Routledge Library Editions: Housing – serie

Originally published in 1985, this book provided a broad review of the range of systems of housing finance used throughout the developed and developing world at the time. It surveys the development of housing finance and the ways in which individual countries, with different economic structures, have coped with the problems of housing finance in periods of severe inflation and fluctuating interest rates.The book opens with two theoretical chapters covering housing finance in developed and developing economies. The framework developed in these chapters is subsequently used to analyse the systems of various countries.Most of the remaining 28 chapters describe housing finance in specific countries. Each country study begins with a description of the housing market, and then analyses the housing finance market, and housing finance institutions. The book concentrates on industrialized countries although some chapters cover developing countries, including Brazil, Colombia, South Korea, the Philippines, and India. In addition to the detailed country studies, housing finance systems in other countries are described very briefly in a number of general chapters.One chapter is concerned specifically with the attempts to integrate housing finance systems in the European Community, and two chapters describe the work of international bodies in the housing finance field. The book concludes with two chapters, one of which compares housing conditions and housing finance systems, and the second considers the study of housing finance.A feature of this work is its use of up-to-date statistics and information. For most of the industrialized countries statistics are as at the end of 1983, and where this has not proved possible 1982 figures are used. It has not always been possible to use as up-to-date information for developing countries.

Originally published in 1986, for the second edition of this standard text (previously only covering up to 1970) in A Social History of Housing 1815–1985, John Burnett has extended his study to take account of the next fifteen years. It remains a comprehensive and important survey, covering over a century and a half of developments in housing conditions both urban and rural, public and private, and tracing the evolution of mass housing through by-law terraces, back-to-backs and the tower block to the low-rise, high-density estates of the 1980s.

Originally published in 1987, public rented housing in Britain had undergone many changes in the decade before, which had been accelerated by the policies of the Conservative government since 1979. With financial incentives and the ‘right to buy’, owner occupation was being vigorously promoted as the ‘normal’ tenure for the bulk of households, while the public sector was increasingly confined to those on low incomes. At the same time, a severe squeeze on capital and maintenance expenditure was leading to a deterioration in the public stock, and was causing major problems for housing managers. The book surveys the current state of public housing at the time, including a chapter on developments in Europe, and examines how the sector was adapting in terms of new approaches such as decentralisation and co-operatives.

In the 1990s, council housing was widely criticised, rejected by government and was the object of waning public support. Yet at one time direct state provision accounted for one-third of the nation's housing stock. How did this decline come about? Originally published in 1994, Ian Cole and Robert Furbey trace the emergence, rise and decline of council housing and explore its fluctuating status within the welfare state.The authors ask whether council tenure was misconceived from the start and whether it should now be seen as a suitable case for reform, or for total abolition. They examine why, of all welfare sectors, public housing has been subjected to the most intense attack by the Conservatives since 1979, and consider why it has proved so vulnerable. Their detailed analysis charts the development of policies towards council housing and the long-term retreat into a residual tenure. A distinctive aspect of the account is its analysis of the quality of housing offered by local authorities, and the responsiveness, democracy and efficiency of housing management. Particular emphasis is given to the deal which users have received from local authorities and their varying responses to that deal. The authors also review New Right arguments for the final eclipse of state housing while at the same time discussing initiatives to reform it.The Eclipse of Council Housing presents a lucid study of a key social policy issue which was central to the housing crisis at the time, and challenges the view that council housing should be consigned to the scrapheap. It will be invaluable to all students and lecturers in social policy, housing, town planning and urban studies, as well as social policy and housing professionals.

A continual problem in modern societies is how housing of a good standard can be provided for all those who need it. Some countries, and some local areas within any one country, have clearly succeeded better than others. Originally published in 1985, Housing, States and Localities shows how and why success and failure in housing provision come about. It does this using comparative analysis of two countries – Britain and Sweden – and four localities within Britain – Sheffield, rural Norfolk, Crawley and Brighton. Variation in the levels and forms of housing provision are explained by variations in how housing is built, how state policies are formed, and how consumers react to their housing. But the nature of these social relations varies from place to place, and the book also relates differences in housing provision to the different characteristics of these states and localities.It is very much an argument of the book that success and failure in housing can only be understood in the context of wider social conflicts and social orders. The book also examines the strengths and weaknesses of comparative methodology and establishes a general strategy for urban and regional research – one that recognizes the similar structures and processes encountered in capitalist societies but at the same time can deal with the actual situations specific to particular places at particular times.

