In Changing Political and Economic Conditions · 2009. 6. 24. · Traila Cernescu Building Design...

132
In Changing Political and Economic Conditions Proceedings of the Ninth Re-union of CIB Working Group 69, "Housing Sociology" kia, 24-27 September 1990 t I

Transcript of In Changing Political and Economic Conditions · 2009. 6. 24. · Traila Cernescu Building Design...

Page 1: In Changing Political and Economic Conditions · 2009. 6. 24. · Traila Cernescu Building Design Institute for Typified Construction Sociological Research Laboratory Str. Sipotul

In Changing Political and Economic Conditions

Proceedings of the Ninth Re-union of CIB Working Group 69, "Housing Sociology"

kia, 24-27 September 1990

t I

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H OUS I N G P O L I C Y I N C H A N G I N G P O L I T I C A L A N D E C O N O M I C C O N D I T I O N S

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Uitgave endktributie Publikatieburo Bouwkunde / Faculteit der Bouwkunde

Technische Universiteit Delft / Berlageweg 1 / 2628 CR Delft / Telefoon (015) 784737 h opdmcht van RIW Research-lnstituut voor Woningbouw. Volkshuisvesting e n Stadsvernieuwing

Faculteit der Bouwkunde / Technische Universiteit Delft / Berlageweg 1,2628 CR Delft

Telefoon (015) 783946 / Onhverpomslog Bert van der Mey / Druk Universiteitsdrukkerij

ClPgegsvens Koninklijke Bibliotheek / Den Haag

CopyrightQlPP2 RIW / Delft

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any means. electronic or mechanical, incluiding photocopying, recordtng or by any information sloroge and retrieval syslem

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H O U S I N G P O L I C Y I N C H A N G I N G P O L I T I C A L A N D E C O N O M I C C O N D I T I O N S Proceedings of the Ninth Re-union of CIB Working Group 69, 'Housing Sociology"

Vojtechov. Czechoslovakia, 24-27 September 1990

International Council for Building Research Studies (CIB) Rotterdam RIW-Housing Research Institute / Delft University of Technolgy

Publication 134

Publikdmburo Bowkunde

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HOUSING POLICY IN CHANGING POLITICAL AND ECONOMlC CONDITIONS

W69 - Housing Sociology Ninth Re-union, Vojtechov, Czechoslovakia.

CIB-Proceedings nr. 134 Rotterdam, 1991.

CIB is an international organization of research institutes for the building industry.

CIB - Proceedings are published on an ad hoc basis in order to facilitate the spread of knowledge

on building and building related matters amongst the research community and its partners.

This publication has been supported by CIB, Rotterdam and RIW - Housing Research Institute a t

the University of Delft.

The proceedings were edited by Ivor Ambrose of the Danish Building Research Institute.

CIB Postbox 20704, 3001 JA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

RIW - Housing Research Institute, Delft University, Berlageweg 1, 2628- CR DELFT,

The Netherlands.

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Contents

Preface

List of Contributors

Transition to a Housing Market: New Order Efforts Peter Michalovic, Czechoslovakia

Housing and Opinions in the Process of Change Fedor Papanek, Czechoslovakia

Flat Tenants - Their Problems - Strategies of Survival Igor Simunek, Czechoslovakia

Forms of Housing and Households' Behaviour Agnes Babarczy, Hungary

Contradictions of the Inner City Revitalization Barbara Deklava, Yugoslavia

The City as a Dwelling Environment Ewa Kaltenberg-Kwiatkowska, Poland

Is Collective Housing Possible in the Villages? Traila Cernescu, Rumania

Rumania's Housing Problem: Financial Mechanisms Mircea Kivu, Rumania

Imbalance, Purpose and the Assignment of Cheap, Newly Built Housing Wim van Bogerijen, The Netherlands

Changing Responsibilities for Housing Maintenance: Resident-Management Cooperation Ivor Ambrose, Denmark

Clients or Actors in the Housing Market? Ola Siksio, Sweden

Problems, Priorities and Solutions in Times of Transition: An analysis and comment based on the contributions to the Vojtechov seminar. Hans Kroes, The Netherlands

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CIJ3 - The International Council for Building Research Studies and Documentation - is an organ;.-

ation of research institutes which supports building research worldwide. The main work is done by

a series of Working Commissions that typically meet once a year. Most of these working commis-

sions deal with technical matters as the participating institutes are primarily institutes for technical

research. Several of the institutes also conduct social science research and in order to foster and

support international cooperation on sociological problems related to housing and the built en-

vironment, Working Commission W69 "Housing Sociology" was established. The W69 has presently

40 members from 20 countries and has arranged 9 annual re-unions since its formation in 1977.

These proceedings are revised and edited versions of papers presented at the Ninth Re-

union of W69 held in Vojtechov, Czechoslovakia under the auspices of UEOS, the Institute for

Building Economy and Organization in Bratislava. The re-union took place in late September 1990

with the participation of members from countries named on the facing page and with additional

contributions from Austria and Portugal.

In keeping with previous years' practice, the papers presented at Vojtechov reflect a range

of sociological research issues which are of particular relevance to housing policy, building and

management. But in contrast to earlier W69 re-unions, the 1990 meeting was marked by the revol-

utionary political and economic changes which were taking place in Eastern Europe - changes

which demanded explanation and response from the gathering of researchers. The papers collected

in these proceedings therefore reflect, understandably, a range of concerns which confronted - and

continue to challenge - the so-called "Transition" countries.

The reader of these proceedings will find that each paper "stands alone" such that each

researcher has written about issues of current interest to the institute or research group which he

or she represents. Themes which are dealt with include housing tenure, resident satisfaction, hous-

ing policy and the market economy, resident participation, urban renewal and housing distribution.

Whilst every country has its idiosyncracies and the subjects discussed are diverse, a common thread

runs through the papers, and that is the tacit question: How can the Transition countries be as-

sisted with their housing during the process of change? These proceedings present analyses of the

present and visions of the future from both East and West which provide input to the conceptual

development necessary for forming and implementing changes. The way forward is by no means

simple - a fact which led one participing sociologist to remark, with a mixture of hope, confidence

and frustration: "Yes, they can be solved, but what are the problems?".

On behalf of W69 I wish to thank CIB and the Housing Research Institute at the University

of Delft for their support in the publication of these proceedings.

Ivor Ambrose, The Danish Building Research Institute. May 1991.

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List of Contributors

Peter Michalovic Institute for Building Economy and Organization Rdov6 dolina 27 CS - 824 69 BRATISLAVA, Czechoslovakia.

Fedor Papanek Institute for Building Economy and Organization RuZov6 dolina 27 CS - 824 69 BRATISLAVA, Czechoslovakia.

Igor Sirnunek Institute for Building Economy and Organization RuZov6 dolina 27 CS - 824 69 BRATISLAVA, Czechoslovakia.

Agnes Babarczy Changes in lifestyle and Housing Hungarian Central Statistical Office BUDAPEST, Keleti K. u. 5-7 HUNGARY H-1525.

Barbara Dekleva Institute of Sociology Cankarjeva 1, 61000 IJUBLIANA, Yugoslavia.

Ewa Kaltenberg- Kwiatkowska Warsaw Polytechnic College

Broniewskiego 6 m.62 01-785 WARSZAWA, Poland.

Traila Cernescu Building Design Institute for Typified Construction Sociological Research Laboratory Str. Sipotul Fintinilor 2, Sc.A, Ap. 10 - Sector 1 BUCHAREST 70718. Rumania.

Mircea Kivu Research Institute for the Quality of Life Institutul de Certetare a Calitatii Vietii Splaiul Independentei 204A BUCHAREST, Rumania.

Wirn van Bogerijen Directorate General of Housing, Ministry of Housing and Planning, DOK/SEO, Postbus 3001,2700 KA ZOETERMEER, The Netherlands.

Ivor Arnbrose The Danish Building Research Institute Postbox 119, DK-2970 HaRSHOLM, Denmark.

Ola Siksio The National Swedish Institute for Building Research P.O. Box 785, S-801 29 GAVLE, Sweden.

Hans Kroes RIW-Housing Research Institute Delft University, Berlageweg 1, 2628- CR DELFT, The Netherlands.

The coordinator of the CIB-Working Commission W69 on Housing Sociology is:

Mr. Dagfinn As The Norwegian Building Research Institute Postbox 123, Blindern, N-0314 OSLO 3, Norway.

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Transition to a Housing Market: New Order Efforts

Peter Michalovit

1. The present state

The development in the countries of middle and eastern Europe, which after World War I1

followed the course of building up a scientifically "justified" and equitable society, besides other

anomalies brought about a minization of the significance of both the individual and the family and

an overstimation of collective forms of life organization. The very concept of the plan, as absolutely

valid in a hierarchically organized society allowing management and control from one centre, res-

ulted from the idealistic idea of a gradual equalizing of the individual demands and their optimal

satisfaction in the form of a programmed social development.

The application of the "higher" principle to the economy logically led to the loss of autoregul-

ative mechanisms of the individual and collective subjects, with a corresponding move away from

their natural self-realization activity. At the level of ownership relations the ideal perception of the

communist way of life resulted in a classification into lower forms representing the remainder of

the private and group property such as cooperatives, and into higher state forms of property, into

which the lower property forms would gradually flow. In the last period the state property form in

Czechoslovakia was given the name: socialist social property.

The lost motivation of individual subjects led step by step to the growth of special passive strat-

egies and orientations. They assumed the role of a helpless child, whom others have to decide for,

others have to guide by the hand.

Housing is one of the most typical areas in which that development took place. In the whole

postwar period the housing problem in our country has been considered to be a social problem,

subject to the competence of the state social policy. The state indeed took over the responsibility

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for the solution of the housing situation and endeavoured to manage it by means of new housing

construction.

The mechanical reduction of meeting the housing demand to the single need of having a dwel-

ling gave rise to the questionable myth of the "housing problem - resolved!" The apparent resol-

ution was due to the quantitative consideration starting from a comparison of the estimated num-

ber of households and the expected number of dwellings, adding the increases and losses in dwel-

lings to starting level. Guided by that approach in the beginning of the sixties we set up the goal: to

solve the housing shortage by 1970 (mi2 1970). The formulation of that goal, which despite its time

shift was not and could not be reached, caused a series of accompanying deformations which have

influenced the development of housing up to the present. It is mainly the question of housing qual-

ity, which directly affects the generation of households, the housing economy, but also the con-

sideration of territorial differentiation.

The fully centralized planning of mass housing construction became the main tool of the state

housing policy aiming at generally available housing. The role of the several actors within the es-

tablished suppliers/contractors complex ensured that the planned volume of building materials, of

the amount of products and of the planned construction work was fully subordinated to the realiz-

ation of the planned number of new dwellings. With the industrialization of the construction in-

dustry, seen from the quality point of view, there gradually came into being a convex bipolarization

of two housing forms: the estate type of housing and family houses. To a far lower extent there

also occur housing types of an intermediate quality stage as regards the technical and architectural

aspects, these being above all older renovated and modernized dwellings and a small part of the

new housing stock built predominantly with the traditional technology. The result of that bipolariz-

ation is a high uniformity of the residential areas in towns.

An analysis of the housing stock structure shown in table 1. reveals that in Slovakia the housing

bipolarization as against the Czech Republic is even more striking: residential buildings erected

with large-panel technology and family houses represent 87.11 % of the whole housing stock. This

means, that in the Slovak Republic the proportion of dwellings representing an intermediate quality

between the dwellings of the housing estate type and family houses is 12.89 %, but in the Czech

Republic it is 27.4 %.

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Table 1. Housing stock structure in 1000 dwelling units (figures are for 1988).

Form of Constructions SR % t R % ~ F R %

- residential buildings - 572 34.29 1105 29.09 1677 30.67 panel technology

- residential buildings - 215 12.89 1041 27.40 1256 22.48 traditional technology

- family houses 881 52.82 1653 43.51 2534 46.35

total 1668 100.00 3799 100.00 5467 100.00

The relatively higher proportion of family houses in Slovakia, in comparison with the Czech

Republic, results from the traditional value orientation of the Slovak population, but also from the

smaller possibility to get high-quality housing. The high proportion of the individual housing in

Slovakia in the fifties and at the beginning of the sixties was in many aspects uncontrolled and until

now, often entailed a significant detrimental impact on a locality or whole regions. This also res-

ulted in the impairment of economic relations in these areas with respect to the economical infra-

structure.

The differences revealed in the table above are only some of the characteristics showing the

difference between the SR and the CR. Slovakia markedly falls behind also on other characteristics,

from the total number of dwellings to the individual quantitative and qualitative indicators. That

fact is to be taken into account when establishing the new housing policy at national levels.

A common problem for both republics is the growing disharmony between the new housing

construction and the requirements of the inhabitants. Despite the alarming results of sociological

surveys, which pointed to the highly dissatisfied inhabitants, the housing construction in effect con-

tinued without changes. On the contrary, many characteristics, such as the usable floor space of

dwellings worsened.

Furthermore, the new housing construction was not able to solve the basic requirements such as

the number of rooms. 4-room dwellings make up almost 10 % of the housing stock, whereas fam-

ilies of four represent roughly 23 % of the population of the ~ F R . Similar disproportions are to

be found also with other (mainly larger) size categories of households, which led to the situation,

that there was a shortage of dwellings for single persons and families of four, but even more for

families of five and larger households.

Due to the unified mass construction a paradoxical situation arose in towns. On the one hand,

the citizens wait passively for a solution to their housing problem by the state, which they have the

right to, regardless of their social status. After having been allocated to the dwelling and after the

formal solution of the housing situation, their dissatisfaction grows, because the dwelling does not

meet their needs and special requirements (MichaloviE et al. 1989).

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That problem is deepened by unclarified property rights concerning the individual housing sec-

tors. An absurd development in this area resulted in the fact that the housing sectors lost their

character. That is to say, the same type of estate dwellings (with the character of a social dwelling)

were given over to all sectors, i.e. the state enterprise, cooperative and private ownership. A sig-

nificant shortage of intermediate types of housing between the dwelling in housing estates and the

family houses hindered the creation of the space for a housing career, i.e. the orientation to an

increasing personal quality of housing depending on higher income. The idea of a housing career,

realizable through a qualitatively graduated scale of housing stock in relation to both differentiated

possibilities and the demand of the users, requires clearly defined ownership relations. Only on that

basis will a gradual improvement of the housing situation be possible without losing the primary

investment.

From the long-term development aspect in the field of housing there developed special personal

strategies such as:

1. Orientation to low-cost housing in towns, being satisfied with lower standard, together with an

additional orientation towards getting a second housing in the country or in recreation centres;

2. Orientation t o family house construction, (which, mainly in larger town housing estate remains

available only to a certain layer of the population). This orientation is characteristic also in rel-

ation to the improvement of standards. In 1985, 54 % of the building owners already had a

dwelling of their own when they started the construction work (see MatEjka 1990);

3. Orientation to retain the dwelling for relatives, resulting in occupation of the dwelling also in a

situation, when it is not necessary for a formal user;

4. Orientation to long-term stability of housing, which results from the lack of the possibilities for

change or to improve the housing situation (which bears direct relation to the mobility of the

population);

5. Orientation towards gaining an old dwelling of a lower category and its reconstruction (which in

larger towns coincides with the shortage of such dwellings).

After a deeper analysis of the existing stereotypes of personal strategies in solving the housing

problem we can say, that the passive orientation predominates. An active solution was possible, in

fact, only with respect to the individual housing construction and the purchase of older dwellings

and their rehabilitation.

The present changes in our society provide the qualitative preconditions for the solution of the

accumulated, ever-growing problems and contradictions. Indeed, the needed "new approach" affects

all spheres of the social life, from the political to the economical level. A serious fact is, that in-

stead of a priori determinate, anonymous, social interests the citizen with his needs, his views, at-

titudes and expectations in personal and public matters comes to the fore.

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Of course, the ongoing changes will not bypa~s the housing field. The changeover from the ( ' 1 -

ective-administrative management model to market relations is also going to create the conditions

for a gradual introduction of a housing market. That means, that the supplier will be faced wilh a

situation whereby he is forced to adapt the supply to the demand. Essential changes will also affect

the present system of housing economy and new wnditions will influence land development.

An extremely sensitive field concerns the issue of interrelations between the developing housing

market and the social aspects of housing policy. Despite the dominant trend that starts from the

idea of a housing market, it will be pensioners, families with many children, handicapped people

and so on, that will be dependent on the support, and shall be given an appropriate housing. As a

result, two basic forms of housing have to be ensured: the protected (social) and the free market

housing.

2. A new conception of the state housing policy

The influence of the changed conditions and the openings available for a broader spectre of

activities allowing for development of the housing invokes the necessity to work out new starting

points. A fundamental turn is needed from quantity to quality in housing, namely regarding both

the basic housing forms. In this connection, it will be necessary to develop the concept of "full value

housing" similar to that which was applied in a couple of developed countries in the seventies (Ge-

hmacher 1989).

For the elaboration of the new conception of housing the f i s t thing to do is to set up the basic

goals, the numerous mechanisms and the legislature from which the management and economic

tools should be derived. Using the basic coordinates of the present and the anticipated develop-

ment, those goals could be formulated this way:

1. A consequent orientation to a higher housing quality,

2. Changing over to market regulation by gradually introducing a housing market,

3. A new form of social housing.

The key problems of the new conception of state housing policy have to be solved comprehen-

sively, and in an integrated fashion, so that it should be possible to overcome the phenomena sur-

viving in this area. The main issues belonging to the overall frame of reference are as follows:

- to grant equal rights to all forms of ownership: state, group and private, and the introduction of

communal property allowing the autonomy of residential areas;

- to re-establish the original character of the individual housing sectors developing from various

ownership forms;

- to introduce the institution of tenancy in relation to the social housing form;

- t o renew the original function of the economical tools in the system of construction and use of

the housing stock (own financial funds, subsidies, appropriations, credit, taxes and so on);

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- to ensure the realization of conditions for the development of housing by demonopolization of

the construction industry and a gradual balancing of demand and supply;

- to develop a new methodology for evaluating housing as a tool for renewing the intrinsic logic of

the housing sectors; (in the form of privatization, renewal of the character of building cooperati-

ves, provision of a part of the less valuable housing stock to the disposal of social housing) and

as a means for reaching higher quality of the housing stock (see Arnbrose 1990);

- social compensation related to person and household, derived from the stated minimum living

standard;

- to surmount the passive attitudes of people by improving their participation in solving the hous-

ing problem.

The last mentioned participation problem is, however, one of the most decisive in relation to the

new formation of community. It consists in the functioning of the mechanism of participative dec-

ision-making in solving housing problems and satisfying housing needs, but also in basic questions

of the development of residential areas, and in motivating the activity of the people leading to their

identification with their housing environment.

A precondition for the increase of the participation in meeting housing needs is the clearing up

of the interrelations between citizens, residential areas and the state. All of the participation forms,

from the financial to the citizen participation presume a change in the present value orientation

developed during the course of many years. In this sense it will be necessary to develop a new

philosophy of housing and new patterns of behavior.

3. In search of a new order

After the countries of central and eastern Europe turned away from the dogmatic and totalitari-

an form of socialism a unique situation arose. It is impossible to return to the time previous to the

wrong way, nor it is possible to take over some of the readily available models which developed in

other countries after World War 11. The further development in that part of Europe, where until

now one social pattern dictated, shows significant differences in several countries: there will be one

development in the GDR under the superintendence of the bigger and richer brother, another will

be in countries, which to a greater extent suffered from isolation, namely Romania or Bulgaria; a

different way again will arise in Hungary and also in Czecho-Slovakia. So there arises a unique

social laboratory, which despite its uniform orientation in the transition from the planned to the

market economy, generates the space for trial and experiment, with possibilities for using new

approaches and ideas.

In the light of the position the housing area possesses within the value orientation of people, it

becomes a decisive indicator of the successfulness of the new social and economic reform. In sear-

ch of a "new ordern in that area, a series of internal and external factors are acting often in a con-

troversial way. In Czecho-Slovakia there is for instance a movement amongst those "waiting for a

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flatm, who seek for an accelerated new housing construction so that they can use the ad.lantazes st;l!

provided by the state and get low-cost housing before the prepared changes come into effect. At

the same time, there is a growing movement of citizens (the majority of whom have a flat), who

request that the present form of mass housing construction be stopped immediately and that efforts

for improving the housing quality should be implemented.

Regarding the nature and the significance of the changes prepared vis A vis the market mech-

anism and their consequences for housing, there will be a corresponding responsibility for man-

aging and steering that process at the state, national and self-governmental level. There arises a

need to ensure the interrelations and to take into account the correlations concerning that process,

whereby it is necessary to consider several criteria, above all the criteria of complexity, of succes-

sion and of feedback.

3.1. The com~lexitv criterion

One of the largest problems which acted in the past and is acting up to now is that no single instit-

ution was given an overall responsibility for the field. With the competence and responsibility split

up into the sectors of land-use planning, economy, construction and building, finances, self-govern-

ment, social security, environment and so on, it follows that almost all governmental departments

are responsible for housing, yet on the other hand, they can shift that responsibility from one to

another.

To establish an overall responsibility for the housing area at governmental and self-governmental

level is, of course, only one of the conditions for observing the complexity criterion. Above all, it is

the question of ensuring the intrinsic logic and relation of all hitherto measures and those being

prepared concerning housing in the field of legislative and economic tools and in the social areas as

well.

In Czecho-Slovakia a three-year transition period (from 1.1.1991 to 31.12.1993) was defined, during

which the transition to the market economy has to be achieved. That period should also bring

about the fundamental rules needed for the further development in housing. But it is evident at

this time, that their concrete form will require flexibility to master the changing conditions in each

of the fundamental - free, regulated and preserved - housing sectors. For example, the planned

increase of the dwelling price (up to 130 %) due to the decrease of state subsidy for building mat-

erials and the increase of building price will probably result in a higher demand for social housing.

Another example can be given by the process of privatization, the content of which will not only be

the sale of a part of state cooperative property, but also the returning of property, i.e. in this case

of dwellings and flats back to their former owners. In this connection there can emerge problems

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with the new construction of flats, because a great number of the prepared lots can be used by

their owners for other purposes.

Resulting from the reasons mentioned besides the stated basic aims it will also be necessary

within the housing policy to state partial aims. The achievement of the partial aims and the current

monitoring of the development in the housing field should enable us to make corrections within the

generated mechanism and enable a step by step approach to the target state.

3.3 The criterion of feedback

A third criterion is connected with the question of continual monitoring of the development in the

housing field. In the period of planned economy there was no need to consider the requirements of

users, in some fields there was not taken into account even the housing need as a whole. So it

could happen, for example, that in some towns of Eastern Slovakia, the new houses are empty.

In connection with the increasing dwelling prices, the prepared increase of rent, the activity of

entrepreneurial citizens we also have to expect changes in the individual strategies of people. The

management of the housing process requires information about the housing stock, the demand, the

requirements on housing and the user behaviour. From this follows the task inter alia to generate a

dwelling register and to start the exploration of the market. Besides the monitoring of the domestic

development and the consequences of measures taken in the economic and social fields, it will also

be necessary to observe the tendencies and trends abroad. The beginning of research and analytical

work in this area therefore becomes an inevitable condition in managing the whole housing pro-

cess.

Conclusions

The changes in Europe we are witnessing now generate the pre-conditions for a qualitatively new

development of all fields of the social life and also for the housing area. In housing, national and

regional specificity will also in future play a role, but at the same time it can be expected that the

pressure of the "broader" European culture will come to dominate above all regarding the housing

standard.

In overcoming the generated stereotypes and the mechanistic approach of the past a series of

tasks will also arise for the housing sociologists. In fulfilling these tasks the collaboration of sociol-

ogists worldwide can give a valuable contribution.

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References

1. Arnbrose, I. 1990. Approaches to Housing Evaluation. Paper for the CIB-W 69-Meeting, Laus-

anne 1989, published in: Housing Evaluation. CIB Proceeedings nr. 119.

2. Gehmacher, E. 1989. Das Konzept "Vollwertiges Wohnenn und die arbeit der wissenschaftlichen

Begleitgruppe. IFES. Wien.

3. Me, S. 1961. Jak vyieSime bytovj problem do roku 1970? /How do we solve the housing prob-

lem by 1970?/, SNPL, Prague.

4. MatEjka, Z. 1990. Bydleni - Piedpoklady nasyceni obyvatel a irzemi domy pro bydleni. /Pres-

umptions of saturation of inhabitants and territories with houses for living in/, P ~ U , ~ A V ,

Prague.

5. MichaloviE, P. et al. 1989. Socialne a ekonomickk aspects bfiania a bytovej politiky. /Social and

economical aspects of housing and housing policy in the ~ S S R I , UEOS, Bratislava.

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Housing and Opinions in the Process of Change

Fedor Paphnek

Current life in Czechoslovakia can be described with some poetic licence as a Life Beyond. The

past and the future is here and now a very common and frequent topic of discussions. When peo-

ple read, hear and speak about past and future development of a society, they always reflect in

addition, their life experiences and inner feelings, sometimes consciously, sometimes without know-

ing it. The opposite process also takes place - generalized discussions in the mass media and in the

public sphere lead to more profound thinking of an individual about himself.

A lot of people are now trying to answer for themselves many difficult questions of an intimate

nature. These questions were up till now suppressed, postponed, or answered just by shallow ration-

alization. The issues concern an evaluation of personal history, clarification of one's current life

situation and development of a personal life strategy, which, contrary to the past, would be growth-

oriented.

Main topics processed in such mental activities are the major concommitants of life conditions - namely, work and housing.

The coverage of those two main fields of life in the mass media is not balanced. Work as an

economic activity is a very popular theme. Most emphasis is on productive aspects of work, nation-

al wealth, income, standard of living (not including the life quality concept). Housing is seen mostly

as a means of consumption, as a consequence, and not as a source.

Not only in the mass media is the subject of housing neglected. There is a lack of empirical

studies as well. Although there is an abundance of work studies, only few of them pay attention to

the housing issues, too. Those few which do so limit their interest to housing as a work condition

only. From this point of view they investigate usually only distance or time from house to work. A

matter of interest in this line of thinking could be perhaps also the revitalizing ("recharging") ef-

fects of a given housing, although I am not acquainted with such studies. Perceptual and cognitive

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qualities of housing, its place in life reflection and life strategy, I find to be completely missing on

our literature.

Now it is time to ask an obvious question: if we know something is missing, do we try to remedy

it? Could we offer some empirical data about housing and its psychological connotations, especial-

ly in current very moving times?

I admit that the information I am able to submit is a sort of by-product. In June of this year

(1990), we did a nation-wide public opinion survey about some political and social issues concer-

ning the latest developments in our country. In our sample were 1.600 subjects; they responded

with "yes" or "no" to 64 questions. Questions covered a wide range of evaluations, opinions, expec-

tations, hopes and fears. We asked about perceived or expected changes in society, workplace,

occupation, living conditions, social security, etc.

Biographic data about respondents included as usual the age, sex, education level, income cate-

gory, domicile (region and size) and house tenure. More precisely, we have got an indicator as to

whether a person is living in a single-family house, cooperative-owned flat, state-owned flat or

state-owned flat a t the company's disposal. The respective proportion of these four types of housing

tenure was: 42 % family houses, 28 % cooperative flats, 16 % state-owned and 14 % employing

company's flat. We can safely infer that 58 % of all subjects live therefore in multi-apartment hous-

es, individual homes represent a slight minority.

T o this tenure categorization I have to add some notes. As readers possibly know, the legal

ownership status of a flat has, in our country, only a small impact on occupant's behaviour, except

for the case of family housing. Disposal rights, the housing allocation system and amount of finan-

cial investment is not very different in the various tenure types of multi-dwelling houses. It seems

that housing as a social phenomenon, herunder matters of perception, behaviour and life in gen-

eral, is much more influenced by the architecture than by artificially restricted ownership feelings.

This thesis is difficult to support with our empirical findings, as the design and ownership of the

houses is so competely glued together. Nevertheless a comparison of general pictures obtained

from the two basic analyzed groups brings out some hints about possible causal relationships bet-

ween housing and thinking.

Let us then characterize a subgroup of family house inhabitants in contrast with multi-apartment

tenants. Perhaps we should remind the reader that the inhabitants of family houses are almost

always also their owners and constructors. Basic data about their opinion patterns are given in

Table 1.

A general picture of the single-family house subgroup would be as follows:

They are satisfied more with the past times than others. This, at the first sight startling riding,

requires some plausible explanation. People from single-family houses have a good reason to be

satisfied with their personal achievement. To build a house in the framework of a completely non-

functioning formal system is a very big success, and a ground for high status and self-esteem. On

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the other hand this success weakens a perceived need for changes in society, it directs attention

more towards a general success of a welfare state than to direct personal consequences of change

on individual behaviour - be it in the work context or in immediate social surroundings. Although

there is a general scepsis about future efficiency of the welfare state, in the "single-family house"

sub-group this tendency is not so pronounced. Again we can offer various explanations.

