Social Housing Schemes Research Articles

A Study of the Prospects and Challenges of India's Government Social Rental Housing

This research explores into the complex world of social rental housing schemes run by the Indian government, looking at its prospective & challenges. It is the responsibility of the government to provide "housing for all," as this is a right incorporated in the Constitutional Directive Principles of State Policy. Social rental housing is a subset of rental housing that aims to include more people. In response, the government of India has launched several social rental housing initiatives to make affordable, good housing available to everybody. Essential components in reducing housing disparity, it assesses how well these programs foster social inclusion & sustainable urban development. Until recently, the topic of rental housing in India was mostly ignored. With the fact that there are 21.72 million urban rented houses, no legislative framework has been put in place to encourage private sector involvement in this crucial subset of housing, even though the country has been independent for 72 years.

Building Sustainable Social Housing System: A Singapore Case from New Institutionalism Economics Approach

Policymakers worldwide currently face challenges in planning, regulating, and managing the housing market. One of the primary solutions is the provision of affordable social housing fostering economic development, culture integration, technology empowerment, and social stability. Singapore is recognized as a successful model of well-balanced centralized legislation and market-augmented governance. However, current studies have mainly focused on urban planning and real estate finance fields. A holistic approach should be conducted to understand the effectiveness of the whole framework and policy conduit including affordability, inclusiveness, and connectivity. This study emphasizes the importance of the Housing and Development Board (HDB) governance and analyzes what policies make social housing schemes robust and sustainable by combining the Singapore case with the New Institutionalism Economics (NIE) approach. HDB decreases transaction costs by centralized planning and establishes a transparent system to increase housing affordability and ownership. Inclusiveness is achieved by inter-departmental joint force so that social capital can be maximized for diverse community cohesion. Socio-technical change and institutional evolution have mutual effects on each other for efficiency and connectivity. Digital innovations make sustainable communities and smart cities. As a result, this study proposes a practical framework for learning from Singapore's implications for national governance, institutional development, and policy formulation that holds universal reference value.

The impact of densification and orientation manipulation on outdoor thermal comfort at social housing in arid regions: a sensitivity analysis

ABSTRACT Many developing countries are experiencing rapid urban growth, resulting in a high demand for social housing schemes. In Egypt, newly built communities and potential extensions are incompatible with its hot climate due to low aspect ratios, high sky view factors values (SVF) and less shaded areas, which negatively affect outdoor thermal comfort at the pedestrian level. This study aims to find a relationship between density (represented in SVF), Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) and orientation through a sensitivity analysis to improve the thermal comfort of outdoor spaces in new cities. The research was held on the peakiest summer day using a validated ENVI-met simulation model for a residential area in New October city. The simulation results of 36 scenarios with a total of 37,138 spatial grids were examined through sensitivity analysis to quantify the impact of densification parameters like building coverage ratio, floor area ratio, building height variation, and orientation on PET. PET was found to be more sensitive to densification in cardinal directions. With Higher mid-range densities PET at cardinal orientation reached up to 10℃ higher than in diagonal. Also, the results revealed that optimizing density and building heights could improve average PET (08:00 to 18:00) in diagonal orientation with up to 8℃ in the mid-range densities. However, orientation is insignificant in low densities. Out of the tested parameters, densification was found to be the most impactful strategy than height variation. These results can aid in developing public and private housing schemes that are more climate responsive.

Translation Studies Concepts

In an attempt to address the title, this article will follow two lines of inquiry. It firstly will trace the development of several key concepts in Translation Studies and ethnography and show how these concepts have shifted in terms of interpretation and scope over time depending on the broader contexts in which they were used. In each case, the concepts were derived from observation of and reflection on translation. The paper will also point to theorization in anthropology (perhaps in contrast to philology) and how it stems directly from ethnographic observation and study in which translation plays an important role. In doing so, the paper will argue that these local insights have considerable staying power and theoretical reach, precisely because they are grounded in the lived experience that sustains them, which perhaps will make them adaptable in other places and situations far beyond their ‘origin’ or the place where the seed of insight germinated. This is considered important in relation to the theme of the special issue, namely community interpreting and translation in the Africancontext, as many concepts emerge from studies of communities and their cultural contexts. Secondly, the paper draws on and discusses ethnographic data of translational practices in a social housing scheme to shed new light on intralingual translation as conceptualized by Jakobson (1959) and set out in a model byKorning Zethsen (2009). The data also illustrates how the various elements of intralingual translation belong in a broader economy of exchanges in the housing scheme.

