The OTB Institute, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands on Novermber 13th and 14th 2008
Final Conference Call
The final call for abstracts for those wishing to participate in the conference 'Building on Home Ownership: Housing Policies and Social Strategies' has now been extended to July 25th. Please see below or the website for details.
In the last decade home ownership rates and housing markets have advanced rapidly in most developed societies. A driving force has been intensified economic globalization following market deregulation and advancements in mortgage finance. Demographic shifts towards a more elderly population are also driving realignments in welfare policy. Under these conditions, many governments have looked to the increasing housing wealth of homeowners as a means to offset welfare and pension obligations. There is also evidence that households themselves are looking to housing property investment as a means to enhance economic self-reliance and manage an environment of growing insecurity. Access to housing markets, for households, and facilitating entry into owner-occupation, for governments, have become social, economic and political priorities. At the same time, housing markets have been squeezed by pressures of affordability and credit availability. Recent downturns in the global credit market have revealed vulnerabilities derived from the previous era of house-price over-inflation, market deregulation and financial internationalization. The next period of housing market globalization will arguably be dominated by increasing government concern with the situation of homeowners and the further promotion of home ownership under unfavorable market conditions.
The restructuring of housing systems with the rapid growth of housing wealth and mortgage liabilities, and the dynamic restructuring of global finance are forging new relationship among individuals, the state and housing markets. Access to, and the affordability of, home ownership are issues at the heart of housing policies and social strategies across societies. The focus of the conference is the identification and explanation of these features and shifts in local and international contexts. The conference aims to bring together developing theories and new empirical research on home ownership and housing systems in various contexts. The plenary sessions will include presentations by leading researchers who will address these critical issues in housing and society. The parallel workshop sessions will provide a forum for current research and ideas on various aspects of home ownership. All sessions aim to facilitate dialogue between researchers, policy makers and others concerned with housing issues.
Participation is free of charge. Travel and accommodation costs are at one's own expense. If you want to submit a proposal for a paper presentation, please send an abstract to Eveline Vogels (e-mail: E.M.Vogels@TUDelft.nl).
Please note that abstracts should be no longer than 300 words and submitted by Friday the 25th of July 2008. We will inform you as soon as possible if your proposal is accepted or if the maximum amount of participants had been reached. The final papers must be submitted before October 31st 2008.
For further information please contact:Eveline VogelsOTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility StudiesPO Box 50302600 GA DelftThe NetherlandsTel.: +31 (0)15 - 278 3560E-mail: E.M.Vogels@TUDelft.nl
Thursday 17 July 2008
Open Events at CCHR, De Montfort University
CCHR are holding an open day to promote the day-release part-time courses: Foundation Degree in Housing, Communities and Regeneration and BSc/BSc (Hons) Housing Studies. This will be taking place at De Montfort University’s Leicester campus on Thursday 3 July 2008. For further details see www.cchr.net/courses
CCHR will be hosting, with the CIH East Midlands Branch, an annual open evening in Leicester on Tuesday 15 July 2008. The main focus this year will be on the ‘Future for Local Housing Strategies’ and the launch of a new Postgraduate Distance Learning Course on Strategic Housing. For further details see www.cchr.net/evening
and www.cchr.net/newcourses
For more information contact Ros Lishman, phone 0116 257 7434 or email rlishman@dmu.ac.uk or visit http://www.cchr.net
CCHR will be hosting, with the CIH East Midlands Branch, an annual open evening in Leicester on Tuesday 15 July 2008. The main focus this year will be on the ‘Future for Local Housing Strategies’ and the launch of a new Postgraduate Distance Learning Course on Strategic Housing. For further details see www.cchr.net/evening
and www.cchr.net/newcourses
For more information contact Ros Lishman, phone 0116 257 7434 or email rlishman@dmu.ac.uk or visit http://www.cchr.net
‘The Irish in Britain: Issues, Evidence and Future Trends’
Symposium, 3rd June 2008, Sheffield Hallam University
Leading academics in the field of Irish Studies gathered at Sheffield Hallam University to debate the current and future needs of the Irish population in Britain. The symposium, organised by Rionach Casey and John Flint at CRESR, and supported by the Federation of Irish Societies discussed changes in Irish migration patterns, health inequalities, identity issues and future directions for the research agenda in Irish diaspora studies. The speakers were Professor Mary Hickman (London Metropolitan University), Professor Bronwen Walter (Anglia Ruskin University), Dr Louise Ryan (Middlesex University) and Eithne Rynne (Federation of Irish Societies).