One could be that to have a house was the only way to keep accumulated wealth in a healthy

condition. A house does not lose its value in the future with all its attendant uncertainty. A house

has a security potential for offspring, too.

Table 1 Significant differences between Single-Family Houses Subgroup (SFH) and Multi-

Apartment Subgroup (MA)

Factor 1: Optimism about welfare functions of state of state (possible range 1-10)

Items: "I expect the free health service shall have a high standard of quality" (% yes-sayers)

"Living standard of pensioners shall sink" (% no-sayers)

"I believe the future prices could be kept stable" (% yes-sayers)

"The interests and rights of all citizens would be secured" (% yes-sayers)

SFH

4.3

33

Factor 2: Satisfaction with the past (possible range 1-10 points) I I Items: "My standard of living is satisfactory" (% yes-sayers)

"Existing retirement system provided good security" (% yes-sayers)

Factor 3: Growth of perceived money-power

Items: "With more money I would buy a better flat" (% yes-sayers)

"I am willing to work also in my free time to raise my living standard" (% yes-sayers)

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We should not omit to discuss also other possible sources of personal security feelings and of a

faith in future. It is frequently hypothesized that one of the richest sources of selfconfidence is the

high level of professional skills. Within the housing context our data suggest that in our culture this

is not yet the case. Our educated people were more sceptical than the less qualified. A multiple

regression analysis of our data shows a negative correlation between social optimism and level of

education; type of housing did not play a role in this relationship.

Development of a new housing policy should take into account some conclusions and implica-

tions based on these empirical data. We would propose the following points:

a. There is a great need to enhance an understanding of free market instruments - contrary to

the work sphere there does not exist any systematic education network for single-family house

owners, builders and/or inhabitants. Information, popularization and enlightment efforts have to

respect low education levels typical of this population.

b. Way of living, patterns of leisure activities and lack of deep professional aspirations can be a

serious barrier to enterprising behaviour in a housing market. We have reasons to expect a slow

decrease of a secondary motivation (e.g. strive for social status) in building one-family houses on

do-it- yourself basis. Developing the housing market would reveal more true housing needs. Our

present knowledge is far from sufficient.

c. A gradual shift of a substantial segments of a shadow economy (milking of the State) into a

free market would have a profound impact on value hierarchies of various social groups. Perceptual

and cognitive changes would take place also in the housing field, and in general political and social

orientations as well. The new housing policy as a part of a whole reform movement should respect

this close connotational complex.

References and further reading

Michalovic, P., Vasecka, I. and Dianiska, I. 1990. Existecnk perspektivy zamestnancov - socihlne istoty a neistoty. /Existential perspectives of employees - social security and insecurity. UEOS, Bratislava.

Michalovic, P. 1990. Ownership ambiguity and participation". Paper presented at the X I . World Congress of Sociology, Madrid, 9-13 July, 1990.

Michalovic, P. 1990. Harmony versus Uniformity. In: Housing Sociology in Times of Change, CIB and Swedish Institute of Building Research, Gavle.

UEOS 1990. Sociologicky priesum uzivatelskkho spdvania obyvatelov novych sidlisk. /Sociological survey of users' behaviour in residential areas/. Bratislava.

UEOS 1990. Prieskum potreib byvania a ocakavani ziadetelov o byty. /Survey of housing needs and expectations of the applicants for a flat/. Bratislava.

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Flat Tenants - Their Problems - Strategies of survival

Igor Simunek

Our institute and our work team in particular conducted a sociological survey in 4 towns of the

Trnava district in the beginning of June 1990.

A sample of 714 flats and their households was selected from the towns of Trnava, Piest'any, Hio-

hovec and VrbovC. In particular, the survey focussed on tenants of flats built by pre-fabrication

methods during the last 30 years.

The main items in the survey concerned 16 questions oriented towards:

- topical problems connected wit the use of flats

- the probable tenant use patterns in the near future

- the interest in selected kinds of building activities and in the effects of these activities

- the problems of value orientation and of the possibilities of decision-making, herunder part-

icipation, related to preferred ways of improving the standard of housing.

Here only the general and preliminary findings of the survey are reported, in the following 5

points.

1. The most repeated problems in flats, from the viewpoint of tenants belongs to the category

of insoluble, irremovable problems, because they are dependent on the design and construction of

flats or houses. These problems are dependent on building materials and technologies too.

Each of the respondents described roughly 3 problems of this kind.

The problem most frequently cited in the forms was the "flat nucleus" (- a plastic hygienic com-

mon niche with WC and bathroom). This was apparently unsuitable for all the size categories of

flats - 51% of all respondents expressed criticism of this aspect of their flat.

A lot of criticism was given to dimensions, the total area of the flat and to the disposition of that

area, and there was also criticism of the separate rooms in flats.

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Tenants were asked to judge the floor space of their flat. The terms "little" and "too little" were

applied to the living room and bedrooms, as well as the sizes of utility spaces, for example kitchen

and bathroom. 25 % of tenants found that some important functional amenity was "missing", for

example, larder, balcony or cellar.

2. A second circle of problems concerns operational inefficiencies, troublesome influences,

not directly connected with the building activity of building organizations.

The most intensive problem of this kind is interior noise (incidence rate was 54 % of all respon-

dents), and inefficiencies in central water provision (incidence 50 %). More than 40 % of respon-

dents indicated problems concerning noise from external sources, dustiness and draughts.

55 % of the tenants have repaired and in other ways eliminated a lot of these operational ineffi-

ciencies, o r they a re planning to do so within a (not specified) time period. More than one third of

the respondents have an interest in getting help from building specialists, for instance bricklayers,

carpenters, painters and decorators etc.

3. There are some big problems in the amenity of the housing neighbourhoods too. Almost

all tenants (85 %) sought better landscaping and general beautification of the landscape: greenery,

colour, putting the housing area in order and "humanizing" the surroundings.

Tenants experience a lack of facilities for free-time activities and hobbies. 63 % found play facili-

ties for children were lacking. Multi-purpose sports facilities for all generations were also lacking.

Some of the problems are connected with the motoring boom: Garages are desired by 54 % and

carparks by 31 % of the resondents.

In the new housing area at Piest'any schools are completely missing (cited by 90 % of residents)

and also shops are lacking (cited by 73 %).

4. Evaluation of housing in these conditions is neutral, although the conditions are even

worse than I have already reported.

The flat is one of the most valued factors in our lives. It is also one of the reasons for the in-

flexibility of people's lives and a causal factor in the gradual decay of our people's way of life.

Satisfaction with housing conditions in our sample is near to ideal parameters (average is 4.8 on a

9-point scale), and the distribution of satisfaction is nornal (Gauss-curve), being practically the

same in all 4 towns. The dwelling time spread of the respondents can be described as a U-curve,

with the maximum in the first year of tenancy and a minimum after 4 - 5 years.

Against the background of the objective housing conditions and the subjective feeling towards

their housing we can identify 3 strategies related to self-reported, anticipated housing behaviour in

the near future. These strategies relate directly to the questions: What do tenants choose? and

What can tenants choose?

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The three strategies are indicated by three types of response:

- tenants preferring to improve the housing conditions in the current flat (48 %)

- tenants preferring to move to a better, more convenient flat (32 %)

- tenants who are resigned to their situation, who agree with the statement, "I will do noth-

ing to improve my housing condition" (20 %).

The two initial strategies coincide with the same time periods of family life in a given flat. After 10

years of living in the same flat the tenant resigns, giving up fighting and investing money in his flat.

5. Paradoxically, our dwelling population is practically a permanently non-dwelling popula-

tion. About 32 % want to move. About 17% of tenants have an interest in a newly-built house

available for immediate possession.

And so, the period of living without serious living problems goes on for about 5 years. This non-

problematic period begins with becoming used to a current flat and ends with the origin of a new

housing problem as a result of the maturation of the children to adulthood. This final statement

can be applied to 90 % of our families.

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Forms of Housing and Households' Rehaviour

Agnes Babarczy

The critical state of the Hungarian economy is probably widely known. Judging by productive

efficiency and the balance of payments Hungary's crisis is at least as deep as that of Poland or

Czechoslovakia. However, visitors to Hungary are greeted by views quite different from those

they might be faced with in other countries of the Central European region.

Westerners are surprised by the signs of the "housing boom" experienced in every kind of set-

tlement. Specialists in the related fields of sociology and the regional sciences are seeking the

reasons for this phenomenon which seem to contradict the economic crisis.

In the introduction I report statistics confirming the improvement in the quality of housing in

Hungary, then I seek to justify by statistical evidence that two distinct kinds of economy have co-

existed in the country, one of them is, in fact in a state of crisis, the other one, however, makes

profits instead of losses.

Indicators of the improvent in the quality of housing

Between 1941 and 1988 the Hungarian population increased by 10 %, and the number of housing

units by 64 %. The growth rate of the stock of flats was greatest in the 1960-1980 period. While in

1941, before the destruction caused by World War 11, there existed 257 flats per 1000 inhabitants,

this ratio rose to 379 per 1000 by 1989. Quality has also improved, especially with respect to the

number of rooms per flat and installation standards. The 50 rooms per 100 people ratio in 1970

was raised to 89 by 1990. As an indicator of improving technical standards one can note the per-

centage of flats with a bathroom. 1960: 16 %, 1970: 30 %, 1988: 75 %. Heating, too, was moder-

nized, ten years ago 81 % of all flats were equipped with traditional stoves, while in 1990 only 55

% (CSO 1981, CSO 1985, CSO 1989, CSO 1990).

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The gap between Hungary's general level of development and that of the most advanced coun-

tries has been widened in the last decades. Let me compare statistically incommensurable phenom-

ena, and contend that in housing the divergence was less dramatic than in other spheres.

The background to the improvement in the quality of housing

This relative success is due to Hungary's idiosyncratic mode of development. Compared with the

citizens of other socialist countries, by having a redistributive system Hungarians have enjoyed

immense freedom and welfare. On the other hand, human and material resources were wasted to

an enormous extent and individual opportunities of choice were bounded in comparison with mar-

ket economies.

Personal freedom and the limits to it were juxtaposed in housing. While financial resources,

licences to build and distribution belonged (and still belong) mainly to the State the improvement is

attributable to the not forbidden but not supported activity of the informal economy.

Here lies a paradox before us. Though State ownership was overwhelming (practically exclusive)

in the areas of economy, health, education, culture, etc., despite the nationalization, extended to

housing as well, private ownership in housing prevailed and even increased its share in the past few

decades. Note that the class of private flats is practically identical with owner-occupied flats, and

rented flats are almost without exception owned by the State.

The nationalization of multi-flat houses and villas of high quality was completed by 1960. At that

time 63 % of all flats were owner-occupied. (This is due to the fact that 60 % of the population

lived in villages, in small private wattle houses, which were considered unworthy of nationalization).

Though since 1960 migration from villages was strong the share of private flats inreased to 71 % by

1980, and approached 74 % by 1984 (CSO 1981, CSO 1985). It was the consequence of neither

reprivatization, nor the result of private capital flowing into building enterprise, but of popular self-

help. In 1984 the number of flats totalled almost 3.600.000, of which almost 2.200.000 belonged to

the family house category. Between 1960 and 1984 almost 1 million family houses were built (CSO

1985).

Thus from the early sixties a building "frenzy" has taken place in Hungary. In the last thirty

years millions participated in this quality of life improving activity. Hundreds of thousands of one-

family and multi-family houses sprang up in towns and also in villages. While state building repro-

duced overcrowding by creating flats with small floor-space, functionally undifferentiated rooms,

enforced monotony and uniformity, the self-help movement followed with the construction of log-

gias, terraces, balconies, garages and other specialized rooms (bedroom, nursery, living-room, din-

ing-room, shop, etc.). Today the newest architectural styles, postmodern, diversified, pleasant forms

testify to the effect of the pursuit of bourgeois patterns, and individual tastes. Beside the boredom

of grey blocks built by the State there has appeared another world!

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Family houses and state-owned nats

I would like to compare the quality of two types of flats. The range of forms in Hungary extends

from the totally centralized, redistributive sphere to the quasi-market. At one extreme one can fino

state-owned flats that can be characterized with not undue simplification as built by state enterpri-

ses, maintained by a state enterprise, and distributed and redistributed in the redistributive, central-

ly regulated sphere. At the other extremity there are the private family houses whose construction

and maintainance are performed by private individuals, and the State has no role even in distribu-

tion. Between these two polar cases there exist many mixed forms. Indicators of the total contain

data pertaining to these latter forms as well. (Mixed forms make up only 14 % of the grand total,

while family houses and state-owned flats represent 61 % and 25 % respectively, (CSO 1985).

Regarding technical standards the picture of family houses is gloomy. Not because the owner

would not seek to raise comfort. But public utilities (water, drainage, gas) cannot be supplied by

the pre-industrial methods which were used for the construction of the houses themselves. The

State has paid no attention, and associations formed for this sort of investment have been founded

only in recent years. The majority of family houses with a high technical standard has not been

included in the network of drain-pipes as yet. Their inhabitants apply individual solutions with

adverse consequences for the environment.

Table 1. Technical standard of flats occupied accordine to form of ownership,

1984

Good

Family houses State-owned flat total

46.6 76.8 61.2

Source: Data of the 1984 Micro-Census, CSO, Budapest, 1985, p. 377.

I recognize that this is far from the European average. But there has occurred improvement

since 1970. Then only 10 % (!) of family houses, and 54 % of state-owned flats had good classifica-

tion (CSO 1973).

I regard as a sign of catching up with Europe the increase in floor space, and in the number of

flats with more than one room in the quasi-market sphere, i.e. among family houses.

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Table 2. The distribution of occu~ied flats according to number of flats and own-

ership. 1984 (%)

Number of rooms Family houses State-owned flat total

1 18.6 29.9 19.7

1.5 - 2 48.0 56.5 53.7

2.5 - 3 28.2 12.0 22.8

3.5 - 5.2 1.6 3.8

Source: CSO 1985 p. 375.

Do not misunderstand me, state-owned flats fulfii no social welfare role, this is not the reason

for the large differences that can be observed in the table above. It is merely the expression of the

endeavour of the Hungarian people to become European. This is an attempt with a history of sev-

eral decades now, which has not been mirrored in the State's housing policy.

What has happened in the centralized, redistributive sphere, and how has the stock of flats chan-

ged in the quasi-market?

Table 3. Chanees in the number of flats cateeorized bv number of rooms between

1970 and 1984 (%)

Number of rooms Family houses State-owned flat total

1 -58 -33 -49

1.5 - 2 + 12 + 55 + 45

2.5 - 3 + 259 + 34 +201

3.5 - + 483 -35 + 208

Source: 1970 Census Volume 26, Flat and Housing Data I., CSO, 1973, p. 49, and op. cit. p. 375.

Analyzing the direction of changes it is perhaps not an exaggeration if we speak of countervail-

ing movements of Europeanization and Balkanization. While the quasi-market exhibits dynamic

growth in larger flats, in the centralized sector flats fitting for civilized living are on the decline.

How was it possible that the number of state-owned flats having more than 3 rooms fell by 35 %? I

must mention as a principal cause that barbarous destruction which had preceded the building of

housing estates. Old quarters were attacked by bulldozers; crumbling wattle houses and well-off

bourgeois homes, trees and bushes fell victim to the cry for "efficiency". Housing estates then re-

produced misery in the guise of ten-floor, centrally-heated blocks. (The average floor-space of

Page 29: In Changing Political and Economic Conditions · 2009. 6. 24. · Traila Cernescu Building Design Institute for Typified Construction Sociological Research Laboratory Str. Sipotul

state-owned flats amounted to 53 square metres in 1984, whereas that of family houses was 72

square metres.), (CSO 1986).

These processes could have been controlled by market rationality. The State might have built

small flats for social policy reasons for singles, young or elderly couples, or penniless people. This

division of effort has not been present, however. There has not been an integrated market at all

which could offer rooms for a rational division of labour among participants.

It is no difficult to prove that state-owned flats are less satisfying to the dwellers than family

houses.

Norms and demands

If we want an "objective" scale to draw the lower limit in terms of space of the just demand for

each particular category of families we could not apply without further ado the norms of the ad-

vanced European countries. According to official norms a flat in Hungary is suitable if the number

of dwellers per room is less than 2. (Our average of 1.2 is better than this norm, see CSO 1990). In

1984 22 % of all household lived in a flat more overcrowded than the official norm, 21 % of own-

ers of family houses, and 27 % of tenants of state-owned flats (CSO 1986). Thus by this "objective"

criterion more tenants live in confmed conditions than do owners.

We have data on "subjective" evaluation from 1984, also. We know the number of actively dis-

satisfied, i.e. people who wanted to change their housing conditions. They were outnumbered by

those living in "too small", as others, too, belonged to this category. It could not be, however, mere

chance, that tenants in state-owned flats felt the urge to move in a ratio almost twice as big as the

owners of family houses. (The intention to move amounted to 14 % of all flats, 20 % of state-

owned flats, and 11 % of family houses), ( G O 1985). The two main causes of dissatisfaction in

family houses included not living separately (i.e. people lived together with relatives or strangers),

and the lack of a good technical standard. The causes of the will to change in the state sector ans-

wered to the previous analyses: small floor-space, few rooms and the wish to live separately (CSO

1987).

Generally speaking family houses, in contrast to state-owned flats, are capable of renewal. The

technical standard of the house can be improved upon, it can be rebuilt or supplemented. More

than one third of change-seekers thought to resolve their problem in this way. The Hungarian fam-

ily house constitutes the symbol of permanent change and betterment, therefore, in this sense, a

symbol of liberty (CSO 1970).

However, this is a narrow and Limited liberty born by and maintained by sour necessity. Let us

have a glance at the timetable of people living among different housing conditions! The 1986-87

Time Budget statistics shows the duty of people living in family houses (mainly men) is constant

work. Their average time spent on work is 1.5 hrs per day greater than that of tenants. And their

Page 30: In Changing Political and Economic Conditions · 2009. 6. 24. · Traila Cernescu Building Design Institute for Typified Construction Sociological Research Laboratory Str. Sipotul

leisure time is less accordingly, (see CSO Time-budget survey 1986187). This permanent emergency

state is partly a continuation of peasant traditions, but not exclusively: people build their own fam-

ily houses, they maintain them themselves, and expenses are covered from earnings received from

work after the nonnal working hours. We have arrived at the basic contradiction: a Non-European

style of living creates housing conditions approaching European standards.

The behaviour embodied in private housing has been rational and irrational, efficent and was-

teful at the same time. Efficiency and rationally can be claimed mainly in relative evaluation. While

the State has invested the national income and foreign loans intensively on unfruitful projects, the

populace has increased national wealth from relatively scarce funds, creating and improving its own

and the future generations' housing and living conditions.

Meanwhile people's energy was inefficiently applied, knowledge and ability were not allocated to

the most profitable uses. Instead of a few thousand specialized enterprising businessmen the mar-

ket saw the emergence of several hundreds of thousands of "mock-entrepreneurs", which made the

industry's level of effiency less than optimal. However, it was the only feasible way.

Radical political changes are now under way in Hungary. In the sphere of the economy the Hun-

garian parliament and population has to cope with trying difficulties: the very high inflation (30 %

per year), shortage of private investments, etc. The housing sector needs new regulations. serious

political debates about property rights and housing are currently taking place. At the moment the

only "stable" thing about the housing field is uncertainty.

References

Central Statistical Office 1970. Flat and Housing Data I. 1970 census data, Vol 26. CSO, Budapest.

Central Statistical Office 1981. Flat and Housing Data I. 1980 census data, Vol 24. CSO, Budapest.

Central Statistical Office 1985. Data of the 1984 Micro-census. CSO, Budapest.

Central Statistical Office 1986. Bulletin of Housing Statistics 1985. CSO, Budapest.

Central Statistical Office 1987. Bulletin of Housing Statistics 1986. CSO, Budapest.

Central Statistical Office 1989. Statistical Yearbook 1988. CSO, Budapest.

Central Statistical Office 1990. Data of the 1986187 Time-budget survey. Manuscript, CSO,

Budapest.

Central Statistical Office 1990. Census Summary Data - 2 % population sample. CSO, Budapest.

Page 31: In Changing Political and Economic Conditions · 2009. 6. 24. · Traila Cernescu Building Design Institute for Typified Construction Sociological Research Laboratory Str. Sipotul

Contradictions of the inner city revitalization:

Urban Renewal as a Consequence of the Social Control of

Economic Development

Barbara VerliC Dekleva

Most of the present analysis of renewal in Jugoslavia has been limited to the problems of the

inner city independent of what is happening in the city as a whole. As a result, controversial solu-

tions were proposed for the revitalization programs. The most incompatible solutions were those of

economic renewal and those proposed as solutions to the social problems.

Quite controversial interests have been present behind requests for modernization of the central

parts of the town and more efficient land use. The objective of securing the best return on capital

was essentially incompatible with the social goals of the inner city policy; besides that, economic

efficiency turned out to be a lost battle, since the ideological obstacles of local authorities greatly

hindered the entry of private investors, favourizing "social" organization even in cases where it did

not dispose over adequate programs or capital. Inhabitants wanted a quiet residential area with

good services, the local communities requested better infrastructure and enterprises asked for of-

fices, shopping centres and banks.

Although renewal planning started as a social issue, it tended to become more an economic and

ideological one. The plan revealed the "real" problems, but along the way of realization it tended to

become a mistiness of inadequate solutions, which had little connection with the original objects.

The prospective of a future image of the inner city along with its inhabitants and services led to a

mystification of the "real" issue.

It is not my understanding that social solutions proposed in the plans did not have good inten-

tions or were not important. Instead, I say the plans were unrealistic and realization was badly

prepared, since one did not take into consideration the real economic forces that "pushed" renewal

forward.

The plans could be defined as seeking to satisfy a high demand for central locatiom for the polit-

ical and economic management. The plans failed to accomplish their social goals in practice, not

their good intentions. Social movements (as a protest of alternative "reorganizers" of the actual

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renewal events) have been a response to local renewal policy. In a sense we have witnessed the

losing of a battle, but not the war.

T h e situation is quite similar to that of the logic of the War on Poverty in the USA decades ago,

from the Kennedy period, which relied on the proposition that the lack of financial resources of the

inner city caused the concentration of social problems and prevented it from finding adequate

solutions. Thus the government provided money to fd up the gap, without considering reallocation

of several city functions (Fainstein, 1983). Since economic and local policy interests had much in

common a large proportion of federal funds served to establish new business centers and conse-

quently did not significantly improve the social conditions of the inner city population (Friedland

1983).

Additional support for theses, that the lack of money is not the real or unique trouble in the

inner city problem is found in the case of Ljubljana (and many other cities in Jugoslavia as well),

where the funds for reconstruction have not been utilized completely, but the program of renewal

was cut off drastically. With similar needs for economic transformation as the motive, the funds

were reallocated into suburb investments. In most of the cases, this has served to support the con-

struction firms, which could hardly find new work elsewhere. Furthermore, local community leaders

offered many inner city houses to the big firms free of charge, without any project or plans for the

future use of the buildings.

What should be the future inner city function according to the different social or economic gro-

ups, thus remains an open question. The overriding problem of social versus economic priorities

lies at the heart of many policy dilemmas: analyses of the concept of urban growth of the city and

region and the nature of economic transformations which shape the urban setting; and human

needs, social network of relations, symbolic images, sociability, culture and tradition. The roots of

basic contradiction of different interests have to be revealed and demystification of the urban issue

has to be done in the first place - before planning.

How can we understand the phenomena of inner city decay, which starts a t the same time as the

city as a whole is growing, expanding in its population and production?

Decay has been treated as a problem of lack of resources. Enormous investments in infrastruc-

ture, housing and new production capacities were made in suburbs. On the other hand, the inner

city itself, including its historical part, have significant economic, social and cultural potentials for

the development of the city and for the benefit of the population. Redistribution of resources and

the politics of investments did not take these potentials into account.

Furthermore, the social decay concentrated in the inner city not only cakes conflicts, but asks by

its very presence for urgent solutions to unemployment, poverty, elderly persons' disability and

crime. For more than a decade renewal project have been discussed - in Jugoslavija and as in the

USA 20 years ago in USA - primarily as a form of social improvement, but the action never really

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started. Only when promoted by economic interests and political support, renewal plans started to

become an important issue in several different cities.

T h e more realization proceeded, the dominant concerns of inner city policy have shifted, from

social problems (urban deprivation cycles of poverty and immigrant adjustment) to economic and

physical problems (industrial decline, environmental decay, the small firm sector and promotion of

development)" (R. Home, 1982:16.) As in USA during the 1960's, and in England in the 1970's and

probably in many other countries as well, similarities of the whole process of urban transformation

are striking. Widely accepted concepts of economic growth, as a solution of human problems,

makes these similarities possible.

1 hypothesize that basically the same process of economic growth and metropolitan area form-

ation leads to the urban structure transformations, which have been the cause of inner city changes;

though there are significant differences in the process of distribution of resources, solidarity- based

funds and organization for common and social needs as well as decision making processes. Of cou-

rse, such differences offering potential for better solutions to be found and realized. Most of the

renewal cases in Slovenia are in the very phase of realization and the final results have yet to be

seen.

Significant differences can be noted among countries on the level of solutions (USA - Europe - socialist countries) in the contrast with similarities, which caused the urban changes (B. Verlik

dekleva, 1985). The attempts to adapt the urban centers to the need of control functions is contra-

sted by marginal social groups which found low cost housing in the central area (J. Jacobs, 1961, H.

Gans, 1968).

The problems of urban renewal implementation are resolved when a compromise between the

existing and new function is arranged by local government. How this compromise is realized and

how it is implemented depends upon the nature of dominant social relations, like interests of pri-

vate capitalism versus interests of state capitalism. However there is no common interpretation of

the renewal and revitalization plans among social scientists.

Some theoretical interpretations of urban issues

First "critical" explanation, which include most of the authors analyzing the social renewal design,

propounds that with better planning and more adequate renewal projects it would be possible to

minimize the social contradictions of the urban development (M. Anderson, 1964, J. Jacobs, 1961,

H. Gans, 1968, S. Butler, 1981, andmost of the urbanists in Slovenia).

Investments should enable the new economy to provide employment, especially small private enter-

prise (self-employment). Adequate availability of infrastructure should be activated for the inner-

city's population. Heterogeneity of social structure should increase possibility of resolving social

segregation relying on adequate policy for public service and better communications in the physical

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environment (A. Downs, 1973, H. Gans, 1961, J. Jacobs, 1961). Such opinions are common amongst

socialist urban designers and scientists as well.

Integration of new, diversified activities is proposed as an objective of economic revitalization.

Some other writers have proposed that the inner city could become a place of special functions,

places deprived of human or social dimensions (Webber in Bourne, 1971, which is in keeping with

some political opinion in socialist countries - the center of the city representing the state). Critique

of such development emphasizes the city center as a location of democratic processes (R. Dahl,

1976, Friedland, 1983).

The failure of (most) urban renewal was due to the misinterpretation of the relation between

physical change of urban structure and social problems like poverty, unemployment and ethnic

segregation (Alonso in Wilson ,1966, Friedland, 1983, Mollenkopf, 1983). This approach reveals a

criticism of the human ecology thesis about social and physical structures. Social problems thus

cannot be resolved with the change of urban environment (it can facilitate some relations), but

rather via social and political redistribution of resources in the social structure.

Still others claim urban decay and consequent need for renewal to be a result of the capitalist

crises, which can be thus handled within economic solutions. The role of the government is crucial,

since it tends to resolve the social contradictions with special funds or actions (Fainstein & Fain-

stein, 1983). Economic growth from 1949 - 1973 and unequal development as a result of capital

concentration have destroyed inner cities. Government interventions had mostly a function of social

control and of giving support to the private investments, which should increase land value, city

income and thus resolve other problems. As such, problems are seen those of redistribution, not

just of productivity (Friedland, 1983, Mollenkopf, 1983, Fainstein, 1983). Urban transformation has

been caused by regional metropolitan formation which changed the urban land use and caused the

decay.

According to this thesis, social problems were just concentrated in the area on the availability

base, but were not produced by the same forces as the urban decay. Physical transformation cannot

solve them, but can and did aggravate the situation. Thus other means are needed for social prob-

lems to be solved. Specific strategies of social and economic revitalization can be applied, but nev-

ertheless, only the changes in social structure itself could stop the production of marginal social

groups and their segregation.

