A paper examined the housing tenure decisions taken by older people in Europe. In nearly all countries the home-ownership rate among older people did not decline with age, contrary to the 'life cycle hypothesis'.
Source: Joaquin Alegre and Llorenc Pou, The Homeownership Rate among the Elderly and the Life Cycle Hypothesis: European evidence using individual and household data, Working Paper 49, Departament d'Economia Aplicada, La Universitat de les Illes Balears
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Dec
A paper examined the relationship between home-ownership and inequality in western Europe. Home-ownership helped to counterbalance wider inequalities in the income distribution in 1997, particularly in southern Europe: but by 2007 home-ownership played a less significant role in these countries. In the other relatively unequal countries, home-ownership was enabled by more widespread mortgage indebtedness, and played less of a role in counterbalancing income inequality.
Source: Michelle Norris and Nessa Winston, Home Ownership and Income Inequalities in Western Europe: Access, affordability and quality, Discussion Paper 41, GINI Project (European Commission)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Dec
An article examined the income support role of means-tested housing allowances in European Union countries. Housing allowances varied both within and between welfare regimes. They were not simply a liberal policy instrument: they were employed extensively within social democratic and conservative welfare regimes, and they were not only focused on the poorest households. Housing allowances had a significant impact on disposable incomes (after housing costs) and had an important income support function.
Source: Julia Griggs and Peter Kemp, 'Housing allowances as income support: comparing European welfare regimes', International Journal of Housing Policy, Volume 12 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Dec
A study examined the external costs of car use within the European Union. It found that car pollution, noise, and accidents cost every EU citizen £600 per year.
Source: Udo Becker, Thilo Becker, and Julia Gerlach, The True Costs of Automobility: External costs of cars Overview on existing estimates in EU-27, Faculty of Transport and Traffic Science, Technical University of Dresden
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Dec
A report examined the extent and nature of homelessness in the European Union's member states, and analyzed policy progress in tackling homelessness over recent years. Homelessness had increased in 15 member states in the previous 1-5 years, and remained a problem in all member states. Many states reported an increasing proportion of homeless women, families, migrants, and young people. A more integrated approach was needed to address the problem.
Source: On the Way Home? FEANTSA monitoring report on homelessness and homeless policies in Europe, FEANTSA (European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless)
Links: Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Dec
A report called for action to promote low-carbon, resource-efficient economic development in Europe.
Source: Axel Volkery, Sirini Withana, David Baldock, Doreen Fedrigo-Fazio, Patrick ten Brink, Raphael Sauter, and Peter Hjerp, Running out of Time: Stepping up action for Europe's environment, Institute for European Environmental Policy
Links: Report | IEEP press release
Date: 2012-Dec
A new book examined key issues in urban development and governance in Europe.
Source: Willem Salet and Enrico Gualini (eds), Framing Strategic Urban Projects: Learning from current experiences in European urban regions, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Dec
A paper examined the redistributive effect of a comprehensive set of housing-related policies, taking into account the housing advantage of home-owners and social tenants. It used the Euromod microsimulation model to simulate housing policies in Estonia, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The existing design of property taxes was found to be not progressive. Other housing policies had a limited impact on inequality in Estonia, and on both inequality and relative poverty in Italy. In all three countries, housing-related policies favoured elderly people.
Source: Virginia Maestri, Economic Well-Being and Distributional Effects of Housing-Related Policies in 3 European Countries, Discussion Paper 31, GINI Project (European Commission)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Nov
A report examined the extent to which different regulatory frameworks across Europe had generated different incentives to provide private rental housing; to live in private rental housing; and to fund that housing. England was the only country reviewed where the private rented sector had been growing rapidly in recent years. In most countries the sector had declined, often accompanied by an increase in owner-occupation. Well conceived and well managed regulation could enhance the private rented sector for both tenants and landlords.
Source: The Private Rented Sector in the New Century: A comparative approach, Knowledge Centre for Housing Economics (Denmark)
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Oct
A paper examined the relationship between income inequality and access to housing for low-income households in Europe. No relationship was found between inequality and housing affordability – the level of resources mattered, rather than their distribution. There was a positive relationship between inequality and crowding for owners. Higher levels of income inequality were associated with lower housing quality for owners and renters. Although there was a relationship between inequality and access to housing, it was complex and not mediated by house price changes.