Leading academics in the field of Irish Studies gathered at Sheffield Hallam University to debate the current and future needs of the Irish population in Britain. The symposium, organised by Rionach Casey and John Flint at CRESR, and supported by the Federation of Irish Societies discussed changes in Irish migration patterns, health inequalities, identity issues and future directions for the research agenda in Irish diaspora studies. The speakers were Professor Mary Hickman (London Metropolitan University), Professor Bronwen Walter (Anglia Ruskin University), Dr Louise Ryan (Middlesex University) and Eithne Rynne (Federation of Irish Societies).
Housing, the Environment and Our Changing Climate
The actions of housing managers and their residents will be key to cutting carbon emissions from UK homes, which account for 27 per cent of the nation’s total emissions. The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) has produced a new book in its joint series with the HSA, Housing, the Environment and Our Changing Climate, which we hope will lay the foundations for a change in attitude, so that anyone involved in housing and communities will recognise the urgency of making our homes fit for the future
The edited volume brings together contributions from academics, the housing sector and outside commentators to present the first rounded view of the importance of housing in tackling climate change. It has a Foreword by Tony Juniper of Friends of the Earth.
“Housing, the Environment and Our Changing Climate” by Sinn, C. and Perry, J. (eds) is published by the Chartered Institute of Housing. See their website for more details.
The edited volume brings together contributions from academics, the housing sector and outside commentators to present the first rounded view of the importance of housing in tackling climate change. It has a Foreword by Tony Juniper of Friends of the Earth.
“Housing, the Environment and Our Changing Climate” by Sinn, C. and Perry, J. (eds) is published by the Chartered Institute of Housing. See their website for more details.
News and publications from CLG
Recent developments in the CLG affordability model - http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/affordabilitymodeldevelopments
Citizenship Survey 2007/08 - http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/citizenshipsurveyaprmar08
Spatial plans in practice - http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/spatialplanfinal
Analytical Programme - this is being finalised currently and it is planned that a newsletter listing projects and inviting expressions of interest will be published on the CLG website around mid July.
Organisational Matters - to avoid confusion with the new Agency, the former Housing and Communities Analysis division (HCA) has been renamed Housing Analysis and Surveys division (HAS). The former Neighbourhood Cities and Regions Analysis division (NCRA) has been renamed Regeneration and Economic Development Analysis division (REDA).
Academic Publications
Casey, R. and Flint, J. (2008) 'Governing through localism, contract and community: evidence from anti-social behaviour strategies in Scotland' in Squires, P. (2008) ASBO Nation: The criminalisation of nuisance (Bristol: Policy Press), pp. 103-116.
This book chapter explores how forms of accountability, partnership and contract play out within anti-social behaviour strategies in Scotland. Two key dimensions are examined: the dual and simultaneous processes of centralisation and localism within governance frameworks; and the contested concepts of citizenship and responsibility for governing anti-social behaviour, mediated by the interface between formal and informal mechanisms of social control. The chapter concludes by arguing that the ambiguities of roles, limited scales of intervention, and the resistance of actors create a disjunction between strategy rationales and delivery on the ground.
Parr, S. and Nixon, J. (2008) 'Rationalising family intervention projects' in Squires, P. (2008) ASBO Nation: The criminalisation of nuisance (Bristol: Policy Press), pp. 161-178.
