An article examined ways in which home-owners could be better protected from the consequences of housing market volatility, through a mixture of prudential lending, responsible borrowing, and an improved safety net. It also considered whether the private rented sector was capable of providing a safe alternative to full or partial ownership, and concluded that this was unlikely. Consequently, the role of the social rented sector remained crucial for providing security for those people who could not access full or shared ownership safely.
Source: Mark Stephens, 'Tackling housing market volatility in the UK. Part II: protecting households from the consequences of volatility', International Journal of Housing Policy, Volume 12 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
See also: Mark Stephens, 'Tackling housing market volatility in the UK. Part I: long- and short-term volatility', International Journal of Housing Policy, Volume 12 Issue 3
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
An article said that in many locations social housing had became a 'safety net tenure' rather than offering stability and opportunity. Price sensitivity was beginning to exclude those on lower incomes from the private rented sector. These changes – prompted by the diminishing availability of social housing, unregulated private sector rentals, low pay, and benefits reform – had a disproportionate impact on women. The accompanying insecurity undermined the conditions necessary for widening employment options. There was a need to expose the gendered nature of housing policy as a matter of women's human rights.
Source: Lynn Vickery, 'Deepening disadvantages in housing markets for women', Local Economy, Volume 27 Number 8
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Nov
A report said that the coalition government was failing to fix the broken housing market. Overcrowding, homelessness, and housing costs and affordability in the private rental market were all getting worse. The government had made 'no progress' on housing supply, planning, and home-ownership. Despite a stream of initiatives, housebuilding remained at historic lows. The government needed to switch its focus from policy-making to delivery, to ensure that more new, affordable homes were built.
Source: Andy Tate, Toby Lloyd, Sian Sankey, Tristan Carlyon, George Marshall, Peter Jefferys, Kevin Williamson, and Sheila Chung, The Housing Report Edition 3: The coalition s mid-term review, National Housing Federation/Shelter/Chartered Institute of Housing
Links: Report | CIH press release | NHF press release | Shelter press release | Homeless Link press release | Labour Party press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Nov
The Northern Ireland Executive began consultation on a housing strategy for the period 2012–2017. Proposals included: establishing a Housing Supply Forum to develop an interest-free loan to promote the building of affordable homes; exploring the options of rent-to-buy schemes and long-term leases as a way of promoting access to affordable housing; encouraging greater competition and partnership in the delivery of new social homes; and commissioning a fundamental review of how social housing was allocated.
Source: Facing the Future: Northern Ireland housing strategy 2012–17, Northern Ireland Executive
Links: Consultation document | NIE press release | CIH press release | RICS press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Oct
An article examined the changes to housing policy in England introduced or proposed by the coalition government since 2010. These changes formed part of a longer-term project to modernize housing policy, and were at the same time a response to an economic and public expenditure crisis. The emerging proposals raised important questions for housing policy analysis and research – questions about the interpretation of earlier policy and practice, and about the factors likely to affect future policy outcomes and patterns of segregation.
Source: Alan Murie, 'The next blueprint for housing policy in England', Housing Studies, Volume 27 Number 7
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Oct
A briefing paper examined the challenges of developing and managing mixed-tenure housing in Scotland. Funding concerns were casting a question mark over the sector's capacity to develop mixed-tenure housing, along with the Scottish Government's relaxation of 'planning gain' requirements.
Source: Nicola Clarke, The Challenges of Developing and Managing Mixed Tenure Housing, Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Oct
An article examined the possibility of defining 'housing market areas' in order to underpin the development of housing market intelligence for planning and policy purposes – as opposed to using existing administrative boundaries.
Source: Stephen Hincks and Mark Baker, 'A critical reflection on housing market area definition in England', Housing Studies, Volume 27 Number 7
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Oct
An article examined the experience of the government's policy of housing market renewal in England from the perspective of spatial justice. 'Gentrification' critiques of housing market renewal were only partial in their evaluation of justice, and lacked 'normative power'.
Source: Ed Ferrari, 'Competing ideas of social justice and space: locating critiques of housing renewal in theory and in practice', International Journal of Housing Policy, Volume 12 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Sep
An article examined long-term solutions to house price volatility. There was a need to improve housing supply to tackle volatility in the long run: but counter-cyclical policies were also required to tackle volatility in the short run.
Source: Mark Stephens, 'Tackling housing market volatility in the UK. Part I: long- and short-term volatility', International Journal of Housing Policy, Volume 12 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
See also: Mark Stephens and Peter Williams, Tackling Housing Market Volatility in the UK: A progress report, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Date: 2012-Sep
The report of an independent inquiry (chaired by Larry Whitty) made 21 recommendations designed to ensure that 250,000 homes were built in England every year for the subsequent two decades, with a 'significant proportion' being affordable. Recommendations included:
• £5 billion of quantitative easing cash should be used to build homes, and funding for social housing should be increased by £3 billion.
• The housing minister should be made a cabinet position in government.
• The merging of housing benefit payments into universal credit should be deferred.
• In the medium and longer term the affordable housing budget should be raised to £4.75 billion per year.
