designing housing intended for these groups. The paper was inspired by a constant failure of the present practice of solving the socially vulnerable Romani housing problems, namely, previous attempts have only achieved a negative outcome that, besides the partial satisfaction of urgent housing needs, does not respect the specificities of the Romani culture and lifestyle. The negative result has once again displaced this subject outside of the designing expertise and demands new examinations of strategical principles that precede the solving of the Romani housing question. Design/methodology/approach The authors create a methodological turn from the humanistic determination of the term culture towards the anthropological one, forming a clear methodological position of accessing the Romani culture. To test this approach on Romani settlements in Belgrade, this study used on-site observations of everyday life and informal interviews with residents. Findings As a practical result, this paper presents an operational knowledge base about Romani housing with design recommendations. In the social sense, this knowledge contributes to the scientific description and explanation of the characteristics of Roma housing. In a wider sense, this paper has the potential to shed light on similar problems of minorities that are present outside of the national borders of Serbia. Originality/value The topic of Romani housing is insufficiently researched, especially in the region of the Western Balkans. For this reason, the present study and the obtained results represent a significant contribution to scientific knowledge in this field.

Lessons in Rural Persuasion: Village Infill Development in Bavaria, Germany

Sustainable rural development in Germany was examined by linking conceptual and applied aspects of the land and housing question, broadly considering the ownership, use, and regulation of land. In the state of Bavaria, a new interagency initiative aims to curb land consumption by persuading villagers to embrace rural infill development. The study explored the background debate leading up to the Space-saving Offensive (Flächensparoffensive), the resource providers involved, and the options for funding actual rural infill building and renovation projects. Here, space-saving managers and other resource providers actively promote the positive societal meaning of central infill sites in contrast to unsustainable land consumption. In addition to the communications campaign, planning, regulatory, and funding interventions round out the multi-level initiative, as described in this study. A modern barn reuse exemplifies the Bavarian bundle of resources, while demonstrating how modern village infill redevelopment also contests oversimplified notions of stagnant rural peripheries. The initiative’s focus on linking key resources and bolstering communications can be read as validation for a more social perspective on land consumption and village infill development.

Activities and programmes that support the emotional wellness and well-being of refugees, immigrants and other newcomers within settlement agencies: a scoping review protocol.

IntroductionObstacles to successful settlement—social isolation, language hardship, issues with employment, housing questions, transportation, barriers to health, education and government service access—all potentially play a role in emerging physical and mental health problems. The objective of this scoping review is to map the available evidence in order to provide an overview of the services and resources offered to refugees, immigrants and other newcomers by settlement agencies to support emotional wellness and well-being.Methods and analysisThe protocol to be followed for this scoping review is based on the Joanna Briggs Institute to provide a map of the current and emergent literature, and examine the extent, range and nature of this literature. The proposed scoping review will also identify the gaps in research pertaining to the emotional wellness of refugees, immigrants and other newcomers as well as summarise and disseminate research findings and provide direction for future reviews. Key databases for this scoping review include APA PsycINFO, Medline, Embase, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature Plus, Academic Search Complete, and Education Research Complete. The database search start and end dates for this scoping review will be from inception to July 2020. The article searches will take place between August and October 2020.Ethics and disseminationEthics is not required as the research will not involve human or animal subjects. The research is a scoping review, and thus relies on published and grey literature studies and documents. The findings of this proposed scoping review will be disseminated through future publications as well as presentations to relevant stakeholders, including immigrant serving agencies. We anticipate that this scoping review will identify gaps in research pertaining to the emotional wellness of refugees, immigrants and other newcomers. The results of this review will be the first comprehensive recent survey of emotional wellness practices employed by settlement agencies.

Kohtuuhintaisen asumisen hajanainen kokonaisuus

The article analyses how housing affordability is defined in Finnish housing policy. The data consists of laws, policy documents and expert interviews. Three theoretical approaches are identified: normative definitions, consumer choice and definition by housing tenure. Normative definitions that consider affordability as an intersection of household income, housing costs and housing standards are acknowledged, but not treated as policy objectives. Nevertheless, housing allowances are a practical implementation of this approach. The main aim of housing policy – increasing housing supply to support a balanced market – implies that the housing question is to be solved primarily by the market and, consequently, affordability is defined by consumer choice. Social rental housing is often explicitly referred to as “affordable”. However, limiting the question to one tenure is problematic. The article recommends adopting a normative definition as well as better coordination of housing policy, which is now divided between different ministries.