Stuart Lowe

Housing Abandonment in Inner Cities-The Politics of Low Demand for Housing

Abandonment of property in all housing tenures is a problem in some British inner cities, especially in the north of England. The paper outlines the causes of this phenomenon and describes some of the social problems that arise in areas containing significant quantities of abandoned property. A principal underlying cause of abandonment is low demand creating, initially, voids and vacancies in the dwelling stock and ultimately housing abandonment. The paper considers the relationship between empty stock and abandonment particularly in the social housing sector. It reviews the US and UK literature and concludes that the UK literature and research agenda is deficient in its analysis of the problem of abandonment. The paper then explores evidence of the source of the abandonment problem in the low demand for housing in some parts of the country, particularly those affected by industrial collapse. Abandonment is also explained as a case of policy failure particularly due to the housing subsidy system and the c...

From Housing Wealth to Mortgage Debt: The Emergence of Britain's Asset-Shaped Welfare State

Housing has been unjustifiably neglected in comparative welfare state research. The banking crisis of 2007–08, however, revealed how important housing, especially home ownership and the institutional structures of the mortgage market, has become to welfare state change. Securitisation of mortgages created a new circuit of global capital, while national mortgage markets became the conduit through which home owners were connected to this wave of globally sourced capital. In the UK, equity stored in owner-occupied property became much more fungible because of the very open/liberal mortgage market. As a result home owners began to ‘bank’ on their homes using it not only for consumption but increasingly as a financial safety net, a cushion against adversity and a means for securing access to privately supplied services and supporting their familys welfare needs across the life-course. This welfare state change – a move towards asset-based welfare – was historically and today remains underpinned by the emergence of the UK as a home-owning society.

ACTIVATING POLICY NETWORKS

The contention posed by Rod Rhodes that policy is made and delivered by autonomous and self-organising policy networks is at the heart of many contemporary debates about the nature of policy and politics. However, while the concept has commanded considerable attention from policy theorists, case studies of how policy networks operate on the ground remain relatively rare. Further still, much of the empirical work has centred on testing relatively abstract claims about the nature of networks rather than thinking through their practical implications for governance. Here, we contrast the approaches taken by two English local authorities in seeking more participatory approaches to environmental policy-making. Building on the work of Kickert et al., we argue that – far from being self-organising – the form of policy networks can be strongly directed by the state through network activation strategies and, indeed, that strong state management of networks is required if policy-making is to proceed in a more inclusive manner. Indeed, we argue that when policy-making is viewed from a network governance perspective the most effective routes to participatory policy-making may rely heavily on manipulation strategies despite the fact that these are frequently described as weaker (or lower) forms of participation. This apparent compromise of participatory objectives may be required to ensure effective policy development.

Measuring housing need and the provision of social housing

Abstract The Bramley Report (ADC, 1988), made a detailed attempt to construct a resource allocation formula for social housing provision. In this paper we stand back from the debate over the detail of the models being proposed by Bramley to consider instead the principles which underlie the modelling of housing needs and resource allocation in this context. The measurement of housing need depends on a few key concepts; the definition of acceptable standards of accommodation, the total numbers of households, and the supply of housing of at least the required standard. Questions then arise as to which indicator should be included in a needs model and how they should be measured. Overcrowding and homelessness are likely to be included whether these indicators are chosen by consumers or by social decision‐makers. Having chosen the indicators they have to be ‘normalised’ to take account of cyclical factors in the housing market, and of the efficiency and policy stances of local authorities. After this the indi...

The Private Rented Housing Market: Regulation or Deregulation?

Preface The new private rented sector - regulation in a deregulated market, Stuart Lowe A GIS analysis of rent formation in the private rented housing sector in England, Peter Bibby, Max Craglia, A.D.H. (Tony) Crook and Steven Rowley Buy to let landlords, David Rhodes Housing benefit and the private rented sector: a case study of variance in rental niche markets, Julie Rugg Controlling letting arrangements in the private rented sector, Diane Lister Regulating the market, David Ormandy and Martin Davis Landlords and fair trading: all consumers now?, Martin Davis and Rachel Houghton Accreditation, David Hughes and Rachel Houghton Regulating a deregulated market, David Hughes and Stuart Lowe Bibliography Index.

Housing Law and Policy

resemblance to the authors’ previous academicwritings. These chapters review, respectively, the perspective of lenders, borrowers, the wider housing market and taxpayers. Mortgagees and providers received extensive support throughHOLC, with voluntary action on both sides enabling them to take advantage of the terms HOLC offered. The generous approach to valuing properties, the offer of state-backed bonds to lenders and reduced rates of payment for borrowers until 1936made refinancing an attractive prospect formany borrowers and lenders who were under threat from default and foreclosure ‘though no fault of their own’. Chapter 9 covers the relationship between HOLC and the housing market, arguing that there is some evidence to suggest that the state’s intervention prevented amorewidespread decline in house prices, particularly outside the main cities. Chapter 10 is a lucid exposition of HOLC’s accounts, revealing the actual, but small, cost to the taxpayer, contrary to popular perceptions. Debunking this popular myth is helpful particularly for those who have called for a contemporary HOLC. However, more could have beenwritten about the comparative cost of other New Deal mechanisms and the potential cost of other forms of intervention in the housing market to provide a more robust analysis of HOLC’s place in history. The concluding chapter is profitable reading alone, and clearly represents the arguments Fishback, Rose and Snowden wish to make in support of HOLC throughout the book. A more extensive comparison with the recent financial crisis would have been welcomed, as would a more critical reflection. The book is well written, easily accessible, beautifully presented and brief at only 160 pages of substance. The content occasionally borders on repetition, a misfortune for such a short book. This space could have been more usefully employed in providing more varied examples of the assistance HOLC afforded, stronger engagement with criticisms of HOLC and broadly framing the wider debate about ‘bad banks’ and taxpayers’ subsidy of home ownership. Resultantly the book feels somewhat unbalanced, leaving the reader intrigued and better informed, but nonetheless waiting to hear engagement with counter arguments. This would be well suited as a primer on the issues of mortgage finance, home ownership and state intervention in the housing market for those interested in the history of the New Deal as well as for contemporary comparison. In this regard, the book could be used to support standard undergraduate textbooks on housing finance or for those with a broad interest in the subject area.

Housing Classes and Consumption Cleavages

The idea that there are autonomous material interests generated outside the social class system became prominent in the 1960s and 1970s through the work of scholars questioning the Marxist notion that the primary source of social conflict is sourced in the industrial economy. Castells argued that ‘the urban domain’ had become a key source of politicisation as the state was forced to intervene in the provision of collective consumption goods and services, such as transport and housing. Distinct consumption cleavages opened up around whether this provision took place in the public or private sectors. Housing is a key case in which home owners are privileged by their access to housing equity compared to public tenants. ‘Housing classes’ are a microlevel case of consumption interests, discovered by Rex and Moore in the 1960s inner-city housing market of Birmingham. Tenants of lodging houses, council house tenants, or outright owners of property are all cases of distinct housing class interests. While these may be objective socioeconomic groupings, their ability to recognise their commonality or to act politically in any organised way is very limited.