Welfare Reform on the Web (November 1999): Social Housing - Overseas

ALTERNATIVE MODELS OF SOCIAL HOUSING: TENURE PATTERNS AND COST-RENTING IN NEW ZEALAND AND SWEDEN

A Davidson

Housing Studies, vol. 14, 1999, p. 453-72

Paper surveys the effects of market-type restructuring of the housing markets of two countries previously known for their highly regulated economies and leading edge welfare state development.

BALANCING ACT?

C Wiles

Housing, Sept. 1999, p. 22-23

The Republican-sponsored US Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act now allows public housing authorities to set aside up to 70% of their stock for working people as a way of restoring social balance to public housing projects. The previous needs-led approach to the allocation of public housing had led to it being used almost exclusively by the poor and disadvantaged.

CHINA CRISIS

J Wayne

Housing, Sept. 1999, p. 28-29

More than one quarter of China's billion citizens have housing problems. Three million households involve one or more families sharing a single room. Just under one million Chinese are homeless. Solutions developed include stock transfers of worker housing previously owned by state-run enterprises to newly formed housing management companies, mixed tenure, and encouragement of home ownership.

HONG KONG'S NEXT HANDOVER

D Harding

Public Finance, August 13th - 26th 1999, p. 16-18

Reports on the planned privatisation of public housing in Hong Kong. Currently about 2.4 million people in Hong Kong live in public housing. They are being encouraged, through a range of schemes, to buy their apartments from the government. The private sector will have an increased role in the management and maintenance of social housing estates, and in building new homes on derelict land released by the government.

PASSING THE HOUSING POLICY BATON IN THE US: WILL CITIES TAKE THE LEAD?

V Basolo

Housing Studies, vol. 14, 1999, p. 433-452

Federal leadership and funding for social housing policy declined in the 1980s. In the 1990s, the commitment to low-income housing has continued to wane, accompanied by funding uncertainties as the federal government has redefined its role as policy-maker. Paper examines social housing policy in the inter-governmental context, the influence of inter-governmental factors on local housing commitment, and the potential for cities to fill the gap left by federal government. Analyses US Census data combined with data from a mail survey of city housing professionals in a sample of US cities with populations of 25,000 or greater. Results show that cities do spend local dollars on housing programmes, but that the decision to do so is influenced by inter-governmental factors. Results suggest that states, not cities, are likely to assume the leadership role for social housing in the future.

REGIME SHIFTS IN DUTCH HOUSING POLICY

W G M Salet

Housing Studies, vol. 14, 1999, p. 547-57

Paper examines major changes in the organisation of Dutch social housing policies in the past 10 years. Principles of the new order are:

• direct contract relationship between tenant and landlord;
• housing associations are encouraged to act as social enterprises;
• the volume of property subsidies is considerably reduced;
• decision-making is decentralised;
• housing finance is almost completely privatised.