Urban renewal as a consequence of sorial control of economic development

Urban renewal is a general phenomena that has been an important policy issue of local and nation-

al governments of capitalist and socialist countries (D. Kennedy, 1974, M. Anderson, 1964, Fain-

stein, 1983, R. Jakhel, 1979, I. Rogik, 1986, 1987). Probably it is also a phenomena that has engaged

a large amount of public resources.

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Urban renewal can be analyzed as a consequence (dependent factor) of the forces that condition

the transformation of industrial urban places into modem metropolitan regions (W. Alonso, 1966,

1978). This process has been specific in time but it is universal in its essence for most industrialized

countries and therefore urban renewal itself is also universal.

Between Western and Eastern Europe there is a time lag since industrial urbanization of East is

in time 20-30 years behind the same process in West or USA (I. Light, 1983). Differences have

been those of implementing the strategies of development and social regulation. The dynamic of

urban growth and industrialization has not been equal, neither has stimulation of productivity. It is

not by rewards, but rather by control of production, that socialist countries mostly regulate and

control the development. Constant lack of adequate goods in the market is an efficient social con;-

rol since people struggle for the very basic supply most of their time.

These differences, though, have no definite effects on better results of urban growth or city revital-

ization. In spite of declared social security and self-government. Tendencies towards gentrification

of the inner city, herunder economic monopoly and zoning, have been similar, as for can be analy-

zed (Petovar, 1989, VerliC Dekleva, 1987).

I do not support particularly the classical modernization theory (Rostow, 1961, The Stages of

Economic Growth), but the similarities of results makes at least urban renewal a quite universal

phenomenon; different interest groups and strategies of growth in different countries did not cha-

nge the essence of the phenomenon. Eventually, the state monopoly and private capital interests,

might have exchanged their roles. From these general points, some universal features of the pheno-

mena of inner city change can be revealed.

Urban renewal will more probabb occur in the process of metropolitan region fomzation, rather than

in the period of simple growth of the exirting economic activities (like manufacturing) in the cities.

Structural transformation of economy from secondary to prevailing tertiary and quarter sectors

of (bank, information) services, management and trade called for the reallocation of the urban

functions previously dominant in the centers. Moving the inhabitants and production to the suburbs

provoked an increasingly rigid zoning process. Restructuring the economy is not possible without

reallocation of the city functions. Renewal then is a necessity for economic transformation to be

realized in the process of regional metropolization.

Development of modern communications and production of new technologies allowed the spread of

compact urban places over large urbanized areas. Manufacturing moved to locations where higher

profits were achieved.

Nevertheless, the need for face-to-face interactions remains fundamental for all kinds of control

functions - political, public and corporate (Kennedy, 1974, Friedland, 1983, Rotar, 1984). It remains

as a criterion of choice, after the formal control. Complexity of relations needs to facilitate the

contracts, which makes the central urban location so attractive.

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Thus deconcentration of production on the one hand requires higher integration of management

on the other. The control functions of modern metropolitan regions include complex networks to

be located in the most adequate places - that of previously autonomous urban centers. That is the

main conditioning force at the outset of urban renewal (W. Alonso in Wilson, 1966).

Nevertheless, there have been some connections with the process of city growth and the decay

of the inner city (R. P. Appelbaum, 1978). City growth is characterized by expansion of existing

activities and increased population where most investments have been directed into suburbs or new

infrastructure for better communication network. Consequently inner city income (even housing

clearance funds) is invested elsewhere.

That has been the reason for the physical decay; the consequences were lower housing rents, the

split of capital investment and less comfort. Such locations and characteristics attract low income

groups, unemployed workers or immigrants, forming a ghetto or segregated area, where no econ-

omic or social integration in modern development is possible. Such processes lasted for years, so-

metimes decay and few renewal projects started (Dahl, 1961). Social and economic deprivation

problems are not new, so we can hardly explain such a great number of big renewal projects hap-

pening in very different countries by a sudden emergency to resolve them.

Local government imteacl, is greatly interested in urban growth and economic progress.

That is the case with metropolization of the region, which constitutes a process of accessible gro-

wth, but is signalled by structural transformation of economic activities; such transformation did not

intenslfy just zoning, but changed the land value and rebalanced the political power of local elite

(R. Dahl, 1961, J. Mollenkopf, 1983). It become the chance to regain the power in the whole reg-

ion, rather than the city.

New interests for inner city locations, a need to increase land value in centers and accumulation

of social problems, together constituted an unusual coalition of subjects which pushed renewal

forward. The last one being more an obstacle for the realization of the first two, rather than the

power, which could mobilize their (often non-existent) resources for revitalization.

The ground for conflicts is precisely the complex of compact interests vis r f vis different scales of

resources available to realize them

Even in the best of the cases, there still is a social price to be paid for the modernization. None-

theless, that does not mean, we should nor search for better solutions. The contradictions of econ-

omic interests, supported by local government and social or public orientation, should and did block

some renewal activities in severe conflicts (USA 1968, 1972, Europe, 1978). It will be very likely the

case in socialist countries as well. Only a compromise, between the possible better solutions will

open the floor for democratic debate about the future of our cities.

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References

Alonso, William 1966 The Historic and Structural Theories of Urban Forms: Their Implication for Urban renewal. h n d Economics. Vol.XL.No.2. P.227 - 231 Anderson, Martin 1964 The Federal Bulldozer. Cambridge, MIT Press Appelbaum, P.R. 1978 Size, Growth and US Cities. Peaeger Butler, M.S. 1981 Enterprize Zones: Greenling the Inner Cities. Universal Books, New York Caldard, 0. 1985 Urbana SociologUa. Novi svijet, Zagreb Dahl, R. 1967 The City in the Future of Democracy

1961 Who governs. Yale University Press Downs, A. 1973 Opening Up the Suburbs: An urban Strategy for America. Yale University Press Fainstein, S. and N. 1983 Restructuring the City. Longman, New York Friedland, R. 1983 Power and Crisis in the City. Macmillan, London Gans, J.H. 1968 People and Plans: Essays on Urban P~*oblems and Solutions. Basic Books Jakhel, R. 1979 Iluzija in resnifnost urban sredig. Misel in h s , Ljubljana Jacobs, J. 1961 The Death and the Life of Great American Cities. Vintage, New York Kennedy, D. and M. 1975 The Inner City. Wiley; New York Light, I. 1983 Cities in the World Perspective. Macmillan, New York Mollenkopf, J. 1983 The Contested City. Princeton Univ. Press, Boston Petovar, K. & Canak, M. 1989 Unapredenje stanovanja i stambenih sadriaja. Institut za arhitek- turu i urbanizam Srbije, Beograd Rogif, I. 1986 Sociologijska studija Dubrovnika. UrbanistiEki institut Hrvatske, Zagreb Vujovif, S. 1982 Grad i drustvo. IstrdivaEki - izdavatki centar Srbije, Beograd Verlif Dekleva, B. 1985 Razvoj mest in spremembe mestnega centra. InStitut za sociologijo, Ljub- ljana Webber, M. 1971 Internal Structure of the City. In: Larry S. Bourne The Post City Ape Oxford Univ. P., New York Wilson, J.O. 1966 Urban Renewal: The Record and the Controversy. Cambridge MIT Press

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The City as a Dwelling Environment:

A Longitudinal Case Study of the City of Piock.

Ewa Kaltenberg-Kwiatkowska

1. Urbanization in Poland

In Poland cities are the dwelling environment of most of the population. according to the last

national census, 61 % of the total population lives in cities. Perhaps this is not a high indicator of

urbanization in comparison with other countries of Europe, but it does witness a complete change

of structure in the postwar period. According to successive national censuses, the urban population

was: 1950 - 39%, 1960 - 48 %, 1970 - 52 %, 1978 - 57 %, and 1988 - 61 % of the total poulation.

In the postwar period urbanization was closely linked with the process of industrialization.

The course and effects of both of these processes are criticized today (see Kaltenberg-Kwiatkow-

ska, 1985).

Studies of the structure and functioning of cities and their state of crisis are inevitably

studies of the dwelling environments of most of the inhabitants of the country. The city can also be

regarded as a place for the realization of the needs of individuals and as an eventual source of

frustration (as may be defined in social psychologal terms). For the sociology of housing Polish

cities can present very acute social problems with very valuable research results.

The building of new dwellings in the postwar period concentrated on multi-family housing

with various forms of ownership, though collective ownership (i.e. communal, cooperative and

institutional) dominated. Large housing complexes were the rule and their standard largely deter-

mined the standard of life in the cities.

2. The industrialized city as a dwelling environment

For many years I have been studying an average-sized city, Piock, which is located in central

Poland. In 1960 this former capital of the Mazowsze region had 43,000 inhabitants, today it has

120,000.

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Plock is especially interesting for sociologists and its history goes back more than 700 years. Star-

ting in 1960 it began to expand rapidly when a large petro-chemical works was placed there.

Planned expansion was supposed to avoid the negative effects of industrialization which

plagued other cities in which large industrial investments were made in the 'fifties. As soon as this

investment began, hordes of researchers descended upon Piock to study the effects of industriali-

zation in statu nascendi. We have a rich documentation of the changes and processes taking place

in this city and in other regions of industrialization in the 'sixties and in the beginning of the seven-

ties. Then the attractiveness of the topic, "the social effects of industrialization" seemed to fade.

meanwhile the city went through various phases of development and grappled with its various prob-

lems.

Some of the hopes connected with industrialization were realized, others were not. Besides

this, some things cropped up which had not been sufficiently taken into consideration. For these

reasons each of the sociological subjects concerning cities as related to Plock can be more interes-

ting and have a richer documentation due to the many years of work of many researchers.

3. Socio-spatial structure and social surveys

In my studies of Plock I have addressed two main subjects, which are partially linked but in dif-

ferent fields, using different sources and different research methods and also based on different

theoretical traditions. These are:

a. a study of the socio-spatial structure of the city in the tradition of the classical school of "social

ecology" in urban sociology (human ecology - Park and Burgess). Such studies take their informat-

ion from census reports and results are presented in the form of maps. Analyses of this type show

the spatial distributions of social differences and changes in social structure.

b. Questionnaire surveys of the picture of the city in the minds of the inhabitants. This study has

numerous counterparts in Poland, initiated by the well-known study by Florian Znaniecki on Poz-

nan in 1927 ("The City in the Consciousness of its Inhabitantsn). Such studies approach the city

from the angle of the "humanistic coefficientn. Experiences of 60 years with studies of this type also

make it possible to consider other approaches, inter alia, the proxemic one.

Conducting both studies almost simultaneously made it possible to confront "objective factsw (census

data) with "subjective facts" (questionnaire data), to show the interconnections of the two areas of

reality: objective structures and social consciousness. Both studies are a continuation of the author's

earlier research, which makes it possible to assess the changes in these two areas in 1960 - 1990.

(See Galaj 1973, Mirowski and Nowakowski 1980, Pioro 1982 and Nowak 1982 for accounts of this

research). The problems connected with the "natural environmentn in Rock, which is one of the

most seriously ecologically endangered regions in Poland, must become a relatively autonomous

part of the new research.

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4. New studies - the problems of continuity and change

My earlier studies of the socio-spatial structure of Plock cover the first 12 years of the sudden

expansion of the city connected with a large industrial investment project.

Conducting similar studies at the beginning of the 'nineties will make it possible to obtain

a complete picture of this 30 year period of the history of the city and the new phases of its devel-

opment. What was most important in the 'sixties, or at the beginning of the seventies is no longer

so. research based on the most recent national census (1988) will make it possible to evaluate the

changes which took place in this structure between 1960 - 1970 and 1988.

A repetition of the previous questionnaire will make it possible to grasp the most impor-

tant changes in the opinions and attitudes of the residents of Plock toward their own city.

When a study is repeated after so many years, the researcher faces a special dilemma: the

changes which took place in the intervening period must be studied with nearly the same, if not

identical, methods and indicators. A t the same time, a study of the present situation, both in the

objective structures and in the social consciousness requires analytical techniques adequate to the

changed situation.

Ecological problems have now emerged as the major new element which must be consider-

ed in the analysis of social-spatial changes and the behaviour of the population.

5. The present stage of the research

Unfortunately it has so far been imposible to conduct the questionnaire survey (for financial reas-

ons). If this problem is not solved it ill be a great loss, as it will be impossible to confront objective

data with opinions and attitudes.

However we d o have available data in the form of tables from the last (1988) census for

Plock. These dat have been arranged with reference to 58 selected spatial units, thereby providing

a diverse degree of aggregation and disaggregation of census units. The intention was to distinguish

spatial fragments of the city which have both urbanistic and - probably - different social features,

hence units which would be as close as posi'ble to what is called "natural areas" in social ecology.

The following criteria were used in the identification of urbanistic features: location in

relation to the city centre, traditional urban or peripheral construction, the age of the buildings, the

standard of the dwellings, and the type of ownership. The following major social features were

assumed: a diverse demographic structure, occupational and educational differentiation, and dif-

ferent housing conditions. In the verification of these hypotheses we are unfortunately limited to

the aggregations used in the census materials, (again, for financial reasons).

Atready available conversions for the spatial distributions of the following social and mat-

erial data are given below.

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A. demographic variables

- Age (year of birth) and sex;

- education of the population above the age of 15 as follows.

Higher, secondary, general and vocational, incomplete higher and post-secondary, basic

elementary and vocational, incomplete elementary, and no education;

- Social-occupational structure of the working population as divided into agricultural and

non-agricultural occupations, the socialized economy and the private sector, blue-collar

and white-collar;

- The number and character of households (single- and multi-family, the number of per-

sons in the household, and the source of income).

B. dwelling conditions

- Age of the dwelling

- The type of ownership of buildings and dwellings (private, private "housing allocation",

communal, cooperative, and institutional);

- Size of the dwellings (number of rooms and square meters);

- Installations: electricity, water (city or private water supply), toilet, bathroom, central

heating, gas and hot water.

An analysis of the data on dwelling conditions made it possible to distinguish 5 basic types of dwel-

Ling environments in the city, which differ as regards location, age of the building and type of own-

ership.

6. Types of dwelling environments

The following types of dwelling environments have been identified:

A. Multi-family housing complexes ("housing estates") built during the last 30 years and with dif-

ferent configurations of types of ownership - communal, cooperative and institutional:

1. Communal housing estates built in 1958, the only multi-family housing complex built

after the war and before industrialization;

2. Multi-family housing estates from the 'sixties and beginning of the 'seventies, with dif-

ferent forms of collective ownership;

3. Multi-family estates with various forms of collective ownership in the areas of previous

single-family dwellings;

4. Multi-family institutional or communal (social) complexes from the eighties. In all of

thie housing of this first type there are 10,256 flats inhabited by 32,214 persons (29.2 % of

the population).

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B. Large housing complexes from the 'seventies and 'eighties with exclusively "cooperative" owner-

ship:

1. complexes from the 'seventies dominated by the so-called "large-slab" technology, large

scale of complexes and buildings;

2. complexes from the eighties, in some of which one can see more innovative architec-

tural solutions and a more "human" scale. In this second type there are 9,732 flats, in-

habited by 31,737 persons (27.1 % of the population).

C. Multi-family housing estates from the 'eighties with a combined structure of ownership - coop-

erative and institutional or cooperative and communal.

In this type there are 4,160 flats inhabited by 14,897 persons (12.7 % of the population).

D. Old city areas which were within the city limits a t the beginning of the century:

1. the old, downtown area, chiefly private buildings but subject to municipal administration

(housing allocation), with some postwar communal buildings;

2. areas of old urban construction, with a large share of postwar, cooperative housing;

3. (a domination of) postwar construction within the old city limits.

In all of the areas of the fourth type there are 6,369 flats inhabited by 20,535 persons (17.5

% of the population).

E. Peripheral areas, former natural settlement units and single-family dwellings:

1. peripheries and old complexes of private, single-family homes;

2. peripheral districts dominated by single-family construction, including workers' hostels;

3. a complex of single-family homes with a high standard built in the eighties.

Area types A, B and C together account for 70 % of the total dwellings in Piock, (A - 29.7 %, B - 28.2 %, C - 12 %). Thus, housing units built after the war (most of them after 1960, the year in-

dustrialization began), dominate in the city. On the whole these are large complexes. The ones built

at the end of the 'fifties and beginning of the 'seventies are more cozy, 3 - 5 storey buildings. Those

from the end of the 'sixties, and especially in the 'seventies, are exceptionally monotonous, large,

multi-storey buildings. In the 'eighties attempts were made to build on a more human" scale, but

unfortunately the "ant hills" of the 'seventies dominate.

The ownership structure includes various forms for so-called social ownership. In the 'fi-

fties, communal and and genuine cooperative construction was the rule. Then, at the beginning of

industrialization in Piock, it was decided to combine communal, institutional and cooperative con-

struction in the new housing estates. The aim was to build new complexes in which the native pop-

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ulation waiting for communal or cooperative flats would live together with the population coming

to the city in large numbers due to the construction of the large chemical works. In this way plan-

ners wanted to avoid the situations which were observed in the 'fiities, when new housing estates

were built in other industrialized areas alongside existing cities or even in opposition to them.

Towards the end of the 'sixties it was decided that the cooperatives would be the main

mode of acquiring a flat in Poland. In this way cooperatives really became surrogate investors and

the sole, compulsory administrators of flat distribution and tenant waiting lists. Cooperatives be-

came large, bureaucratic structures subject to central control. In addition to this were the decisions

of central authorities promoting and imposing "large-slab" technology and so-called pre-cast buil-

ding unit plants. This resulted in large complexes of big buildings in Piock built outside the limits

of the 19th century city.

Within the limits of the old city (type D), only 18.4 % of the habitable rooms are to be

found. The buildings in these areas are terribly run-down and have all the features and problems of

old city districts. One of the major reasons for the neglect and decay of the buildings was limiting

the rights of owners to choose tenants and set the rents. The Jewish quarter was also once located

in this area, and after the war these owners simply no longer existed.

In the dwellings located in the old peripheral areas with a continued dominance of single-

family, private homes (type E), there are 11.7 % of the habitable rooms in Plock. These areas and

dwellings are of varying standard: from areas with a large proportion of agricultural workers to the

"professional" and academic neighbourhood of single-family homes built in the eighties. Peripheral

areas include the former (prewar) agricultural-industrial settlements like Radziwie on the opposite

bank of the River Vistula; Borowiczki a newer settlement devoted to sugar production; up to and

including areas into which the city spread naturally, or areas in which farms were divided up in

various periods as building lots for single-family homes. In these areas we fiid both substandard

homes without basic installations (- homes which are still the rule in the Polish countryside), and

complexes of single-family homes with the highest standard in the city inhabited by the most af-

fluent groups in the population.

Three tables are presented at the end of this paper showing the distribution of the dwel-

lings in Pl ock.

7. Tasks to be completed

The following research tasks still remain:

- a substantive analysis of the social-spatial structure of the city on the basis of the 1988

census and mapping of the results;

- a comparison of the changes which took place in the phenomena studied in the period

1960 - 1990, which in effect means a description of the transformations of the city in the

entire postwar period. The recent political changes have given this task an unexpected new

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sense: summing up the transformations of the city in the period og People's Poland, in the

period of the building of a socialist order, an age which has now come to an end;

- (conditional upon finding a sponsor) a questionnaire survey on "The residents of Piock - about themselves and their cityw, similar to the surveys of 1967 and 1972. The question-

naire must encompass a sufficiently large part of the population to be representative of

the the major and most characteristic dwelling environments in the city. the sample for

this questionnaire has already been drawn.

I hope that the results of this broad research programme can be disseminated within the next 1 - 2

years. The research material is supplemented by photographic documentation of the major "natural

areas" and dwelling environments of Plock. Finally I attach great importance to "direct observat-

ion" in sociological research. In Plock I seek also to fulfill the essence of a line written by one of

our poets, W. Broniewski, "...To love it means to touch, to see...", By tranference one can say: "To

study means to touch, to see...".

References

Galaj, D. (ed). 1973 Romoj spoleczno-gospodarcy rejonu upremylawianego (The Socio-economic

Development of a Region under Industrialization). PWN, Warsaw.

Mirowski, W. and S. Nowakowski (eds). 1980 Planowanie spolecznego romoju miast (Planning the

Social Development of Cities). Ossolineum, Warsaw.

Pioro, Z. (ed). 1982 Pnestnen i spoleczenstwo (Space and Society). KIW, Warsaw.

Nowak, L. (ed). 1982 Plock. Sspoleczenstwo miejskie w pmesie upnemyslowienia (Plock. An

Urban Society in the Process of Industrialization). KIW, Warsaw.

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Tables

Piock 1988

Table 1. Dwellings according to the structure of ownership (%)

Table 2. Size of dwellings (%)

(%)

29.3

27.1

12.7

17.5

13.4

100

Number of

person

34 214

31 737

14 897

20 535

15 642

117 025

Type of

dwellings

environ.

New 1

New 2

New 3

Old 4

Periph. 5

Total

Type of

environ.

1

2

3

4

5

Total

Number of rooms (incl. kitchen)

1 2 3 4 5 N-

14.1 20.6 38.0 22.8 4.5 10.256

2.5 21.0 28.2 41.1 7.2 9.732

0.4 7.0 3 1.3 46.5 14.7 4.160

6.6 30.1 31.7 17.0 14.6 6.369

6.9 13.9 20.7 20.1 41.4 4.041

6.6 20.0 31.3 29.4 12.6 34.559

Dwellings

total

10 196

(100 %)

9 732

4 160

6 369

4 041

34 558

Ownership

communal

(state)

53.1

0

4.2

34.7

1.3

22.8

coop.

18.9

99.9

86.3

15.5

47.0

other coll

(enterpr.)

26.5

0

9.5

6.5

8.9

11.2

private

pr.

1.6

0

0

42.7

89.6

13.8

under

administ.

0.7

20.7

0.5

4.1

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Table 3. Size of dwellings (mZ)

Type of

environ.

1

2

3

4

5

Total

Square meters (mZ)

-30 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-79 80-109 110- N-

17.6 30.7 33.5 13.5 3.5 1.1 0.1 10.256

3.3 37.1 37.7 10.8 10.4 0.7 0 9.732

1.5 23.4 35.1 5.6 31.8 2.6 0 4.160

16.6 21.4 21.8 11.3 13.0 11.0 4.5 6.369

9.4 9.2 9.9 9.3 16.9 31.5 14.7 4.041

10.5 27.4 29.9 10.9 12.1 6.5 2.7 34.559

Page 47: In Changing Political and Economic Conditions · 2009. 6. 24. · Traila Cernescu Building Design Institute for Typified Construction Sociological Research Laboratory Str. Sipotul

Is Collective Housing in the Villages Possible ?

Traila Cernescu

Abstract

This paper is the result of a large range of sociological studies concerning the village and the

rural housing in Rumania. All these studies were carried out during the period 1987-1989. Dif-

ferent professional approaches are mentioned including work by doctors, economists, sociologists

and architects, who, over a long period, have concentrated on the Romanian village and rural

housing.

The real reason for the "systematization" of Rumanian villages "systematization" was mainly to

have better control of the rural population. The destructive attitude of the totalitarian Ruman-

ian government system towards the villages can be readily interpreted from the data in this

paper about the population living in the Bucharest region who have been forcibly moved into

collective forms of housing.

By way of sociological surveys information has been gathered concerning the rural population

which was illegally dispossessed of its houses and households. Empirical data confirm the fact

that the political-administrative abuse could not destroy the farmer quality of the Romanian

peasant. The population did not receive compensation for the demolished houses. At the same

time, the move in to new blocks of a part of the population around Bucharest does not mean

that these people accepted mechanically the break down from the essence of the rural life (the

relationship to the house, to the household and the agricultural land).

The Romanian phenomenon - which can be seen as a social experiment in forced demolition of

rural places and thereby identities, (particularly visible in some villages around Bucharest) was

stopped by the revolution that took place in Rumania in December 1989. The endeavours of a

part of this population to create small households around the blocks and more than that, their

attempts to rebuild their private houses and households in the perimeter of their own places or

in other new places are the best answer to the question, "How difficult is it for rural people to

live in collective apartments?".

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1. Introduction and background

Starting from the last century different Rumanian specialists have written reference papers about

the Rumanian village and the rural housing. The way the Rumanian totalitarian social system acted

towards the Rumanian villages represents clear evidence of the regime's nonacceptance of the

scientific heritage and experience gained along the centuries. The record of previous studies shows

that the beginning of the "systematization" of the rural settlements in Rumania was dictated by

actual necessities of the administration and not by the social-economic problems of the population1.

By the end of the XIPh century the great representatives of the Rumanian medical school had

produced a series of studies about the relation between hygiene and the housing of the rural pop-

ulation'. Some important sociological studies about the Rumanian village appeared beginning in the

1940s. For instance, the monograph in 5 volumes about "60 Rumanian villages" studied by some

student teams during the 1938 summer presents the real state of the Rumanian village at that time-

3. The description of houses is complemented by that of the food stuffs and the cultural life of the

people. The role of the house and of the workshop in the field of household industry is underlined

in a paper by the economist Virgil Madgearu, published in 1913~.

The house's influence as an individualized space on the Rumanian peasant thinking is analysed

in the accounts of some field observations, by Ernest Bernea5.

Scientific works, papers and studies about the Rumanian villages and the rural housing indicate

a long-standing interest shown by specialists in the above mentioned fields.

2. Logical aspects of the private rural housing

Civilisation of a people is, perhaps, best represented by the building frame in general and by hous-

ing in particular. The great social processes (eg. population migration, the appearance of new types

of activities, and so on), influenced the typology of the urban housing. The rural environment up

until our day has been a relatively closed space with regard to changes in the built form of houses.

But considering all these aspects, the countryside houses, as vernacular architecture are never-

theless distinguished by their own personalities. Research shows there has been a concern for ach-

ieving the most adequate functionality for the family needs in the home. Thus, the arrival of new

family members generated in many situations extensions to the building.

The system of private property allows the countryside inhabitants to do all sorts of work such as

repairs, modernization, extensions - in relation to their real needs.

The houses and their traditional households from the countryside are the results of some very

serious endevours to adapt the built frame to the ecological factors (weather, topography, soil, and

so on). Housing adjustment to the environment generates the image of a strong interrelation bet-

ween nature and home. The integration of home in the rural environment was the main idea for

creating a new notion: the organic home. A natural house makes visually evident the situation of

the inhabitants and also their adaptability to the environment conditions.

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Theoretically and practically the rural house has a high degree of "fit" to the household. The

yard as a semi-public space has an important social significance for the rural population.

The erection speed and the property relations of the rural house are also a consequence of the

historically "natural" processes which guided the building systems of the houses.

The evolution of the housing stock in the countryside is shown by the indicator "inhabited floor-

area pr. dwelling", between 1951-1985, see Table 1.

Table 1. Inhabited floor arealdwelling and the percentage of houses built during

1951-1985

Years Floor area (m') (dwelling living space, built houses not including kitchen + bathrooms) (in %)

1951-1955 26.6 16.3

1956- 1960 26.6 28.3

1961-1965 25.4 26.7

1966-1970 34.7 12.5

1971-1975 38.8 9.1

1976-1980 44.7 4.1

1981-1985 44.6 3.1 .................................................................................................................. Total (1951-1985) 100.0

The rural houses built in the 5 year period 1981-1985 have on average a living area which is 18

m2 bigger than those built in the 1951-1955 period. The average number of the rooms per house

was 2 rooms in 1966 and 2.2 rooms in 1977. From statistical data on the overall urban environment

in 1985 the household density figures were as follows:

(In 1985) a) 3 persons/dweUing

b) 1.35 persons/room

c) 9.76 m2/person.

The average size of a living room in the countryside was 13.8 m2. During the period 1966-1985 we

can see a great decrease in the percentage of new built houses in the later years. This phenomenon

can be attributed to a) legislative restrictions in the field of new housing construction in the vil-

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lages; b) the process of demographic ageing of the rural population; c) the accumulation of an

important housing fund in villages.

But despite these restrictions, the general housing comfort increased in the rural areas due to

popular investments. The relevant indicators of housing comfort are: a) the increase in the number

of rooms pr. house; b) the increase of the living area pr. dwelling.

The traditional rural housing consisted mainly of a room and a vestibule, having a living area up

to 20 mZ. Nowadays rural houses with 2,3 and 4 rooms are most frequent.

3. State interference in village housing construction

The rural peoples' lack of rights to build private houses and households was ordered by norms,

decrees of the communist party and guidelines coming from the administrative departments and

even from the dictator Ceausescu.

The continuous action of the political forces to intensify the social-economic control over the

Rumanian villages was intended to move the rural population from their own private houses into

the rented collective housing blocks.

