Laurence Murphy

Spiced-up sandringham: Indian transnationalism and new suburban spaces in Auckland, New Zealand

Aucklands ethnic composition has diversified rapidly since the introduction of a new immigration policy in 1987. The policy targets migrants with skills and investment capital, and while it has attracted many asset-rich migrants, it has also resulted in the immigration of many with relatively little wealth, from a range of countries. Thus, much of the media attention which once focused on disadvantaged migrant groups shifted its attention to apparently wealthier groups such as the Chinese from Hong Kong and Taiwan. At the same time, the transformation of suburbs with high average socio-economic status was conspicuous, but other suburbs considered less prestigious have also been transformed. This paper considers the situation of the Indian transnational group in New Zealand which is in the ‘middle’ socio-economically. Further we consider the emerging transnational spaces in one of the suburbs within Auckland which is also in the ‘middle’ in terms of its historical transformation and the (re)construction of place which has taken place there.

Influences and Emotions: Exploring Family Decision-making Processes when Buying a House

The decision to purchase a house is embedded within a set of economic and socio-cultural processes and is operationalized within the context of a specific local property market. In the residential mobility literature considerable attention has been given to examining issues of house prices, life-course and demographic influences on the decision to buy, but less attention has been directed to understanding the internal family decision-making process. While the act of purchasing a property constitutes a significant economic event for a family, the process of purchasing a house is an inherently social activity, involving setting goals, discussing and negotiating family needs, interacting with exchange professionals (information intermediaries), imagining modifications to potential purchases and interpreting market trends. These family activities are shaped by family structures, gender roles, ethnicity and socio-economic status. In addition, the house purchase process takes place within specific market conditions and institutional practices. For example, in New Zealand, the estate agent has a large amount of power when negotiating contracts between buyers and sellers. Using in-depth interviews, this paper examines family decision processes in Auckland from the perspective of estate agents who deal with families purchasing houses on a daily basis, and formulate their own understanding of buyer behaviour, and adult family members who have recently purchased houses. The analysis makes it possible to explore the ways in which estate agents interpret the purchasing behaviour of families and to compare these interpretations with the understandings of adult family members. The study offers insights into the ways in which families engage in search practices, interpret information and internally negotiate decisions. It is argued that the findings here contribute a greater understanding of how housing markets are performed and made.

Housing Policy, Poverty, and Culture: ‘Discounting’ Decisions among Pacific Peoples in Auckland, New Zealand

This paper explores the links between housing and other welfare policies, low income, and culture among Pacific peoples within Auckland, New Zealand. These migrant peoples occupy an ambiguous social space within Auckland: they represent the visible face of the worlds largest Polynesian city, yet are occupants of some of the citys poorest and least health-promoting housing. Through considering the balance between choice and constraint, we examine how housing costs, poverty, and cultural practices converge to influence household expenditure decisions. Specifically, we are interested in the ways health-promoting behaviours (for example, obtaining fresh food) and utilising health care services are ‘discounted’ (that is, postponed or substituted with cheaper alternatives) because of costs associated with structural changes in housing and the broader policy context. We draw on narratives gathered from in-depth interviews conducted with seventeen Samoan and Cook Island families undertaken in the South Auckland suburb of Otara in mid-2000. Our findings illustrate a lack of ‘fit’ between state housing stock and its occupants. We conclude that, although a recent return to a policy of income-related rents may alleviate these conditions, further longitudinal and community-supported research is required to monitor whether health inequalities are in fact lessened through income-related interventions alone.

Reasserting the ‘social’ in social rented housing: politics, housing policy and housing reforms in New Zealand

After a decade of wide-ranging social welfare reforms in New Zealand, that have resulted in a considerable restructuring of the role of the state in housing provision, the introduction of new housing legislation in 2000 marked a significant attempt to reassert the notion of social provision. This article examines the manner in which housing policy has recast the role of social rented housing in New Zealand and sets out the political context and implications of the new legislation in which housing policy is being pursued. It is argued that while the notion of social provision has been revived, social rented housing is still constructed in terms of a residual model of provision in the political discourses of reform. Copyright Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003.

