The Edges of Home Ownership

Dr Marietta Haffner

Funding period: 30 September 2014 – 2 October 2014
Type of funding: Seminar Series

Dr Marietta Haffner led a 2-day seminar on the ‘The Edges of Homeownership’ in the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, UT Delft on 30 September and 1 October 2014. The aim of the seminar was to set out lines for a clear vision for a sustainable future for housing systems as a whole that are more inclusive and less tenure bound than those operating presently. While the meaning, use and institutions of owner occupation vary across cultures and states, the edges of ownership, wherever they lie, constitute a neglected zone ‘in-between’ sustainable owner occupation and long-term rental in which the dilemmas of tenure-divided housing systems are played out. Establishing the extent and robustness of the evidence base was therefore an important challenge and the first one to be addressed by the seminar.

The seminar provided a platform for innovative analyses of datasets from different jurisdictions that produced them to shed light on these marginal spaces. The second challenge to be addressed was the myriad practical experiments at the edges, which had yet to be recognized and discussed. They also discussed existing experiments spanning the development of novel tenure types in co-operative and shared ownership, extending to the financial innovations designed to separate the costs of procuring housing services from the risks and rewards of property investment. The third challenge to be addressed was how to combine the new evidence base with financial innovations to lower the risks of homeownership and deliver ingredients for the design of a sustainable housing system. The papers from these seminars resulted in a special issue of the International Journal of Housing Policy (2017).

Final Report for USF

Special Issue Editorial:

Haffner, M. E. A., Ong, R., Smith, S. J., & Wood, G. A. (2017). ‘The edges of home ownership – the borders of sustainability’, International Journal of Housing Policy, 17/2: 169–76. DOI: 10.1080/19491247.2017.1289717

Special Issue Articles:

Cigdem, M., & Whelan, S. (2017). ‘Intergenerational transfers and housing tenure – Australian evidence’, International Journal of Housing Policy, 17/2: 227–48. DOI: 10.1080/19491247.2017.1278580

Csizmady, A., Hegedüs, J., & Nagy, G. (2017). ‘The effect of GFC on tenure choice in a post-socialist country – the case of Hungary’, International Journal of Housing Policy, 17/2: 249–75. DOI: 10.1080/19491247.2017.1293409

Hirayama, Y. (2017). ‘Individualisation and familisation in Japan’s home-owning democracy’, International Journal of Housing Policy, 17/2: 296–313. DOI: 10.1080/14616718.2015.1089730

Köppe, S. (2017). ‘Britain’s new housing precariat: housing wealth pathways out of homeownership’, International Journal of Housing Policy, 17/2: 177–200. DOI: 10.1080/14616718.2016.1185286

Pareja-Eastaway, M., & Sánchez-Martínez, M. T. (2017). ‘Have the edges of homeownership in Spain proved to be resilient after the Global Financial Crisis?’, International Journal of Housing Policy, 17/2: 276–95. DOI: 10.1080/14616718.2016.1185275

Wood, G. A., Smith, S. J., Cigdem, M., & Ong, R. (2017). ‘Life on the edge: a perspective on precarious home ownership in Australia and the UK’, International Journal of Housing Policy, 17/2: 201–26. DOI: 10.1080/14616718.2015.1115225

Special Issue Reviews:

Di Virgilio, M. M. (2017). ‘Housing policy in Argentina: reflections on a decade of progressive social policy’, International Journal of Housing Policy, 17/2: 314–25. DOI: 10.1080/19491247.2016.1266868

Rowen, E. (2017). ‘A Review of “Homeownership and America’s financial underclass: flawed premises, broken promises and new prescriptions”, Edited by Mechele Dickerson’, International Journal of Housing Policy, 17/2: 328–30. DOI: 10.1080/19491247.2017.1304511

Smith, R. (2017). ‘A Review of “Housing economics: a historical approach”, By Geoffrey Meen, Kenneth Gibb, Chris Leishman and Christian Nygaard’, International Journal of Housing Policy, 17/2: 330–3. DOI: 10.1080/19491247.2017.1293911

de Souza, F. A. M. (2017). ‘A Review of “For a proper home: housing rights in the margins of urban Chile, 1960–2000”, By Edward Murphy’, International Journal of Housing Policy, 17/2: 326–8. DOI: 10.1080/19491247.2017.1304510