Due to hardships of rent, electricity supply, heating systems, water supply, food stuffs and in-

come control, the rural population became that part of population that - maybe most of all - suf-

fered strong coercion.

The demolition of the the private rural houses required quite a long time. This was due to ob-

jective conditions: the great number of houses, dispersal of land, strong raw materials used for

houses in the hill and mountain areas, and the government's reduction of technical means for car-

v i n g out demolition. But the degradation process of the housing stock in the countryside started

long before the blocks' existence in the villages.

T h e legal-administrative restrictions increased, concerning especially the construction of new

houses. The market become poorer and poorer with respect to new building materials. There were

also restrictions on the possibilities of obtaining the necessary materials for maintenance and repair

to the existing houses. Table 2 presents the evolution of the new housing use approvals during

1951-1985, with respect to the property form. The statistical data c o n f i the fact that in the period

1976-1985 the government had a great impact on the house building in the countryside, while the

housing stock produced by private individuals decreased. At the same time the percentage of the

privately owned houses in comparison with government-owned housing (rented housing) decreased

too.

Page 51: In Changing Political and Economic Conditions · 2009. 6. 24. · Traila Cernescu Building Design Institute for Typified Construction Sociological Research Laboratory Str. Sipotul

Table 2. Evolution of the newly built housing stock during 1951-1985, with respect

to ownership.

Years Total houses Built by the state, enterprises, coo- perative

% %

1951-1955 100.0 3.4

1956-1960 100.0 2.1

1961-1965 100.0 2.2

1966-1970 100.0 3.8

1971-1975 100.0 6.0

Built by the population

From the 1977 census of population (the last that took place in Rumania), figures for the country-

side show that the distribution of house tenure was as follows:

a) private property 99.25 %

b) state property 0.53 %

c) cooperative associations property 0.04 %

d) public communal associations property 0.01 %.

The construction rhythm of collective state housing property in villages was different from one

area to another. The nearer to a large city (especially Bucharest) that village was, the bigger was its

"chance" to have its population moved into collective houses rented from the state.

4. Rural households and collective housing around Bucharest, past, present and future

In the villages near to Bucharest it was intended to erect collective houses (blocks of apartments).

This process had to be accompanied by the demolition of private houses and the break-up of ho-

useholds. Rural sytematization law - which is now repealed - had two declared aims: land-saving

and increase of housing comfort. In order to emphasize these factors, our sociological investigation

was centered on studying some aspects dealing with the housing, households and agricultural ac-

tivities such as growing vegetables and keeping animal^)^.

Before presenting some results of the sociological empirical data, we consider it necessary to

present some general data about the housing stock situation in so-called "S.A.I. villages". (All the

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villages around Bucharest were artificially organized into a social-economic and politically depen-

dent area).

In 1985 the villages in S.A.I. comprised about 78.000 houses. From the total housing stock fig-

ures, about 16.7 % were built between 1966-1985. 13.7 % were built by the population and the rest,

o r 3 %, were built from the government funds.

O n the basis of the total reported number of houses in the period 1966-1985, about 18 % of

them belong to the governmental housing stock and 82 % are private property.

The number of government owned buildings built in the countryside areas around Bucharest was

larger in the last part of the period already mentioned. These villages round Bucharest are dif-

ferent one from another on two counts: type of ownership and the housing type (individual or

collective).

In all some 10.000 apartments were intended to be built in 14 villages around Bucharest. In 1990

about 8.000 apartments were built. In 1985 there were about 40.000 houses in these villages and

they were inhabited by 128.000 persons. The average number of persons pr. dwelling was 3.4.

Starting from the rural household's role in developing the agricultural production, the empirical

research intended to reveal the evolution of certain categories of problems with direct implications

for the population and the agricultural activities practiced by them. In order to attain an overall

view of the changes that have begun to take place in the S.A.I. villages, past, present and future

data comparisons were carried out. Our studies examined the housing types, ways of living, house-

hold buildings, livestock, vegetable cultivation and some delimitations linked to the already existing

situation, when the investigation took place, (i.e. the short time new housing had been in use and

delays in allocation of land for farming).

The changes of the image of the Rumanian villages had multiple negative consequences on the

populations of these areas and indirectly on the quality of life in towns.

Empirical research that took place in 5 villages between 5-20 of September 1987, used a ques-

tionnaire consisting of 123 questions. At this time the inhabitants had lived in the flats between 6

months and 3 years.

In all these flats there were 292 persons with an average of 3.7 persons/dwelling. Before moving

to live in the block of flats, the total number of persons in the households was 368 persons, with an

average of 4.6 persons/dwelling. The number of persons/dwelling decreased by 0.9 due to the mo-

vement into the new flats. This phenomenon Fmds its explanation in the separation of the families

of two or more generations.

The family consisting of a couple and their descendents (50 %) represent the predominant type.

The average age of the investigated people was about 48 years.

From the comparison between the old and the new houses, on the variable numbers of dwelling

rooms, results show that the old houses had a bigger degree of adaptability to the population ne-

eds. The old houses had different sizes, from one room/dwelling, up to 7-8 rooms/dwelling, most of

Page 53: In Changing Political and Economic Conditions · 2009. 6. 24. · Traila Cernescu Building Design Institute for Typified Construction Sociological Research Laboratory Str. Sipotul

them being of 2 to 4 rooms. The blocks of flats had 2 rooms (30 %); 3 rooms (26 %) and 4 rooms

(44 %). See housing stock evolution in graph 1.

Graph 1.

Housing stock In the v i l l a g e s around Bucharest 1966 - 1985

100 % 90 80 70

P r i v a t e l y ouned

30 State 20 owned 10 Tot. b u l l t 0 houses

1966 - 1970 1976 - 1980 1971 - 1975 1981 - 1985

The survey of old houses shows the presence of the following equipment: kitchen (99 %), sum-

mer kitchen (81 %), bathrooms (16 %), inside W.C. (6 %), W.C. in the yard (95 %), terrace (70

%), balcony (11 %), roof attic (98 %), cellar (64 %), running water (16 %), sewage system (15 %),

(see graphs 2, 3, 4 in appendix). About 59 % of the people questioned considered the previous

house satisfactory on the whole and 39 % considered the yard and the personal land holding as a

positive aspect.

Coming back to the evaluation of the house, the questionnaire investigation results showed that

86 % of the persons had no complaints about the previous house, 5 % considered the previous

living space too small, and only 9 % expressed complaints about living conditions in the previous

house.

From the empirical data concerning housing two main conclusions can be deduced: a) the great

majority of the population appreciated their house as satisfactory; b) degree of satisfaction with the

house was dependet on a correlation between the household needs and the private use of land.

Page 54: In Changing Political and Economic Conditions · 2009. 6. 24. · Traila Cernescu Building Design Institute for Typified Construction Sociological Research Laboratory Str. Sipotul

Flats in blocks had the following equipment: kitchen (100 %), bathroom space (100 %) - but

without running water and sewerage; only part of the blocks had the necessary equipment for run-

ning water in the bathroom and the kitchen. About 13 % of the persons questioned had themselves

payed for installing the pipe network and equipment for running cold water in the kitchen and

bathroom as well the sewerage but they are not yet established. The space for the bathroom was

used for other purposes (as a kitchen or as a storage place) by most of the people.

About 88 % from the apartments had the W.C. placed outside the living space, while 9 % built

in their own installations using private savings. The investigated apartment blocks were al l provided

with balconies, attics and cellars.

Heating had to be obtained from wood fires in terracotta stoves and gas cylinders were used (83

%) for food preparation. The population satisfaction structure towards the block apartments was as

follows:

- positive general opinion about the house 44 %

- adequate house concerning the living space and number of rooms 24 %

- satisfactory partitioning 12 %

- no satisfaction 20 %.

The dissatisfactions towards the block dwelling were related to the following aspects: lack of run-

ning water, lack of W.C. and sewage pipes (about 79 %), living at high levels (about 2 %). Other

sources of dissatisfaction were related to aspects of the buildings' execution: the finishing and poor

quality woodwork of bad quality, disfunctional storage spaces and inadequate roofs (19 %).

The people in the sample felt that the block apartments should have: summer kitchen (40 %),

bathroom (100 %), W.C. inside the apartment (99 %), W.C. in the yard (9 %), balcony (99 %),

attic (96 %), cellar (99 %), running water (100 %), sewerage (100 %). The new collective houses

from the villages around Bucharest had: kitchen, room for bath, balcony, separated circulation,

double orientation, attic and cellar, wood fire heating and only one entrance. As to size (number of

rooms and living space) the new apartments answer the population needs. There is even some

supplementary space in some situations, which generated money problems (a big rent), especially

for old people who worked in agricultural cooperatives or in their own household. To all those

dissatisfactions there are also added those concerning the garbage and domestic water disposal

from the apartment.

Lastly the total absence of repairs and maintenance services for the government properties also

generated dissatisfaction among people.

5. The relationship between houses and households

The rural people thought of their farms as being formed of the house, household and the yard (a

space with multiple economic and social implications). In order to depict an assembled image of

Page 55: In Changing Political and Economic Conditions · 2009. 6. 24. · Traila Cernescu Building Design Institute for Typified Construction Sociological Research Laboratory Str. Sipotul

what the proposed housing transition offered at the time the empirical data were wllected, we

present very briefly the situation before and after the residents moved into the block houses.

In the previous households the people had the following household buildings: stable 56 %, pigsiy

96 %, hen coop 96 %, storehouse 95 %. When the empirical data were wllected they had only the

following annex buildings (built near new blocks of apartments) stable 10 %, pigsty 54 %, hen coop

46 %, storehouses 13 %. These data can be further illuminated by residents' expressed desires.

They would like to have stables (28 %), pigsties (89 %), hen coops (89 %), storehouses (59 %)

(see graph 5 in appendix). The great majority of the household buildings had been erected using

salvaged and recuperated materials from previous households and they were of an improvised char-

acter.

These adjacent buildings had a precise functionality in the rural household. In the previous

forms the population raised animals partly for their own consumption, partly to fulfil the state

contracts and partly for the private market.

The traditional rural houses and households are characterized by the presence of two distinct

spaces: a private area and the semiprivate one, with precise functions and tasks. The new collective

buildings and rural household has, to begin with, only a private space.

The yard, as a semi-private area does not exist in any of the 5 localities studied. This fact gen-

erates a series of difficulties for the use of equipment and also for the development of agricultural

activities.

The need to create spatial distinctions between the public space (the street), the private area

(dwelling) and the semi-private space (blocks of flats) was demonstrated by some of the questioned

people from Cornetu and Bragadiru villages, who had erected some metallic or wooden fences.

This action represented in fact that people attempt to rebuild the yards, a space existing in all prev-

ious rural dwellings.

6. Conclusions

The results of this study emphasise the great complexity of the problems generated by imposition

of collective buildings in the countryside areas.

a) The empirical data pointed out the fact that irrespective of the profession, the population in

villages is interested in living in buildings of a specifically rural household style;

b) Building block houses in the villages around Bucharest generated a decrease in the agricultur-

al production and a poorer supply to the Bucharest markets;

c) Forced and illegal dispossession of the rural population of their private property (house, ho-

usehold and share of land) meant the elimination of any possibility for them to practice agriculture;

d) The change of their status from landlord to that of a tenant generated a decrease in the liv-

ing standard and dependency due to the rent and maintenance system;

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e) The rural people from the collective houses were subjected to a severe and inhuman control

by way of the severely limited) distribution of electricity, heating, running water and food supplies;

f) Some qualities of the collective houses were positively appreciated by a part of the population

(the living space dimensions, the existence of kitchens, the possibilities for making the bathrooms

and the W.C. inside the house usable). But on balance all these qualities were overshadowed by the

impossibility of building a real countryside type of home;

g) After the Revolution that took place in December 1989 the village demolition action was

stopped. Some of the rural people started to build and rebuild private properties (houses and ho-

useholds).

We have here considered the implications of establishing collective houses in the villages, in

relation to physical, economic and social morphologies. Further scientific study of the implications

would be possible in the frame of some cooperative work and studies between Rumanian and for-

eign researchers.

Notes and biblioera~hy

1. In order to facilititate the tax collection activity, it was ordered that all the countryside inhabit- ants "would turn up and would establish together ..." The countryside physicians asked just from 1888 to concentrate all the villages. It is said that even Iosif the IInd emperor of Austria - Hun- gary empire ordered to put together the wide spread villages. A t present, the rural population movement to the collective houses represented the idea of obtaining a total and severe control of this part of a populace, via control over the food, water, heat and electricity supplies and also human relations.

2. Dr. Gh. CrBiniceanu, in the X I P century, considered that both macrosocial institutions and the architects had the obligation to help the peasants to build up hygienic, healthy and resistent houses; Gh. CrBiniceanu, Rumanian ~ e a s a n t hveiene. Housine. footwear and clothes, 1895.

3. The 111"' volume of the monograph consists of a series of house designs, house pictures, house- hold portraits and also the development of a family tree. The statistical data show the difficult situation of the housing system in the countryside, not only in a general plan, but also on real working and living conditions.

Anton Golopentia and D.c. Georgescu, 60 Rumanian villages studied bv students teams during 1938 summer, the IIed and IIIrd volumes the Rumanian Institute of Social Sciences, Bucharest, 1941.

Monoma~hical research of the familv. Methodoloeical contribution written by Xenia Costa-Foru presents a house from the village Cornova, Banat country. The book presents the component elements of the house and household: the house plan, its shape, the number and the function of each separate room, cardinal placement and a description of the building parts. Xenia Costa- Furo: Monographic studv of a familv. Metodoloeic contribution, Bucharest, 1945.

Dimitrie Gusti pleading for the necessity of a sociological monograph on the Rumanian village shows that "the positioning of a village in a certain country is never a simple spatial phenome- non". D. Gusti, Warks. 1st vol. Academy Publishing House, Bucharest, 1968.

Page 57: In Changing Political and Economic Conditions · 2009. 6. 24. · Traila Cernescu Building Design Institute for Typified Construction Sociological Research Laboratory Str. Sipotul

4. Virgil Madgearu, Residential industrv and social insurances, Bucharest, 1913. The importance of peasant industry is made evident by the appearance of the specialization "in those villages where besides the development of on industrial branch there are also different types of works in the household, generating a tendency to specialization".

5. Ernest Bernea: Frames for the Rumanian vo~ular thinking. Contributions on space. time and determination re~resentation, Rumanian Book Publishing House, Bucharest, 1985. The author affirms that almost the whole popular mentality was born in relation to the houses and the yard. The houses and their environments represented for the Rumanian peasant the main places for their material, social and spiritual life development.

6. Romulus Vuia, Rumanian village in Transylvania and Banat, Cluj, 1945; Henri H. Stahl, The Territorv-administrative organization. Sociolo~ical comentaries, Scientific Publishing House, Bucharest 1969; Group of authors: Two villages: social structures and technic vrogress. Politics Publishing House, Bucharest, 1970; Ilie BHdescu, The Contem~orary village and its hvstoric evolution Scientific Publishing House, Bucharest, 1981; Group of authors: Rumanian village. Studies, academy Publishing House, 1985; Valer ButurH, Verv old Rumanian civilization test- imonies. Transvlvania. Etnomavhic study, Technical & Encyclopedic Publishing House, Buch- arest, 1989; Florea StSnciulescu, Adrian Gheirghiu and the others, Rumanian popular architec- ture, 5 volumes, Bucharest 1956-1958; Grifore Ionescu, Popular architecture in Rumania, Buch- - arest, 1971; Constantin Joja, Regained means and values, Eminiscu Published House, Bucharest, 1981.

7. Statistical vearbook of The Socialist Revublic of Rumania, 1986. The percentages are calculated summing the figures from the villages and the suburban villages.

8. Statistical yearbook of The Socialist Republic of Rumania, 1986.

9. The psychological investigation was carried out in 80 households from the following villages: Bragadiru, Cornetu, Ghermsnesti, Snagov, and Moara Vlssiei. T. Cernescu, Marilena Ginju, Dorina Turcu, Housing Sociological asvects in the Rumanian village, The Social Future, March- April, 1987; A. Florian, Proportioning of the social-economic development of the countryside and the housing conditions, The Social Future, January-February, 1988; T. Cernescu, Peasant household im~ortance in the aericultural vroduction, The Social Future, March-April, 1988.

Graphs 2, 3, 4 and 5 on the following pages show the condition of interviewed households' previous dwellings, current dwellings and residents' desires for facilities in and adjacent to the dwelling.

Page 58: In Changing Political and Economic Conditions · 2009. 6. 24. · Traila Cernescu Building Design Institute for Typified Construction Sociological Research Laboratory Str. Sipotul

Graph 2

Housing component u n i t s . .

Bathroom Summer k l tchen Outside WC K l tchen Ins ide WC

Graph 3

Housing adjacent u n l t s

EZB Necessary components

------ Cur rent housing

EEEf3 P rev 1 ous housing

Balcony Terrace A t t i c Ce l la r

66

Page 59: In Changing Political and Economic Conditions · 2009. 6. 24. · Traila Cernescu Building Design Institute for Typified Construction Sociological Research Laboratory Str. Sipotul

Graph 4

Running water Sewerage Central Heating

Graph 5

Rdjacent buildings

.........,. Necessary components

- . - . - . Current hous i ng

------ P rev 1 ous hous i ng

Stable Pigsty Hen-coop Storehouse

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Rumania's Housing Problem: Financial mechanisms

Mircea Kivu

In Rumania, the rent level is one of the lowest in Europe. So the monthly rent for a three-room-

ed flat is about 300 lei (about 3$ I), which means less than 10 % of the average monthly income.

By comparison with other basic goods' prices, such a rent represents: 20 1 gas, 4.5 kg butter, 700 g

coffee, 2 cheap shirts, 200 eggs. Such a low level was made possible by setting up the state mono-

poly on dwellings.

Theoretically, there also exists a private housing stock, but the investment in this field has been

discouraged by raising successively flat prices (which doubled from 1977 to 1984) while keeping

down rents and imposing the same calculation basis for private lending. At present, the official

price of a three-roomed flat is about 200,000 lei (representing an average 5.5 years income, or the

rent for 55 years). Black market price is more than double.

Beginning with 1985, the state cut off dwellings sales in the big towns (without any official dec-

ision). They were resumed at the beginning of 1990, when loan conditions were improved. Sudden-

ly, the demand increased and consequently the private transactions prices shot up.

The cause of this growing demand for private investment in dwellings (in the context of main-

taining and even aggravating the detrimental ratio between prices and rent) is first of all the threat-

ening shortage of residences, as a result of liberalizing the choice of residence, by the right to settle

in big towns; whereupon the number of individuals allowed to buy and interested in owning flats

rose sharply as the newcomers have small chances of obtaining a rental house. At the same time,

the demographic boom-generation of the years 67-68 has come of age, young people are making

their own families now. To these material causes we must add the necessity felt by many people to

protect themselves against the effects of an impending inflation, which is already manifest, as the

huge monetary mass in circulation at this moment has no corresponding goods in the market. And

finally, we must take into consideration a general reconsideration of the "minimum house", a con-

cept related to the full awareness of individual rights, including the right to a decent abode.

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The moratorium on wage increases requested by the Rumanian government until the end of this

year (1990) is counterpoised by (among others measures) rent freezing, yet dwellings prices are not

checked. So, the free market prices started rising amazingly. What will be this period's effects on

the housing state? Which social categories will profit (and how) from this situation? Who will lose

(and what)? Will the resulting situation be more or less favourable to the change of Rumanian

society? Which will be the guidelines for the government's actions after this status quo period,

given its declared intention to favour the social and economic liberalizing in Rumania? The ans-

wers to these questions must be sought first of all by sociologists. But, before this, we must open a

methodological parenthesis.

The problem is: how can we search for these answers? The main difficulty comes from the fact

that one has to find solutions inside a social and economic system which is very difficult to diag-

nose. It is obvious that Rumanian society doesn't work according to the logic of societies based on

the free market economy. Nor does the socialist pattern entirely correspond to the Rumanian real-

ity any longer; in any case such a pattern has never been described explicitly enough - because from

the inside such a thing was forbidden and from the outside the lack of information prevented it.

Defining the present Rumania's system as a "transitional" one is actually giving a name to chaos,

which hardly enhances knowledge.

An accurate approach ought to begin with the establishment of characteristics and mechanisms

for the function of the aggregate system; then the task problem could be discussed, within this

framework. Unfortunately, such a research strategy is inoperative, since answers must be found

swiftly in order to be able to substantiate the post-moratorium governmental decisions.

Still there a re some ways to deal with the problems under discussion (as well as similar ones).

Such ways may lack perfect rigour yet they have the pragmatic advantage of being better than noth-

ing. East-European countries had, if not identical, at least similar (in many respects) economic and

social systems. The goal they assume is roughly similar: the transition towards a free market econ-

omy within the framework of a democratic social system. Obviously, there are significant dis-

tinctions concerning both the starting point and the targets. Countries which had launched this

change process later (Rumania and Bulgaria) can benefit from the experience of those which star-

ted earlier (Poland, Hungaria, Czecho-Slovakia), especially avoiding the trial-and-error costs. That

is why it is very important to know exactly which are the similarities and the distinctions between

the respective patterns and processes typical for the housing field in each country.

The task-group C.1.B.-W69 might help a great deal in this direction, by collecting significant data

and - above all - comparable data concerning this field. This information would be basic for some

typologies of housing forms, very useful in view of exchanging research products, as well as of draw-

ing up new housing theory.

A second way to approach these problems is the one we shall call "intuitionist" (as it is better to

exaggerate than to ignore its limits). Starting from the known facts and relying on "sociological

Page 62: In Changing Political and Economic Conditions · 2009. 6. 24. · Traila Cernescu Building Design Institute for Typified Construction Sociological Research Laboratory Str. Sipotul

imagination", we'll try to picture a model evolution of the housing sub-system as part of the most

probable aggregate social system's configuration. The inferences of such an approach could serve - at least - as working hypotheses for a presumtive, more accurate inquiry. This is what I shall at-

tempt in the following.

The urban housing system, established under the totalitarian regime, was conceived in such a

manner that nothing could be accomplished through mechanisms (such as supply-demand, for ex-

ample) which could elude political power control. Within this logic, rent was something quite sym-

bolic, which anyone could afford; the difference between the rent of a luxurious flat and that of a

delapidated one is insignificant. Under such circumstances, who dwelt where is a matter to be sol-

ved at various levels of power - the state or the Party, which was after all substantially one and the

same.

However, society has objective laws, which can be trespassed, but never utterly eluded. These

laws worked to the effect that, by cutting off the economic mechanisms of dwelling admittance, a

parallel economic system was set in motion: corruption. The access to a good dwelling - or simply

to a dwelling - could not all the time be decided by the central power (the only form of power). In

order to obtain the desired dwelling, one would pay (when interests linked to power distribution

are not endangered), not in the usual way, but through bribery, key-money or equivalent favours.

At this moment, a disintegration of the old power structures occurs. In our discussion, we are

not interested in whether this disintegration is final or transitory. The important thing is that the

present power-holders will go on using the housing system to satisfy their own interests. The auth-

orities' refusal to dissolve the "special" housing stock (intended for V.1.P.s.) is evidence of the cor-

rectness of this assertion.

We think the way of allocating dwellings is even more significant, from a social viewpoint. It is

estimated that by the end of this year the over 2 millions inhabitants of Bucharest will get less than

10.000 new dwellings, which is far less than in the past years, so the demand pressure upon the

housing supply will be immense (because it was great already during the later years). The legal

instruments concerning dwelling allocation are very ambiguous, and the new structures make them

practically inapplicable. According to the law, dwellings ought be allocated through trade-unions;

but these bodies are either just proceeding to organise, or there are more than one in the same

enterprise. Also there are no regulations concerning dwelling allocation for private enterprises'

employees.

So, we can expect power structures will more and more lose control over dwelling distribution,

which will be increasingly ruled by the parallel economy. Some surveys on housing mobility we

made during recent years highlighted a polarisation trend as far as comfort is concerned: statistical-

ly, individuals housed in good conditions ameliorated them, and people housed in poor conditions

would move into bad dwellings. Well, a housing market ruled by the parallel economy will strength-

en this trend. Rumanian society will face the emergence of severely disadvantaged groups, which is

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hardly flattering for any government. These groups will enlist people whose sole income is their

wages, and whose purchasing power is already dropping.

In these conditions, the housing policy should aim at a ) inciting to house building (including

rehabilitation of the existing stock) and b) assisting disadvantaged groups.

In connection with the first task, we don't think it necessary to argue that the state monopoly on

house building is counterproductive. On the other side, to attract private initiative, investment has

to be remunerative, which means rent growth. In this way, the inferiority of the disadvantaged

social groups will become more striking.

For this reason, the assistance of households lacking resources and social position in order to

get a satisfactory dwelling becomes absolutely necessary and pressing. This can be achieved in two

ways: a domiciliary one and an economic one. The domiciliary way (setting up a special housing

stock, at low rents), proved quite ineffective without economic support as well, because underpriv-

iledged families would soon transform the assigned dwellings to suit their wretched life.

The second possibility, that of granting subsidies to poor households in order to ensure access to

normal housing comfort, seems to be more efficient, but its costs burden the administration. More-

over, it diminishes the economic incentive towards productivity. These are two risks that contem-

porary Rumania cannot afford to run.

Counting the advantages and the shortcomings of the above-mentioned "classic" solutions, we

come to the conclusion at present that a housing policy in Rumania should combine elements from

both strategies. So, if rent increasing seems to be unavoidable, it must be discriminative, which

means that rises should apply mainly to the towns' privileged areas i.e. to "luxurious" dwellings and

to under-populated housing. In this way, these dwellings may become tempting investment oppor-

tunities, and the state could easily sell them (possibly by auction). This might help preventing infla-

tion though the reduction of the monetary mass in circulation, without affecting the underpriviled-

ged categories. The rest of the dwellings, maintained at a low rent, will automatically constitute a

social housing stock, meant for low-income households. The money gained by the state from selling

might be used for bad dwellings' rehabilitation ', in view of selling them afterwards. So, gradually,

the state's housing stock - social dwellings - will diminish concurrently with improving general hous-

ing conditions. As the social housing decreases, pecuniary subsidies to low-income households will

become necessary. But, that will happen at a stage when - let's hope - Rumanian society will be rich

enough to afford it.

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The official exchange rate is of 21 lei/$l, but on the black market $1 is exchanged for about 100

lei (September 1990).

A lot of administrative pro-natality measures adopted in 1966 (the most important of which was

the prohibition of abortion) doubled the birth rate, in 1967-1968, by comparison with the former

years.

' During the communist regime, the house building was characterised by great numbers, but low

quality, much under the contemporary standards. At the same time, the funds allocated to main-

tenance and repairs were sharply reduced.

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Housing Space Distribution in the Netherlands:

Imbalance, purpose and the assignment of cheap newly built dwellings.

Wim van Bogerijen

Contents:

1. Introduction

2. Imbalance 2.1. target groups 2.2. distribution of housing space 2.3. purposes

3. Policy instruments 3.1. strategic building of dwellings 3.2. housing space assignment 3.3. housing permits and -contracts for a limited period 3.4. co-operation 3.5. information

4. Criticisms and margin notes

5. Inquiry into the assignment of cheap, newly built dwellings 5.1. motivation and goal of the inqujl 5.2. method 5.3. results 5.4. policy implications

6. Some points for discussion

Page 66: In Changing Political and Economic Conditions · 2009. 6. 24. · Traila Cernescu Building Design Institute for Typified Construction Sociological Research Laboratory Str. Sipotul

1. Introduction

The housing policy of the central government in the Netherlands is changing rapidly.

The first main reason for this changing housing policy is the changed situation in the housing mar-

ket. The problem of the quantitative housing shortage after the Second World War is almost solv-

ed. Nowadays there a re even surpluses in some housing market areas and in some types of dwel-

lings. The problem of difficult letting and even unoccupied dwellings is growing. So more attention

must be given to quality instead of quantity.

The second reason for changing policy is a development in the direction of a different conception

of the task of the central government. More and more there is the conviction that competences,

responsibilities and risks must be combined where possible and allocated to the lowest possible

level. Apart from this conception being a question of principle, it is also dictated by the general

budget problems in the Netherlands. This financial problem has necessarily reflected in a funda-

mental way upon the housing policy. More so because the ministry of Housing and Planning is one

of the bigger "spending"' departments.

The change in the housing policy is marked by the policy document "Housing in the nineties"

(Nota Volkshuisvesting in de jaren negentig). This document by the secretary of state of housing,

Mr. Heerma, was ratified by Parliament in June 1990. Central items in this document are:

. decentralisation of competences, responsibilities and risks to local authorities and housing

associations;

. deregulation; less regulation by the central government;

. emphasis on quality, environment and revival of the towns;

. encouraging home-ownership;

. focus on low income groups and other groups that need special attention for their housing

needs (elderly, handicapped, ethnic minorities); and

. reduction of the imbalance in the distribution of the housing space.