Source: Caroline Dewilde and Bram Lancee, Income Inequality and Access to Housing in Europe, Discussion Paper 32, GINI Project (European Commission)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Sep
A paper compared the structural features of home-ownership systems in 15 European Union countries (home-ownership rates, mortgages, and public subsidization) with data on inequalities in outcomes (variations in home-ownership access, risks, and standards between income groups). Elements of both convergence and divergence were evident in western European home-ownership systems. The comparative housing literature had largely failed to capture the key inter-country cleavages in home-ownership systems between the northern and southern countries.
Source: Michelle Norris and Nessa Winston, Home-Ownership, Housing Regimes and Income Inequalities in Western Europe, Discussion Paper 42, GINI Project (European Commission)
Links: Paper
See also: Michelle Norris and Nessa Winston, 'Home-ownership, housing regimes and income inequalities in western Europe', International Journal of Social Welfare, Volume 21 Issue 2
Date: 2012-Aug
An article examined service provision, and identified barriers to care, for homeless people with mental health problems in 14 European capital cities. Although there was variability in service provision, reported barriers to service accessibility were common. Homeless-specific services were more responsive to the initial needs of homeless people with mental health problems, while generic services tended to be more conducive to long-term care. Further research was needed to determine the effectiveness of different service delivery models, including the most effective co-ordination of homeless-specific and generic services.
Source: Reamonn Canavan et al., 'Service provision and barriers to care for homeless people with mental health problems across 14 European capital cities', BMC Health Services Research, Volume 12
Date: 2012-Jul
An article examined the growth of social enterprises in the social housing sector in Europe. Recent changes in the provision, funding, and management of social housing had led to the emergence of new types of providers. Although some of them could be portrayed using traditional 'state', 'market' or 'civil society' labels, many corresponded to hybrid organizational forms, encompassing characteristics of all three in varying combinations. Nonetheless, evidence suggested that there was a common thread linking these organizations together, namely their core missions and values, which could be classified using the term 'social enterprise'.
Source: Darinka Czischke, Vincent Gruis, and David Mullins, 'Conceptualising social enterprise in housing organisations', Housing Studies, Volume 27 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-May
An article examined approaches to meeting the healthcare needs of homeless people, drawing on research in Norway and Scotland. The challenge was to recognize the need for a process approach that supported an effective transition from the (sometimes necessary) use of specialist services for this group, towards full integration into mainstream healthcare.
Source: Isobel Anderson and Siri Ytrehus, 'Re-conceptualising approaches to meeting the health needs of homeless people', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 41 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-May
A report examined how to improve the integration of environment issues into the European Union's cohesion policy over the period 2014-2020. Cohesion policy was missing important opportunities to promote environmentally sustainable economic development in European regions. By adopting a more innovative approach, the policy had the potential to be a key mechanism in driving the changes required for the transition towards a green, low-carbon, and resource-efficient economy.
Source: Peter Hjerp, Keti Medarova-Bergstrom, F Cachia, D Evers, Magnus Grubbe, P Hausemer, P Kalinka, Marianne Kettunen, James Medhurst, G Peterlongo, Ian Skinner, and Patrick ten Brink, Cohesion Policy and Sustainable Development, Institute for European Environmental Policy (with CEE Bankwatch Network, BIO Intelligence Service, GHK Institute for Ecological Economy Research, Matrix Insight, and Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency)
Links: Report | Supporting paper (1) | Supporting paper (2) | Supporting paper (3) | Supporting paper (4) | Supporting paper (5)
Date: 2012-Apr
A report examined the provision of the 'Housing First' service model in Europe – immediately providing homeless people with either secure independent or communal housing before any other services.
Source: Nicholas Pleace, Housing First, FEANTSA (European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless)
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Apr
A paper examined the fiscal and distributional consequences of including home-owners' imputed rent, net of mortgage interest and maintenance costs, in taxable income, based on an analysis in six European countries. The results showed how including net imputed rent in the tax base might affect inequality in each of the countries considered. Housing taxation appeared to be a promising avenue for raising additional revenues, or lightening taxation of labour, with no inequality-increasing side-effects.
