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Navigate the future of affordable housing in 2024 with Multi-Housing News. Gain insights into the evolving landscape, and industry challenges and discover strategies for a resilient affordable housing sector. https://buff.ly/3vvkMQz #multifamily @MHNonline

Great news - our research on housing affordability has been published 🏘️   Abi Sharp, Ian Christie and Lorraine Simpson recently completed a qualitative study on behalf of The Scottish Government which explored lived experience and understanding of housing affordability among private and social tenants across Scotland. Our report reflects on some of the challenges renters face in terms of affordability and availability of housing, views on acceptable standards of living and thoughts on how best to measure housing affordability. A huge thank you to everyone who took part in the research, the organisations who supported us with recruitment (including TPAS Scotland, TIS Scotland and Living Rent) and the Scottish Government’s housing affordability working group. You can read the report in full here👇: https://lnkd.in/dRihjMru #socialresearch #housingcrisis

📚🏡 Daniel Halliday and I just published a a literature review on Just Housing in Philosophy Compass (open access). It pulls together threads from various discussions in political philosophy to offer a panoramic view of housing justice. Here are some highlights: 💡 Discover the surprising role of fiscal and monetary policy in housing justice. 🌐 Gentrification unpacked: Some argue it's not just about displacement but involves complex layers of domination, exploitation, and the stifling of democratic discourse. Others argue we might have focussed on the ills of gentrification too much, and lost sight of its positive effects. 🛤️ On spatial justice: We delve into innovative concepts like the egalitarian city and the rights of city-dwellers, pushing the boundaries of traditional urban planning debates. 📉 The financialization of housing markets: Learn about the unexpected impacts on social equality and the provocative suggestions for reform. A big thank you to everyone who contributed to this piece! Let's push forward the conversation on creating just housing solutions for all. https://lnkd.in/eQrUQS5e

The Global Challenge Of Affordable Housing: Why It Matters Affordable housing is a fundamental human right, yet millions worldwide struggle to secure it due to rapid urbanization, economic inequality, insufficient government policies, real estate speculation, and the impacts of natural disasters and climate change. The importance of affordable housing lies in its ability to provide economic stability, health and well-being, social cohesion, educational opportunities, and reduce homelessness. Addressing the global housing crisis requires increased investment in affordable housing projects, inclusive housing policies, innovative building techniques, and community involvement. By recognizing and addressing these challenges, we can work towards a world where everyone has access to safe, stable, and affordable homes. https://lnkd.in/dE7f26TP

In this truly great piece, Melissa Mean quotes some very telling stats about the dysfunction in our housing market: - of the 234,400 homes built last year, just 4% were genuinely affordable - less than 2% of new homes meet the highest environmental standards - 75% of new homes were found in a UCL study to be of poor or mediocre quality. This is the developer-led system that the Government wants to super-charge by shredding planning regulations and which they claim, despite all the evidence, will lead to millions of high quality, affordable homes. As Melissa, Director of Bristol’s brilliant WeCanMake, writes: “The big questions missing from the election debate are not “what if we build on the green belt” or “what if we deregulated planning”. The question we should be asking is: “What if the power and resources to make good homes were in the hands of our communities?” If we centred this question in our election debates, we might have a chance of re-imagining and re-wiring our housing system to get more than just developer profits and deeply unsatisfactory “units” out of it.” Imran Hashmi Jessica Studdert Tom Chance Catriona Maclay #property #housing #communitypower https://lnkd.in/e6HwaK2a

Our report on transitions in/out of encampments, hotels, and housing coops is out! David Wachsmuth Cara Chellew Matthew Adair, AICP Danielle Kerrigan and Bridget Buglioni. We interviewed housing/community groups and people with lived experience to understand the barriers to the flows of individuals into stable housing. There needs to be more funding for subsidized/social/affordable housing, as its current lack in Canada also impacts other parts of the housing system, including housing efforts for refugees and encampment residents. We need a more adapted and flexible approach to transitional housing that reflects the variety of needs of people's transitions to stable housing (+ more resources!). Since housing paths are not linear, we also propose ways to rethink Canada's housing continuum with stability/autonomy as guiding principles. Much much more in the full report, including three excellent case summaries (hotels converted to refugee shelters in Southern Ontario, encampments in Montreals, and housing coops in Metro Vancouver). Our full report is available here: https://lnkd.in/edmQTn4h

Oh Vienna*! With all of this talk of Sydney becoming more like Paris… we say, why stop there? Let’s aspire to an even greater model of housing justice and look to Vienna where large scale social housing and communities is the long-term norm. Super interesting article here on what’s actually possible. * people of a certain age will appreciate this retro reference

Big speech on housing today. Our Going for Housing Growth policy focuses on the fundamentals that have led to unaffordable housing for New Zealanders. Our programme of reform involves freeing up land for development and removing unnecessary planning barriers, improving infrastructure funding and financing, and providing incentives for communities and councils to support growth. Six changes announced today: - The establishment of Housing Growth Targets for Tier 1 and 2 councils - New rules requiring cities to be allowed to expand outwards at the urban fringe - A strengthening of the intensification provisions in the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) - New rules requiring councils to enable mixed-use developments in our cities. - The abolition of minimum floor area and balcony requirements - New provisions making the MDRS optional for councils Interested in your views on my speech!

This morning, I read an insightful article covering Kevin Bell that emphasizes the critical role of having a home in supporting one's social well-being. In a real estate industry shaped by quasi-capitalism and ongoing skewed media narratives, Bell reiterates the social benefit of housing as opposed to commodification of housing. "Decent housing is a pillar of the whole human rights system," he says. "When the right to a decent home is put at risk or violated on a large scale, this impacts on a great many other rights." In his new book, Housing: The Great Australian Right, Bell says the values underpinning our modern housing system, where property is viewed as a commodity and instrument of private gain (where speculative investment is encouraged), rather than a home and human right, is a "national disgrace".

9 goals for housing: Inaugural national supply and affordability report released: Australia's National Housing Supply and Affordability Council has just fulfilled its first task, releasing a comprehensive report into the state of the nation's housing. https://bit.ly/4b9UhQA