This paper deals with some aspects of the last two items: the focus on the lower income groups

and the redistribution of the housing space. In section 2 attention wilJ be given to the current im-

balance in housing distribution and the policy goals of the government in this matter. Section 3

handles with the instruments to achieve the goals. Section 4 pays attention to the criticisms of local

authorities and housing assosiations about purpose and instruments. Section 5 presents an inquiry

into the way in which new built dwellings are assigned to households. This inquiry was started bec-

ause of a discussion between the secretary of state and the local authorities and housing as-

sociations about the possibilities for preventing imbalance in types of newly built dwellings.

The paper ends with some points for discussion.

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2. Imbalance

2.1. Tareet erouns

By saying that housing policy must be focussed on the needs of the lower-income groups, it is

necessary to define those groups. Figure 1 presents some characteristics of the income- and house-

hold structure in the Netherlands. This figure is derived from the policy document 'Housing in the

nineties'.

The amount of 30.000 guilders per year is approximately the level of the modal income in the Net-

herlands; 17.000 guilders per year is approximately the level of the legal minimum income.

Figure 1

2 and more persons

1 parent fami ly

1 person 25 +

1 person < 25

(17 17-22 22-30 30+ t o t a l

ne t income houshold per year (%1000)

Figure 1 shows that in the lower-income classes younger singles and families with just one parent

are proportionately over-represented.

The income group that comes into consideration for financial support from the government,

further mentioned as the target group, includes incomes up to 30.000 guilders per year in the case

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where households consist of two persons or more and incomes up to 22.000 guilders in the case of

singles. The incomes mentioned are net or disposable amounts, including the income of a partner

and including childrens' and holiday allowances, bonuses and employers' share of health insurance

premium.

The approximately 200.000 households that have no need of independent dwellings, but (want

to) live in houseboats, rooms etc. are excluded.

According to this definition 2.690.000 or some 51 % of the 5.280.000 households in the Nether-

lands belongs to the target group (situation 1986).

2.2. Distribution of housing snace

As to how far a household belonging to the target group in fact needs financial support, mainly de-

pends on the price of the dwelling in which the householders live. In general terms it depends on

the distribution of the tenants amongst the housing stock.

T o evaluate this distribution the housing stock is divided in the next categories:

. 'cheap' rental dwellings: rent up to 450 guilders per month;

. 'payable' rental dwellings: rent of 450-600 guilders per month;

. 'expensive' rental dwellings: rent of 600 or more guilders per month.

. owner-occupied dwellings;

Figure 2 shows the categories of dwellings where the target group and the higher-income group live

in. This figure is derived from the policy document 'Housing in the nineties'.

Figure 2. price of the duell~ngs the target group and households u ~ t h h~gher Incomes llve

In (1986)

target gr higher inc total

households

78

Page 69: In Changing Political and Economic Conditions · 2009. 6. 24. · Traila Cernescu Building Design Institute for Typified Construction Sociological Research Laboratory Str. Sipotul

63 % of the target group is living in cheap and payable dwellings. In this situation the dwelling

ought to be suitable. 7 % of the target group however lives in an expensive dwelling. This cannot bz

defined as living suitably. These tenants live 'too erpetrrive[y'.

The households not belonging to the target group live far more often in owner-occupied dwel-

h g s . From the distributional point of view however it is relevant that 23 % of the higher-income

group lives in cheap dwellings. Those tenants live according to the policy document 'too clleaply'.

Figure 3 shows this imbalance with regard to the occupation of the dwellings.

Figure 3

occupation of the housing stock by the target group and housholds w i th

higher incomes (1986)

=higher i nc omes

B target group

<450 >600 tot rent t o t a l 450 - 600 own occ

housing stock

Half of the expensive dwellings are occupied by the target group and almost one third of the cheap

dwellings are occupied by higher incomes. In absolute numbers this means that about 600.000 ho-

useholds live 'too cheaply' and about 200.000 'too expensively'.

This imbalance in the rental sector is relevant for the government policy for two main reasons:

1. dwellings that are occupied by tenants that live 'too cheaply' are often subsidised. The meaning

of this object-oriented subsidy is to lower the rent, so that the dwellings are affordable for the

lower incomes. One effect of cheap dwellings being occupied by higher-income groups is that the

target group has to step into more expensive dwellings. Another effect is that more new cheap,

heavily subsidised dwellings have to be built.

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2. tenants that live 'too expensively' need financial support in the form of individual rent allowan-

ces. More than 800.000 households are supported in this way which costs the Ministry of Hous-

ing and Planning every year 1.5 billion guilders.

2.3. Pumoses

The Secretary of State has called redressing the imbalance in housing space distribution the biggest

challenge of the 'nineties. The governments target for the year 2000 is to reduce the number of

tenants living 'too cheaply' by 200.000. It is estimated that if policy is not changed, in the year 2000

about 750.000 households would live 'too cheaply'.

It is also estimated that because of economic development the number of tenants who live 'too

expensively' will reduce automatically. The policy purpose is to increase this reduction by 40.000

households more to result in 120.000 tenants living 'too expensively' in the year 2000.

3. Policy instruments

In which way can the objective of reducing the imbalance be reached?

The Secretary of State has rejected national working instruments such as a tax for tenants that live

'too cheaply'. National working instruments would be contradictionary to the main intentions of his

policy document: decentralisation and deregulation.

Instead instruments suited for application by local authorities and housing associations in different

local and regional housing market situations are preferred. The meaning of the instruments should

be to stimulate and to steer the autonomous processes on the housing market, herunder the move-

ment of households.

The next instruments a re under discussion:

1. strategic building of new dwellings

2. housing space assignment;

3. housing permits and -contracts for a limited period;

4. co-operation; and

5. information.

3.1. Strateeic buildine of new dwellines

The idea of this instrument is that the target group should not be housed primarily by building

more new cheap dwellings (the direct way), but by building those new dwellings that make available

cheap dwellings in the housing stock because of removals (the indirect way).

This means that the price and quality of newly-built dwellings must be so attractive, that tenants

that live 'too cheaply' want to and in fact will move.

In the highly urbanised western part of the Netherlands for instance, and especially in Amsterdam,

the housing stock contains a preponderance of cheap rented dwellings. In this region the number of

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tenants living 'too cheaply' also is far more than the proportional rate. In such a housing market

situation the housing needs of the target group should be solved indirectly by building middle pric-

ed dwellings in the owner-occupied sector.

3.2. Housing mace assignment

An absolute necessity for achieving a more balanced distribution of the housing stock is to take

care that, when a household moves into a dwelling, the relation between income and price is suit-

able. This concerns the moves into newly-built dwellings as well as into supply from the housing

stock.

The assignment of dwellings is first of all the responsibility of the landlord. The landlord decides

whether o r not he want to let his dwelling to a certain household. In municipalities with a housing

assignment policy however, a household needs, besides a contract with the landlord, also a housing

permit from the local autorities when taking the dwelling into use. The local authorities have the

competence to make conditions on that permit. Conditions may be for instance that households

must have an economic or social interest in the municipality, that they must have a certain degree

of urgency and/or that the number of rooms in the dwelling they want to occupy is not too great in

relation to the number of members of the household. Local authorities have also the competence

to make conditions in regard to the relationship between size of income and rent.

An inquiry amongst municipalities showed that about 25 % of the local authorities have a very

intensive housing assignment policy. In these municipalities there are standards for whether or not

a householder can enroll himself as a househunter, as well as standards for determining urgency

and suitability. In these municipalities the local authorities not only test whether a letting by the

landlord is according to the standards, but also actively seek dwellings for households as well.

On the other hand also 25 % of the local authorities have no housing assignment policy at all.

Because there is a strong relationship between urbanisation and the intensity of housing assignment

policy, most of the rental dwellings are localised in municipalities with a form of housing assign-

ment policy.

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Figure 4

intensity of housing assignment policy, municipalities and rental stock (1987)

no alloc pol icy m~ddle alloc pol intensive alloc pol

municipalities rental stock

The inquiry mentioned above also showed that when the municipality has a housing assignment

policy, it almost always includes in one way or another standards for the relationship between in-

come and rent. The goal of these rules is normally to prevent cheaper dwellings from being oc-

cupied by higher income-groups.

3.3. Housing permits and -contracts for a limited period

At the moment a housing contract and -permit make it possible to make conditions for taking a

dwelling into use. The proposed instrument of housing permits and -contracts for a limited period

gives the local authorities and landlords the opportunity to make conditions for keepitlg a dwelling

in use.

The idea is that after a limited period of time, for instance five years, the landlords and/or local

authorities have the competence to test the relation income-rent again. If a tenant lives 'too chea-

ply' according to the standards, then the household has to move. In this way cheap dwellings stay

available for the target group, also in the long term.

An absolute obligation to move however was not acceptable for the Parliament. That is why the

Secretary of State introduced the possibility for tenants that live 'too cheaply' and don't want to

move, to pay a kind of extra rent for keeping the cheap dwelling. In this way the dwelling would

not be 'too cheap' anymore, the price-quality rate of the dwelling decreases and other dwellings

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may be more attractive to move to. After moving sooner or later the rent of the dwelling goes back

to the former low level and the dwelling is again available as a cheap dwelling for the target group.

To pay an extra amount seems the same as just another tax. The main difference however is that

this instrument is not of national application, but suitable to the local housing market situation.

This is so because it is the competence of the landlord and/or local authority to decide on which

dwellings this instrument is applied to and on which not. Beside this, the intention of the instru-

ment is above all to increase the supply of cheap dwellings by stimulating removals, and not to

raise money.

This instrument will be operational in 1995 if it turns out that the other instruments have been

unable to reduce adequately the imbalance of housing distribution.

3.4. Co-overation

At the moment there is a lack of co-operation between local authorities and between housing as-

sociations. This co-operation could for instance consist of the use of a central registration of house-

hunters for selecting candidates, or of using the same standards for registration and determining

urgency and suitability. By increasing co-operation the choice of the assignment officials to find the

right household for a dwelling increase and so the chance of a more efficient assignment increases.

On the other hand this co-operation increases the accessiblity of the housing stock for househun-

ters. With this increase of choice also the chance of finding a suitable dwelling increases.

3.5. Information

At the moment there are too many local authorities and housing associations that have little or just

partial information about the local and/or regional housing market. To increase the efficiency of

housing assignment policy and to be able to see the connections with strategic new-building policy,

more information is needed. A central register of househunters in a local or regional area may be

very useful for that.

It is also important that households get more information about the supply of rental dwellings. If

households know better what kind of dwellings are available, it may stimulate them to move to a

more suitable dwelling, and in doing so making available cheap dwellings.

Some local authorities are, in co-operation with the local housing associations, already experimen-

ting with more market oriented assignment systems based on informing households about the sup-

ply.

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4. Criticisms and margin notes

The emphasis in the policy document 'Housing in the nineties' on the necessity to reduce the im-

balance in housing distribution has lead to much discussion.

First of all the definition of the target group and the cheap sector is criticized.

The definition of imbalance is based on just an income-rent standard, while housing is or should be

much more than that, for instance the quality of the dwelling, the number of rooms, the environ-

ment, the social structure of the neighbourhood etc.

Also the level of incomes and rent are criticised. In the case of a household which has an income

just above the target group, living 'too cheaply' can result in a very high housing burden, in fact up

to 25 %. Should this household have to move to a more expensive dwelling?

By using more reasonable standards for the defmition of the target group and of the cheap sector,

the problem of imbalance would decrease or not even exist a t all.

Besides that, so the argument goes, if a reduction of imbalance is necessary, then also the owner-

occupied sector must be included.

The instrument of strategic building of new dwellings is more or less accepted as useful. The

question is however who decides what exactly must be the content of strategic building on the local

level. S o the main criticism of this instrument is that the central government has related the prog-

ram of building new subsidised dwellings to the local efforts to reduce imbalance.

When asking for subsidised dwellings the local authorities have to make plausible, that housing

the target group in the indirect way, that is by building more expensive new dwellings with high

quality to stimulate removals, is not possible.

Local authorities consider this to be a limitation of their competences and responsibilities in hous-

ing policy.

The instrument of sharpening the income : rent standards in the housing space assignment pol-

icy is critisised because it would cause too much emphasis on this relationship. The attention to

other factors that are (more) relevant in housing assignment would decrease. It is the competence

and responsibility of the local authorities to create the suitable balance between all those factors

with regard to the local housing market situation.

Most heavily critisised is the proposal of housing permits and -contracts for a limited period.

Especially local authorities and housing associations have principal objections to an obligation to

move. It would result in an unexceptable uncertainty for the households and create one-sided ho-

mogeneous income neighbourhoods, amounting to ghetto-status where social problems will ac-

cumulate. Besides that, there would be practical problems to execute this instument.

Parliament agreed that one-sided social structurers in neighbourhoods must be avoided. An

instrument to avoid this could be building and re-building in such a way that the housing stock in

neighbourhouds will achieve a more mixed price characteristic. Despite the critics, Parliament ag-

reed in June 1990 to the necessity to reduce the imbalance and tothe instruments to achieve the

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purposes. As mentioned before, the instrument of housing permits and -contracts for a limited

period will be operational in 1995 only if it turns out, that the other instruments have had not en-

ough results in reducing the imbalance of housing distribution.

5. Inquiry into the assignment of cheap new-built dwellings

5.1. Motivation for and eoal of the inauirv

Every year the Ministry of Housing and Planning makes a survey of the occupiers of recently

built new dwellings. The main goal of this survey is to evaluate the program of newly built dwel-

lings. Questions are which kind of households occupy these dwellings, what are the housing burdens

and what kind of dwellings have the tenants of these dwellings left behind.

With regard to the special function that newly built dwellings and the assignment of these dwel-

lings must have according to the policy to reduce the imbalance in housing distribution, attention in

this inquiry has been given to the assignment of the cheap and the expensive new dwellings.

The outcome of the inquiry in 1989 concerning the occupation of new dwellings in 1988, shows that

43 % of the newly built cheap dwellings are occupied by higher income groups. Of the expensive

dwellings on the other hand, 30 % are occupied by the target group.

Because of these figures the Secretary of State wanted to know more about the housing assignment

policy of the local authorities and the housing associations.

After consultation with the Union of Dutch Municipalities (Vereniging van Nederlandse Gem-

eenten) and the Co-ordinated Organisations of Housing Associations (Landelijke Centrale's van

Woningcorporaties) it was decided to make an inquiry into the backgrounds and causes for the

noticed imbalance in newly built dwellings, to start with the problem of tenants living 'too cheaply'.

The main question of the inquiry was:

Which circumstances, factors and processes cause living 'too cheaply' in newly built cheap dwel-

lings?

5.2. Method

The researchers started to formulate some possible causes. These possible causes for living 'too

cheaply' are divided into four categories:

1. causes with regard to the situation on the housing market,

such as:

, lack of demand

. too large a supply because of dwellings coming on the market not one

by one, but at once in one housing complex;

2. causes with regard to the housing space assignment policy of the local authorities and/or the

housing associations,

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such as:

. no housing space assignment policy at all

. no income standards

. income standards that are quite different from the standards of

the ministry by which the imbalance is measured

. priority to other competing goals like:

- enough rooms for the households

- a balanced social structure of the neigbourhood

- stimulate removals to make available some specific dwellings in the housing stock

- priority for some urgent situations, such as urban renewal, medical and social indication

etc.;

3. causes with regard to the practice of allocating dwellings, such as:

. insufficient checking of income data

- outdated income data at the moment of assignment

. difference between official standards and practical execution, for example

because of lack of procedures o r own interpretation of the rules by the assignment

officials.

4. causes with regard to the behaviour of the tenant, such as:

. giving wrong income information to the assignment official

. refusing other, more expensive dwellings

. trying to influence the assignment official.

Because of the character of these possible causes and the limited time to execute this inquiry, a

qualitative rather than a quantitative approach was chosen. Because of that the results are not

representative for the Netherlands, but give merely an insight into the processes that cause im-

balance.

The inquiry was limited to four municipalities. These municipalities where chosen because of the

number of newly built cheap dwellings, the presence of a formal housing space assignment policy,

the presence of housing market information, and the willingness to give information and to answer

questions, in particular by the assignment officials.

With the choice of these municipalities it was not possible to test all the possible causes. The in-

fluence of having no housing space assignment policy at all for instance, could not be measured.

For the four municipalities an inventory of the housing assignment policies and the housing

market situation has been compiled.

Some 600 tenants who live in newly built cheap dwellings were interviewed by phone. The questions

refered to rent and income, the process of house-hunting, the information given to the housing

assignment officials, possible special cicumstances, waiting period etc.

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This resulted in 260 complete interviews. Some 25 % of these 260 tenants lived 'too cheaply' accor-

ding to the government standard. The process of assignment of these 25 % was reconstructed by

conducting structured in-depth interviews with the assignment officials of the four municipalities

and the twelve housing associations involved. To avoid influencing the researchers and the officials

they also had to reconstruct the assignment process of some tenants belonging to the target group.

During the interview it was not known whether or not a tenant was living 'too cheaply'.

5.3. Results

Chamcteristics of the dwellings

In tabel 1 some characteristics of the cheap new dwellings involved are presented.

Tabel 1.

Characteristics of the housing situation

target higher group incomes total

type: - flat 1-4 floors - flat 5+ floors - others ment for: - specific younger - specific elderly - not for special group number of rooms: - 1 3 - 2 4

The dwellings involved in the inquiry are spread over 20 different housing complexes, mostly flats

up to 4 floors. Most of the dwellings have a maximum of three rooms. More than half of the dwel-

lings are intended for a specific age group.

Nearly all the dwellings are located in urban renewal areas. In order to build these dwellings the

landlords have made use of a special subsidye for newly built dwellings in these areas to lower the

rent. According to the housing assignment officials the dwellings have all, with the exception of just

a few, a good or even very good price-quality rate.

Tenants that live 'too cheaply' are over-represented in the cheap dwellings that are specially built

for the younger generation.

The target group is represented more than proportional in the dwellings meant for elderly.

Characteristics of the tenants

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In tabel 2 (see below), some characteristics of the tenants are represented.

Half of the tenants live alone in "single person households'. More than one third are 65 years or

older. Three quarters of the tenants in the sample have no income from labour, but are retired or

have a benefit.

There are some major differences between the target group and the tenants that live 'too cheaply'.

The tenants that live 'too cheaply' have proportionately higher frequencies on the following charac-

teristics:

. 2 or more persons

. age category 2544 years

. labour as source of income

. double income in households with two or more persons

. increase in income after assignment to the dwelling

. prepared to accept a more expensive dwelling

In the target group on the other hand the following characteristics are over-represented:

. family with just one parent

. age 65 years and older

. allowance or pension as source of income

. single income in households with two or more persons

. not prepared to accept a more expensive dwelling

. income not increased after assignment

. making use of individual rent allowances

. some kind of special urgency (medical or social urgency; although suprisingly few tenants in the

sample are "urgent" allocations, this being due to urban renewal activities).

In summary it seems that the renters in this inquiry that live 'too cheaply' can be seen as a group

that has more possibilities to suit itself in its housing needs then the target group.

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Tabel 2. Characteristics of the tenants

target higher groups incomes total

type: - single 47 % 47 % 47 % - 2 or more persons 4 1 % 5 2 % 4 4 % - family with just one

parent 12% 1 % 9 % age: - <24 year 14 % 13 % 14 % - 25-44 year 19 % 40 % 24 % - 44-64 year 25% 2 4 % 2 5 % - 65 year and older 42 % 23 % 37 % source of income: - labour 1 1 % 6 4 % 2 5 % - allowance/pension 89 % 36 % 75 % double incomes amongst households with 2 or more persons: - single income 40 % 17 % 32 % - double income 60 % 83 % 67 % income rised after assignment - yes 15 % 23 % 17 % - no 85 % 77 % 83 % prepared to accept a more expensive dwelling - yes 3 % 2 3 % 8 % - no 97 % 77 % 92 % using individual rent allowance - yes 8 1 % 1 2 % 6 3 % - no 19 % 88 % 37 % special urgency - yes 6 5 % 4 9 % 6 1 % - no 3 5 % 5 1 % 3 9 % property-relation previous housing situation: - rent 75 % 69 % 73 % - owrleroccupied 6 % 7 % 6 % - no independent housing

space 19 % 24 % 21 % number of rooms previous dwellings: - r 3 6 1 % 5 1 % 5 8 % - 2 4 39 % 49 % 42 % rent categorie previous rental dwelling: - cheap 9 4 % 8 4 % 9 1 % - payable and expensive 6 % 1 6 % 9 %

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Causes

1. Causes with regard to the situation in the housing market.

The housing market situation proved to be very different from one municipality to another. In

the two largest municipalities involved in the inquiry there is a general housing shortage. In one of

the middle-large municipalities demand and supply are more or less in balance, with some prob-

lems of letting the inferior quality dwellings. The other middle-large municipality has a position in

between.

No evidence is found of a causal relation between the general situation of the housing market and

tenants living 'too cheaply' in newly built dwellings. Probably this is so because the dwellings in-

volved have a good quality, an attractive price and are well located.

A few dwellings however were difficult to let because of an unfavourable situation in the housing

complex. The general procedure for letting this kind of dwelling was to select candidates that meet

the local income-rent standards but have a lower urgency. Only if there are no candidates at all

that meet the rent-income standards, would municipalities deviate from this rule to avoid dwellings

being unoccupied.

2. Causes with regard to the housing space assignment policy of the local authorities and/or the

housing associations.

In the four municipalities involved the local authorities have each formulated standards for the

relation income-rent. However, the differences between these local standards are substantial. They

include differences in the level of income, the level of acceptable rent given a certain income, the

number of income categories that are considered to be relevant, the definition of income (whether

o r not include the income of the partner) and the standards for singles and for bigger households.

Some reasons mentioned by the local authorities to use their own standards are:

- no reason for sharper standards because there is no shortage;

. connect in one way or another with the government standard for individual rent allowances;

. the income of a partner is an uncertain factor;

. the difficulty of checking whether a partner has an income and the level of that income;

. the problems of administrating a detailed standard.

Depending on the local authority viewpoint the same arguments can be evaluated positively or

negatively. As a whole the rent-income standards in the four municipalities involved are less sharp

then the standard of the Ministry, (see figure 5). This difference is caused by a combination of

using higher income levels and lower rent levels and especially by not including the income of the

partner and not discriminating between the level of income of singles and households with more

members. The use of different standards resulted in one case in tenants that live 'too cheaply' ac-

cording to the ministry at the same time live 'too expensively' according to the local authorities.

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Figure 5

maximum incomes f o r belng considered f o r a 'cheap' due l l i ng

(income of the partner i s not o r only p a r t l y included)

I I I I

ro t teraam

den haag X ) 1

den haag X X ) I leeuuarden

ensc hede

EBBii2 and more doc. standard pers hh

singles 20000 30000 40000 50000

net income houshold per year

*) according to income-rent standard for own assignments

**) according to standard to test other assignments

The difference in standard is by far the main reason why newly built cheap dwellings can be and in

fact are assigned to higher incomes. Just a few cases of living 'too cheaply' are caused by giving

priority to competive goals. The main reason cited by the municipalities was "to avoid a homogene-

ous neighbourhood".

3. Causes with regard to the practice of allocating dwellings.

m.e inquiry shows that the assignment officials deviate only very rarely from the local income-

rent standard.

It also shows however some shortcomings in the registration of income data that may cause living

'too cheaply'. The shortcomings mentioned are: outdated income data, no data on the income of

the partner, insufficient checking of income data and the use of different income definitions for

registration and controlling.

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4. Causes with regard to the behaviour of the tenant.

There is no evidence that living 'too cheaply' is caused by 'strategic' behaviour of the house hun-

ters, like giving wrong income information to the assignment official, refusing other, more expen-

sive dwellings or trying to influence the assignment official. On the contrary, the impression is that

the house hunters behave very 'properly'.

5.4. Policv im~lications

Depending on the actor the results of the inquiry can be interpreted in different ways.

The main conclusion of the Secretary of State is that sharpening the standards in housing space

assignment is possible and indeed will contribute to reduce the imbalance in housing space distrib-

ution. This sharpening means a rejection of the local standards in favour of the standards of the

Ministry and a sufficient checking of the income at the moment of assigning a dwelling. It also

means including the income of the partner to calculate the income for the standard. According to

the Ministry the income of the partner, often the wife, nowadays can and must be obtained as a

fixed part of the household income.

When it is plausible to be expected however that an income will decrease in the near future, for

instance because of retirement, an assignment official must have the opportunity to deviate from

the standard.

T o avoid homogeneity housing assignment is not the first instrument to be used. It would be

more efficient to differentiate the price and quality OF the newly built dwellings.

The Union of the Dutch Municipalities and the Co-ordinated Organisations of Housing Associa-

tions conclude primairily that living 'too cheaply' is not caused by assigning wrongly or carelessly.

The considerable difference between the standard of the Ministry and the standards of the local

authorities reflect the different housing market situations and the necessity to have standards that

can be executed in practice.

There is a strong doubt as to whether the income of the partner should be included in the income

standard. This income is not regarded as fixed.

If the local standards are sharpened this will result in reducing living 'too cheaply'. But, because

housing assignment is much more than an income-rent relation, some kind of imbalance must be

accepted as necessary.

The registration and checking of the income data can and should be improved.

6. Some points for discussion

In my view the problem of the imbalanced housing distribution is a real one. A policy to increase

the efficient use of the housing stock, in which the tenants who can afford it must pay the real

price for a dwelling, is legitimate.

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Yet however important the housing space assignment policy in this matter may be, the causes

seem to me to be more fundamental. In my opinion one main cause for an imbalanced housing

space distribution is a contradiction in the allocation of the financial interests in housing. At the

moment only the ministry has a direct financial advantage when the housing space distribution is

more efficient. Other actors have no direct advantage at all, or even disadvantages.

Local authorities are responsible for the local housing market situation and have a lot of com-

petive factors to deal with, like urban renewal, social stability in neighbourhoods and a fast de-

crease of the list of house-hunters. A policy to reduce imbalance will create problems in this areas;

problems which are not compensated by a direct financial reward.

These arguments seems to be also even more relevant for the housing associations. Because of

the exploitation risks their interest in social stability in a neighbourhood, without low rates of mov-

ing, with low and high income groups, is even more direct.

The interest of the tenant who lives 'too cheaply' can be ambiguous: if the price-quality rate of

the dwelling is high or reasonable he has no interest at all in being reallocated; if the price-quality

rate is low, the question will be whether there is an acceptable alternative.

Beside these viewpoints this paper ends with some questions:

1. is there a similar situation in housing distribution in other countries? Is it regarded as a

problem?

2. which instruments a re used to assign housing space? What is the allocation of competen-

ces, responsibilities, risks and interests?

3. is there a practice of including the income of the partner in income-rent standards?

4. are there special goals and instruments to stimulate and steer removals?

5. is there any experience with housing contracts or permits for a limited period?

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Changing Responsibilities for Housing Maintenance:

Resident-Management Cooperation

Ivor Ambrose

Abstract

Resident participation in the upkeep and improvement of housing has attracted interest as

a subject of potential significance both for housing management practice and the develop-

ment of local social networks. Danish experience from the public rental housing sector

shows that participation in resident democracy is very widespread and can be effective in

many ways. In order to assess the degree to which this example can shed light on coop-

eration in other settings - for example, the private rental sector or public housing in other

countries - this paper focusses upon resident-management cooperation with respect to

both "task" and "process" aspects of housing maintenance and improvement. Danish exam-

ples are presented which indicate the way in which improvement and maintenance can be

carried out cooperatively, with beneficial results - both for the task in hand, and also for

organisations involved.

Background

Rental housing accounts for approximately 45% of the entire housing stock in Denmark. About

17% of the housing stock is public, non-profit housing which provides homes for about 420.000

persons, which corresponds to about 15% of the population. At the end of 1989 there were 4,800

housing estates with a total of 380,000 flats.