Housing Affordability in Nigeria; an Analysis of Lagos State Government Rent to Own Scheme.

The importance of housing as a social good has made it a frequent subject matter of discussion in both developed and developing nations, where it continues to be accorded great attention. Due to cities’ unchecked and widespread urban growth, there is housing scarcity problem in many cities around the world, particularly in developing countries, such as Nigeria. Nigeria housing problem is not just quantitative in nature but also qualitative and unaffordability. Governments at various levels have introduced numerous housing scheme that is geared towards supplying housing and bridging housing gap, however, majority of these housing schemes are still beyond the reach of the low income earners in terms of affordability. Hence, this study assessed the affordability of Lagos State government social housing scheme through the Lagos state rent-to-own-scheme. The study revealed that the housing units are costly and not affordable to low-medium income earners as 2bedroom and 3-bedroom flats are priced at N20,000,000.00 and N25,000,000.00 and above respectively.An applicant of a 2-bedroom flat is expected to pay an initial equity capital of N1, 000,000.00 and N1, 250,000.00 for a 3-bedroom flat, while the residue of the cost is payable for a period of 10years on monthly basis (N158, 333.3 and N197, 916.00 monthly repayment respectively). This is disheartening and appalling social housing scheme as it is not affordable and within the reach of most Nigerians using house price to income ratio as a threshold for measuring affordability It is therefore recommended that government should adopts affordable housing delivery strategies such as cost saving design approach, promotion of local building materials, vertical housing development, mass housing that incorporate sustainable strategies; recycling of building materials for reuse, while also increasing the repayment period from 10years to 15years. When these approaches are adopted, it will aid affordability and integrate low-medium income earners in the social housing scheme

Contemporary Shelter in the Built Environment: A Comparative Review of Social Housing Schemes in Selected European and African Nations

Social Housing remains highly essential in providing affordable shelter in urban and peri-urban settlements. However, pressures from liberalisation, public expenditures, and privatisation continue to threaten its availability. This paper reviews contemporary social housing trends and compares Europe’s established social housing scheme to Africa’s emerging schemes. This was achieved by identifying the similarities between social housing in the UK and the Netherlands and social Housing in Nigeria and South Africa and identifying the differences between them. Relevant literature was reviewed to give a detailed but straightforward account of the Netherlands, UK, South Africa, and Nigeria based on allocation policy, target occupants, ownership scheme, mode of finance, and the challenges faced. The studies conclude that there are more similarities between social Housing in Europe and Africa than differences. However, the most fundamental difference is the type of challenges they face. The challenges observed in Europe’s social housing schemes are social problems such as segregation and bad public image. In contrast, Africa’s social housing challenges are socio-economical in terms of lack of funds, poor planning, and implementation of policies. The outcome from this study is targeted at promoting the implementation of sustainable social housing schemes at the policy level.

Mobilizing legal expertise in and against cities: urban planning amidst increased legal action in Bogotá

ABSTRACT In the past decade, there has been a rise in legal action around urban policy and planning in Colombia. Legal expertise has been mobilized by a plethora of actors, including social movements, local politicians, neighborhood groups and individual citizens. This has resulted in legal experts and judges often dictating how social housing, transport corridors, public space, or waste management schemes ought to be implemented by municipal administrations. In this context, mayors and planners complain that the increasing involvement of the judiciary in urban planning drains local resources and undermines the power of mayors to set and implement the political agenda they were democratically elected to execute. In this article, we analyze the rise of legal action against urban planning in Bogotá and conclude by proposing a research agenda for socio-legal and urban scholars interested in further exploring the potential implications of the increasing mobilization of legal expertise in urban planning.