Originally published in 1995, this innovative collection provides a multidisciplinary and cross-national perspective on the links between housing, personal wealth and the family in contemporary society. Reasserting the role of the family and informal networks in housing provision, it counteracts a tendency to view housing issues in the narrow terms of market and state provision.The contributions include analyses from the USA, Japan, Hong Kong, Greece, France, Sweden and Hungary, and this highly international perspective allows the book to address important policy questions and offer new theoretical insights into the way housing is embedded in the wider social structure. By moving away from the more usual, highly ethnocentric discussion of today’s housing issues, the book aims to provide a more sociological account of the relationship between housing and wealth, and the social structures within which that relationship is founded. Today it can be read in its historical context.

Originally published in 1982, Housing and Identity: Cross-Cultural Perspectives represents an attempt by scholars in a number of different disciplines to bring a common social-psychological perspective to bear on the study of the house and its relation to the self and the nature of the social order. The house, it is argued, is an extremely important aspect of the built environment, embodying not only personal meanings but expressing and maintaining the ideology of prevailing social orders. The essays draw upon material from a wide variety of intellectual, cultural and historical contexts.

‘Houses do not simply represent a form of shelter; in addition they embody the dominant ideology of a society and reflect the way in which that society is organised.’Originally published in 1986 and written by two leading authorities on the subject, this book tackles the problems of housing, homelessness, and women in the family, from a feminist perspective. It explores how housing helps to reproduce women’s role within the family, both today and historically. It looks at the way British society in particular (and western society in general) defines and creates housing ‘needs’. It discusses the way housing is provided and allocated to exclude specific forms of household, and describes the experiences of a particular group – single women – upon whom these processes have profound impact.Making effective use of interview material, the authors analyse the experience and needs of women without secure accommodation. Their study will be a useful text on social policy and welfare courses, and – with its strong political implications – will also be of great interest to community workers and to local authority housing departments.

First published in 1935, the original blurb reads: “Believing the gravest of all our National problems is that of Unemployment the author has set himself the task of trying to find a solution which is capable of giving continuity of employment without interfering with or increasing the competition with existing industries. The Building Industry gives the opportunity conditional upon a policy of demolition equal to that of a new building being carried out simultaneously.Every class of property is affected in this scheme of Rebuilding Britain. All slums will definitely be cleared away, never to recur in future generations. The number of houses in a condition to demand immediate demolition total 4,607,679. In addition there are many thousands of Slum Offices, Warehouses, and Factories.In eighty years Great Britain will be demolished and rebuilt, except historical and other special public buildings. All houses now owned by Local Authorities will be purchased at market value by Public Utility Societies and all future house building will be undertaken by Private Enterprise. If a rent subsidy is necessary it will be given to the individual and not the house.A National Mortgage Bank will be established through which building will be financed on long-term credits. The Building Societies throughout the country will be formed into twelve units and will act as agents for the National Mortgage Bank.Private interest in land built-up areas to be purchased over a period of eighty years as areas are being redeveloped, the land being vested in National Land Commissioners.The total number of houses required, if the fullest advantage is taken of the opportunities which now present themselves, is 6,572,679.”Today it can be read in its historical context.

In the 1970s it was widely recognised that our planners and administrators were dealing not with a homogenous housing market but with a complex of housing sectors and sub-markets – with different locations, physical and social characteristics, tenures and costs. But although factual information was widely available from the Census and other official sources, our understanding of the true nature of the British housing system – and the relationships at work within it – had remained inadequate. Originally published in 1976, this book sets out, by careful examination of the complexities of the system, to improve that understanding and to discuss the implications for policy in the differing roles played by central and local government, developers, builders, the building societies and the voluntary housing movement.The book is divided into three parts. The first describes and classifies the different household types (identifying their various characteristics, such as income, social class and stage in the family cycle) and their dwellings. It examines the process of household movement and discusses various explanatory approaches to housing.Part Two describes in detail the three main tenure sectors in Britain and emphasizes the opportunities and constraints on access to housing. Not only is tenure of profound institutional, political and legal importance; it is also of great significance in the lives of individual households. Part Three analyses the objectives of housing policy and considers the nature of housing policy in Britain at the time. Factors that would lead to a more humane and effective policy are assessed and discussed.The authors, from the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies at the University of Birmingham, worked for three years on the SSRC Housing Systems Research Programme. They brought to this study a wealth of experience in applied social and policy-orientated research and were uniquely qualified to examine housing policy and practice in Britain. An important book which would have been of vital interest to all those concerned with contemporary urban and social problems at the time.