In this chapter, we draw on policy texts, newspaper reporting and rich data from a three year qualitative study of six Family Intervention Projects (FIPs) to explore the discursive field in which the projects are conceptualised. In so doing, we unpack the political rationality that underpins and shapes FIP policy, and make explicit the moral justifications that are employed, the way in which target families are problematised and the presupposed distribution of tasks among governing authorities. While locating our analysis within a governmentality framework, we accept that processes of governance are fraught with contradiction and discontinuities with the outcome by no means certain. The chapter therefore also focuses on the ways in which the FIP political rationality is mediated, contested and challenged by reference to media representations and the views of project staff and partner agencies on the role of FIPs in the governance of conduct.
Powell, R. (2008) “Understanding the Stigmatization of Gypsies: Power and the Dialectics of (Dis)identification”, Housing, Theory and Society 25 (2): 87-109.Most theorizations on the stigmatization of Gypsies have centred on structural factors: issues of race, ethnicity, the role of the media and the general incompatibility of nomadism with a sedentary mode of existence. Drawing on the work of Norbert Elias this paper contends that a focus on the power differentials which characterize everyday social relations between Gypsies and the settled population can enhance our understanding of the stigmatization of the former. The paper focuses on the dialectics of identification articulated by Gypsies in relation to their perceived collective similarity and difference, which is crucial in understanding their marginal position in British society. Using empirical data, the paper then explores the ways in which power differentials shape the social relations between Gypsies and the settled population, and how stigmatization serves as a potent weapon in maintaining the weak position of British Gypsies.
McKee, K. and Cooper, V. (2003) “The Paradox of Tenant Empowerment: regulatory and liberatory possibilities?” Housing, Theory and Society 25 (2): 132-146.Tenant empowerment has traditionally been regarded as a means of realising democratic ideals: a quantitative increase in influence and control, which thereby enables "subjects" to acquire the fundamental properties of "citizens". By contrast governmentality, as derived from the work of Michel Foucault, offers a more critical appraisal of the concept of empowerment by highlighting how it is itself a mode of subjection and means of regulating human conduct towards particular ends. Drawing on empirical data about how housing governance has changed in Glasgow following its 2003 stock transfer, this paper adopts the insights of governmentality to illustrate how the political ambition of community ownership has been realized through the mobilization and shaping of active tenant involvement in the local decision-making process. In addition, it also traces the tensions and conflict inherent in the reconfiguration of power relations post-transfer for "subjects" do not necessarily conform to the plans of those that seek to govern them.
This book chapter explores how forms of accountability, partnership and contract play out within anti-social behaviour strategies in Scotland. Two key dimensions are examined: the dual and simultaneous processes of centralisation and localism within governance frameworks; and the contested concepts of citizenship and responsibility for governing anti-social behaviour, mediated by the interface between formal and informal mechanisms of social control. The chapter concludes by arguing that the ambiguities of roles, limited scales of intervention, and the resistance of actors create a disjunction between strategy rationales and delivery on the ground.
Parr, S. and Nixon, J. (2008) 'Rationalising family intervention projects' in Squires, P. (2008) ASBO Nation: The criminalisation of nuisance (Bristol: Policy Press), pp. 161-178.
In this chapter, we draw on policy texts, newspaper reporting and rich data from a three year qualitative study of six Family Intervention Projects (FIPs) to explore the discursive field in which the projects are conceptualised. In so doing, we unpack the political rationality that underpins and shapes FIP policy, and make explicit the moral justifications that are employed, the way in which target families are problematised and the presupposed distribution of tasks among governing authorities. While locating our analysis within a governmentality framework, we accept that processes of governance are fraught with contradiction and discontinuities with the outcome by no means certain. The chapter therefore also focuses on the ways in which the FIP political rationality is mediated, contested and challenged by reference to media representations and the views of project staff and partner agencies on the role of FIPs in the governance of conduct.