Thermal and environmental evaluation of mid-rise social housing retrofit under different climate conditions

A significant share of the global housing stock lacks minimum residential quality standards. This has prompted the emergence of schemes to meet the needs of current occupants and country-specific carbon targets. Energy retrofitting, in this context, is a cornerstone for initiatives aimed at improving the indoor environmental quality of residential buildings while reducing environmental impacts and costs associated with space conditioning. This study explores different energy retrofitting solutions to the CORVI 1020 scheme, an emblematic mass social housing scheme that was heavily replicated in Chile disregarding local environmental conditions. Building energy simulation and life cycle assessment are used to evaluate three retrofitting scenarios under four contrasting climatic conditions. These scenarios reflect conditions that can be achieved under current subsidized schemes, including moderate and high-performance envelope improvements, with and without a sunspace extension. The scenarios are finetuned to minimize heating demand in winter and overheating risks in summer. Overall, the high-performance solution without sunspace extension outperforms other scenarios across climates and metrics. This study contributes to the development of strategies to improve residential quality and environmental performance in mass housing from a multi-variable perspective.

Quality management of RDP housing construction: myth or reality?

PurposeSouth Africa has a large social housing scheme to provide primary housing for less privileged citizens who obtain an average monthly income of less than R 3,500.00. The government seeks to promote an integrated society by developing sustainable human settlements and quality housing within a subsidy system for different income groups. This study aims to examine whether quality management is applied to the reconstruction and development programme (RDP) housing programme during construction.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative survey approach was selected for this study. This involved using a close-ended questionnaire to collect data amongst 1,893 households who are currently residing in government housing units in the city of Bloemfontein, in the Free State province. The questionnaires were self-administered amongst randomly selected respondents based on their availability at the time of the visit to the above area. However, only the occupants of a household were included in the study. The data gathered were analysed by making use of R-programming software.FindingsThe findings revealed that a low level of quality is evident in the already constructed RDP housing units. Most of the inspected units were built with low-quality building materials or were not well-constructed, with derelict structural frames and finishes being evident in most houses. Respondents also indicated that they were not satisfied with the quality of some aspects of the units, such as the plaster and paint finishes, door frames built into walls and uneven floors and floor finishes. These complaints indicate that little to no quality management was applied at the time of construction or even afterwards during the latent defects period.Research limitations/implicationsThe survey was limited to responses amongst randomly selected government RDP housing occupants in seven communities in Bloemfontein’s periphery, in the Free State Province of South Africa.Practical implicationsThe empirical results from the findings indicate that the South African Government should ensure that quality management is applied during the housing units’ construction. This may mean that a new strategy for verifying the units’ quality will need to be developed, considering the respondents’ concerns by improving the quality of the construction materials and methods used to erect these units. The government should also consider improving contractors’ tender selection criteria to ensure higher quality construction methods, materials and management.Originality/valueThe study has identified quality challenges in constructing the social housing and stated recommendations that will address the identified issues if implemented by the programme implementers. This will help achieve the programme's objective, which is to improve the living conditions of previously disadvantaged individuals through social housing scheme.

Urban spectacularisation and social housing : an asymmetrical relation ? The habitations Jeanne-Mance in Montreal’s quartier des spectacles

ABSTRACT Located in the heart of Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles, the Habitations Jeanne-Mance is a vast social housing scheme that contrasts starkly with the Quebec metropolis’s cultural showcase. However, despite their differences, these urban projects have been subject to similar beautification practices. Both have drawn on public art and culture as resources, but the two beautification processes have taken different forms. In the Quartier des Spectacles, they have been aimed at attracting audiences, while in the Habitations Jeanne-Mance, they have sought to reinforce a sense of belonging. In this article, we analyse how these symbolic recoding processes have interconnected and overlapped.