• A national commission on affordable housing should be set up to report before the 2015 general election.
Source: To Have or Have Not? Taking responsibility for tomorrow's affordable homes today, Housing Voice
Links: Report | Housing Voice press release | Inside Housing report | Red Brick blog post
Date: 2012-Sep
A report said that a failure to provide sufficient new homes was the root cause of the housing system's volatility. Even if every government policy and scheme to build new homes succeeded, there would still be 310,000 fewer homes than were needed by 2015. The report made a number of proposals to stabilize the system, including:
Increasing the availability of social rented homes and intermediate tenures (such as shared ownership) to provide an alternative to home-ownership.
Reforming the private rented sector to give renters more security.
Creating an insurance partnership scheme in which borrowers, lenders, and the government contributed to a pooled fund to cover struggling home-owners' mortgage costs, thereby providing a safety net and preventing repossessions.
Revaluing council tax bands to reflect real house prices and act as a brake on house price inflation.
Source: Mark Stephens and Peter Williams, Tackling Housing Market Volatility in the UK: A progress report, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Links: Report | JRF press release | Guardian report | Inside Housing report
See also: Mark Stephens, 'Tackling housing market volatility in the UK. Part I: long- and short-term volatility', International Journal of Housing Policy, Volume 12 Issue 3
Date: 2012-Sep
An article examined some of the issues raised by the governance of housing market renewal, and more specifically demolition, in areas of England suffering from long-standing economic decline and housing market weakness. It considered the experiences of the Housing Market Renewal (HMR) Pathfinder initiative in England, which ran from 2003 to 2011. Some strands in the critique of the programme might have tended to overstate the professional and institutional power of the agencies involved to 'deliver' their programmes in the face of media or community resistance. The underlying fragility of the 'partnership' governance model on which HMR was founded had caused a retreat from demolition as an option in housing market restructuring, and wider uncertainty about the focus of the programme.
Source: Ian Cole, 'Housing market renewal and demolition in England in the 2000s: the governance of "wicked problems"', International Journal of Housing Policy, Volume 12 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Sep
An article examined evidence published between 1999 and 2005 pertaining to mixed-tenure effects. Some positive impacts were found in the social and residential domains, though notably not in respect of social capital. The evidence for impacts in the environmental, safety, and economic domains was very mixed. In the human capital domain of health and education, the evidence was sparse.
Source: Elena Sautkina, Lyndal Bond, and Ade Kearns, 'Mixed evidence on mixed tenure effects: findings from a systematic review of UK studies, 1995–2009', Housing Studies, Volume 27 Number 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Aug
Date: 2012-Jun
A new book examined social policy developments under the coalition government across a range of key policy areas. It included chapters dealing with health, housing, family support, and the proposed new universal credit.
Source: Majella Kilkey, Gaby Ramia, and Kevin Farnsworth (eds.), Social Policy Review 24: Analysis and debate in social policy, 2012, Policy Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Jun
A report said that successive governments have tried to curb the rising cost of housing benefit by adjusting benefit entitlement and imposing additional restrictions on the regime: but these efforts had focused on treating the symptoms rather than the cause. The report called for the long-sighted approach – investing in supply to bring down the housing benefit bill by reducing the cost of housing and lifting households out of the benefit trap.
Source: Kate Webb, Bricks or Benefits? Rebalancing housing investment, Shelter
Date: 2012-May
A report said that the coalition government was failing to deliver on 5 out of 10 key housing indicators. These included housing supply, affordability of the private rented sector, and homelessness. It urged the government to make good on its promises, in particular to 'get Britain building' – which would provide much needed homes and also deliver new jobs and economic growth. It warned of the urgency of meeting the nation's housing needs as pressures (such as falling incomes and a growing and ageing population) intensified over the years ahead, putting an increasing strain on the 'broken' housing market.
Source: Andy Tate, Toby Lloyd, Sian Sankey, Tristan Carlyon, and George Marshall, The Housing Report: Edition 2, National Housing Federation/Shelter/Chartered Institute of Housing
Links: Report | NHF press release | Labour Party press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-May
The Welsh Government published a White Paper on housing. It included measures designed to tackle homelessness (ending family homelessness by 2019), improve conditions in the private rented sector, deliver more homes, and introduce tenancy reform.
Source: Homes for Wales: A White Paper for better lives and communities, Welsh Government
Links: White Paper | Welsh Government press release | Age Cymru press release | CIH press release | Consumer Focus press release | NLA press release | Shelter press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-May
A new book examined the key issues within housing studies from a multi-disciplinary framework.
Source: David Clapham, William Clark, and Kenneth Gibb (eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Housing Studies, SAGE Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Apr
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 report said that local councils held the key to solving the housing crisis: councils recognized that good, well designed homes could transform communities, improve outcomes for families, and promote social mobility. It recommended that councils should have strong local plans in place to decide what development their local areas needed, and that they should work closely with communities.
Source: Meeting Local Housing Demand: A guide for elected members, Local Government Association/Homes and Communities Agency
Links: Report | LGA press release | HCA press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Jan