Non-profit housing is built, managed and used according to regulations laid down in three govern-

ment Acts: the Housing Act, the Rent Act and the Non-Profit Housing Act. Within these Acts

extensive provisions are made for resident participation at all levels of decision-making.1

Many of the non-profit housing associations can trace their roots to the beginning of the 20th

century when they were formed by groups of tradesmen and artisans in order to provide decent

housing at a reasonable cost for their members. The traditions of solidarity and democracy which

Page 85: In Changing Political and Economic Conditions · 2009. 6. 24. · Traila Cernescu Building Design Institute for Typified Construction Sociological Research Laboratory Str. Sipotul

pervaded those organisations have with time been renewed and altered in keeping with changing

demands, but the underlying principles of communality have remained. Residents in non-profit

housing associations are still classed as "members" of the association, with rights of influence rel-

ated not only to the housing in which they live, but also to the policies and management of the

association itself. Whilst housing associations are professionally managed and staffed, their gover-

ning boards frequently have a majority representation of residents, whilst at the local level, resident

boards are responsible for overall decision-making.2

A housing section ( - usually an estate, or part of a residential neighbourhood), is an autonomous

economic unit. The housing section is governed by national laws and regulations, local by-laws, (for

example related to the use of property for residential and other purposes), and "house rules" cover-

ing the tenants' behaviour, use of facilities, etc. In principal the housing section should cover its

running costs with the rent income.

Resident boards, as a rule, decide how running and maintenance is organised and carried out

within the given legal framework. By far the most common arrangement is for the tenant boards to

appoint a professional management organisation to advise the elected representatives in matters of

policy and practical work, and to carry out day-to day maintenance.

The professional organisation can be an organisation which works for a single housing section, or

it may be an organisation which sells its services to several housing sections within a local area or

region.

Housing organisations: "Task and "Institutional" boundaries

The sociology of organisations can cast some light on the relationship between management and

residents and the activities performed by these two groups of actors in the housing sector. In the

analysis of organisational structure the concepts of "task" and "institutional" boundaries have been

proposed in order to explain the ways in which organisations maintain their own identity and inter-

act with their surroundings. Following, amongst others Dill (1958), Scott (1987) has elaborated the

concept of the "task environment" of organisations, defining it as,

"...those features of the environment relevant to the organisation viewed as a production system - in

particular, the sources of inputs, markets for outputs, competitors and regulatorsn.3

The "institutional environment" is a less clearly formulated concept, being of more recent origin.

This term refers to larger arrangements such as networks, culture and history in which organisa-

tions are embedded.

Individual housing corporations establish various forms of task environment although the essential

features of their work are similar. The practical nature of the processes of maintenance, renovati-

on, repairs and improvement are tackled in different ways according to the capacity, skills and

resources of the housing management. Larger corporations have, for example, introduced infor-

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mation technology for maintenance scheduling with tailor-made programmes for individual housing

estates. Yet many smaller corporations rely on traditional "maintenance according to need", which

is defined by the caretaker or housing manager.

Furthermore, housing corporations vary one to another in their "institutional" aspects, as revealed

by different forms of relationship to their clients, the residents. Whilst the democratic structure of

resident participation in decision-making is laid down by law, the degree of participation and the

way in which residents exert influence are very much conditioned by the institutional structure of

the housing management.

A recent nationwide survey conducted on behalf of the Danish Association of Non-Profit Housing

Organisations illustrates, amongst other things, participation rates in formal activities (meetings)

and informal activities (use of leisure facilities) by residents.4

The following three tables are taken from the report. They are included here to indicate the extent

and nature of tenant participation in activities associated with resident democracy and social life.

Tabel 1. Rates of participation in residents' meetings broken down by number of flats in estates.

Source: The Danish Association of Non-profit Housing Organisations, 1990.

This table shows that the highest participation rates are found amongst those estates which are

relatively small. Indeed there is sharp fall in the percentage of residents who attend meetings in

estates of over 200 flats, in contrast to the smaller estates. The sample has unfortunately not in-

cluded the (relatively few) large estates which have recently been sub-divided into smaller ad-

ministrative units as part of the efforts to engage residents more actively in increasing amenity in

their immediate surroundings.

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Tabel 2. Percentage of respondents (all are adults) who report that leisure facilities are available in

their housing estate and participation rates in leisure activities, broken down by age groups.

Source: The Danish Association of Non-profit Housing Organisations, 1990.

Residents' ages

17 - 25 years

26 - 39 years

It is the younger age groups which typically live on housing estates with leisure facilities. This can

be explained in part by the fact that older persons tend to live on the older housing estates, which

were built at a time when common rooms and other facilities were not a part of the design brief.

The newer estates, with their younger populations have better indoor space provision for social

activities. Table 2 shows that the most active age group lies between 26 and 66 years of age. This

might indicate two things:

1. Participation resources may be found most readily amongst the younger and middle aged

residents; i.e. these age groups may take the lead in developing resident-management cooperation

in fields other than leisure;

2. Activation of the youngest and eldest residents may be an appropriate policy objective, not

only with respect to leisure pursuits, but also for example in resident-management maintenance

cooperation.

Elected tenant representatives have responsibility for many aspects of the living conditions of

their fellow residents. There are legal and economic matters, practical questions and social con-

siderations to be taken care of. Table 3 shows which issues or subjects the tenant representatives

wish to have more knowledge of - in order to ease or improve their work. Housing corporations

provide courses for representatives in many of the subjects mentioned, therefore the question is by

no means speculative.

Percentage of estates where

leisure facilities

are present

%

85

81

Percentage of residents

taking part in leisure

activities

%

22

27

40 - 55 years

56 - 66 years

67 and above

Total

80

73

66

75

26

28

20

25

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Tabel 3. Self-reported need for more knowledge amongst residents elected to posts on 1. housing

association boards, 2. housing estate boards, 3. both estate and association boards.

1. Housing assoc. board members.

Topics :

Meeting and speaking techniques

Accounts and housing economics

Organizational structure and resident democracy

Building techniques relevant to maintenance

Building planning and design

Renting regulations

Leisure activities and social life

Work conditions for housing personnel

Communication and information

Environment and recycling

Energy-saving, heating technology and accounting

Regulations related to vacating flats and residents' improvements to flats

Other topics

3. Both housing assoc. and estate board members. (n - 259)

2 . Housing estate board members.

Source: The Danish Association of Non-profit Housing Organisations, 1990.

99

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Resident-management cooperation in maintenance and housing improvement

Housing maintenance and improvement are two areas in which efforts are being made to further

the input of residents both in decision-making processes, but also in the practical work itself. The

thrust in this direction comes in part from the residents, who seek broader influence over their own

surroundings. A second factor is the economic necessity of providing cheaper maintenance which

has encouraged housing managers to pursue this line of development.

Given the existing institutional framework of the housing estates and the current range of activ-

ities in which tenants participate, residents' active involvement in maintenance and renewal may be

regarded as a straightforward extension of each tenant's right to exercise control over his or her

living conditions.

Multi-storey housing areas: examples of cooperation

A Danish language publication from the Danish Building Research Institute describes proposals for

the improvement of problem-ridden, multi-storey housing areas which were studied over a five-

year period.5 At present this publication is only available in Danish.

The project began in 1983, during a period in which certain housing estates attracted attention

due to the difficulties of letting large flats and maintaining economic viability. It soon turned out,

however, that the difficulty of renting out flats was just one of many problems. Physical decay, poor

administration and a variety of social problems had become concentrated in certain housing areas.

The main objective of the project was therefore to point to solutions which could solve this broad

spectrum of problems.

The Danish experience of problem housing is only one variant of a phenomemenon found in

many other western countries, for example Sweden, Great Britain, the United States of America,

Holland and Germany. In these countries the problems are of a far more serious nature, and for-

ced by circumstances, more solutions have been tried elsewhere than in Denmark. A Catalogue of

Ideas was developed from a range of sources, including research studies in the above-named count-

ries, visits - in particular to Swedish housing estates - and finally, on our own research covering var-

ious large-scale improvement projects carried out in Denmark.

Our own research examined, in particular, the suitability of the Swedish solutions to Danish con-

ditions. A significant contribution to the development of this theme has been a running dialogue

with the representatives of tenants, municipal authorities, and housing management in the problem-

atic Danish housing areas. The dialogue took place during seminars and courses and in connection

with lectures, where ideas were tested and adjusted.

The solutions suggested in the catalogue of ideas have, perhaps a wider range of application in

that they do not presume modifications to government housing policies, but can be carried out wi-

thin existing political and administrative frameworks. The extracts presented here can stand alone

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as examples of problems and possible solutions, although it is acknowledged that an overall coher-

ent solution to the problems of estates will often incorporate many other considerations.

A general feature of the proposals is the reliance upon a more active and decentralized housing

administration and an improved service to the tenants. Another proposal is to build up closer co-

operation between residents, their clubs and other interest groups in the housing areas, and bet-

ween the local board elected by the tenants, the municipal administration, schools, public services

and other locally-based organizations.

A major emphasis has been placed on the tasks of the professional housing administration. But

an extensive range of social problems which dominate certain areas, for example, low income, un-

employment, and divorce, cannot be solved by even the best of housing administrations. Nor thro-

ugh other local improvements. Such fundamental problems call for solutions at the level of central

government. The same goes for the financial problems of some housing estates which can only be

overcome by changes in conditions relating to building loans and financing.

The proposals indicate, amongst other things possible areas in which management-resident relati-

ons can have a positive influence on improvement and maintenance processes.

MAINTENANCE CARRIED OUT BY RESIDENTS

In owner-occupied dwellings most of the interior and exterior maintenance is done by the owners

themselves. Many people are capable of doing these jobs and enjoy doing them as well. In rental

housing the interior maintenance of the flat, as a rule, rests with the tenant as long as he rents the

flat. When he moves out it is normally management that sees to the renovation - the costs, how-

ever, must be covered to a certain extent by the person who moves out. If the tenancy agreement

has run for more than 10 years the housing management normally bears the full renovation costs.

The external maintenance is usually taken care of by management without participation from the

tenants, but inspired by the ever growing do-it-yourself attitude amongst the flat-owning poulation,

it has been discussed whether tenants should be more involved in some of the outdoor main-

tenance of the housing area.

Solutions

The arguments in favour of a deeper involvement of the tenants in maintenance apart from the flat

proper, for example of buildings, stairways and open spaces are

as follows:

* it may strengthen the tenants' sense of belonging to the housing area

* it may help in keeping maintenance costs low

* in many housing areas residents have the necessary professional skills and the spare time

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* the feeling of responsibility towards things you have to take of yourself is in general greater than

towards things "somebody else" takes care of.

The arguments against are that many residents in Denmark have chosen to rent in order to avoid

the trouble of maintenance. It should, also in the future, be possible for them to pay their way out

of some maintenance obligations. Against resident involvement weighs also the consideration to the

unions and the local artisans, if their normal work totally or partly is converted into do-it-yourself

jobs. This does not necessarily have to be the case as the work carried out by residents often is

work that otherwise would not be done. Or it would be work that called for professional assistance,

because it is important to give the residents adequate instructions and support from professional

workmen (possibly from management's own professional workmen, caretakers and boilermen).

Furthermore it is important that the jobs initiated are feasible and "visible". For example painting

of stairways and cellars would be obvious places to start a campaign of "do-it yourself maintenance"

in a housing development. Also a cleaning up of the open spaces might be a reasonable task, and

coud be executed as a one-day campaign in the spring.

COMPLAINTS AND CRITICAL RESIDENTS

There is an obvious tendency for a housing management to regard complaining or critical tenants

as a nuisance and try to avoid them. And when, as a consequence, tenants do not get their prob-

lems solved a feeling of mutual dissatisfaction between the parties arises.

Solutions

There are numerous examples where management sees it as its responsibility to create an adequate

housing milieu for the residents. And it regards complaints and critical residents as an usset to a

housing development because these residents point to problems which ought to be solved by man-

agement.

In some housing areas the residents are urged to fulfil this function of fault-finding.

The sooner the problems are discovered the sooner they can be solved which may mean cheaper,

quicker, more gratifying and more lasting solutions whether it concerns a technical problem (eg

leaking pipes) or a social problem (eg bothersome neighbours).

In some managements fixed deadlines have been introduced by which time faults and defects

must be remedied. Minor faults and defects, for example, must be corrected within three working

days counted from the time management received a report about the fault. Major faults get a long-

er respite. At any rate, complaining residents should be informed about which steps have been

taken by management.

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A Swedish management organization has introduced an arrangement whereby the tenant gets a

reduction of the rent if management has not corrected the faults and defects reported within the

fixed time.

If residents complain about each other, the plaintiff should be notified about the steps manage-

ment plans to take in order to settle matters. And when these steps have been taken the plaintiff

should be informed accordingly. It is also a service to the tenants that the decision-making and the

authority are decentralized in order to make the procedure of complaint less bureaucratic and that

a problem, eg replacement of a refrigerator, is tackled on the spot. The management official who

receives a complaint about a refrigerator and who deems it necessary that the refrigerator ought to

be replaced, should also have the authority to make this decision.

In respobse to complaining residents management ought to

* listen and write down what the complaint is all about

* consider who is going to take care of the question

* inform as to which steps will be taken by management

* possibly include the tenant in an improvement of the criticizable conditions (the tenant is highly

motivated).

THE CARETAKER

The housing officials each have their special function and each of them covers a large or several

smaller housing areas with the result that they never get in contact with the residents of a limited,

smaller housing area. The tasks and training of the officials are not aimed at establishing a contact

between housing management and the residents.

A long distance between management and residents can be a root cause of trouble and dissatis-

faction in connection with repairwork and other services to the residents. It can also be accom-

panied by a splitting up of the functions of the officials which may run counter to effective manage-

ment.

Solutions

It is the officials who have the daily contact with the residents which means that the residents' opi-

nion of the housing assciation is based on what the housing officials are doing and how they relate

to the residents. A housing official might be technically skilled, but if his contact with the residents

results in frequent human conflicts, the official in question is giving the housing association a bad

image. The somewhat old-fashioned word "caretaker" does in fact describe very well the job of

being the one who sees to it that a housing area functions well and that people feel comfortable in

their dwellings. The job thus has its social and humane aspect as well as its technical side.

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Several caretakers have been appointed to their jobs because of their technical and practical skil-

ls, and over the years quite an extensive post-professional training has taken place where these

skills are brushed up and developed. Few have a previous education in how to "relate" to people.

But to a certain degree this can be learned too. Training aimed at solving the typical situation (of

conflict) to which the caretaker is exposed, is very important in this connection.

With its 1600 flats the area of Norrastad was subdivided into 8 districts each with its own care-

taker. Previously the caretaker function was located in the office of the Housing Association Lands-

kronahem at the edge of the housing development, but now several small offices have been estab-

lished in vacant flats in th area.

Previously the maintenance work was specialized, meaning that one person took care of the elec-

trical work, another handled the water and drainage problems, one tended the open spaces, one

repaired, for instance, the door locks and window hardware, one handled the garbage disposal

some cleaned the stairways etc. It could take months to have a defect refrigerator replaced and

several days to have a faulty toilet fixed. Now all minor repairs are fixed by district caretakersthe

very same day they are reported and larger replacements are carried out within 3 days.

A special mailbox for failure reports has been mounted next to the caretaker's office. The care-

taker empties this box several times a day - and on top of that he receives notices about faults

when he walks his district. H e wears a special red working outfit with the Landskronahem mark on

the breast pocket and the name on the back. In this way he can easily be recognized at a distance

of several hundred metres. H e has the keys to all flats and enters if the resident so wishes. If it is a

question of larger repairs such as cleaning out a kitchen drainage he has his tools with him on a

little 2-wheel cart or he might have them and necessary spare parts in a bag. H e has got acquainted

very quickly with the residents and has become popular under the name of "our Lasse". H e has

come to fufil a very important social function, is often offered a cup of coffee and participates in

get-togethers and the like. H e does not necessarily have to live on the estate, if he did, he would

have very little time left for his private life, but it is possible to summon him if serious problems

should arise e.g. burst water pipes.

MANAGEMENT O F AN AREA

No single authority is responsible for management of the entity that a housing estate constitutes.

The welfare department, the technical department, the schools etc., each execute their tasks in the

area. Seen from the angle of the residents management appears to be split-up. If the work is not

coordinated, many good efforts may be wasted and the various authorities might impede each ot-

her. Experience shows that it is very difficult to work across sections and departments.

Many experiments are being made to avoid this splitting up by way of a coordinated collaboration

with several departments, for example with schools, welfare department and the police (SWP).

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When it comes to more radical, organisational solutions experiments are made with a view to es-

tablishing neighbourhood councils, neighbourhood sessions and the like.

Most of these experiments, however, are based on the municipal administrations and attempts are

made to make these more flexible, effective and more democratic. The experiments include housing

sites too, but normally not their managements. Thereby an important factor is missing in the "sy-

stem" which to many residents constitutes the basic framework of their existence.

Solutions

In a housing area in a neighbourhood of Oslo, Norway, an experiment has been carried out where

the municipality and the housing association together have employed a manager for the area to be

in charge of the daily management, which again is subdivided into a technical, a social and a recre-

ational department each with its own manager. The overall management of the local management

is headed by a board appointed by the municipality and the housing association.

Some of the municipal tasks are transferred from the municipal departments to the local man-

agement and are closely linked to the local tasks of the housing association.

The advantage of the integrated local management is a better planning of the total efforts being

made in the housing area so that the authorities involved, ie municipality and housing association

together, provide the residents with a better service at a lower price.

T H E RESIDENT AND T H E MANAGEMENT

Residents often feel it is a problem to get in touch with the housing associations. One of the reas-

ons might be that there is no local management office, or that opening hours coincide with the

working hours of the residents. It might also be a problem that due to insufficient knowledge about

the residents the housing management is unable to solve a series of social and practical problems in

an adequate manner.

Solutions

The residents' access to complain, to report faults and lacking service can be facilitated for example

by keeping the management office open when residents are home from work and by letting the

officials on their rounds in the area receive information about faults etc. As a supplement an an-

swering service may be installed.

Management should make an effort to follow up on what is going on in the housing area. This

could take place by visiting the area at different times of the day and evening or by participating in

meetings with small groups of residents.

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With sufficient knowledge about the residents, management is able to offer a more personal ser-

vice.

The residents should be well informed about the doings of management and what management

considers advantages and disadvantages in the housing area.

A closer contact to the residents enables management to involve them in different management

problems and thereby a closer link between residents and housing association/housing area is cre-

ated.

More information and closer contact make the residents more responsible and more aware of the

area.

In housing associations which administer several housing developments, a decentralization of

management can be established by placing self-governing units in the housing areas. And larger

housing areas can be subdivided into smaller management units.

This will result in a closer contact to the residents, a better service, a less bureaucratic and more

effective management. If there are vacancies in the housing areas, placing managers in the area

would be an alternative use of empty flats. A division into smaller management units could give the

management officials more varied jobs, ie alternate between cleaning of stairs, maintenance of the

open spaces and more resident-oriented activities.

Notes and references

1. Salicath, Niels. (1987) Danish Social Housing Corporations. Boligselskabernes Landsforening, Copenhagen. Gives an overview of the structure and activities of Danish non-profit housing corpor- ations.

2. See also Salicath, 1987 op. cit.

3. Scott, W.R. (1987) "Organizations: Rational, Natural and Open Systems". 2nd. edition. Prentice- Hall International, London.

4. "Beboerdemokratiet: Resultater af en BL unders~gelse" /Resident Democracy: Results of a sur- vey by the National Federation of Housing Associations. Boligselskabernes Landsforening, Copen- hagen. 1990

5. "Improving Multi-Storey Housing Estates". Kristensen, H. et al. (awaiting a publisher). The Dan- ish Building Research Institute, Horsholm, Denmark. Originally published in Danish as SBI "By- planlagning" Report no. 54, 1988.

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Clients or Actors in the Housing Market?

- or Whatever happened to State Intervention ?

- or Lessons from Marketization of the Regulated Private Rental Sector

in Central Stockholm

Ola Siksio

Abstract

This paper deals with the problem of formal state intervention and informal marketization in

distribution of vacant private rental dwellings in Sweden. The discussion in the paper concerns

the concepts of clients and actors in the housing market, distribution of dwellings according to

need o r resources and formal or informal ways of gaining access to dwellings.

The research reported in this paper evaluates the relative contributions of material and social

variables when it comes to determining different formal and informal ways of getting access to

rental dwellings in a regulated rental housing market with excess housing demand - the inner-

city of Stockholm. Data from a survey conducted by the National Swedish Institute for Building

Research in 1988 containing a sample of 500 households in inner-city rental housing is examined

in the context of ANOTA (analysis of tables) models.

The results for the private rental sector show evidence of a rather weak position for the mun-

icipality even within this regulated rental sector and the important role of individual activity

together with Material, Cognitive and Social resources when it comes to the different formal

and informal ways of getting access to a rental dwelling in a regulated Swedish local private

rental housing market. The most important prerequisites for obtaining a home in the privately

owned innercity rental stock in Stockholm have been previous possession of a home with a

lease contract o r possession of a social network affording ways into the housing market.

1. Introduction

Relatively few homes have been built in Sweden in recent years. This also applies to Stockholm,

and especially to its inner areas. This part of Stockholm is, in principal, completely built up, unless

it is decided to raise the level of exploitation and increase the density of settlement. The number of

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small dwelling units has also declined in connection with alterations. Stockholm has had a heavy

population influx. Demand for flats is very high, especially in the central districts. There are more

than 140,000 people on the housing list. Prices of tenant-owner flats are sky-rocketing. Every day

one can read in the papers about the difficulties of finding a home. This is not an easy equation to

solve.

To a great extent, however, even in the course of debate, there has been a lack of em-

pirically founded knowledge wncerning the working of the housing market and the way in which

people living in the centre of Stockholm actually aquired their homes What are the principal ways

of finding a home? How large a percentage of people acquired their homes through the public

housing exchange? What part is played by landlords as purveyors of vacant homes? How much do

friends and relatives mean for the prospects of finding a flat? How important a part has been play-

ed in this process by flat-swapping between households?

The main problem underlying this question is who should control housing procurement ac-

tivities: the public sector or the private sector. The manner in which people find a home can be

termed an indicator of the way in which the housing market operates for households during a cer-

tain period or at a given point in time, and it can reflect shifts in the balance of power between

public and more private modes of procurement.

A significant focus within housing studies is on "Who consumes?" and "What is wnsum-

ed?" but not so very often "How has this consumption been possible?" i.e. by what access routes

this consumption is realized. One fundamental division in the housing market is related to degree

of regulation; an interesting problem is ways of access to housing in a regulated housing market. In

that sense the question could be raised: who gains and who looses when the idea and function of a

regulated housing sub-market is challenged by possibilities for market solutions and actions by the

home-hunting household itself? What happens to the possibilities of different groups for access

when a normative "client-oriented" system for allocation of housing is confronted with a reality

containing possibilities for a more "actor-oriented" system for distribution, even of rental dwellings?

During recent years the pressure on the housing market of central Stockholm has under-

gone big changes. The influx of people to the inner city areas has been great and the economy has

increased especially in the public sector. Both these tendencies have had a socio-demographic im-

pact on people attracted by the central location. On the other hand construction has been focused

on offices and not residential housing. A lot of small apartments have been converted to bigger

ones, demolished or used for other purposes. In a society where social goals of housing have been

and still are of great significance, the system is now challenged. That is why access to housing is of

great political interest as well as of scientific interest, concerning how people actually have been

acting to get an apartment in a tight and regulated local housing market.

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2. Previous approaches and research

We have commented upon the housing-choice approaches and their possible shortcomings else-

where (Siksio 1988a, 1988b, Siksio & BorgegArd 1990) and therefore the following presentation is

kept to a minimum.

Within the research on housing choice economists have emphasized choice and access as

part of a competitive process within a housing market where households are maximizing utilities

subject to budget constraints. Models of competitive, dynamic and spatially differentiated housing

markets (McLennan 1977, Quigley 1987).

Alternative views, institutional or structural, have been demonstrated in the work of soc-

iologists and geographers emphasizing access to and allocation of housing as a part of societal or-

ganization. Housing has a social impact and housing tenure and distribution of and access to hous-

ing is placed at the centre of the debate about the sources and continued maintenance of social

divisions and inequalities in society from a Marxist or a Neo-Weberian viewpoint (Rex & Moore

1967, Pahl 1975, Castels 1977, Saunders 1978, Harris & Pratt 1988). These studies point to the

importance of action over housing consumption and this action involves the interaction between the

consumer as an individual and the institutions and agents with responsibility for distribution of

dwellings (Clapham & Kintrea 1984). It is a question of power and control and of approaches con-

sidering the household a client or an actor in the search for a home.

A thud approach - the individualist one - has mainly been used to examine movement

processes - decision to move homes and reasons for choosing another dwelling. The seminal work

in the field is by Rossi and his "Why families move" now thirty-five years old (Rossi 1955). Rossi's

approach has been widely accepted and over the years we have seen works in this tradition presen-

ting still more refined and complex sets of possibilities of the impact of stages in the family life-

cycle for explaining housing decisions (Michelson 1977).

The influence of institutions and the existing structure in the housing market on the search

process and decision making seems to be strong, but its more exact nature is not clearly defmed or

investigated. A majority of the housing choice models seem to be individual decision models and

have little to say about what really comes out of the decision to move (Brown & Moore 1970).

In an effort to utilize elements of the different approaches we explore demographic, social

as well as economic variables for their impact on different ways of access to housing in a regulated

private rental market. It is vital to understand what the determinants of different ways of getting

access to housing are and what difference it makes to those who enter the local housing market or

sub-market. Our assumption is that their success will depend on the resources they possess to

surmount supply constraints - financial, institutional and structural - in the local housing market

system.

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3. Characteristics of the Swedish housing market

The Swedish housing market has some significant characteristics which are of great importance in

understanding the prerequisites for access to housing in the local market.

First the housing policy is one cornerstone in the social welfare program carried out in the

1930's and manifested in a defined Housing Policy Act 1945. Constructing housing in the public

rental sector was one means to achieve good affordable housing for the households. During the SO

called million housing program, 1966-75, there was a substantial increase in public rental housing.

Now the composition of housing is roughly the following: multi-family housing comprises 54 per

cent of the total stock and single family housing 46 per cent. Within the multifamily stock the pub-

lic rental housing are 780 000 (20 per cent), private rental 660 000 (17 per cent) and cooperative

tenant owned housing 580 000 (15 per cent).

Another characteristic is the high degree of State subsidies and loans to different sectors

of the housing market. Especially for the owner-occupied houses the housing policy so far could be

viewed as part of the taxation system. The state is however going to reduce the subsidies substan-

tially. Another effect of the political goals on housing market is to offer favourable loans in order

to rebuild or renovate old houses. A result of this policy is that slum housing is not to be found in

Sweden.

A further characteristic of the Swedish housing market is the idea of setting rents in public

housing according to age of the house, standard and size of the apartment (called utility value

principle). The actual monthly cost for housing is dependent on these variables, not on the site.

This leads to comparably inexpensive housing, i.e in inner city of Stockholm where the housing

stock is quite old, compared with the suburbs, where the stock is newer and the costs therefore

higher.

Municipal housing agencies have been established in many medium sized and bigger mun-

icipalities in order to allocate housing. As could be seen the Swedish housing market has been sup-

ported by the State for quite a long time and the housing market is linked to social policy goals as

well a s for economic policy.

A recent work by Alex Anas and some Swedish colleagues (Anas et al 1987) on demand

and movements in a controlled housing market presents way of typifying the Swedish housing mar-

ket. In that report the authors argue that the Swedish housing market can be divided into three

distinct types, each of which contains various sub-markets with regard to the combination of types

of housing available in the different types:

a completely free market.

a partly regulated market.

a completely regulated market

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The completely free market contains all types of housing which can be freely traded in a

housing market, without any restrictions on prices or rents. No newly built home can belong to this

category, which comprises freehold homes more than three years old and tenant-owned homes

more than one year old.

The partly regulated market comprises homes in which the State o r municipality, through

the medium of loans and interest grants, can influence prices and rents. This market, then, includes

both non-profit and private rented homes, new tenant-owner homes (actually tenant-owner homes

less than one year old) and freehold houses less than three years old. Excess demand is possible in

the partly regulated market, and distribution here is presumed to be governed by some principle of

profit maximization.

The completely regulated market comprises homes with a fixed price or rent which are

handled by the formal housing exchange and whose distribution is presumed to be governed by the

needs of housing applicants. This market, then, can include newly built o r rebuilt rental properties - privately as well as publicly owned - with State credits and subsidies, a certain proportion of new

cooperative tenant-owner homes and also newly constructed single family dwellings distributed

through the municipal housing list.

4. A local housing market: inner city Stockholm

Our research area, inner city Stockholm, comprises about 240 000 people in 165 000 households

living in multi-family housing - 100 000 in private rental tenure, 24 000 in public rental and 40 000

in cooperative tenant ownership.

Owner occupation and cooperative tenant-ownership, by defmition, makes money a condition of

access to the tenancy agreement for a flat, but subsequently, subject to permission from the tenan-

towner co-operative, the tenant can sub-let or sell the flat.