Powell, R. (2008) “Understanding the Stigmatization of Gypsies: Power and the Dialectics of (Dis)identification”, Housing, Theory and Society 25 (2): 87-109.Most theorizations on the stigmatization of Gypsies have centred on structural factors: issues of race, ethnicity, the role of the media and the general incompatibility of nomadism with a sedentary mode of existence. Drawing on the work of Norbert Elias this paper contends that a focus on the power differentials which characterize everyday social relations between Gypsies and the settled population can enhance our understanding of the stigmatization of the former. The paper focuses on the dialectics of identification articulated by Gypsies in relation to their perceived collective similarity and difference, which is crucial in understanding their marginal position in British society. Using empirical data, the paper then explores the ways in which power differentials shape the social relations between Gypsies and the settled population, and how stigmatization serves as a potent weapon in maintaining the weak position of British Gypsies.
McKee, K. and Cooper, V. (2003) “The Paradox of Tenant Empowerment: regulatory and liberatory possibilities?” Housing, Theory and Society 25 (2): 132-146.Tenant empowerment has traditionally been regarded as a means of realising democratic ideals: a quantitative increase in influence and control, which thereby enables "subjects" to acquire the fundamental properties of "citizens". By contrast governmentality, as derived from the work of Michel Foucault, offers a more critical appraisal of the concept of empowerment by highlighting how it is itself a mode of subjection and means of regulating human conduct towards particular ends. Drawing on empirical data about how housing governance has changed in Glasgow following its 2003 stock transfer, this paper adopts the insights of governmentality to illustrate how the political ambition of community ownership has been realized through the mobilization and shaping of active tenant involvement in the local decision-making process. In addition, it also traces the tensions and conflict inherent in the reconfiguration of power relations post-transfer for "subjects" do not necessarily conform to the plans of those that seek to govern them.
The Housing Needs of those with Complex Needs
A team from CRESR, Sheffield Hallam University has been commissioned by Stoke-on-Trent City Council to explore the housing needs of people with complex needs. The study will focus on three groups: drug/alcohol users, women in street prostitution and offenders. This is a qualitative study which will be carried out over a 12 month period, commencing in June 2008. For further information contact Rionach Casey: 0044 114 2252987, r.casey@shu.ac.uk or Kesia Reeve: 0044 114 2253073, k.reeve@shu.ac.uk
The Irish in Sheffield: Needs, Aspirations and Identity
The report to emerge from the study of the Irish population in Sheffield undertaken by CRESR, Sheffield Hallam University was published in June. The qualitative study, which was conducted by Rionach Casey and John Flint was commissioned by the Federation of Irish Societies and examines the experiences of the Irish community in Sheffield with specific reference to their health, housing, welfare, aspirations and identity.
The report begins by identifying the key characteristics of the Irish population in Sheffield and outlines how it has changed in recent years. It analyses the experiences and perceptions of being Irish within the context of a dispersed and small Irish population in the city. The study then explores Irish identities and culture amongst the first, second and third generation. While the report documents the persistence of anti-Irish racism, it also highlights the importance of cultural and sporting activities which extend beyond the Irish community, affording opportunities for social cohesion. A copy of the report can be downloaded from the CRESR website.
The report begins by identifying the key characteristics of the Irish population in Sheffield and outlines how it has changed in recent years. It analyses the experiences and perceptions of being Irish within the context of a dispersed and small Irish population in the city. The study then explores Irish identities and culture amongst the first, second and third generation. While the report documents the persistence of anti-Irish racism, it also highlights the importance of cultural and sporting activities which extend beyond the Irish community, affording opportunities for social cohesion. A copy of the report can be downloaded from the CRESR website.
The Views and Experiences of Private Sector Landlords in Scotland
A team of researchers at University of Sheffield (Prof. Tony Crook and Dr. Ed Ferrari) and Oxford University (Prof. Peter Kemp) have recently been awarded a contract by the Scottish Government to undertake a large scale survey of private landlords. This will build on previous work on the private rented sector in Scotland and England by Crook and Kemp and will particularly explore views on the new regulatory regime in place in Scotland. The study will draw on data collected from a sample of landlords and their property holdings in half of Scotland's local authority areas. For more information please contact Ed Ferrari: e.t.ferrari@sheffield.ac.uk
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