Srna Mandič

Home-Leaving and its Structural Determinants in Western and Eastern Europe: An Exploratory Study

This paper focuses on the occurrence of home-leaving and its key structural determinants across the enlarged EU. By building on the literature for Western Europe and by cluster analysis of the data for 24 member states, it seeks to explore different constellations of structural factors, manifested in the grouping of similar countries, and possibly resulting in diverse, regionally specific incidences of home-leaving by youths under 35 years of age. The exploratory analysis noted three clusters of countries: the north-western, characterised by the earliest home-leaving and best opportunity structures for independent housing; the south-western cluster, marked by the latest leaving of the parental home and only somewhat less favourable opportunities, but highest family support; the north-eastern cluster, characterised by late, yet not extremely late, home-leaving, combined with outstandingly unfavourable opportunities and strikingly low family support. These differences, partly confirmed as statistically significant, are further discussed and related to welfare regime typologies and their usefulness.

Housing Conditions and Their Structural Determinants

Housing conditions vary widely across the EU and the fact that new member-states are lagging behind in this regard has even come onto the European policy agenda. This article examines housing conditions as an outcome of complex social developments and highlights specific reasons why housing conditions vary so much within the EU. Thus the specific impact is observed of factors which have been identified in the literature as characterising distinctive housing models: the eastern European housing model, the southern European housing model and the distinction between cost-renting and homeowning countries. Further, the impact of these factors, along with general socioeconomic development, is empirically assessed by a linear regression model based on the EQLS 2003 dataset. The results clearly support the thesis of economic development playing a decisive role, with it being the biggest single factor explaining variations in housing conditions across the EU, followed by the significant influence of policy choice and the incidence of family support.

Housing tenures in times of change: Conversion debates in Slovenia

Abstract The paper considers the recent transformation of tenures in Slovenia. It examines the process, generally referred to as ‘privatisation of the housing stock’. Basic information about the size and the organisational frameworks of tenures are given for the past and for recent years. However, the main focus is on yet another level of changes—those in interpretative frameworks of tenures. The starting point is that the debates on privatisation of the housing stock, launched by proposals for new housing legislation, presented a context in which tenures were discussed in a specific manner and in which a new interpretative framework emerged. In contrast to debates under socialism, which emphasised the social distribution of tenures, recent emphasis has been placed on the characteristics of tenures. Tenures have begun to be perceived in a new way. The new interpretative framework was looked at on two levels. Firstly, by examining the parliamentary debates about the conversion of the social rentals into pr...

Rental housing in Central and Eastern Europe as no man's land

The central question addressed in this paper is whether both thesocial and private rented sectors in Central and Eastern Europeancountries are based on robust institutions or constitute a no mansland. The latter case is a position a landlord tries to avoid andpublic authorities try to abandon by promoting home-ownership.As we argue in this paper, during the transformation of economic and housing policy in Central and Eastern Europe,the perception of the social rental sector as a no mans landis not far from the truth. The same applies for private renting,which has the reputation of being an extension of the owner-occupiedsector. A truly professional private rented sector is still lackingin Central and Eastern Europe. National and local governments try to get rid of rented dwellings by promoting owner-occupation.If they want to prevent the rented sectors from remaining orbecoming a no mans land, they have to create regulations andinstitutions like those in West European countries to supportboth social and commercial rented housing.

Decisions to Renovate: Identifying Key Determinants in Central and Eastern European Post-socialist Countries

Housing renovation is a topical issue in CEE countries facing the need to tackle their troubled post-war housing estates and improve their energy efficiency. In this paper the renovation decisions of households living in multidwelling buildings are modelled to identify the key determinants of such decisions and to gain a better insight into the reasons for the insufficient extent of renovation in CEE. Considering general factors as well as CEE specific factors, and specifically adding variables of social capital, renovation decision-making is modelled by applying a discrete choice framework of analysis. The results clearly show that, next to the physical characteristics of the stock, such as its age, an important role in the renovation process is played by residents and particularly their relations in terms of social capital. The results thus identify some of the key missing pre-conditions for renovating multidwelling buildings across CEE.

