Friday 30 September 2011

News from BSHF

BSHF has published a report tackling the issue of housing undersupply in the UK. The shortage of housing impacts on the economy, society as a whole, as well as individual households.

There is a range of different causes of this undersupply, which have been exacerbated by the current financial constraints. The government has made a high level commitment to addressing these issues, and are introducing a range of policy measures with the aim of increasing supply. However, the report argues that there is a lack of coherence in these policies and that a strategic approach is needed to tackle the scale of the housing crisis. Four strategic objectives are proposed covering the full scope of the problem from land supply to finance.

The report is available to order or for free download from the BSHF website:
http://www.bshf.org/published-information/publication.cfm?lang=00&thePubID=25E04994-15C5-F4C0-99170AE24B5B0A84

6th Australasian Housing Researchers’ Conference 2012

Following on from the 5th highly stimulating and successful Australasian Housing Researchers’ Conference (AHRC) held in Auckland in November 2010, the Centre for Housing, Urban and Regional Planning (CHURP) at The University of Adelaide will be hosting the 6th AHRC in February 2012. The conference will bring together Australasia’s brightest minds in housing research, attracting participants from a range of backgrounds, including academia, the government and non-government sectors.
Please visit www.adelaide.edu.au/churp/ahrc12 for more information.

Centre for Regional, Economic and Social Research (CRESR), Seminar Series

CRESR has recently published details of its 2011/12 seminar series. The CRESR seminar series comprises a series of monthly seminars across a diverse range of subjects given by academics from different disciplinary backgrounds. Seminars are attended by academics, students and practitioners and are open to anyone with an interest in the subject matter. For details go to http://www.shu.ac.uk/research/cresr/events.html

New appointments: Department of Town and Regional Planning, University of Sheffield

The Department of Town & Regional Planning at the University of Sheffield is delighted to announce the appointment of staff to two new academic posts, both with specialisms in housing research.

Professor John Flint, previously at the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, Sheffield Hallam University will be joining the Department on 1 October as Chair in Housing. John has published widely on housing and urban governance and has led research projects for a wide range of funders, including ESRC, JRF, ODPM, DWP and the Scottish Government.

Lee Crookes has been appointed as a Teaching Associate. Lee was a member of the Department's Research School and has recently submitted a PhD thesis on official and local understandings of place, particularly through the Housing Market Renewal programme in England.

TRP looks forward to welcoming both John and Lee and to their contribution to the work of the Department.

Housing Disadvantaged People? Insiders and Outsiders in French Social Housing

By Jane Ball
Between historic French revolutions and the modern riots, negotiated solutions to social dilemmas emerged. Despite progress in constitutional principles, complex local negotiations still ultimately determine who is housed. Local social landlords, mayors and employee and tenant representatives use their privileges to house their insiders: existing tenants, locals and employees, with rent insufficiently subsidized. ‘Insider Outsider’ theory is used for an economic analysis of exclusion in social housing allocation: its processes, institutional context, and stigmatizing effects. This highlights the spatial effects of nimbyism, excluding disadvantaged outsiders, and concentrating them in deprived areas. Simultaneously, urban regeneration reduced affordable housing stock and ‘social mix’ became a reason to refuse a social home.
History, comparative law, economic theory and local interviews with housing actors give a detailed picture of what happens in and around French social housing allocation for an interdisciplinary housing policy audience. Constitutional principles appear in an unfamiliar guise as negotiating positions, with the "right to property" supporting landlords and the "right to housing" supporting tenants. French debates about the function of social landlords are echoed across Europe and reflected in European policies concerning rights, and the exclusion of disadvantaged minorities.
Contents
1. Social Landlords and Insider Outsider Theory 2. Exploring the Function of Social Housing 3. The Historical Context: from Revolution to Rights 4. The Right to Housing in Context 5. Complex Institutions in the Grip of Change 6. Social Landlords and their Financing Problems 7. The Social Housing Allocation Process 8. Insiderness and Local Actors 9. Stigmatization and Outsiders 10. Housing Some of the Disadvantaged
Social housing appears to offer a solution for the housing of poor and disadvantaged people. The French "right to housing" offers poor and disadvantaged citizens priority in social housing allocation, and even a legal action against the State to obtain a social home. Despite this, France is suffering a long-lasting housing crisis with disadvantaged people having particular difficulties of access, often despite the efforts of local housing actors. This situation is affected by the European Court of Human Rights and EU decisions limiting diverse national housing and rental policies.
About the Author
Jane Ball is a senior lecturer at Sheffield University where she teaches several law courses concerning the organization of people on land. After 14 years in English legal practice she spent another 14 years researching the French housing scene, using an applied mix of public and private law, economic theory and empirical study.
Publishing September 2011 / Paperback: 978-0-415-55445-9 / £34.99

A copy of Jane's book is available for review. For further details please contact martin.mcnally@chester.ac.uk

Planning for the Just City

Members of the HSA are warmly invited to the First Civic University Lecture by Professor Susan Fainstein of Harvard University on Friday, 21 October 2011 at 5.30pm In Firth Hall, Firth Court, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN

In the first Civic University Lecture, Susan Fainstein will reflect on the intellectual and policy implications of her significant new book, The Just City. The concept of the "just city" is designed to encourage policy-makers to embrace a different approach to urban development and to challenge the academic community to move beyond critical analysis. The argument applies theoretical concepts about justice developed by contemporary philosophers to the concrete problems faced by urban planners and policymakers and argues that, despite structural obstacles, meaningful reform can be achieved at the local level.

Susan Fainstein is Professor of Urban Planning in the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. A leading authority on comparative urban public policy, urban redevelopment and planning theory, her books include: The Just City, The City Builders, Restructuring the City, and Urban Political Movements. Professor Keith Burnett, Vice Chancellor, University of Sheffield, states: "The Civic University initiative is central to our mission. The aim is to foster mutually beneficial interactions between civic and intellectual concerns, with an underlying aspiration to make a difference. This, the first Civic University Lecture, is part of this initiative."

Entry is free of charge but by ticket only. Book online at www.shef.ac.uk/whatson/justcity

Friday 9 September 2011

Sarah Webb CBE

The Housing Studies Association is immensely saddened by the news that Sarah Webb, who recently stepped down as the Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, has died.

Sarah touched the lives of many of our members with her commitment to housing, both as a vital practical concern in today’s society and as a subject of intellectual enquiry in its own right. Many of our members had the good fortune to work with Sarah directly, either at the CIH or through one of the other housing organisations that benefited from her talents.

Sarah was a strong supporter of the HSA. She contributed wisdom and a sense of practical reality to our annual conferences as a plenary speaker, and she helped foster close working links between the CIH and HSA. We are indebted to her support.

A full obituary and tributes from the housing sector can be read on the CIH’s website here www.cih.org/SarahWebb.htm



Housing Studies Association

9 September 2011