The Housing Dimension of Welfare Reform - the ICCR

More documents

Recommendations

Info

providers construct social housing; local authorities are responsible for allocation, management, repairs and maintenance. The latter tasks suffer from weaknesses due to financial and operational obstacles. Eligibility to social housing is subject to means-tested criteria, i.e. income ceilings and a point system that ranks applicants on waiting lists. Eligibility to housing allowances depends on the type of landlord. Voluntary sector tenants receive subsidies for the market rent they pay through the income maintenance system; local authority tenants do not pay market rents but rents based on ability to pay. Local authority tenants may purchase their houses but not flats; social housing provided by voluntary bodies cannot be bought. The social sector in Germany has decreased by half since 1950. This development is a consequence of the expiration of social designation periods of a large quantity of housing stock which is now part of the private rental sector in the Eastern states. This has led to an increasing shortage in low cost housing. Social designation periods vary and over the past decades have become shorter, currently between ten and 25 years. At present, the social housing segment amounts to about ten per cent, is expected to further decrease and is concentrated in urban areas. The problem of spatial social segregation, which is not as marked in Germany as in other countries, has been increasingly receiving attention. Both private actors and non-profit building associations, operating under the framework of social designation laws, construct social housing. Traditionally, the social housing sector in Germany has not been targeting disadvantaged groups but rather has addressed the needs of the wider public. The percentage of eligible tenants, however, has decreased to about 40 per cent compared to 70 per cent of the population in the 1960s and 1970s. Social housing tenants may remain in their dwellings if their income increases given they pay a fee to balance their changed eligibility status. Landlords may freely select among eligible tenants unless restricted through provincial legislation. Rent ceilings apply and vary. Increasingly they are defined dependent on the income of the tenants. Housing allowance (Wohngeld) is paid depending on family income, rent amount and household size and, in principle, covers only part of the rent. Social welfare recipients receive a fixed amount of housing allowance which is paid from social welfare funds. This covers housing costs to the full if other income is not available. Almost 14 per cent of (both social and private) tenants receive allowances. The percentage is higher among social housing tenants (a quarter). Experts estimate that only about 50 per cent of those eligible do actually apply. EUROHOME-IMPACT FINAL REPORT 28
Social tenants may purchase their housing unit only if the social designation period has expired. Tenant participation in administration of social housing is typically only found in units of the non-profit building associations. Harmonising trends European housing policies are characterised by some general harmonising trends despite persisting differences in orientation. Two stand out: The first comprises the fine-tuning of housing policies to reach out more effectively to the needs of vulnerable groups. Besides (income) restrictions imposed on eligibility criteria, especially with regard to social housing and direct housing allowances, several state and/or regional housing policies prioritise some groups over others in terms of coverage. The young, the aged, persons with disabilities as well as young and/or large families are prioritised in several countries. The housing needs of single mothers, the homeless, battered women and drug users continue to be mainly the remit of voluntary or non-governmental organisations or of special initiatives. Secondly, in some countries first attempts are being made to better relate housing policies to other policies, and in particular urban regeneration plans. Exemplary of this orientation has been the Danish ‘urban renewal’ initiative (1994 to 2002) which besides foreseeing more generous subsidies for urban social housing tenants, sought to systematically address problems in social housing estates (see also section 3.4). The programme aimed at improving living conditions for deprived tenants and immigrants through a ‘local network strategy’ and at improving the competitiveness of problematic estates to attract residents other than vulnerable groups. Similar albeit not as extensive local initiatives in Italy have been emphasising the role of mediation whilst inserting disadvantaged groups into the housing market in order to avoid ensuing segregation and stigmatisation. This is also the explicit task of the privately managed non-profit agencies known as ‘social rental agencies’ or ‘social agencies’ often established with the support of municipalities or local funding. Such agencies exist in Belgium, Italy, Ireland and Germany and are in charge of facilitating the housing of the placement of the marginalized in the housing sector. 3.3.2 Housing situation The European Community Household Panel (ECHP) provides a useful basis for obtaining comparative data on the housing situation in Europe EUROHOME-IMPACT FINAL REPORT 29
Page 1 and 2: EUROHOME-IMPACT The Housing Dimensi
Page 3 and 4: Table of Contents Abstract_________
Page 5 and 6: large numbers of persons facing hou
Page 7 and 8: [1.6] The most important actors in
Page 9 and 10: Germany, Luxembourg and the UK: the
Page 11 and 12: involvement: first, through the org
Page 13 and 14: 2 Background and objectives of the
Page 15 and 16: Deliverable R[4] has sought to form
Page 17 and 18: policy reform at the substantive le
Page 19 and 20: ole as that of supporting all to th
Page 21 and 22: Owner occupation is the primary pol
Page 23 and 24: of payment, disturbance of domestic
Page 25 and 26: Social housing The social housing s
Page 27: provide rent assistance to the poor
Page 31 and 32: - The accommodation is characterise
Page 33 and 34: The summary statistics indicate tha
Page 35 and 36: Pure crowding or affordability prob
Page 37 and 38: Table 3. Any-time poverty rate vs.
Page 39 and 40: 3. Housing related characteristics
Page 41 and 42: The implications of our logistic re
Page 43 and 44: Europe. Across the EU-14, 54 per ce
Page 45 and 46: close to a 0 percent reduction rate
Page 47 and 48: Effectiveness Assessing the effecti
Page 49 and 50: Transferability This dimension comp
Page 51 and 52: activities and mediation have been
Page 53 and 54: The DCCSS staff support rough sleep
Page 55 and 56: were less marginalized and deprived
Page 57 and 58: isolation and lack of social networ
Page 59 and 60: deliberation with service providers
Page 61 and 62: 4 Conclusions and recommendations I
Page 63 and 64: (b) When evaluating the ‘success
Page 65 and 66: like, for instance, the gini coeffi
Page 67 and 68: anti-poverty strategies can therefo
Page 69 and 70: 5 Dissemination and exploitation of
Page 71 and 72: 70 pages Available also in French D
Page 73 and 74: Berthoud, R. and Gerschuny, J. (eds
Page 75 and 76: European Commission (1997), Social
Page 77 and 78: Kleinman, M. (1996), Housing, Welfa
Page 79 and 80:
Whelan, C. T., Layte, R., Maître,
Page 81 and 82:
ueber Wohnquartiere in den alten un
Page 83 and 84:
Istat (1996), Famiglie, abitazioni,
Page 85 and 86:
Havel, M., Fink, K. and Barta, H. (
Page 87 and 88:
North Y. et al. (1996), Le Logement
Page 89 and 90:
Heitzmann, K. (1999), Transitions t
Page 91 and 92:
Whelan, C. T., Layte, R., Maitre, B
Page 93 and 94:
Redl, H. (2001), ECHP-Austria Forsc
Page 95 and 96:
Rossi, P. H. & Freeman H. E., Evalu
Page 97 and 98:
G. Schuler-Wallner/I. Mühlich-Klin
Page 99 and 100:
Kristensen, H. (1999) Housing Polic
Page 101 and 102:
Department of Health (2000): The He
Page 103 and 104:
Avramov, D. (1999a) Background Pape
Page 105 and 106:
Esping-Andersen, G. ed. (1996) Welf
Page 107 and 108:
EUROSTAT (2001) The Social Situatio
Page 109 and 110:
Pilgram A. H. Steinert (2001) Socia
show all

The Housing Dimension of Welfare Reform - the ICCR

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?