Trends in Central East European rented sectors

This paper treats developments inCentral East European rented sectors. An effort ismade to relate these to trends in West Europeanrented sectors as well as to the accompanyingdebates. After the introduction of privatisation andrestitution policies, there has been a trend towardthe residualisation of the public rented sector. Theoutcomes show significant variation in the CentralEast European region.Two groups of countries were identified. The firsthas witnessed only a slight decrease in publicrenting and has retained a substantial co-operativerented stock. Together, these tenures compriseapproximately half of the total stock. The secondgroup experienced a very drastic decrease in publicrenting, dropping in most places below 10 percent.These countries also had a marginal or evennon-existent third (co-operative) sector and anundersized private rental sector. These occurrencesdistinguish this Central East European residualmodel from the Western residual model.It is argued that the tenure configuration of theCentral East European residual model is not stable.Because it is not sustained by a correspondingsystem of housing provision, significant changeswill probably occur. The key predictor of futuredevelopments is the ability of the states tointroduce innovative arrangements that wouldencourage diverse non-profit rental solutions. Thismight determine the direction in which privaterenting develops – towards a non-regulated or aregulated, corporatist system.

Housing for care: A response to the post-transitional old-age gap?

This article examines the trade-off between owned housing and old-age care in Slovenia where the population has been found outstandingly willing to enter residential care and also consume housing wealth for this purpose. To explain this peculiarity, a case study as a holistic in-depth analysis was conducted, combining multiple sources of quantitative survey data and qualitative interview-based insights and accounting for the institutional context and individual decisions. What was found was a modernised version of the traditional ‘inheritance for care’ exchange, whereby the inheritor partly finances the parent’s residential care. This family-mediated trade-off between old-age care and housing wealth was found to serve as an informal equity-release scheme which in Slovenia helps bridge the post-transitional old-age gap, the syndrome of low pensions, underdeveloped care services and owner-occupied housing un-adapted to seniors. Moreover, it is hypothesised that this structural gap is common to other post-transitional countries.

Motives for Home Ownership: Before and After the Transition

Abstract Regarding the dramatic shift towards home ownership in transition countries, the changing macro policy frameworks have been widely discussed, whereas the meaning of home ownership remains an under-researched issue. This paper examines the motives for home ownership and aims to identify any change in them parallel to the contextual transformations. An exploratory qualitative analysis of 25 interviews indicates a change in argumentation from a mostly detailed circumstantial consideration among pre-transitional entrants to mainly modest argumentation among post-transitional entrants, which took home ownership as a “normal tenure” and “the market” as a self-referential, self-justifying interpretative framework, as is typical of the neoliberal transitional discourse. Our specific data-driven categorization of the motives demonstrates the impact of contextual change on the meanings of tenures and the relative rise in attractiveness of home ownership. In contrast, public renting shared the destiny of many other public welfare institutions that had previously served as a hedge against individual risks, but were retrenched and restructured during transition. Public renting proved to be specifically exposed and highly vulnerable to political pressures.

Homeownership in Multi-Apartment Buildings: Control beyond Property Rights

ABSTRACT The paper focuses on the control homeowners have over common issues in a multi-apartment building. It specifically aims to contribute to further examination and recognition of the role various forms of power play in residents’ everyday life in addition to the formal condominium arrangements. Drawing on wide homeownership literature and building on the structuration theory, we portray the multi-apartment building as a particular “locale” and propose a conceptualization of power in terms of “frames” to be tested for its explanatory ability. Using survey data from Ljubljana, our exploratory analysis confirms how, besides the formal frame of power (property and management rights), two other frames – community/social control and residents’ co-action – are statistically significant for explaining residents’ feeling of being in control, their role even larger. The proposed conceptualization might be useful for illuminating the cross-national variability in homeownership and possible parallels with other countries.