Justin Kadi

Market-based housing reforms and the ‘right to the city’: the variegated experiences of New York, Amsterdam and Tokyo

Market-based reforms have played important parts in restructuring urban housing sectors in recent decades and have increasingly marginalised or excluded lower income groups, especially in the so-called ‘global cities’ where market pressures have been strongest. While accounts of housing policy and market transformations in cities are not uncommon, existing studies demonstrate a strong North American bias. Moreover, comparative analyses have so far been rare. In this paper, neoliberal transformations in housing practices and conditions are examined in three highly differentiated and contrasting cities from three different continents: New York, Amsterdam and Tokyo. The analysis demonstrates remarkable variegation in the manifestation of neoliberalisation of housing as well as considerable path dependency in terms of housing policies, practices and market restructuring. What becomes evident is that both symbolic and de facto erosion of the ‘right to the city’ for low-income residents, while a relatively ubiquitous outcome of housing marketisation, is strongly mediated by local housing practices, structural constraints and policy legacies and regimes.

Recommodifying Housing in Formerly “Red” Vienna?

Abstract Among West European cities, Vienna stands out as a case that has developed a particularly large decommodified housing stock over the twentieth century. The city’s housing model has also shown greater stability against wider recommodification trends since the 1980s. This paper centres on two policy changes since the mid-1990s: first, the local government has ceased to provide council housing and is now entirely relying on non-profit associations for the provision of social rental housing. Second, the national government has liberalized rent regulation in the private rental market. The first part of the paper introduces these changes, discusses how they represent steps towards greater market influence and how they put pressure on decommodified housing, particularly since the mid-2000s. The second part argues that the reforms have initiated a dualization trend among low-income households, forging a division between market insiders and outsiders. The third part reflects whether the policy changes mean that Vienna is also increasingly incorporated into broader recommodification trends. We argue that substantial decommodification policies have remained in place, although they have been severely weakened by recommodification attempts. Representations of Vienna as an exceptional case without significant recommodification, however, should be questioned.

The Revival of Private Landlords in Britain’s Post-Homeownership Society

ABSTRACT Homeownership has been declining in favour of private renting in most developed English speaking countries since the early-2000s. Public debates in countries like Britain, Australia and the US have subsequently focused on the ostensible coming of age of ‘generation rent’, constituted of younger individuals excluded from home buying and traditional routes to housing asset accumulation. While the focus of this paper is the significance of access to housing assets as a means to offset potential economic and welfare precarity, our concern is landlords rather than tenants. Drawing on British survey data, we show that the rental boom has been accompanied by increasing multiple property ownership among classes of largely middle-aged and relatively affluent households. Over one-million small-time landlords have emerged in the last decade alone, who, we argue, are part product of historic developments in housing markets and welfare states. Generations of British have not only been orientated towards their homes as commodity assets, they have also begun to mobilise around multi-property accumulation in a context of shifting welfare and pension expectations.

Undermining housing affordability for New York’s low-income households: The role of policy reform and rental sector restructuring:

While public programmes, rent controls and subsidy schemes have not resolved New York’s historic and long-standing housing crisis, they have been important in dampening the housing problems of low-income New Yorkers. Along with an encroaching neo-liberal hegemony, however, since the 1990s redistributive policies have come under growing pressure. This article focuses on the neo-liberal restructuring of the city’s rental market and the effects on housing affordability. First, we outline the most crucial reforms and policy changes, at various scales, that have impacted the rental market in recent decades. Second, we demonstrate, using survey data, how reforms have affected the rental market structure before assessing how supply changes have affected affordability. We find that policy reforms have led to a reduction in inexpensive rental units in the city, reshaping patterns of affordability among different income groups, with particularly negative outcomes for low-income households, specifically among Black and Minority Ethnic Groups.

Housing policy and spatial inequality: recent insights from Vienna and Amsterdam: Redefining Res Publica

There is a broad consensus on the role of housing policy in the welfare state, with social housing in particular representing de-commodification efforts. the authors study the recent pathways of social housing in two European cities that are known for their large and integrated sectors: Amsterdam and Vienna. They find that both cities have undergone a tendency of housing re-commodification, stronger in Amsterdam than in Vienna. Looking at the interrelation of social housing and spatial inequalities in the two cities, the authors show that there is no direct link between the prevalence of social housing and the level of household income in a district. But in Vienna, the degree of socio-economic mix is higher in areas characterized by old private rental buildings. the authors also identify a trade-off between the two public policy objectives of socially targeted housing policies (typical of dual rental markets) and housing policies that encourage social mix (typical of unitary rental markets). Vienna and Amsterdam used to prioritize the second approach. With recent policy changes and a growing demand on the lowest price segment, however, this strategy is challenged: the spatial socio-economic mix tends to become less diverse, and although the social housing sector is increasingly catering to the poor, different accessibility barriers still encumber a targeted subsidy allocation.

Wohnraum für alle?!: Perspektiven auf Planung, Politik und Architektur

Ausgangspunkt des Sammelbandes „Wohnraum für alle?! Perspektiven auf Planung, Politik und Architektur“ sind die hohen Mietund Immobilienpreise, die in deutschen und europäischen Städten insbesondere seit der globalen Finanzkrise im Jahr 2008 sprunghaft angestiegen sind. Die Frage, wie eine bezahlbare Wohnraumversorgung unter diesen Bedingungen ausgestaltet und langfristig sichergestellt werden kann, gilt derzeit für die großstädtische Kommunalpolitik als eine der grundlegendsten Herausforderungen. Die Autoren des Bandes aus den Bereichen Stadtplanung, Soziologie, Geographie, Architektur und aus der Politik werfen aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven Licht auf dieses drängende Problem und setzen sich marktkritisch mit den zugrunde liegenden politisch-ökonomischen Wirkmechanismen der neuen Wohnungsnot auseinander. Unterschiedliche Strategien und Experimentierfelder, wie eine nicht

Rechtvaardigheid op de Amsterdamse woningmarkt

redelijke en betaalbare huisvesting voor iedereen te realiseren. Centrale elementen in dit beleid waren een uitgebreid sociaal woningbeleid, gekoppeld aan publiek bezit van grond; sterke regulering van huurprijzen en een systeem van semipublieke woningcorporaties. Tezamen zorgden deze maatregelen ervoor dat commerciële belangen en winstbejag weinig ruimte kregen. Echter, vanaf 1989 zorgde het opkomende neoliberalisme in de Nederlandse woningmarkt ervoor dat de verworvenheden uit eerdere decennia langzaam werden teruggedraaid. Ik begin dit artikel met een korte beschrijving van de achterliggende oorzaken van de neoliberale ommekeer, zet vervolgens de centrale elementen van de hervormingen in Amsterdam uiteen, en richt mijn aandacht tot slot op het effect van die hervormingen op de beschikbaarheid en betaalbaarheid van woningen en de gevolgen voor de ‘rechtvaardige stad’ Amsterdam.