In the non-profit public housing sector, all vacant apartments must be referred to the housing ex-

change, a t the same time as households, subject to the landlord's permission, can exchange or sub-

let their flats. The Municipality of Stockholm recently adopted a policy decision on incompany

housing exchange lists, which is a new way of procuring homes in the non-profit sector.

In the case of private rental tenure, there is, in Stockholm, an agreement to the effect that half

of all vacant apartments a re to be referred by the landlord to the housing exchange. Subject to ap-

proval by landlord, the tenant can himself exchange or sub-let, but he may not legally sell his title

in the housing market. Here too, landlords will have their own waiting lists for tenants wanting to

exchange (swap) their flat within the proprietor's housing-stock.

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5. Distributive Principles and the housing market

In the general debate on distributive principles in Sweden during recent years, a number of dif-

ferent questions have emerged. Is the market to determine the prices of tenant-owner flats in desir-

able locations? Are rented flats to be converted into tenant-owner flats? Should people be allowed

to trade-in tenancy agreements? Is the Housing Referral Act to be generally applied and use of the

public housing exchange service made compulsory? Are measures to be taken to alter the con-

ditions applying to home-swapping and sub-tenancies? Are efforts to be made to influence mobility

and turnover in the housing market?

The following facts have emerged with regard to the effects of the overriding institutional fra-

mes and regulatory systems of the housing market where Greater Stockholm and the City of Stock-

holm are concerned:

* The rules of the Tenancy Act on security of tenure and rights of exchange put residents in a

strong position and it seems reasonable to regard them as a regulatory system restricting the

landlord's scope for manoeuvre. One possible, unforeseen effect of security of tenure in a local

housing market with excess demand is the possibility of retaining a tenancy agreement even if

one does not use the flat regularly. This kind of development in turn has repercussions on the

market in the form of low resource utilisation and lower housing turnover. In the event of a flat

being sublet, this effect is eliminated, but in cases where the flat is left unoccupied, it constitutes

an unavailable reserve in the local housing market.

* The right of exchange makes it possible for households to solve their own housing problems. A

viable exchange market can be looked on as important for the disposition of households to proc-

ure another home and, accordingly, as a factor contributing to turnover and mobility in the mar-

ket. On the other hand, the right of exchange does not imply any net increment of new dwelling

units in an existing market.

* The Housing Referral Act, agreements in the spirit of the Act and compulsory use of the public

housing exchange are all regulatory systems favouring households, or rather certain types of

household, namely those capable of benefiting from the possibility of a larger number of homes

being distributed in accordance with the principles applied by municipality and public housing

exchange. From the viewpoint of supply in the total housing market, compulsory housing referral

probably means only marginal additions (not all vacant homes being used for evacuation pur-

poses). Compulsory use of the public housing exchange, however, can substantially improve the

prospects of those types of household which are competitive in terms of the distribution of

homes according to need. The reverse applies, of course, to the type or types of household cap-

able of solving their housing problems by means of personal contacts. This impairment, is pres-

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umably outweighed by the improvement obtained by the disadvantaged groups. It is an obvious

fact that principles of compulsory housing referral in various forms are a limiting influence on

the landlords' scope for manoeuvre as regaids the disposal of dwelling units in their housing

stock. And this too would seem to be the true nucleus of much of the debate concerning housing

referral.

Exchange waiting lists within housing companies are another important circumstance from the

viewpoint of residents with tenant-owner status in the inner city. These waiting lists augment the

scope for manoeuvre available to the landlords and the mobility of tenants within the housing

stock of a given company. As far as the public housing exchange and the housing market a re

concerned, these internal exchange waiting lists do not imply any increment in the market but,

presumably a constraint, since the dwelling units dropping out at the end of an internal waiting

list can be presumed to include a large proportion of smaller and/or less favourably located

homes compared with the initial dwelling unit. In this sense, then, the internal waiting lists - even if they help to improve mobility within the housing stock - would seem to influence the

chances of home-hunters getting larger or more favourably located homes through the public

housing exchange. At the same time the large proportion of small dwelling units also means che-

aper flats and a size which to a great extent suits the dominant groups (young and single per-

sons) on the general waiting list kept by the public housing exchange.

* Established practice within the utility value system and collective rent negotiations favours es-

tablished tenants, since it presumably results in lower rents than would be the case with a system

based on some other principle, (e.g. position-related). At the same time this also presents the

property-owner with a rational system for fixing rents. For homehunters, implementation of the

utility-value system and the resultant lower rents for older housing can be regarded as a con-

straint if the low rent contributes towards the disposition of households, or makes it economi-

cally feasible for households, to retain a flat even if it is not regularly used. From the viewpoint

of the market, these consequences of the rent-fixing system mean reduced mobility and a clear

opportunity for households to indulge in a form of economically feasible "excess consumption" of

housing in the local housing market.

An expanded tenant-owner structure or conversion from rental tenure to tenant ownership is a

system which would be prejudicial to large groups of people already living in the inner cities, in

view of the demands this would make on household economy as a result of the tremendous esc-

alation of the prices of properties and tenant-owner flats in recent years. The movement of proper-

ty prices has favoured landlords, and from the viewpoint of the market and the public housing

exchange, and increased proportion of tenant-owner homes would mean a smaller proportion of

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existing homes available for distribution through the municipal agencies. We also know that, gen-

erally speaking, tenant-owners are less mobile than occupants of rented homes.

6. The data and the model of analysis

The data used in this study is from a survey undertaken by The National Swedish Institute for

Building Research. The research was carried out in 1988 and contained a sample of 500 households

already living in the private rental sector in central Stockholm. The sample was stratified according

to part of the innercity and size of household and contained householders up to 75 years of age.

The questionnaire contained 70 questions concerning background variables of the household, their

reason for living in the innercity, ways of obtaining information about their present dwelling, ways

of gaining access to the present dwelling, plans to move, preferences for future housing concerning

type, tenure and location, knowledge about the housing market, former housing and questions

about every-day activities and life-style preferences. The interviews were mainly undertaken by

telephone and the response frequency reached 80 percent, which is satisfactoxy. The resulting fig-

ures were weighted and estimated for the total inner-city private rental housing stock with in-

habitants up to 75 years of age i.e. 69 000 dwellings out of the total 100 000.

The main question of the study was: How have the households living in privately rented flats in

central Stockholm acquired their homes? Results of the study are fully reported in Siksio & Bor-

gegHrd 1989.

For the modelling of a multi-dimensional table, we use a variant of Multivariate Nominal scale

Analysis (MNA), known as ANOTA (Analysis of Tables; Keller and Verbeek 1984). The technique

is more fully discussed in Deurloo et a1 (1987) and in Linde et a1 (1986). In this paper we restrict

ourselves to a modelling using a cross-sectional model which is appropriate because we are con-

cerned with access to housing in which this access has already been successfully accomplished

(Dielemann et a1 1989).

7. Results and discussion

The distribution in Figure 1 (below) shows that the "formal client oriented" way of using the Mun-

icipal Housing Exchange has helped 19 percent of the present private-rental households in the

inner-city, to an apartment and a lease contract. This is a way to a safe and secure housing situa-

tion in the rental sector because in practically all cases, this way of procurement leads to a legally

defmed personal fust-hand lease contract.

The second category - Social network contacts - "informal actor-oriented" ways either directly

through relatives, friends and landlords or indirectly through landlords via relatives, provides evid-

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ence that 26 percent of the households found their way into inner-city rental housing using this

method of aquisition. This way is considered as an "informal actor-oriented" way for getting a dwel-

ling in this location. The result points to the relatively high importance of an informal social net-

work even in this regulated rental housing market. In reality it is the second biggest category in the

study. This is a result which could be seen as surprisingly in a regulated rental market. We will

return to this point below.

Figure 1. Ways of access to private rental dwellings in Stockholm.

(N = 301)

Procurement via social network contacts, though, is not generally as secure for the housing

consumer, as the earlier mentioned formal one. Because to a much higher degree it leads to a less

safe situation when it comes to the question of a lease contract. A great share of this group is ho-

useholds subletting, with or without a formal agreement. But even in the former case this means a

situation where the rights are limited in permanence and use of the present dwelling e.g. it is gen-

erally limited in time. The relative size of the subletting sector in the Stockholm inner-city housing

market, has been estimated to total 15 percent corresponding to 25.000 flats of which quite a few

are cooperative tenant-owned ones.

The biggest category, accounting for 45 percent, is exchanges between households. This

category contains households which already have been in the housing market thereby having an

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apartment with a certain exchange value and a possibility to swap dwelhgs with another household

on a personal basis, no authorities being involved. In our analysis these families are considered to

have used a "formal actor-oriented" way of getting a flat in these attractive locations.

It is not a way leading to a more secure situation in housing compared to the "formal client-or-

iented" one. On the other hand it is not less secure because even here in 99 percent of the cases

the swaps result in a formal personal leasehold contract for the acquired apartment. But in contrast

to the municipality way, no bureaucracy is involved and it is a way that is perfectly legal, quick and

it gives the consumer i.e. the household a strong position vis-a-vis the landlord and authorities of

the municipality.

The fourth category - Others or Miscellaneous - contains 10 percent of the households living in

private rental flats in central Stockholm. It could be considered as a rather big relative share, but it

is very heterogenous group including agencies for subletting, employers and love, in the sense that

6 percent of the people are co-habiting with a male or female person already having an apartment

in the inner-city. This category then is a mixture of "formal client/actorn oriented ways and "info-

rmal actor-oriented" ways if love could be labelled as such.

Summing up what has been mentioned so far, it can be concluded that the predominant ways of

obtaining a private-rental flat in central Stockholm, are "actor oriented ways" - accounting for 71

percent - for distribution, access and consumption. This picture opens an interesting discussion of

the tensions in a housing market in which access is considered as formally regulated but in reality

is dominated by "informal" ways of access alongside the municipal, formal channels.

On the other hand there is a difference between these dominating actor-oriented ways when it

comes to formal security where the "formal actor-oriented way" or swapping flats convincingly res-

ults in a more secure situation in comparison with the "informal actor-oriented way" via the social

network and connections.

7.2 The ANOTA-analvsis

We used the ANOTA to examine the influence of a specific category of one of the seven explan-

atory variables (Family cycle, Socio-economic belonging, former contract, housing market experien-

ces, knowledge of the local housing market, former dwelling-size and presence of children < 18

year) on the dependent variable, "way of access to present dwelling". The dependant variable has

four categories: local housing exchange, representing the way of "formal client-orientation" (FCO),

Social network -the way of "informal actor-orientation" (IAO), Exchange of flats on an individual

basis -indicating "formal actor-orientation" (FAO) and Others -the ways of "informal client-orien-

tation" (ICO).

Significant coefficients (95% level) are printed in bold. Non-significant coefficients should be

handled with care, but could still be considered as indicating important tendencies.

Table 1, below, shows the result from the ANOTA-analysis.

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Table P Coefficients for Different Ways of Access from the ANOTA Analysis of residents in private-

Access Average LIFE-CYCLE STAGE

Single Cohab Single Family Cohab Single Retired Else 24 v - 2 4 ~ 25-44 w.chiild 45-64 45-64 >65~.

Housing E x c ~ . 18.9 2.7 15.2 -0.1 -11.0 26.7 19.2 1.2 2.4 Soc.Network 26.2 4.2 -21.8 -15.1 11.5 -17.5 -15.4 -1.8 11.0 Swapping 44.9 3.1 -9.2 11.0 5.1 -14.8 -12.4 0.1 -8.7

avs 10.0 10.0 15.8 4.3 -5.5 5.6 8.7 0.5 4.6 Access Average

Workers Stu- Housing Exch. 18.9 3.6 -0.6 -4.6 4.3 Soc.Network 26.2 7.1 -0.4 -5.2 -4.5 Swapping 44.9 -14.6 4 5 4.0 -25.9 Other wavs 10.0 3.9 3.6 5.8 26.1 Access Average

Housing Exch. 18.9 -2.5 173 -6.4 Soc.Network 26.2 -5.7 12.1 36.4 Swapping 44.9 9.4 -33.0 -365 Other wavs 10.0 1.3 3.6 6.5 Access Average LOCAL HOUSING

5 6-10 11-20OVER20YE4BS Housing Exch. 18.9 -7.6 1.3 5.0 -0.3 Soc.Network 26.2 -2.2 17.6 2.8 -4.3 Swapping 44.9 -5.2 -19.6 -10.6 9.0

wavs 10.0 14.9 0.8 2.8 -U Access Average GE OF WAYS OF ACTION IF kKML&S

ONE 2-4 > 5 DON'TKNOW Housing Exch. 18.9 -5.1 6.2 -8.0 -8.7 Soc.Network 26.2 3.2 -6.4 26.2 178 Swapping 44.9 -0.1 1.2 -10.8 -5.0 Dther wavs 10.0 2.1 -1.0 -7.4 -4.Q Access Average PREVIOUS SIZE OF DWELLlNG (# OF ROOMS)

ONE TWO Housing Exch. 18.9 2.5 7.0 -5.6 Soc.Network 26.2 4.1 -4.1 0.6 Swapping 44.9 -6.4 -1.5 4.0

vs 10.0 0.1 -1.4 OQ Access Average W 18- INHOUSEHOLD

NO CHILD 1 CHILD 2 CULDR. 3 OR MORE C H I L D U Housing Exch. 18.9 -13.8 14.6 10.2 2.8 Soc.Network 26.2 16.7 -21.4 -9.2 1.6 Swapping 44.9 6.7 -1.0 -9.0 -11.9

vs 10.0 9.5 7.8 7.9 7.9

Ways of access in terms of formal-informal and client-actor dimensions 1. Formal Client-Oriented (FCO) =Municipal Housing Exchange 2. lnformal Actor-Oriented (1AO) = Social Network, comections and contacts 3. Formal Actor-Oriented (FAO) = Swapping or exchanging homes between families directly 4, Informal Client-Orienled (ICO) s Employen, iigencics erc i,e, informal dismburion in a

formal context.

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The table reveals clear relationships between ways of obtaining a flat and a number of categories

within the independent variables covering demographic and resource variables of the population.

The coefficients in the tables can be interpreted as partial regression coefficients, showing the "e-

ffect" of membership in the particular category of the independent variable. As these figures are

corrected for possible interactions of other explanatory variables included in the model, they can be

interpreted as contributions to proportions (Dieleman et a1 1989).

For example, for couples 45-64 years of age, being white-collar, with a former contract, living in

Stockholm 6-10 years, lcnowing 2-4 ways of action if homeless, coming from a two-bedroom apart-

ment, 45 percent (18.9 (average)+ 26.7 0.6 -2.5 + 1.3 + 6.2 -5.6 ) becomes the estimated probability

to get an apartment through the access channel of the local housing exchange (FCO).

Another way of meaningful interpretation of the ANOTA-result is looking at the relative under-

or overrepresentation of a specific category among the independent variables in relation to the

dependent one.

Concerning family life-cycle, couples 45-64 year are significantly overrepresented in the "formal

client-oriented" (FCO) local housing exchange way. There is a rather strong tendency for house-

holds with children to be underrepresented in this access category for obtaining a private rental

home. The same household category is overrepresented in using the social-network i.e. the "info-

rmal actor-oriented" way (IAO) and swapping, the "formal actor-oriented" way (FAO), although to

a lesser degree.

The latter is not an encouraging result for a local housing exchange with the task of allocating

housing according to need on its programme. This tendency to overrepresentation of smaller hou-

seholds, both young and older, reflects the dwelling-size structure in the inner-city with its domi-

nance of smaller apartments both in stock and in the flow or supply distributed by the local housing

exchange. Otherwise there is no clear pattern according to the impact of stage in the life-cycle on

ways of access. It could be interpreted as this variable is of lesser importance considering access to

inner-city rental housing on a regulated rental market because the different ways of obtaining the

present home squatters or are present all over the categories of family life cycle.

When it comes to the relative importance of the socio-economic belonging, we doubt to call it

class in this context, result provide evidence of a significant overrepresentation of white collar hou-

seholds in swapping (FAO) and an underrepresentation of the same group when it comes to use

agencies, brokers and employers to get into the private rental sector. They have obviously other

resources to use and they don't have to rely upon housing agency or the social network to such a

high degree as many other groups. E.g. householders being workers show a tendency of being less

competitive in swapping (FAO) with its demand for resources with exchange value but have reason

to be more confident in using social-network related ways (IAO) and the local housing exchange

(FCO). These results could be taken as an information of a rather successful performance of the

local authorities according to its distribution according to need. But it also show that "weaker" hou-

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seholds could use and uses the social network ways in order to solve their housing problem. In this

sense the IAO-ways of obtaining a flat is not concentrated to households with resources, primarily

material ones. These households are to be found to a much higher degree among the ones using

the FAO-way of swapping into to a suitable home.

Ways of access in terms of formal-informal and client-actor dimensions can be described as:

1. FormaI Client-Oriented (FCO) = Municipal Housing Exchange

2. Informal Actor-Oriented (IAO) = Social Network, connections and contacts

3. Formal Actor-Oriented (FAO) = Swapping or exchanging homes between families directly

4. Informal Client-Oriented (ICO) = Employers, agencies etc i.e. formal distribution in an informal

context.

This picture is also illustrated in the latter part-table of ANOTA where the younger, "poorer" hous-

ehold category have a tendency of using the IAO-ways to a higher degree than the others.

The impact of forms for use and security of former living convey the information of the impor-

tance of having a lease contract i.e. really being in the market when it comes to different ways of

access. Not having a contract is really important to compete in the housing-queue (FCO). It is

mainly not a matter of homelessness but rather of not having a place of your own. Of course this

also means that you are disqualified from taking part in the home-swapping movement in a sig-

nificant way. Having a contract already, significantly strengthens your position in the FAO-sector

(swapping) and it also seems to reduce the need to act within the IAO-sector in a significant way.

If you do not have a place to stay but are living in, you have to rely upon the outcome of the social

network (IAO) and your chances of obtaining a flat by swapping i.e. that someone else e.g. your

parents exchange their apartment in favor of you is very small. These households have to stick to

the informal ways.

The importance of length of stay in the local housing market comes to a clear expression in the

next table. Living in Stockholm for a time less than five years means that a household in a sig-

nificant way have to rely upon the mixed access ways in the category of others (ICO). A household

with more than 20 years experience in the local housing market is likewise clearly underrepresented

in using this category for access with its mixture of agencies, employers and co-habitation. Dwellers

with a five to ten years experience are in a significant way more apt to use the ways offered by the

social-network (IAO) but have obviously not qualified for taking advantage of the FAO-ways mean-

ing exchange with another household on a private basis. Mainly because they still after this relativ-

ely seen long period have not got an apartment which they could swap. The opposite goes for the

long-runners which are the only category significantly overrepresented in the group swapping them-

selves (FAO) to the present flat. They have over time got both the material and cognitive resources

for a successful use of this way. This pattern of action is however not established in the coefficient

demonstrated for the group of households living in Stockholm eleven to twenty years. This group is

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underrepresented in F A 0 and seems to have a better position in the FCO-way of the housing

exchange in comparison with other categories.

The answer to the question of what the households should do if they lost their present dwelling

and wanted to fmd another in the innercity presents not so exiting information. Most of the house-

holds could think about a maximum of two ways of action and these ways were dominated by using

formal access routes, where the local housing exchange was the most prominent one. The ANOTA

implementation shows significant positive coefficients for FCO for the householders mentioning 2-4

ways of action if homeless and a significant decrease and underrepresentation for the same cate-

gory of knowledge when it comes to IAO-ways by the social network. The remaining significant

coefficient in this elaboration goes for the puzzling fact that the group answering "don't know" on

the question is heavily overrepresented in the IAO-category. This result is not easily interpreted

but one essay could be that insight into the functioning, of the local housing market counts. Having

knowledge of several ways for action if homeless also means that you have experience from these

more or less informal ways of acquiring a flat. You have also used these actor-oriented ways for

getting hold of your present one. If you only know one or don't know at all what to do you seem to

be relying on the mercy of your social network instead of the societal formal way of access by the

housing exchange. This is especially if you don't know at all, somebody has in a considerably num-

ber of cases f i e d your present apartment. It is a IAO-way but it is not the present household

which has been the actor. May be this is an excellent example of not only using the social network

but really relying upon it?

The coefficients for the variable of former dwelling-size shows a significant impact on way of

access only in a limited sense. This is interpreted as if you had a 3-room apartment before you are

less inclined to use the FCO-way i.e. the housing exchange, for getting a new one, even if it should

be very popular with the agency. They have got few bigger apartments for distribution. Instead

there is a clear tendency that households in these circumstances -and in our model -use the ex-

change value of a bigger flat and swap with another family i.e. FAO-ways. The remaining tenden-

cies also shows that if the former apartment was a smaller one the households could be considered

to be competitive in the local exchange queue FCO for getting another flat. But also that house-

holds using IAO-ways to a high degree emanates from smaller apartments which are the one being

rented on less favorable o r insecure conditions. To avoid this situation you stick to your friends but

is obviously not considered a client in the eyes of the municipality according to their rules.

The last independent variable in our model concerns the impact of having children at home on

the different ways of access. The result is rather puzzling. Generally speaking the coefficients tell us

that children is an obstacle for acquiring a flat and in no case it is a statistically significant ad-

vantage. Not in the ways of access according to need and neither in accordance with resources.

But that is statistics! A closer look on the coefficients reveals that having children is a strong obs-

tacle for being able to use the IAO-ways of the social network. This could be explained by the ear-

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lier mentioned fact that the IAO supply of apartments in the rental sector often contains smaller

ones. On the other hand there are tendencies in the table telling us that having no children makes

a household less competitive in the FCO-sector and more apt to compete in the IAO-sector. And

the other way around having children gives you an overrepresentation in the FCO-sector, where

especially families with one child (the fmst?) seems to be in a situation of positive competition.

This seems reasonable because if housing is going to be distributed according to need, families with

children tend to have a stronger position in comparison with single living persons. This tendency

creates another set of problem mainly related to the possibilities for young people finding a home

of their own.

One puzzling information in this table is the coefficient saying that families with 3 or more

children are clearly, though not significantly, underrepresented in the FAO-sector. Families with

children have been considered the motor of the private exchange market and the tendencies in this

table tell us the opposite. It is the households without children which are overrepresented when it

comes to use the FAO-ways for getting access to a flat in the inner-city private rental market of

Stockholm. Two things could be said: First the result is relevant according to the dwelling-size stru-

cture of the private rental market with its dominance 70 percent of small flats. Second, being a

family with children gives you a kind of position of most favored nation with the municipal housing

exchange. Especially if you are living under crowded conditions and have an apartment -even a

small one -to turn in to the exchange. In this sense families with children could be inclined to use

FCO-way if they want t o stay in the private rental sector. If they want to use the FAO-way of swa-

pping homes they could take advantage of the exchange value created by the attraction of inner-city

location and use it for entering another location or tenure. Such a pattern of behaviour could exp-

lain the puzzling coefficient in the table.

We have also tested a model including income, size of present dwelling, age of householder and

size of household. In neither of these variables we have found any significant relations with dif-

ferent ways of access. T o our minds this absence is a kind of assurance that even in the presence of

different possible ways for obtaining a flat in this regulated private rental market the regulation still

has a decisive effect in the meaning that income, age and size of household has no systematically

traceable effect on the accesspattern.

8. More discussion

Households' material and social resources have shown to be of importance for getting a dwelling

even in a market with a formally regulated distribution. 71 percent of all private-rental dwellings

were obtained via formal or informal actor-oriented ways.

We have shown that the commonest and, accordingly the most effective means for households to

find a home in the inner city has been by exchange. This applies above all to exchanges of rented

flats.

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But the proportion of households - one-fourth obtaining their home directly from the landlord

or form social contacts leading to the landlord and, in many cases to a direct tenancy agreement,

also reflects a common method of home-hunting. This result illustrates the role played by the land-

lords themselves a s purveyors of vacant homes in the market, but also the importance of an exten-

sive social network for the prospects of households finding homes in this market.

The landlords and the social networks of households lead to flats in the inner city for single per-

sons, especially younger households, but also pensioners. Contacts, then, play an important part for

the youngest and oldest actors in the Stockholm innercity housing market. We have two groups

here, one of which is a t the beginning of its housing career and has nothing to offer in exchange,

while the other perhaps has little motivation or ability to act in the exchange market. Nor, unless

there a re special social reasons involved, are these groups very competitive in the formal hierarchy

of the public housing exchange. Procurement through landlords and personal contacts then presents

a possible solution to the housing problems of certain of these households. Homes procured thro-

ugh personal contacts are small flats as a rule, but often they represent an insecure form of tenure.

This is where sub-tenancy, with and without a tenancy agreement, occupies a prominent position.

In more than half of all cases, the arrangement is that of direct tenancy.

The public housing exchange has mainly allocated innercity flats to households in low income

brackets, small households, single parents and families with children. The latter have often been

able to leave a flat in exchange for a family home. This makes it possible for the housing exchange

to allot homes to small households well up on one of the waiting lists. Presumably they are house-

holds which have not been able to act in the exchange market or which have been unable, through

personal contacts, to find any other home. Obtaining a home through the housing exchange means

security of tenure in the form of a direct tenancy agreement. The homes thus obtained are to a

great extent small flats and the family homes distributed by the public housing exchange mainly

comprise flats with three rooms and a kitchen.

In a way this illustrates the mutually complementary nature of the various access routes from

the viewpoint of households. Not all households can use all the possible routes. The various pos-

sibilities of obtaining a home, however, imply that different types of household can, and do, act on

their own account in the local housing market. This, however, may have the effect of reducing the

proportion of homes in the existing stock available for distribution through the formal, municipal

channels, as actually seems to be the case in the Municipality of Stockholm.

Then again, there is the trade in tenant-owner flats in which home-hunters with capital can take

part with little risk of losing money. Prices, indeed, have been moving in such a direction as to

make tenant-owner flats a very profitable investment. In addition, there are good opportunities of

borrowing capital for the deposit or for the purchase price of a tenant-owner flat.

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Reverting to our initial distinction between the two principles of housing distribution - housing

according to need and housing according to resources - our results have shown that both principles

are conjointly represented in the Stockholm innercity housing market.

The results of this investigation serve to illustrate how the inner-city market in Stockholm can

be characterised as a housing market lacking a dominant principle for the distribution of vacant

homes. Influence on the distribution of homes is shared between households who have something

to trade with, landlords, the social network and the public housing exchange.

The view of housing as a social right which ought to be distributed according to need, is enter-

tained by households and the other parties in the Stockholm housing market. This view generates

proposals and solutions which would give the public housing exchange more influence on the distri-

bution of vacant flats. e.g. the voluntary agreement and landlords' pledges for private rental tenure.

At the same time, decisions are made which in practice can be presumed to affect the prospects of

the public housing exchange meeting the housing needs of people on the waiting list, both qualita-

tively and quantitatively, e.g. home exchange waiting lists within housing companies. In Stockholm

there is also scope for the view that housing is something which must be distributable according to

resources, e.g. a larger proportion of tenant-owner homes in new housing output and positional o r

market-related rents.

In a mixed economy like Sweden's it is perhaps wrong to expect the housing market in particular

to be based either on the principle of needs or on the principle of resources. The parties involved

are constantly trying to influence the principles of distribution. In the resultant compromise, dif-

ferent groups or partite representatives are allotted parts of or opportunities in the local housing

market as well. One consequence, then, is that of negotiated solutions: judicious regulation, with no

excessive provocation of any party!

The results are to be seen, for example, in the inner city of Stockholm - a housing market with a

mixture of formal and informal distribution, in which households themselves, by virtue of their right

of exchange and their networks of contacts, can be said to occupy a strong position.

This applies to households which have resources of the kind we discussed earlier, and, due to

the market in practice offering so many different ways of fmding a home, are actually capable to a

great extent of solving their own housing problems. For households lacking the serviceable resour-

ces, the public housing exchange exists as a fairly strong party, even in the inner-city housing mar-

ket.

The number of dwelling units which could be distributed in accordance with public housing ex-

change principles, could obviously increase if restrictions were imposed on household rights of

exchange. In the private rental sector, an estimated 4-5 000 dwelling units every year change hands

in this way. But at the same time it has to be remembered that this method of finding a home is

common in all types of household and especially among households with young children. Regul-

ation of the right of exchange would thus have repercussions on the ability of all categories of

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household to solve their housing problems through their own devices.If household rights of ex-

change are looked on as being good for mobility and turnover in the housing market, one might

consider the possibilities of allowing the public housing exchange to assist households actively and

systemati

cally in this process. O n e possible effect of such an expanded system might be to make house-

holds - especially older ones - unable to initiate or complete exchanges on their own more intere-

sted in exchanging homes if they could be helped to fmd something suitable in t e r n s of size, loc-

ation and - last but not least - acceptable rent levels. A procedure of this kind would then help to

boost mobility in the local housing market.

