News from TRP Sheffield

Ed Ferrari presents at the New School Housing Conference: After the Housing Crisis: Housing Policy and Finance in the USA and UK

Ed Ferrari was recently invited to present at a conference organised by the Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy at the New School in New York. The conference, which tackled issues relating to housing policy and finance in the UK and US in the wake of the financial crisis, was sponsored by the Housing Studies Charitable Trust and the Rockefeller Foundation. Ed's paper provided a broad overview of the various housing crises suffered in the UK over the past century and more, and argued that the roots of the present housing problem were structural and predated the banking crisis of 2007. A more integrative account of housing dynamics as well as a broader conceptualisation of the value of housing were required, he argued, which demanded more investment in housing to meet not only housing needs but a range of other social and economic needs. The paper will be made available at the conference website after 15 October.

News from the Centre for Housing Research, University of St Andrews

ESRC Seminar Series Website Launched by the Centre for Housing Research
The Centre for Housing Research at the University of St Andrews has launched the website for its new seminar series: "The Big Society, Localism and Housing Policy".
Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, the events will explore the impact of the coalition government’s localist ‘Big Society’ agenda on housing policy across the UK. Localism aims to shift decision-making downwards and empower local people to solve their own problems. However, in an era of restrained public spending, questions can be raised as to whether this may widen existing housing inequalities. Dr Kim McKee, Principal Investigator on the project said:
“‘The ‘Big Society’ and ‘Localism’ have become buzz words in policy and politics since the formation of the coalition government in 2010, and their influence can already be seen in housing policy and practice in the UK. This varies however depending on how devolved administrations and local authorities use their powers and budgets. Devolving power downwards may therefore lead to greater divergence in housing policy than we have seen under devolution so far. Understanding the varied geographical impact of these ideas is a key aim of the seminars.”
Drawing on expertise from the Universities of St Andrews, Sheffield, Cardiff, and Queens University Belfast, these two-day interdisciplinary workshops will bring together perspectives from academia, policy and practice and will include speakers from beyond the UK:

• Seminar 1: Localism and the Big Society: what do they mean for housing studies? (Sheffield, 7-8 March 2013)
• Seminar 2: Localism, Welfare Reform and Tenure Restructuring in the UK (Belfast, 24-25 October 2013)
• Seminar 3: The Big Society, Localism and the Future of Social Housing (St Andrews, 13-14 March 2014) 

Registration for Seminar 1 will open in autumn 2012. For more details, or to register your interest, please contact the project administrator Dr Tom Moore, or follow us on Twitter (@housingseminars). Updates will also be posted on our website: www.bigsocietylocalismhousing.co.uk

NEW BOOKS

Understanding Housing Policy, Second Edition, by Brian Lund, Policy Press. ISBN-10: 184742631X ISBN-13: 978-1847426314 http://www.policypress.co.uk Price: £22.99
The second edition of Understanding Housing Policy has been completely revised and updated and includes a new chapter on the political processes involved in the construction and delivery of housing policies.
The new edition:
reviews a number of theoretical perspectives helpful in understanding the normative dimensions of housing policy;
examines explanations of policy development and implementation processes;
explores the development of housing policy in the United Kingdom;
contains a chapter on comparative housing policy;
examines a number of contemporary housing problems:affordability; homelessness; low demand and neighbourhood deprivation; overcrowding; multi-occupation; ‘decent’ homes and‘sustainable’ housing;
devotes a chapter to the relationship between housing and social justice;
includes an assessment of the impact of New Labour’s housing policies and the policy orientation of the Conservative/Liberal Democrat Coalition.
Updates are available at the author’s website: http://housingpolicy.moonfruit.com