Suburban gardens in the interwar planning agenda: London’s Becontree vs. Frankfurt’s Rörmerstadt

ABSTRACT A great part of the interwar expansion of European cities relied on social housing schemes built on affordable suburban land following garden-city principles. Green spaces were an essential part of these extension plans, which were particularly ambitious in London and Frankfurt. While both initiatives have been extensively researched, most of these studies contemplate their green areas as an offshoot of the housing programmes and not as an essential part of the planning. Based on published sources and archival research, this article compares two of the most paradigmatic settlements of the period, Becontree in London and Römerstadt in Frankfurt, to analyze the role gardens played in the urban agenda. As this comparative study shows, private gardens and allotments were not a byproduct but a keystone in interwar suburban planning, albeit in different ways. While in London they were introduced as a new hobby for the working classes that insisted on its ornamental features, in Frankfurt, they were part of a comprehensive plan to make the city self-sufficient, so its productive, utilitarian role was prioritized. Both strategies used gardens in a significant way to achieve their ultimate goal of improving living conditions in order to avoid social unrest.

Measuring social housing dimensions: a case study of urban areas in Algeria

Purpose The purpose of this study is to develop a measurement model and measure the dimensions of Residential Quality and Housing Adequacy (RQHA), Social Housing Provision (SHP) and Residents’ Quality of Life (RQOL) by social housing residents in Batna city, Algeria. Design/methodology/approach This study used a quantitative approach through the distribution of a self-administered questionnaire. A total of 373 useable questionnaires were collected from social housing residents in Batna city and used for the analysis. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis with principal component analysis through SPSS and confirmatory factor analysis using AMOS. Findings The measurement model revealed good fit of indices indicating that RQHA is presented by three sub-constructs, namely satisfaction with housing adequacy, satisfaction with current neighbourhood and satisfaction with housing design. In addition, the constructs of SHP and RQOL were measured by seven items each. The measurement model provides empirical evidence of the correlation between RQHA, SHP and RQOL constructs. Practical implications The findings of this study contribute significantly to government, housing stakeholders, architects, project managers and urban planners in the context of social housing policymakers, design, planning and construction. The finding would be helpful to ameliorate housing quality, adequacy, provision and RQOL in terms of social housing scheme. Originality/value This study identifies the correlation between constructs (RQHA, SHP and RQOL) and their dimensions in the context of social housing in Batna city by validating a measurement model using CFA.

Door Locks, Wall Stickers, Fireplaces: Assemblage Theory and Home (Un)Making in Lewisham’s Temporary Accommodation

AbstractThis paper explores resident experiences of life in PLACE/Ladywell, a “pop‐up” social housing scheme in London providing temporary accommodation for homeless families. Specifically, we consider barriers to, and assertions of, homemaking in this temporary setting through fixtures and fittings—a door lock, wall stickers, and a fireplace. The paper utilises assemblage thinking to understand homemaking within these time‐limited and constrained circumstances. Despite their seeming banality, fixtures and fittings offer a material, politicised, and lively means of studying the attempted and thwarted production of home by residents living in PLACE/Ladywell. The absence of door locks reduces parents’ ability to maintain privacy and intimate relations; restrictions on hanging pictures and other decorative measures are circumvented by the use of wall stickers; and a defiant decorative fireplace establishes a sense of home in a temporary setting. Together, these objects constitute vital elements in negotiations between fixity and impermanence in temporary accommodation.

Nobody becomes stigmatised ‘all at once’: An interactionist account of stigma on a modernist council estate

This article examines how residents experience and account for stigma at Claremont Court, a modernist social housing scheme built in Edinburgh in the early 1960s. Although listed as having special architectural interest, the building has been subject to disinvestment and has a mix of residents, including council and private renters as well as owner-occupiers. This article explores micro-distinctions between residents, showing how the categories ‘stigmatiser’ and ‘stigmatised’ are not as rigid as we might expect. It then considers stigma associated not with residents but, rather, the building itself, and argues that closer attention to the relationship between the material and social is required in order to understand residents’ complex articulations of belonging. Finally, residents’ views on dirt and rubbish are explored, showing how they use these signifiers of stigma to reveal concerns about shame and respectability. Responding to the call from this journal for more sociological understandings of stigma, this article argues that interactionist approaches offer an important alternative, one that highlights how stigma is negotiated, resisted and apportioned in everyday life. This perspective reveals residents’ practices in interaction with the material environment, as well as the ways in which stigmatisation processes work simultaneously in upward and downward directions, rather than in a unidirectional way.