‘Houston, we've got a problem’: The Political Construction of a Housing Affordability Metric in New Zealand

Since the global financial crisis, housing affordability has assumed increased policy significance in a number of countries around the world. At a national level, housing policy formation is subject to certain path dependency processes and embedded institutional structures. In this paper, I argue that housing policy formation in New Zealand is increasingly subject to global flows of policy ideas and that the development of new housing affordability policies draws upon networks of global policy agents, housing experts and private consultants. In particular, this research examines the manner in which a US-based private consultants metric of housing affordability, and analysis of the causes of housing unaffordability, has been incorporated into policy-making and new legislation in New Zealand.

The downside of home ownership: Housing change and mortgage arrears in the republic of Ireland

Abstract Recent debates concerning the existence of social divisions within home ownership hold implications for analyses of housing policy. This is especially true in situations where housing policy has been driven by an overt support for home ownership. In particular, the consequences of expanding home ownership among low‐income groups needs to be examined. This paper argues that an appropriate framework for such an investigation requires a three tiered approach encompassing housing policy, institutional behaviour and the housing experiences of households. Adopting a ‘structures of housing provision’ approach (Ball, 1983; Ball & Harloe, 1992), this paper examines the consequences of extending home ownership in the Republic of Ireland over the period 1970–90. Moving from an overview of housing policy and institutional activity in housing finance, the paper addresses the issue of mortgage arrears through an analysis of building society management practice and household experiences.

The politics of land supply and affordable housing: Auckland’s Housing Accord and Special Housing Areas

Increasingly, planning for housing development involves political conflict between local government planning practices, based on urban sustainability and housing intensification, and central government housing policies, centred on land supply and housing affordability. This paper examines a key historical moment in the politics of housing supply and planning in New Zealand. Drawing upon a discourse analysis of a range of housing policy documents and urban plans, this paper traces the dynamic of local and central government negotiations and conflict arising from the development of Auckland’s spatial plan, the development of the Auckland Housing Accord (a central and local government agreement to fast-track planning permission for new housing) and the implementation of the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Act. The paper focuses on the manner in which certain policy knowledge is prioritised and applied in the construction of affordable housing policies and how this process, which is presented as objective evidence-based policy formation, is inherently political. It is argued that the legislation supporting housing accords alters central/local government power relations and represents a challenge to the existing planning system.

Asset-Based Welfare

Rising welfare costs and ageing societies are placing considerable pressures on traditional welfare states that focus on income support. In response to these pressures, asset-based welfare has been proposed as a means of reducing wealth inequalities and encouraging wealth-generating behaviours among citizens. Asset-based welfare policies involve the extension of asset holding among poorer households as a means of promoting wealth accumulation and thus allowing households to meet their own welfare needs. Governments, that have for long supported the expansion of homeownership, are now viewing the tenure as an important component of asset-based welfare policies. The prospect of encouraging homeowners to release housing equity to fund their welfare needs or health costs is particularly attractive to governments. Developing upon the increasing fungibility of housing as an asset, rising housing equity withdrawal, and changes in mortgage markets, homeownership is viewed as potentially a major component of asset-based welfare policies. This article examines the ideas underpinning asset-based welfare and outlines how homeownership is being aligned with these policies. It is argued that the differentiated and evolving character of national housing markets makes homeownership a problematic ‘core’ component of any welfare system.

Anchor organisations in Auckland: Rolling constructively with neoliberalism?

The city of Auckland has recently been reconstituted through the amalgamation of eight territorial authorities and their constituencies. The new city was designed to provide coordinated economic, infrastructural and resource management for a territorial social economy given form and meaning by economic and infrastructural connections and daily movements of people and things. In this paper, we examine how this rationale has been translated into a vision for making and performing Auckland as a unitary space and ask whether the initial excitement over the new city has been captured as potential for delivering a more progressive city. We explore the shift from sustainability to liveability as a guiding imaginary for a new Auckland and the formation of the Auckland Anchors network as a group that might play a leadership role in shaping it. We conclude that whilst the process of amalgamation undermined much of its potential to achieve a more coordinated metropolitan governance, it has revealed possibilities for the practice of a new constructive urban politics.

Whose interest rates? Issues in the development of mortgage‐backed securitisation

Abstract The development of secondary mortgage market activities such as portfolio sales and mortgage securitisation attests to the increasingly sophisticated character of housing finance in developed economies. In the US, where mortgage securitisation is well established, the mortgage‐backed securities (MBS) market is currently valued in excess of US