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The introduction of the mandatory 'Right to Buy' (RTB) in 1980 for qualifying tenants in municipal housing was a significant development in British housing policy. It was an extension of the post-war 'social project' of the state-subsidised expansion of home ownership, leading to the sale of nearly two million dwellings over forty years. In 2015, the UK government sought to 'reinvigorate' RTB by extending it to the housing association (HA) sector in England, initially on a pilot basis. This article investigates the impact of this pilot programme and the response of eligible tenants to the opportunity to purchase. It compares the pilot programme to the local authority RTB in terms of the changing demographic base of social renting, increased spatial differentiation in the housing market, the different institutional framework for HAs and the design of the pilot scheme. Research findings suggest that the take-up and impact of any national RTB scheme is likely to be limited, for a mixture of financial, institutional and demographic reasons. RTB will provide only a very selective route into home ownership for some HA tenants, as a specific segment of a more fragmented tenure than in 1980. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests that more attention needs to be given to the historical formation and development of neighbourhood attachment in working-class areas. Notions of belonging and identity may be contingent, complex or contradictory and are shaped by the characteristics of place. The pattern of population change over time through the impact of migration is especially important in shaping notions of neighbourhood identity and perceptions of change. The sustainability of the local public realm and sites for local social interaction also figure strongly in narratives of change. The paper considers whether it is valuable to analyse these processes of change and continuity through the concept of path dependence. The paper suggests path dependence is of limited heuristic value, as it is difficult for this frame work to capture self-reinforcing, reactive, punctuated or incremental patterns of change – all of which were evident in the six research neighbourhoods. The paper suggests that a less deterministic “pathways” approach to neighbourhood change may be a more productive way forward [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper considers some of the issues raised by the governance of housing market renewal, and more specifically demolition, in areas of England suffering from long-standing economic decline and housing market weakness. It examines the experiences of the Housing Market Renewal (HMR) Pathfinder initiative in England, which ran from 2003 to 2011. It reviews some of the strands in the critique of the programme and suggests that they may have tended to overstate the professional and institutional power of the agencies involved to ‘deliver’ their programmes in the face of media or community resistance. On the basis of secondary analysis and stakeholder interviews, the paper suggests that the underlying fragility of the ‘partnership’ governance model on which HMR was founded caused a retreat from demolition as an option in housing market restructuring and wider uncertainty about the focus of the programme – they were ‘wicked problems’ that were difficult to manage. These problems were compounded first by the housing market impacts of global financial crisis from 2008 and the election of a hostile central government in 2010, leading to the premature closure of the HMR programme in March 2011. In conclusion, the paper considers whether it is likely that any future regeneration programme incorporating even modest levels of demolition will be attempted within a ‘partnership’ model of governance in areas of housing market weakness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the use and abuse of historical method in the field of housing studies, with specific reference to predictions about the future shape of social housing in Britain. It reflects on the debates about council housing in the early 1990s and sets these against subsequent policy developments. The paper suggests that this exercise reveals some shortcomings in dominant paradigms within housing studies, such as the misreading and misrepresentation of tenants' responses and reactions; the over-emphasis on consumption in assessing processes of housing sector change; the neglect of increasing spatial differentiation in housing markets across Britain; and the failure to appreciate the causes behind increasing volatility in some local housing markets. The paper argues for a more nuanced historical sensibility and a more adventurous methodology when forecasting the future direction of housing policies and the future characteristics of housing systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the emergence of housing strategies at the regional level in England in the context of wider ambiguities over establishing this new tier of governance. The paper notes the growing differentiation in local housing markets across the country and examines the implications for national policy formation and the development of new regional structures and responsibilities. These trends are interpreted by reference to different models of governance and the 'rescaling' of government functions and responsibilities in housing. The implications of these processes for housing strategy formation at the regional level are then assessed. The development of regional housing strategies is then considered against three key challenges: the growth of 'network' forms of governance, the applicability of the regional level as a tier for strategy formulation and development, and the different policy responses in other sectors towards housing market change at the sub-national level. The paper concludes by briefly considering likely future developments in regional governance. In conclusion it suggests that the aim of achieving greater integration between housing, planning and economic development strategies may be threatened by underlying processes of uneven economic growth and social polarisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unusually large, predominantly municipal, housing sector in the UK has provided the context for a large occupational grouping of "housing managers" that has claimed professional status. However, within the post-1945 British welfare state this professional project enjoyed limited success and social housing remained a fragile professional domain. This article explores the consequences for housing professionalism of the recent displacement of the bureau-professional "organisational settlement" by that characterising an emerging "managerial state". Managerialism constitutes a clear challenge to established forms of "professionalism", especially a weak profession such as housing management. However, professionalism is temporally and culturally plastic. Hence, the demands of managerialism, within the specific context of New Labour's quest for "community" cohesion, may be providing opportunities for a new urban network professionalism founded on claims to both generic and specific skills and also a knowledge base combining abstraction with local concreteness. The prominence in these networks of erstwhile "housing" practitioners may become the basis for a new, quite different, professional project. This argument is developed through both conceptual exploration and reference to empirical research. The latter involves reference to recent work by the authors on, first, the perception of housing employers of the changing nature and demands of "housing" work and its consequences for professionalism and, secondly, the professional project implications of the increasing prominence of neighbourhood management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The position of flat owners inevitably raises complex issues in terms of the balance of individual and collective rights and responsibilities to be enshrined in housing law. These issues are resolved in various ways according to national policies and market frameworks. This paper examines the unique and unusual position of long leaseholders in privately owned blocks of flats in England and Wales. It outlines the major legal changes which have affected this sector in recent years, and assesses some of the experiences of leaseholders, based on a national study of 870 cases. The paper highlights the confusion surrounding the status of leaseholders as tenants and owners and assesses current proposals for further reform. The analysis is situated in debates about the complexity of 'tenure' as a category, and reveals the extent to which the concept embraces multiple meanings rooted in both legalistic discourse and popular assumption. The paper reflects on the methodological potential of approaching tenure as a construct in order to understand why the leasehold sector in England and Wales has endured and has so far proved relatively immune to attempted legal transformations of its character and function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses recent policies and initiatives to promote neighbourhood renewal in the context of housing market change in two different policy environments – those of Denmark and England. The authors suggest that surface similarities in the recent urban policy discourses of the two countries tend to conceal deeper differences in the capacity of community-led neighbourhood-based initiatives to improve housing opportunities for local residents. The paper also suggests that comparative analysis of neighbourhood renewal policy has often been too firmly lodged at the national level, neglecting the complexities of ‘multi-level’ governance and uneven spatial development which are increasingly important in urban policy formation and delivery. The authors examine the diverse motivations for the recent policy focus on the ‘neighbourhood’ as an arena for intervention. They suggest that in England the impact of ever starker regional and sub-regional inequalities, problems associated with uneven economic growth, patterns of household migration and mobility, empty housing and cultural segregation extend well beyond the reach of the New Labour government's original urban policy agenda, in its concerns with ‘capacity building’, ‘partnership working’ and ‘joined up governance’. There are now signs of a realignment in approach to impose a more strategic emphasis at a regional level of governance, although this remains underdeveloped in England. While Danish urban policy also has contradictory elements, there is a smaller gap between national government rhetoric and the strategy to improve specific localities, and the central role accorded to local government, which stands in contrast to recent English policy, has been a key aspect underpinning this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on Chris Allen's article about welfare professionalism in housing projects. Importance of joined up working in welfare systems; Structure of the inter-personal relationship between welfare professionals.