Meeting the expectations of the social housing recipients in South Africa: a myth or reality?

PurposeThe majority of South Africans were deprived of participation in the socio-economic activities in decades of the apartheid rule. The ANC government after coming to power in 1994 thus promised to improve the livelihood of people deprived of social intervention benefits by the apartheid regime through the provision of social housing. This research, therefore, sought to investigate if the expectations of the beneficiaries of the social housing scheme have been met by the government.Design/methodology/approachThe research approach adopted for this study is a quantitative survey. Questionnaires made up of closed-ended and open-ended questions were used to solicit data from 1893 randomly selected government social housing inhabitants in Bloemfontein. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data collected.FindingsThe results indicate that the government has been able to meet the expectation of the social housing recipients in some aspects such as improved living conditions as compared to the shack structures, good sanitary surroundings and a comfortable environment. However, the inhabitant's expectations such as a safe environment, houses with good finishes and fittings, good roads network and adequate houses to accommodate the family sizes have not been met. More so, where respondents acknowledged expectation achievement, they were benchmarking the conditions to the informal settlement (shack) environments rather than being actually happy with what they currently have. Thus, meeting the expectations of the social housing recipients by the government is currently a myth rather than a reality.Research limitations/implicationsThe survey was limited to only government social houses inhabitants in communities around the periphery of Bloemfontein, the capital city of the Free State Province of South Africa.Practical implicationsThe implication from these findings is that the government has been providing social houses that do not meet the expectation of the recipients since 1994. The government should, therefore, appraise the social housing scheme thoroughly and reconstitute the delivery strategy in order to supply houses that meet the need and expectations of the beneficiaries and thereby fulfilling the goal of improving the living standards of previously disadvantaged individuals through the social housing scheme.Originality/valueThe study has come up with recommendations that if followed by the government supply houses that meet the need and expectations of the beneficiaries and thereby fulfilling the goal of improving the living standards of previously disadvantaged individuals through the social housing scheme and make the programme sustainable.

Heating and controls use resulting from shared-cost charges in communal network social housing

In dwellings connected to district or communal heating schemes occupants are commonly charged based on actual heat consumption, providing a direct link between heat consumption and weekly heating cost. This article investigates how the use of fixed-rate, shared-cost charging without dwelling-level metering affects the heating and controls use in communal network social housing. Living room and radiator temperatures in 50 flats were monitored over a winter heating season and occupants surveyed at monitoring install and removal. The primary stated and observed heating strategy was to leave the heating always on and control through the radiator thermostatic radiator valves. Of people who used timer control, total heating hours reduced with increased frequency of manual intervention. Mean indoor temperatures up to 27.7°C were observed, implying many residents are adapted to higher indoor temperatures. Thus, the current model encourages wasteful behaviour and education on use of controls is key to transitioning residents to charging for actual heat use. Practical application: This article intends to inform the landlords of communal network social housing schemes on the impacts that shared-cost recovery methods of charging for heat has on heating and controls use. This charging method can impact the behaviour of the network occupants resulting in higher heat consumption, overall higher heating costs and subsequently higher carbon emissions from the site if occupants are not adequately trained in how to operate their heating effectively. Where similar charging methods are implemented, the article hopes to inform operators of the potential vulnerabilities of the network occupants to changes in the method of charging for heat.