Source: Francesco Figari, Alari Paulus, Holly Sutherland, Panos Tsakloglou, Gerlinde Verbist, and Francesca Zantomio, Taxing Home Ownership: Distributional effects of including net imputed rent in taxable income, EUROMOD Working Paper EM4/12, Institute for Social and Economic Research (University of Essex)
Links: Working paper | Abstract
Date: 2012-Apr
A briefing paper examined housing problems (such as poor housing quality, overcrowding, and high housing costs) and access to basic local services (including public transport, and postal and banking services) across the European Union. It also assessed whether the population at risk of poverty was exposed to cumulative disadvantage, suffering from both low incomes and housing deprivation.
Source: Orsolya Lelkes and Katrin Gasior, Housing Problems and Access to Basic Local Services in the EU27: How does Austria compare?, European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research (Vienna)
Links: Briefing
Date: 2012-Apr
A report examined the extent of the problem of substandard housing for Roma people in Europe, and in particular the situation of Traveller groups, who often had difficulties finding a place in halting sites. Problems faced by the Roma included high overcrowding rates, lack of access to improved forms of sanitation, and high levels of urban segregation thus limiting access to healthcare services. These issues reinforced existing health inequalities among Roma people, including an increased risk of disability, chronic illness, and obesity.
Source: Daniel Molinuevo, Maarten Koomen, and Klara Foti, Living Conditions of the Roma: Substandard housing and health, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
Date: 2012-Mar
An article examined how non-European Union and intra-European Union knowledge arenas in spatial development policy and planning were connected, by focusing on the interrelationship between CEMAT (Council of Europe Conference of Ministers Responsible for Spatial/Regional Planning) and EU activities and arenas of co-operation.
Source: Matti Fritsch, 'Connecting territorial knowledge arenas: the interrelationship between CEMAT and EU activities in spatial development policy', European Journal of Spatial Development, Refereed article 47
Links: Article
Date: 2012-Mar
An article compared the most recent 'bubbles' in the housing and mortgage credit markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. Contrary to popular perception, the two European countries had had a bigger housing price bubble, more volatility, and a more 'short-termist' mortgage market. But the effects of the subsequent crisis – in terms of over-indebtedness of mortgage holders, home repossessions, and the loss of housing equity – had been worse in the United States.
Source: Waltraud Schelkle, 'A crisis of what? Mortgage credit markets and the social policy of promoting homeownership in the United States and in Europe', Politics and Society, Volume 40 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Mar
An article examined the identification and dissemination of best practice in the field of spatial planning in Europe. It said that the value of exchanging European best practices was limited, because of huge differences in the economic, political, or social situation between different countries.
Source: Dominic Stead, 'Best practices and policy transfer in spatial planning', Planning Practice and Research, Volume 27 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Mar
An article examined the structural features of home-ownership systems in 15 European Union countries (home-ownership rates, mortgages, and public subsidization) with data on inequalities in outcomes (variations in home-ownership access, risks, and standards between income groups).
Source: Michelle Norris and Nessa Winston, 'Home-ownership, housing regimes and income inequalities in western Europe', International Journal of Social Welfare, Volume 21 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Mar
An article examined the state of comparative research on planning in Europe. It called for an integrated perspective that embraced both systemic structures and concrete planning practices, and outlined some of the key aspects of a culturally sensitized form of comparative planning research.
Source: Mario Reimer and Hans Blotevogel, 'Comparing spatial planning practice in Europe: a plea for cultural sensitization', Planning Practice and Research, Volume 27 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Mar
An article proposed a methodological framework for analyzing European Union influence on domestic planning systems and policies. It sought in particular to examine whether, where, and how Europeanization of national planning occurred, and under which analytic frameworks it might be explained
Source: Georgia Giannakourou, 'The Europeanization of national planning: explaining the causes and the potentials of change', Planning Practice and Research, Volume 27 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Mar
An article said that in order to understand changes in planning systems and planning cultures in Europe, there was a need to adopt a multi-scalar approach with different entry points of analysis. This should give emphasis to the overlooked aspects of actor constellation, knowledge, and policy styles.
