Institute for Housing, Urban and Real Estate Research (IHURER), Heriot-Watt University

Placed-based policies in deprived neighbourhoods
The Equalities and Human Rights Commission published rapid evidence review led by Dr Peter Matthews Gina Netto and Kirsten Besemer. The report – 'Hard to Reach' or 'Easy to Ignore' - analyses what impact place-based policies to tackle socio-economic deprivation might have on the equalities of groups protected under UK legislation.
The analysis brought together a wide range of literature along with new analysis of 2001 Scottish Census data and the Scottish Health Survey to enable us to better understand the intersection between the most deprived neighbourhoods in Scotland and the spatial distribution of equalities groups in Scotland. One of the key findings is that place-based policies are often unintentionally blind to equalities issues, or protected equalities groups such as the disabled or lone parents, are treated as problematic.

Mark Stephens and Peter Williams Tackling Housing Market Volatility in the UK: a progress report” (Joseph Rowntree Foundation)
In May 2011 the JRF’s Housing Market Taskforce report outlined measures the Government should take to limit the extent and consequences of housing market volatility. This report provides a review on progress since then. It concludes that in some ways we are moving away from the goal, and that the Government continues to be too timid concerning actions that are needed to bring about greater housing market stability. The authors highlight some priorities.

Other housing market publications
C. Jones, M Coombes and C Wong (2012) “A System of National Tiered Housing Market Areas and Spatial Planning”, Environment and Planning B, 39, 518-532 (2012).
C. Jones,  M Coombes, N Dunse, D Watkins and C Wymer (2012) “Tiered Housing Markets and their Relationship to Labour Market Areas”, Urban Studies, 49, 12, 2633-2650 (2012).
Colin Jones, Michael White and Neil Dunse (eds) (2012) Challenges of the Housing Economy: An International Perspective, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford.

Conferences
Colin Jones gave a keynote lecture at the 2012 European Real Estate Society conference entitled “An International Perspective on the Housing Market Crisis: Causes and Consequences”
Mark Stephens presented a paper written with Marja Elsinga and Thomas Knor Seedow on housing privatization in England, the Netherlands and Germany at the Second International Symposium on “Public Housing Futures”, August 29-30, hosted by Fudan University, Shanghai
Chris Leishman and Mark Stephens participated in the New School Housing Conference in New York, 123-14 September. Chris presented a paper on “Aggregate Housing Supply: are the microeconomics of behaviour of housing developers important?.” Mark was a panel member for a debate on “Post-crisis prospects for affordable rental housing in a time of fiscal austerity"

Housing and inequality – A new CIH book in the Practice Studies series. Edited by Isobel Anderson and Duncan Sim.
The UK is a much more unequal society than it was 30 years ago. Over the same period, housing tenure has also been transformed, with a much larger proportion owning their own home and having access to the assets resulting from soaring property values. But where does this leave the one third of society who struggle to maintain their living standards? Many are living in social rented housing, but many too are in the private rented sector, and even owner-occupation has its share of poor households.
The links between housing and social inequality are complex and this book aims to untangle them for the reader. A range of contributors, drawing from their own research, cover topics such as:
• housing and economic inequality
• concentrated poverty in social housing estates
• neighbourhoods and estate regeneration
• whether mixed communities help tackle inequality
• inequality over the life course
• homelessness
• migrants, housing and inequality
• disabled people and their need for accessible housing.
As well as chapters which set the context for discussions about inequality and housing, and a concluding chapter on what a more equitable housing policy might look like, Alan Murie provides an overarching chapter on theprospects for housing policy and inequality. Several chapters also provide international comparisons, especially with the European Union.
The book is both a contribution to an important debate, and an excellent source for students, researchers and practitioners who want to understand why housing plays such an important part - both in creating inequality and in driving the policies that aim to reduce it.
Housing and inequality is £21.00 for HSA and CIH members and £30.00 for HSA and CIH non-members.
For further details about CIH Publications, please visit www.cih.org/publications

New report on local housing market volatility

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation recently published the report Local Housing Market Volatility, which was written by Ed Ferrari and Alasdair Rae (Sheffield University). The report, which was written as as submission to the JRF's Housing Markets Taskforce, finds that the last housing market boom - which ended with the credit crunch - was one of the longest in recent history and exacerbated regional and local inequalities in the housing market. The gaps between different parts of the country grew wider in housing market terms. The report suggests that policymakers need to renew their attention to the demand side of the housing market - and regional differentials in the economy in particular. It also suggests that these regional differentials and patterns of population mobility within the country serve to reinforce structural patterns of inequality in the housing market.

The full report and a four page summary 'Findings' can be downloaded from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's website at: http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/local-housing-market-volatility