Originally published in 1993, In Search of a Home filled a conspicuous gap in the literature on housing in the developing world at the time. For many years, self-help settlement and the owner-occupier had commanded the attention of governments and researchers, leaving huge numbers of tenants and sharers invisible. However, the assumption that every family both wished and was able to become an owner-occupier was now under scrutiny and it was becoming clear in many of the larger Latin American cities that there was a limit to universal home ownership, even of the self-help kind. Several governments in the developing world had expressed concern about the rental housing market, which had long been neglected at the policy level. Research activity had begun to respond to these changes, and this book put the spotlight on rental and shared housing.Based on three large surveys carried out by research teams from Caracas, Mexico City and Santiago, the book investigates the nature of owners, tenants, sharers and landlords, and explores the relationships between them. It considers both government policy and the reasons why rental housing was in decline.In Search of a Home is intended for government planners, social scientists and students of development – particularly those concerned about urbanization and the housing of the poor. It is relevant not only to Latin America but also to many other parts of the developing world where large numbers of families live in rental accommodation.

Originally published in 1945, the purpose of Housing and the State, 1919–1944 was not to lay down what the scope of housing policy should be after the war in Great Britain, or what particular building programme should be adopted. The aim was rather more modest, it was to describe and explain some of the more important conditions which must be satisfied if certain types of housing policy were to be successful. It was only if the main difficulties and problems were known that a sensible choice could be made between them. It was this method of approaching the housing question that lead the author into a discussion of housing policy between 1919 and 1939. During these years the local authorities built over a million houses. This was perhaps the outstanding peace time experiment in state intervention in this country in the provision of a necessity of life, which had formerly been supplied almost exclusively by independent private enterprise. Today it can be read in its historical context.

Originally published in 1990, this title asks, what has been the role of the state vis-à-vis housing policy in developing countries over the last few years? To date there had been no significant attempt to deal comprehensively with state intervention in the housing market in the developing world, most of the literature choosing to concentrate either on specific country studies or on single issues.This book attempts an analysis of comparative housing policy – the study of how, why, and to what effect different governments pursue particular courses of action or inaction. Two main strategies can be identified – the demand-side and the supply-side. Policy makers opt for subsidies either to builders (whether they are formal or informal, profit making or non-profit making) or to consumers, or for a combination of both. This book analyses the consequences of those decisions in a wide cross-section of developing countries. Its conclusions will interest all those studying housing in the developing world.

In the late 1970s, the role of the state in the finance, provision and legal control of housing had increased enormously during the previous sixty years. But, despite massive government intervention in the housing market, the 'housing problem’ was considered by many to be worsening.Originally published in 1978, The Economics of Housing Policy critically appraises the nature, extent and economic rationale for government intervention in the private and public housing sectors, and explores the effects of policies through fiscal and social instruments in the specific housing markets. Individual chapters analyse the strategies applied to the owner occupied, private rented and public housing sectors.The fundamental concern of this study is with the persistent reluctance on the part of the government to accept the economic consequences of political intervention as each new act had attempted to remedy the adverse symptoms of previous legislation. The rented sectors had become increasingly inflexible, affecting household mobility, free choice and the quality of housing stock. A re-creation of housing markets, based on consumer preference rather than political predilection and bureaucratic control, is advocated in order to overcome the housing problem at the time.

Originally published in 1981, in this controversial study Dr Kemeny aims to show that owner-occupation is not an inherently superior form of housing tenure to renting. He questions the overwhelming emphasis upon owner-occupation in English-speaking countries as reflected by most politicians and many academics, and argues that the deep emotional commitment to home ownership has prevented both the objective analysis of housing tenure and the emergence of environmental policies that maximise choice.In the first part of the book home ownership is placed in comparative perspective through a critical examination of its supposed advantages, such as security of tenure, and a discussion of its wider disadvantages, notably its exacerbation of housing inequalities and the ‘privatizing’ effect which it has upon consumption patterns, urban structure and social welfare. The second part is a detailed consideration of three contrasting societies: Australia, a ‘home owning’ society; Sweden, where cost-renting is widely available; and Britain, where public renting and home ownership are maintained in uneasy compromise. In conclusion Dr Kemeny argues that English-speaking countries should abandon their one-sided policies and aim to develop real choice of tenure in their housing systems. Today it can be read in its historical context.