8. Comments on a couple or original questions

The sector of the local housing market where we made the investigation can be seen as formally

regulated sub-market with - again formally - 'a heavy state intewention when it comes to distri-

bution of vacant dwellings.

How does it then function, this regulated market for distribution if we look at the results against

the background of the basic principles for distribution which we mentioned in the introduction?

If we return to the starting question of the antagonism between a principle for distribution accor-

ding to the needs of the household or according to their resources we find that the local housing

exchange (FCO) only handles one fifth of total mobility. 80 percent have aquired their present

dwelling by their material or social resources (FAO, 1.40 and ICO) - consisting of already having a

flat with exchange value, a social network with connections into the local housing market or having

an employer with some influence in the local housing market. In this sense we can see a "market-

ization" even in this formally totally regulated rental sector. But it is not a money-market, it is a

market of exchange and a social market with clear marks of reward in it. This alternative markets - especially the one based on exchange - are very effective when it comes to the question of adjusting

households housing conditions.

The effect is that the working space for the public housing exchange diminishes over time. We

have already seen that it only handles one fifth of total mobility. An increase in the exchange or

socially based access-rates will therefore have severe effects on the housing exchange ability to

fulfii its mission. As an effect of this in its turn will have great effects for the weaker households in

the housing market - the young, the poor and families with children not having the oppurtunity to

act in some of the other sub-markets.

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8.2 A client- o r actor-oriented housine market?

The second dimension or principle for distribution of vacant dwellings which I mentioned in the

beginning of this paper was to consider the homehunting households as clients within a formal or

informal system or as an actor with the prerequisites necessary for solving their housing problem by

their own efforts.

How is then this dimension coming out when we look at it in relation to our results?

If we add the shares for households who have exchanged themselves into their present dwelling

(FAO) together with the share which got their dwelling through their social network (IAO), we find

that more than 70 percent have got their places through their own activities. This result underlines

the fact that the regulated rental housing market of the innercity of Stockholm is dominated by a

principle for access t o dwellings which contains resources and actororientation. But it is on the

political level still considered to be based on need and clientorientation.

Of course this difference between theory and praxis causes a lot of confusion and consternation

when it comes to discussions about handling the problem of a fair distribution of vacant rental

dwellings.

8.3 Formal or informal distribution?

The third question raised initially concerned the present proportions between formal and informal

ways of getting access to a dwelling.

If we look at the results for this dimension we can say that the local housing exchange and the

swapping give the households a formally correct frame for their activities while the dwellings aq-

uired via the social network concerns a more informal way of getting access to somewhere to live.

With this in mind we find that 64 percent of the household residential mobility took place within

the frames for formally correct ways for finding a vacant dwelling. The black-money market and

hidden or informal sector for getting access to dwellings is consequently not extremely large within

the regulated rental sector. Not even in the highly attractive inner-city rental market.

The problems - as we have seen - concern some other dimensions.

9. Conclusions

The results give a picture where direct state intervention i.e. the local housing exchange, has a

rather weak impact on the real distribution of vacant rental dwellings. More general state interven-

tion or state intervention on a higher level in the form of e.g. the undisputed right for households

to exchange dwellings themselves is on the other hand a forceful tool for households to adjust their

housing conditions. But it leaves the municipality on the one side and introduces an element of

marketization even in this formally regulated rental sector. In a longer perspective this develop-

ment of an exchange market also, in a negative way, affects the chances for weaker households to

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enter this local housing market. There you have the back-draws of marketization in a former regul-

ated housing sector.

The most important prerequisites for obtaining a home in the privately owned inner-city rental

stock have been previous possession of a home or possession of a social network affording ways

into the housing market!

What generally seems to be the most important resource is the time tenants have been es-

tablished in the local housing-market. The longer the time the greater the chance for having a

dwelling with a personal leasehold contract is. The contract could be used in swapping flats or the

greater the chance for having established a social network affording ways into the local housing

market.

The local housing exchange's activities cover only a smaller part of the mobility and turn-over in

the private-rented market. The clash between the normative client-oriented system for distribution

of private-rented dwellings and a more market-oriented one is clearly demonstrated by the space

given to the material or social "market-solutions".

The distribution of housing within the regulated private rental market are politically declared to

be according to need. However there is a situation where the distribution is both according to need

(FCO) and resources (FA0 and IAO) and the latter form dominates today. The relative size of

these different ways in the future depend on the one hand on the rules for the municipality housing

exchange and the legal rules for housing exchanges on individual basis. On the other hand the ac-

cess to housing also depends on the inclination of and legal possibilities for the home-hunting hou-

seholds using the informal ways of access, offered by landlords, friends and relatives.

References

Anas, A et al(1987) The Economics of a regulated Housing Market -Policy perspectives and Mod-

elling Methods. Swedish Building Research Council D17:1987 Stockholm

Brown, L A -Moore, E G (1970): The intra-urban migration process. General Systems 1970:15, ss

109-122

Castels, M (1977) La Question Urbaine

Clapham, D -Kintrea, K (1984): Allocation systems and housing choice. Urban Studies, August

1984:21(3), ss 261-269

Dielemann, F, Clark, W and Deurloo, M (1989): A Comparative View of Housing Choices in Cont-

rolled and Uncontrolled Housing Markets. Urban Studies vo1.26 pp 457-468.

Deurloo, M, Clark, W and Dieleman, F (1987): "Tenure Choice in the Dutch housing market",

Environment and Planning A, Vo1.19 pp 763-781

Harris & Pratt (ed) (1987): Housing tenure and Social Class. SIB Research report SB: 10 (1987)

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Keller, W, Verbeek, A (1984): "ANOTA: Analysis of Tables" Kwantitatieve methoden, Vo1.15 pp

1-6

Linde, M, Dieleman, F, Clark, W (1986): "Starters in the Dutch Housing Market" paper to Inter-

national Research Conference on Housing, Gavle , June 1986 (mirneo)

MacLennan, D, Munro, M, Wood, G (1987): "Housing Choices and the Structure of Housing Mar-

kets", in Turner et al (eds) Between State and Market: Housing in the Postindustrial Era. Stock-

holm Almqvist & Wiksell International.

Michelson, W (1977) Environmental choice, human behavior and residential satisfaction. Oxford

University Press, New York

Pahl R (1975) Whose city? Penguin 1975 2nd ed. Harmondsworth

Quigley, J (1987): "Housing Market Information and the Benefits of Housing Programs", in B.

Turner et al (eds) Between State and Market: Housing in the Postindustrial Era. Stockholm Alm-

qvist & Wiksell International.

Rex, J & Moore, R (1967): Race, Community and conflict. A study of Sparkbrook. Oxford Univer-

sity Press (1967)

Rossi, P H (1955): Why Families Move: A Study in the Social Psychology of Urban Residential

Mobility. Glencoe, IU., The Free Press, 1955

Saunders, P (1978): Domestic property and Social Class. International Journal of Urban and Regio-

nal Research 2: pp 233-251 (1978)

Siksio 0 , BorgegArd L-E (1989) Privat hyresratt i storstad -Att skaffa lagenhet i Stockholms in-

nerstad (Private renting in the city -obtaining a flat in inner Stockholm) Swedish Building Research

Council, R36: 1989, Stockholm.

Siksio 0. BorgegArd L-E (1990) Markets in Distress -On Access to Housing in Local Housing Mar-

kets. In Siksio (ed) Proceedings from the VIIth Reunion of CIB W69 "Housing Sociology" in Santo

Kiriko, Bulgaria 1988. The National Swedish Institute for Building research (forthcoming)

Siksio 0. (1988a) Housing, Resources and Constraints -Access to housing in the Inner City. Paper

to International Sociology of Consumption Conference, Oslo 8-10 January 1988.

Siksio 0. (1988b) Boendepreferenser och bostadsval pA lokala bostadsmarknader -Ett projektpro-

gram. (Housing Preferences and Housing Choice in Local Housing markets -A Projectproposal.)

The National Swedish Institute for Building Research 1988.

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Problems, Priorities and Solutions in Times of Transition:

An analysis and comment based on the contributions to

the Vojtechov seminar.

Hans Kroes

Times and circumstances are changing and little seems predictable. This also is true in the field of

housing. A characteristic of most international seminars and conferences about housing issues hith-

erto has been the - almost inevitable - session during which the speakers were asked to give a brief

description of their national housing system. The one presentation after the other, some more de-

tailed, others more concise, have sketched the virtues and shortcomings of subsidy systems, distrib-

ution rules and good intentions of their respective governments. Usually ending with the final con-

clusion that their own system was far superior to all of those which the colleagues from other co-

untries had to endure. Naturally, improvements were possible, but the approach was correct. This

was a reliable situation, also because drastic changes in the housing system and the housing policy

were not to be expected. It was, all in all, a most relaxing feeling for all those "international" ex-

perts.

The meeting of the CIB Working Commission on "Housing Sociology" which took place in

Vojtechov dramatically changed this pattern. Social scientists from the former eastern block coun-

tries have always made up a large proportion of the delegates at annual meetings of the Working

Commission and their contributions have consistently been well-grounded, both theoretically and

empirically. In this east-west forum, current research results and new initiatives within the broad

themes of housing policy and housing evaluation have been regularly presented and discussed'. But

at the Vojtechov meeting came a massive torrent of questions and analyses from all sides - the

sociological run-off produced by the sudden and intense thaw which was in full progress in what we

now call the "Transition" countries of eastern Europe.

It is obviously incorrect to think that the countries in eastern Europe can be seen as iden-

tical. There clearly are considerable differences between Poland and Hungary, between Czechoslov-

akia and Rumania, not to forget Yugoslavia. But when listening to presentations from these count-

ries it becomes rapidly clear that in spite of all those differences, they have at least some things in

common: a failing housing system and a non-existent active housing policy.

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The basis for many policies was formed by the idea that "a scientifically justified and equit-

able society" could be constructed. Yes, it would take some years and there would be some inter-

mediate stages but in the end a better society would emerge. This clearly is not the place to discuss

ideologies, the question whether the approach really is wrong, or whether it did not get the time to

reach the promised final stage is irrelevant for this short note. What we can conclude is that the

consequences of this approach are visible in the design of urban developments and individual dwel-

lings. The desire for high production figures, for communal activities and communal spaces resulted

in a housing stock consisting of dwellings that in design and dimensions do not really match the

demand. For obvious reasons, individuals were hardly stimulated to participate actively in the sol-

ution of the housing problem. A consequence of this is the now painfully clear passive attitude of

those waiting for a solution to their housing problems. Recent research results from the Transition

countries show a high level of dissatisfaction with the actual housing situation. However, many of

the complaints cannot be solved because the origin is in the structure of the buildings: the large

panel construction system.

The existing housing stock does not match the demand. It should be accepted that this pr-

oblem cannot be solved within a limited number of years. Real adjustments can only be made thro-

ugh the careful planning of dwellings that are added to this stock in the coming years. Also for this

reason it certainly is useful to study the (technical) possibilities for improving the quality of the

existing dwellings.

It is tempting to search for comparisons between the developing situation in the central and

eastern European countries and that in other European countries, now or in the past. The first

conclusion is that real comparisons are not possible. The existing combination of factors in count-

ries like Czechoslovakia or Hungary seems to be unique; identical combinations never existed in

e.g. Great Britain, France or the Netherlands.

Neither can we compare it with the circumstances in Portugal shortly after April 1974. In 1945 the

Netherlands was confronted with an impressive housing shortage. However, the existing housing

stock was varied and in rather good condition. The problem was f i s t of all quantitative and not

qualitative. After 1974, the Portuguese government had to redesign the housing policy and adapt it

to the recently introduced democracy. An important difference between the situation in that coun-

try and that in the central and eastern European countries is the fact that in Portugal, both the

character of the housing stock and the incomes were very varied.

It seems to be characteristic for the situation in the Transition countries that not only the

qualitative aspects of the existing housing stock do not match the demand but also that (better)

housing was not allocated according to purchasing power or need criteria. In the allocation process

other factors were decisive. To characterize the situation in somewhat extreme terms: hardly any-

body can pay the real cost-price of the dwelling and the housing market offers a limited choice.

This brings us to the formulation of two problems:

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- to reach a better quality level, a redistribution of resources within the housing sector

is insufficient; for real change a re-formulation of national (economic) priorities is

necessary;

- the limited variety in the housing stock poses difficult questions: what to build now,

where and for what price?

Given the present economic situation in the non-western European countries, a drastic change in

priorities - i.e. more financial support for the housing sector - is unlikely. Factually it would mean

that consumption would be stimulated at the expense of investments. Even if a high level of prod-

uction is reached in the coming years, changes in the composition of the housing stock will take

place very slowly. Even when production figures in the Netherlands were at their highest, the an-

nual growth of the housing stock was less than 2%.

The unpleasant conclusion that must be drawn is that both problems are extremely difficult to sol-

ve. Drastic improvements cannot be expected within five or even ten years.

"House-building by the municipality is a disaster that unfortunately cannot be avoided".

These words were spoken by a member of the local government of the city of Rotterdam in 1916.

Since then attitudes have changed fundamentally. In many northern and western European count-

ries the government involvement increased; especially during the first post-war decades. Now a

different picture is developing. In the northern part of Europe, government involvement in housing

is declining. The reasons are mainly financial. In the more southern countries the opposite develop-

ment is visible. Governments increasingly get involved in housing matters. Here the reasons are

mainly of a social character: the housing situation is becoming more and more problematic there.

For a growing number of families, independent housing becomes inaccessible and something has to

be done. But even in those countries where government involvement is declining, the level of state

intervention is still significant.

In eastern Europe the situation is of a different character. The experiences with a central-

ized, statecontrolled organization stimulates the idea that privatization is the solution to the prob-

lems. This is a too limited view and also a dangerous one.

Attention should be paid to the fact that a continuous range of possibilities exists between fully

centralized and fully privatized forms or organization. A comparison of the actual situation in the

different European countries can be revealing in this respect.

Everywhere in Europe there is the simple, but unpleasant fact that the development of

construction costs and land prices excludes a growing number of households from access to the

housing market. The price-income relationship is an effective barrier. Three ways are open to solve

this problem: lower costs, higher incomes and a redistribution of resources. In most European

countries it has led to the conclusion that a fair and social housing policy is impossible without

government involvement both in the planning and pricing of housing and in the distribution.

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Before being able to make decisions about a housing policy and about the allocation of

(financial) resources it is necessary not only to have fairly detailed information about the housing

needs and demands, but also about the real cost of housing. Without this information a balanced

decision about the contents of the policy - inevitably a compromise between desired developments

and economic reality - is impossible. In many cases this information is simply not available, or it is

unreliable. The previous economic system often does not allow an answer to relatively simple ques-

tions like: what are the construction costs of a two-bedroom apartment and what are the expenses

for maintenance and management? Factors like this are an explanation for the now existing wn-

fusion between costs and prices that tends to obscure discussions and obstructs good decision mak-

ing. Without factual cost-price information, sensible discussions about subsidization and political

priorities are impossible. In this respect also the development of land prices (either leasehold or

freehold) is of great importance. Research is needed to obtain more and better information about

the actual situation in the housing market.

Markets can not exist without prices. But what determines the price; what basis is used to

set the rent levels? In Sweden the social rented sector operates as a "price setter". In this sector

this level is regularly the subject of discussions between the tenants' organization and the municip-

ality. The Swedish paper also makes clear that, in spite of the existence of a rigid distribution sys-

tem, the municipal grip on actual movements of persons and households within the housing stock is

limited2.

Many European countries need a drastic reform of their housing system. However cynical it

may sound, the opportunities for such reforms now are better in the Transition countries than in

those of the European Community. Housing policies and housing systems tend to be complicated

and directly related with other policies. This means that changes usually are incremental and that a

total revision of the existing structure is impossible. The disappointing reception that was given to a

report like "Inquiry into British Housing" illustrates this clearlg. It really seems as if a crisis is

needed to create the necessary circumstances for a total revision of the - often inconsistent - net-

work of laws, bye-laws, rules and regulations. Such a crisis allows a new start: a new housing policy

based upon well considered objectives and equipped with well chosen effective instruments. A ho-

using policy characterized by tenure neutrality and equal opportunities to enter the housing market.

At present, all western European governments stimulate private home ownership and thus

create a situation in which the wide range of possible forms of tenure is reduced to just two solu-

tions. But why is this happening? Is home ownership really more attractive than other forms of

tenure?

A satisfying explanation for this preference cannot be found in the available literature. AU that can

be found are either ideological statements or considerations that are outside the housing field.

There is the argument of security of tenure. But is that really valid? Certainly not in the Nether-

lands. If there a re financial problems that prevent a home owner from making his monthly pay-

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ments to the bank the consequences are severe and quite different from what happens to a tenant

with lapsed payments in the social rented sector. Another reason that is mentioned is the control

which the individual can exercise over his or her own housing circumstances. Here the advantages

are rather dubious too. The contents of the Danish paper shows clearly that a well developed level

of "self government" is possible for tenants in the rented sector as well. Rented housing does not

necessarily mean impersonal and indifferent large-scale management.

The developments in Great Britain provide us with convincing evidence that an extreme

stimulation of home ownership can have undesirable consequences. Providing tenants with easy

access to home ownership does not guarantee desirable housing circumstances in the long run.

Home ownership not only means "freedom", but also means full economic responsibility: a burden

that can be heavy. In too many cases, home owners in Britain cannot afford the necessary expenses

for the maintenance of their dwellings. They are trapped in a situation comparable with one that in

the past was characteristic for the private rented sector: high housing costs in combination with low

quality. This adds a further question mark to the often heard economic argument in favour of

home ownership. Another reason for doubt is whether it is a positive fact that home ownership

may lead to capital gains. The question is - who gains and what are the consequences? It is quite

possible to defend the thesis that, especially in a situation where demand and offer are not in bal-

ance, all unnecessary profits in the housing sector are undesirable; it makes a higher level of con-

sumption necessary, this at the expense of savings and thus investments.

The circumstances in central and eastern Europe allow the introduction of a variety of

housing tenures and of real choice. Buying a house and renting a house both have their advantages

and disadvantages. A housing policy should allow each household to make its own individual cho-

ice, ranging from full private ownership, via forms of co-operative ownership to (e.g. municipal)

collective ownership.

Several of the Vojtechov papers advocate the promotion of home ownership as an impor-

tant solution for the housing problems in central and eastern Europe. But is this preference really

based upon the judicial aspects of this form of housing tenure? An easily overlooked fact, at least

in many western European countries comes to the surface when we compare the characteristics of

housing in the two main sectors. In many cases owner-occupied also means: larger, better equipped,

more attractively situated, one family housing. The explanation for these differences is simple. The

change from a producer-oriented to a consumer-oriented market occurred in the owner-occupied

sector several years before the overall housing shortage was solved. It seems that in the other half

of Europe the qualitative differences are even more pronounced.

Some people think that privatization, i.e. more "market", will bring about the solution. But

what kind of market is it when, at least initially there is only one seller and only one product - large scale factory made apartments - for sale. Is it a good idea to promote the sale of rented how-

ing? Some consequences of this option tend to be underestimated. Given the present economic

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circumstances with the present levels of income, the selling price will have to be low. This means

that when the economy grows, enabling prices to rise, the first buyers of these dwellings can make

handsome profits. This is not very positive with respect to the housing opportunities for those who

did not have the chance to buy in this first round. Another consequence is that the future rented

sector will consist of those houses that were not bought by the tenants; the less well maintained,

less attractive housing. A self-fuKing prophecy is created and a prejudice reinforced: people pre-

fer owner occupied housing. Those who have no access to home ownership will be trapped in grad-

ually declining, stigmatized rented dwellings. The opportunity to develop a range of housing tenures

is lost for ever.

Obviously the housing systems in eastern Europe are in need of repair, some are on the

edge of collapse. It also is clear that no western country can claim to have the perfect solution avai-

lable. One reason is the obsoleteness of those systems, in combination with the impossibility to

introduce drastic changes. Another is the incomparability of the situations in the different coun-

tries. The first step towards a solution of the problems in the non-western European countries is

the formulation of the problem. The rapid introduction of western style solutions will not solve but

will create problems. The combination of European expertise will allow us to draw the conclusion:

yes, they can be solved, so let us now define the problems.

Notes and references

1. Proceedings of recent meetings of the CIB Working Commission W69 "Housing Sociology" are published in: Siksiii, 0. (ed.) 1990. "Housing Sociology in Times of Change. Proceedings from the 7th meeting of CIB Working Commission W69 Housing Sociology". CIB Proceedings Publication 125. International Council for Building Research Studies and Documentation (CIB) and The National Swedish Inst- itute for Building Research. Research report SB:29. Galland, B. (ed.) 1990. "Housing Evaluation. Proceedings from the 8th meeting CIB Working Com- mission W69 Housing Sociology". International Council for Building Research Studies and Docu- mentation (CIB) and 1'Ecole Polytechnique FddCrale de Lausanne. Publication 119, CIB, Rotter- dam and EPFL, Lausanne.

2. Papers from the Vojtechov meeting referred to in the text are:

Ola Siksio, (Sweden), Clients and Actors in the Housing Market or Whatever Happened to State Intervention? or Lessons from Marketization of the Regulated Private Rental Sector in Central Stockholm. Ewa Kaltenberg-Kwiatkowska, (Poland), The City as a Dwelling Environment. Igor Simunek, (Czechoslovakia), Flat Tenants - Their Problems - Strategies of Survival. Fedor Paphnek, (Czechoslovakia), Housing and Opinions in Process of Change. Peter Michalovic, (Czechoslovakia), Transition to Housing Markets - a New Order Effort. Mircea Kivu, (Rumania), Romania's Housing Problems: Financial Mechanisms. Traila Cernescu, (Rumania), Is Collective Housing Possible in the Villages?

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Ivor Ambrose, (Denmark), Changing Responsibilities for Housing Maintenance: Resident-Manage- ment Cooperation.

3. Inquiry into British Housing, National Federation of Housing Associations, London, 1985.

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Dagfin Aas NBI Postboks 123 Blindern N-03 14 Oslo 3 Norway -47-2-4698801846165 (home)

Dominic Afobali Abe Federal Housing Authority Badagry Road, Festival Town P.M.B. 3200 Sumlere - Lagos Nigeria

Ivor Ambrose Statens Byggeforskningsinstitut Postboks 119 DK-2970 Holrsholm Denmark -45-22-7346011798498 (home)

Osman Armangil Rm. 332 ENHS-ECE-UN 12 1 1 Geneva Switzerland -4 1-22-734601 ext. 2381-4 1-22-798498 (home)

Agnes Babarczy-Vajda Central Statistical Office Keletik 5-7 1525 Budapest

Hungary -..-..-135853011495062 (home)

Michel Bassand IREC 14 Av. de 1'Eglise Anglaise CH- 1006 Lausanne Switzerland

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-4 1-2 1-693321-4 1-22-79202 (home)

Herbert Baumhackl Institute of Geography Universitiitsstrasse 7 A-1010 Wien Austria 0222-40103-258310222-4086153 (home)

Prof. Dr. N. Bayazit Yapi Arastirma Merkezi Minarlik Fakultesi Teknik Universite Istanbul Turkey

W.L. van Bogerijen Ministry of Housing and Planning DOWSE0 Postbus 3001 2700 KA Zoetermeer the Netherlands -3 1-79-2720761-3 1- 1803- 142 15 (home)

Traila Cernescu Building Design Institute for Typified Constructions, IPCT Sociological Reserach Laboratory Str. Tudor Arghezi 21 Bucharest Rumania -..-..-I58303

Michel Conan C.S.T.B. 4, Av. du Recteur Poincark F-75782 Paris Cedex France

Iskra Dandalova Institute of Sociology Bulgarian Academy of Sciences 13a str. Moskovska

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Sofia Bulgaria -359-2-8720351438755 (home)

Barbara Verlic Dekleva Institue of Sociology University of Ljubljana Cankarjeva 1 Ljubljana Yugoslavia . . -61-2167221571472 (home)

Frantisek Mvai Ministersvo vnljtra SR Drienova 22 8000 Bratislava Czechoslovakia . . -. . -2065331373622 (home)

Maria Joa o Freitas Grupo de Ecologia Social L.N.E.C. Av. Brasil 101 1799 Lisboa Codex Portugal 35 1 - 1-8482 13175909 (home)

Blaise Galland IREC Institut de Recherche de IIEnvironnement Construit Case Postal 555 CH- 1001 Lausanne Switzerland -4 1-2 1 -693421-33-50-77876 (home)

Ernst Gehmacher Institut fiir Empirische Sozialforschung IFES Rainergasse 38 Vienna 1050 Austria

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Mr. T.N. Gupta Central Building Research Institute P.O. Roorkee - 247667 India

Ludmila Guseva Minneheftegazstroy Zhitnaya ul. 14 1 17970 Moscow USSR

Franpis Hainard ISSP University of NeuchPtel Pierre-a-Maze1 7 2000 NeuchPtel Switzerland -41-38-25720512464 14 (home)

Jozef Hegediis Institute of Sociology 1014 Uri utca 49 Budapest

Hungary -36- 1- 1759011 116828 (home)

Ewa Kaltenberg-Kwiatkowska Broniewskiego 6, m.62 01785 Warszawa Poland -48-22-2677371395609 (home)

Mircea Kivu Research Institute for the Quality of Life Splaiul Independentei 204a Bucharest Rumania -. .-. .-262869 (home)

Maya Koleva Institut for Town and Country Planning

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KNIPITUGA 24 Kamen A n d m v str. Sofia Bulgaria -359-2-5429 16/62 1400 (home)

Lubomir Kotacka Research Institute for Building and Architecture VUVA Letenska 11800 Praha 1 CZECHOSLOVAKIA -42-2-53965 11736853 (home) cib

Rovmiana Kristova KNIPITUGA 14 Kamen Andreev str. 1303 Sofia Bulgaria

Hans Kroes RIW-Housing Research Institute Delft University Berlageweg 1 2628 CR Delft the Netherlands -31-15-7830461-10-4122642

Ivan Kusy Institute for Building and Architecture of the Slovak Academy of Sciences Dubravska cesta 9 84220 Bratislava Czechoslovakia

Darina Lalikova Institute of Building and Architecture of the Slovak Academy of Scienes 88546 Bratislava Czechoslovakia

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Roderick Lawrence Centre Universitaire dlEcologie Humaine Universi3 de Geneve 9, Rte de Troinex Case 266, CH-1227 Carouge Switzerland

Stuart Lowe University of York Dept. of Social Policy and Social Work Heslington York YO1 5DD England -. .-44-090443310347327

Paulo Machado L.N.E.C. Av. do Brasil 101 1799 Lisboa Portugal -35 1- 1-40103, ext. 279619220035 (home)

Walter Matznetter lnstitut fiir Geographic der Universitiit hien Universitiitsstrasse 7 A-1010 Wien Austria -43- 1-40103-29971-43-1-3 1992 14 (home) cib

Clara Mendes Faculdade de Arquitectura Largo da Academia Nacional de Belas Artes 1200 Lisboa Portugal -351-1-3466190

Raimund Messner Biiro fiir Stadtplanung und Architektur Eichlinghoferstrasse 17

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D-4600 Dortmund 50 Germany -. .-23 1-752622

Peter Michalovic Instute for Building Economy and Organization Ruzova dol. 27 82469 Bratislava Czechoslovakia -42-7-693621831 133 (home)

Jiri Musil Faculty of Architecture Czech Technical University Thakurova street 7 16000 Prague Czechoslovakia

Halina Myszkowska Research Institute on Environmental Development IKS Krzywickiego 9 Warszawa Poland

Fedor Papanek Institute for Building Economy and Organzation Zaluzicka 5 CS-82 10 1 Bratislava Czechoslovakia -. .-. .-2016278; 693621-. .-. .-232033 (home)

Dagmar Petrokova FASVST Radlinskeho 11 81245 Bratislava Czechoslovakia

Dumitru Sandu Building Design Institute for Typified Constructions IPCT

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Str. Tudor Arghezi 21 Bucharest 2 Rumania

Agnes Sebestyen Institute for Building Economy and Organization EGSZI Csalogany u. 9-1 1 H-1027 Budapest

H'.'ngary

Ola Siksi6 National Swedish Institute for Building Research Box 785 S-801 29 Gavle Sweden -46-26- 1002201 194444 (home)

Luis Soczka Laboratorio Nacional de Engenharia Civil Av. do Brasil 101 1799 Lisboa Portugal

Ivan Tosics Institute for Building Economy and Organzation EGSZI Csalogany u. 9-1 1 H-1027 Budapest

H~ngary -36-1-1532201131449

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J .

ISBN 90-5269-1 08-8