Watershed for Rural Housing In India: A Review of the Policy Developments, Changes and Major Issues

Owing to the skewed nature of the housing market, the rural housing sector of the country has been facing the development exclusion for a very long period. In the absence of the major players, particularly the private sector and cooperative institutions, the sector has been historically depending only on the public investment through a number of social housing schemes. Lack of a well conceived rural housing policy and inclusive housing finance system have been the hard realities for over six decades of the development history. However, the sector has witnessed a watershed in the last decade with an exclusive policy design for the development for the first time and a number of public financial commitments like Rural Housing Fund, Golden Jubilee Rural Housing Finance Scheme, Housing Micro Finance and Refinancing Scheme of the National Housing Bank have been in vogue. Having been the first, these initiatives have impacted the sector positively in terms of creating new housing stock and in creating access to housing services, especially drinking water and household electricity, which are nearing total coverage of the households. Unfortunately, misconception of the rural housing realities, the poverty has doubled itself both absolutely and relatively. That apart, the paper has identified a number of major policy issues and offers a few policy implications for the effective development administration by making the finance system more inclusive, promotion of voluntary actions among the houseless families and evolving an integrated approach for development of housing amenities within the social housing framework. What demands for the transformation are strong political will as well as amalgamation of the housing and amenities charges.

The impact of housing consumption value on the spatial distribution of welfare

The measure of a household's income should include not only monetary components but also non-monetary components and in-kind benefits, such as imputed rent. Imputed rent is the rent an owner can expect to receive were the house on the rental market. This study examined the impact of net imputed rent on the distribution of income in a spatial context. The spatial impact of net imputed rent, mortgage payments, private rent, public rent (social housing schemes) and reverse mortgage/annuity on the spatial distribution of disposable income was examined for the year 2011. A spatial microsimulation model, simulated model of the Irish local economy (SMILE), was used to simulated disposable income at a detailed spatial scale. Rental and property values are estimated at a spatial scale adopting the kriging methodology. The created rental and property data were merged into the SMILE simulated dataset to examine the impact of housing on the spatial distribution of disposable income at a small area level. Results show that the imputed cash flows from property ownership decreases the income share of those at the bottom of the income distribution and is inequality increasing, except in the case of those aged 65 +. Spatially the benefits of housing are greatest in urban areas where property values are highest. The small area measurements of imputed rent highlight the dis-equalising impact imputed rent and housing wealth has on inequality; the rich being able to consume more housing.

Indoor temperature and relative humidity assessment of three construction systems for Dominican social housing in different micro-climates: A modelling study

This paper evaluates the indoor temperature and relative humidity of three construction systems in a Dominican social housing scheme, located in different micro-climates present in the Dominican Republic (DR). For the latter, we used DesignBuilder to model the most common type of social housing (S1). In addition, we have also modelled two other improved construction systems (S2 and S3), which have been the result of two different studies, which were conducted in DR. The simulations were carried out in 10 cities. These cities belong to the following five micro-climates: tropical wet Savanna, tropical wet rainforest, tropical wet jungle, dry semiarid and wet temperate. In this article, we have evaluated the construction systems’ performance in the context of thermal conditions inherent to DR. The latter has been done to verify which of the evaluated construction systems is the most adequate for each micro-climate. For this, we determined the average operating interior temperatures and relative humidities for each construction system. We conclude that Samples S2 and S3 show the lowest temperatures in warm climates, while Sample S1 shows improved performance in colder climates. S1 exhibits the lowest values of relative humidities, followed by S3, while S2 presents the highest values.

Architecture's Progressive Imperative: Housing Betterment in the 19th and 20th Centuries

History has shown that architects can act as catalysts for significant leaps forward in housing provision. Far beyond pure aesthetics and building layouts, their visions for new ways of offering affordable dwellings have driven real social change, with innovations in both the form of the domestic built environment and the methods used to construct and deliver it. Matthew Gordon Lasner, an associate professor of urban studies and planning at Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY), tells the story – from the conception of planned garden suburbs and multi‐family city blocks, to prefabricated postwar social housing schemes and more recent resident‐architect collaborations.