REPORT ON ANNUAL CONFERENCE

"Housing in an Era of Change: New Directions for Housing"
Report of the 2010 HSA Conference, 14-16 April, York

The 2010 Housing Studies Association annual conference was held on 14-16 April at the University of York. The conference addressed the theme of the directions that housing research, scholarship, policy and practice would take (or need to take) in a new economic and political era. The conference was very successful and was attended by nearly 90 delegates.

The HSA is extremely grateful to all presenters and delegates for their contribution to the success of the conference and it is also indebted to the Chartered Institute of housing for its generous sponsorship. Six plenary speakers addressed the conference theme from different dimensions, drawing on their recent work:

Duncan Maclennan opened the conference by suggesting that our tendency to "believe in change" as a force for good needed to be supplanted by a "change in beliefs", challenging what housing means to us and how taxation and macroeconomic policy needed to find ways that did not rely on "leveraged household speculation" or "unearned wealth" in the future. He called for more attention on housing as a system of integrated quasi markets, with attention given to realistic pricing mechanisms, rather than as a fragmented set of provision systems.

Richard Ronald continued the theme of the 'end of an era' by considering how a range of other societies, including Japan, Singapore and Romania, have apparently hit the limits of owner occupation and that the close link between the market for private housing ownership and wider welfare policy is being challenged. Ronald drew on empirical material from his recent book to explore the complex social, cultural and economic terrains within local systems that, he argued, are re-emerging in importance following a period of neoliberal policy convergence.

Alex Marsh picked up again the subject of economics, which in many ways became one of the dominant themes of the conference. He moved to consider the need to extend our conceptualisations of the utility of housing beyond that of the shelter and investment goods with which we are now accustomed, by carefully exploring how we value housing as a social positional good. Marsh's talk drew on a wider corpus of theoretical work on behavioural economics, applying it to the case of housing in order to expose some of the limitations of conventional economic thinking and modelling of housing markets and individuals' behaviour as housing consumers.

Becky Tunstall further developed the focus on individuals by examining their life outcomes on the basis of their early housing circumstances. By means of a methodical analysis of several British birth cohorts studies, Tunstall was able to bring to life changing experiences of housing; how policy had changed and how the impacts of major policies could be identified through individuals' housing experiences; and the role of housing tenure and neighbourhood effects. Many delegates were clearly able to identify themselves as belonging to the various cohorts (spiritually, at least), and were introduced to the idea that Alan Sugar, Paul Merton and Geri Halliwell might well be symbols of Britain's changing housing through the years!

Tim Leunig used his time on the platform to show us why, with energy and ideas capable of turning conventional thinking on its head, he has become a regular commentator on housing within the professional press. In what would prove to be a controversial presentation, Leunig addressed the deficiencies in housing supply in the UK and presented an idea that he hoped would incentivise local communities to accommodate housebuilding by rewarding them with the direct payment of the value that is captured through the planning process. The session prompted a lively debate ranging from how (or whether) the pricing mechanisms could work to whether, fundamentally, regional (housing) policy needed to follow or to shape market forces as transmitted through labour market migration.

Abigail Davies closed the conference by offering a view from the world of policy and practice of recent trends and likely future trajectories. She argued that much will indeed change, regardless of the outcome of the General Election, as a consequence of deep seated demographic, social, fiscal and environmental challenges. The 'economy', she argued, would continue to dominate politicians' thinking and could eclipse housing and other non-protected policy areas. Davies' analysis of the future highlighted the consensuses (the environment, residential mobility, mutuals) and differences (localism, housebuilding targets, planning) between political parties but argued that some of the 'big questions' were missing. The Charted Institute of Housing's position on wishing to see more integrated housing policies that address fundamental change closed the conference in a way that was consistent with parts of Maclennan's opening plea.

An intellectually stimulating workshop programme was well attended. Over 30 high quality workshop presentations were given. There was also this year once again an Early Career Scholars' stream, with its own workshop track, at which 15 high quality papers were delivered. The HSA conference continues to promote rigorous debate by making a generous 45 minute slot available to presenters, enabling work to be presented and theoretical debates to be covered in some detail.

The conference dinner at the King's Manor in York on the Thursday night was a friendly event enjoyed by many delegates. Richard Ronald, representing the newly launched International Journal of Housing Policy, ensured the night got under way thanks to the drinks reception that he hosted. After an excellent meal, Duncan Maclennan told us why housing equity was over-rated, why free bus passes were not all that they're cracked up to be, and why 'Star Trek' continues to influence fashions to this day.

Thanks to Ed Ferrari (University of Sheffield) for organising this conference on behalf of the Housing Studies Association.

Details of next year's annual conference can be found on the HSA Website. The theme of the 2011 conference is 'Housing in Hard Times: class, poverty and social exclusion'. A call for papers will be circulated in the autumn:
http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/chp/hsa/conference.htm