Source: Panagiotis Getimis, 'Comparing spatial planning systems and planning cultures in Europe: the need for a multi-scalar approach', Planning Practice and Research, Volume 27 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Mar
An article examined the potential role of housing equity in funding retirement, drawing on a comparative study of the views of home-owners in Germany and the United Kingdom.
Source: Anwen Jones, Tim Geilenkeuser, Ilse Helbrecht, and Deborah Quilgars, 'Demographic change and retirement planning: comparing households views on the role of housing equity in Germany and the UK', International Journal of Housing Policy, Volume 12 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Feb
A report examined leading practice in resident involvement in social housing in the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark. It looked at existing models for resident empowerment; and it explored practices for recording and measuring resident involvement, and the use of rewards and incentives.
Source: Hal Pawson, Janis Bright, Lars Engberg, and Gerard van Bortel (with Laurie McCormack and Filip Sosenko), Resident Involvement in Social Housing in the UK and Europe, Hyde Group
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Feb
A report examined how the objective of a resource-efficient, low-carbon economy in Europe was to be reached, and how the transition should be managed. It warned against the option of attaining a low-carbon economy through 'deindustrialization': that would prevent Europe from preserving its competitiveness and knowledge base, which were also essential for exploiting the potential of the emerging eco-industry.
Source: Bela Galgoczi (ed.), Greening Industries and Creating Jobs, European Trade Union Confederation
Links: Summary | EC press release
Date: 2012-Feb
A new book examined the impact of corruption in European Union-funded structural development projects. Corruption was generated by the planning and implementation procedures of the projects. Environmental movements emerged as by-products of these processes, using corruption as part of a discourse employed in support of their action against political (regional and state) institutions, as well as to communicate their goals to local citizens.
Source: Davide Torsello, The New Environmentalism? Civil society and corruption in the enlarged EU, Ashgate Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Feb
An article examined the way in which housing equity was used as a pension across the member states of the European Union.
Source: John Doling and Marja Elsinga, 'Housing as income in old age', International Journal of Housing Policy, Volume 12 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Feb
An article examined housing conditions in the European Union in relation to complex social and economic developments, together with the significant influence of policy choice and the incidence of family support.
Source: Srna Mandic and Andreja Cirman, 'Housing conditions and their structural determinants: comparisons within the enlarged EU', Urban Studies, Volume 49 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Feb
A think-tank report said that the European Union's Emissions Trading System (designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions) was failing in its objectives: it provided only marginal emissions reductions, at a high cost to businesses and consumers. The ETS pushed up energy bills, increasing fuel poverty, while power companies made billions in windfall profits.
Source: David Merlin-Jones, CO2.1: Beyond the EU's Emissions Trading System, Civitas
Links: Summary | Civitas press release
Date: 2012-Jan
A paper examined how the longstanding tradition of social justice and the more recent trend of environmental (or ecological) justice overlapped, and how they could be reconciled in an all-encompassing notion. It discussed the need for such a new concept in the light of the contemporary challenges of climate change and economic globalization, focusing on the concept's added value compared with the already existing notion of 'sustainable development'.
Source: Antoine Duval and Marie-Ange Moreau (eds.), Towards Social Environmental Justice?, EUI Working Paper LAW 2012/02, European University Institute (Florence)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Jan
An article examined the climate change adaptation strategies of European states from a spatial planning and development perspective
Source: Stefan Greiving and Mark Fleischhauer, 'National climate change adaptation strategies of European states from a spatial planning and development perspective', European Planning Studies, Volume 20 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jan
An article examined the evolution of urban policy 'discourses' among advanced industrial nations in the period since the early 1980s.
Source: Nik Theodore and Jamie Peck, 'Framing neoliberal urbanism: translating "commonsense" urban policy across the OECD zone', European Urban and Regional Studies, Volume 19 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jan
A new book examined issues relating to mobility and transport in contemporary societies.
Source: Margaret Grieco and John Urry (eds.), Mobilities: New Perspectives on Transport and Society, Ashgate Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Jan