Responding to the Harassment and Abuse of Older People in the Private Rented Sector: Legal and Social Perspectives

Independent living, and hence active ageing, is seen by some governments as being supported through enabling and encouraging older people to live in mainstream housing. However, this emphasis upon ‘staying put’ and ‘ageing in place’ needs to recognise the major housing difficulties that are faced by some older people.

This paper presents findings from an exploratory study, funded by Help the Aged, of the harassment and abuse of older people within the private rented sector. Examples of the wide range of arguments, disputes and conflicts with landlords and other residents will be provided. The second half of the paper considers the legal remedies that might be available for tackling some of these problems and the present obstacles to their use. Finally, legal remedies will be compared with more social policy based approaches which draw upon the framework relating to the protection of vulnerable adults.     

德日犯罪论的中国命运考量

德日犯罪论第一次进入我国的时候,由于种种原因,并未引起任何反响。再次面对德日犯罪论,刑法学界已经由赞叹走向对该理论的反思。这一反思主要从两个向度上展开：理论自身和方法论。德日犯罪论所具有的外在不稳定性,表明该理论还在发展,其内在的缺陷,显示出该理论仍需完善。而仅仅运用哲学方法对它进行研究也存在一定的问题。德日犯罪论的中国命运不容乐观。     

From asset to patrimony: the re-emergence of the housing question

Abstract

The global financial crisis has ushered in a major housing crisis in many European countries. The paper seeks to shed light on why, despite massive housing crises, there are few policy efforts at tackling it. Probing into the policy paradigms that have informed housing policies, the paper demonstrates a shift towards housing as an asset before the crisis. Increasingly, housing policies have become interwoven with financial markets. This has led to a major policy mismatch after the crisis: while the return of the ‘housing question’ would have required renewed efforts at establishing housing as a social right, de facto policy makers sought to stabilise financial markets. The result is a paradoxical outcome, where neoliberal market-driven programmes are embedded in increased dependence on family wealth. The article demonstrates the shift from housing as asset to housing as patrimony in three different varieties of residential regimes, represented by Ireland, Denmark and Hungary.     

Untangling Housing Cost and Transportation Interactions: The Location Affordability Index Model—Version 2 (LAIM2)

Abstract

It is now accepted that to have an understanding of housing affordability one must consider not only housing costs, but also the transportation costs associated with that household location. To make this information readily accessible to the public, the United States government created an Internet resource, the Location Affordability Portal – Version 2 (www.locationaffordability.info), to provide housing and transportation costs for every neighborhood in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Although the statistical model at the heart of this resource was designed for predictive accuracy, its design and parameter estimates can provide additional insights into the interaction of housing cost and transportation choices (and thus its cost). This study describes the development and explores the policy implications (and limitations) of this structural equations model, the Location Affordability Index Model – Version 2 (LAIM2).     

美国次贷危机对我国的启示

美国次级债券引发的风波已经波及全球,世界上主要的金融领域公司业绩产生了巨大损失,美国房地产市场也已开始走向衰落。深入探究此次危机,可以使我们更清楚地了解美国房地产泡沫从产生到破灭的全过程,使我们能够正确看待住房贷款市场的风险和金融创新的两面性,这些都对正处在“风口浪尖”的我国经济有着深刻的警示意义。     

贴敷疗法配合腰痹方治疗退变性腰椎不稳短期临床疗效评价

目的 观察贴敷疗法配合腰痹方治疗退变性腰椎不稳的短期临床疗效。 方法 将94例退变性腰椎不稳的住院患者分为治疗组和对照组,每组47例,其中治疗组脱落2例,对照组脱落3例。对照组患者接受贴敷疗法,治疗组患者加服腰痹方。采用视觉模拟评分（visual analogue score,VAS）和Oswestry功能障碍指数（Oswestry disability index,ODI）评估临床疗效,采用SF-36量表评估生存质量。 结果 两组治疗10、21 d后,VAS评分和ODI均较治疗前显著降低（P＜0.05）,且治疗组VAS评分和ODI均显著低于对照组（P＜0.05）。治疗21 d后,两组SF-36各维度评分与治疗前比较,差异均有统计学意义（P＜0.05）,治疗组生理机能、生理职能、精力、社会功能4个维度评分升高值显著大于对照组（P＜0.05）。 结论 贴敷疗法配合腰痹方治疗退变性腰椎不稳能减轻疼痛,提高临床疗效及患者生存质量,短期临床疗效满意。     

城市居民住房满意度及其影响因素

让居民对其住房感到满意是建设和谐社会的一项重要内容。与一般商品的消费不同,居民对其住房满意与否不仅涉及到住房的品质和价格,还涉及到与此相关的外部环境,如小区环境、物业管理以及配套设施等因素。基于"适当性-重要性加权"模型,本研究从一个较为全面的视角探讨了城镇居民住房满意度水平的影响因素。研究发现:(1)住房的面积、住房的品质、小区环境以及物业管理等因素对居民住房满意度有着显著的影响。不过,这些因素的影响不及居民的家庭成员人数和对经济负担的主观感受等因素,更不及住房相关的公共配套设施对居民住房满意度的影响;(2)公共配套设施因素中的次类因素,如基础教育、医疗卫生以及生活服务设施等,对居民的住房满意度都有显著的影响。     

The urban household in Russia and the Soviet Union, 1900–2000: Patterns of family formation in a turbulent century

Starting from census data on co-residence and household composition, the authors analyse principles of family organisation and family formation in twentieth-century urban Russia and the Soviet Union. The article uses an adapted version of the classification of households developed by Peter Laslett and Eugene Hammel to study variation in household structure for successive population censuses. Changes in this variation between cross-sections are explained with the help of additional quantitative and qualitative data and are linked to the fundamental demographic, social and economic shifts which took place in Russian society in the course of the twentieth century. The article finds a family system characterised by a tendency towards nuclear family formation, but incorporating a fairly stable element of household extension. Co-residence of three generations was both an answer to a perennial housing problem and offered important advantages in the sphere of childcare and care for the elderly. Variation and fluctuation in household structure are found to be most pronounced during the turbulent first half of the century. After a period of stability during the post-war decades of Soviet rule, post-Soviet transformations provoke new changes.     

Comment on Anthony Downs's “Have Housing Prices Risen Faster in Portland Than Elsewhere?”

Abstract

Forms of urban containment are found in more than a hundred jurisdictions across the United States. The lightning rod for the debate over urban containment is metropolitan Portland, OR, which has had an urban growth boundary for a generation. In the early 1990s, housing prices there soared, providing fodder to interests opposed to public interference in the private development market. Downs contributes to the debate by finding that over the long term, metropolitan Portland's housing prices are more in line with its West Coast and national contemporaries than not.

This comment first reviews some of the literature associating growth controls and growth management with housing price changes. I then examine how Oregon's and metropolitan Portland's particular institutional measures ameliorate potential price effects, offering lessons for containment programs everywhere. I caution that urban containment is here to stay and that the best way for development interests to protect themselves from undesirable outcomes is to advocate Portland‐style urban containment.     

Introduction to session 2: Magnitude of the crisis: The fiscal and human costs

Abstract

Many are looking to California and its state housing law for advice on how to deal with the affordability challenges affecting many metropolitan areas throughout the nation. It is thus critically important to go beyond the laws themselves and examine how state and municipal governance structure affects affordability, supply, and production. Some states give broad freedom to localities to develop policies that can potentially meet a range of goals and objectives. Others directly undermine those efforts by limiting local ability to pursue policy reforms while simultaneously failing to engage on the state level.

The redefinition of federalism on the national level, coupled with continued resistance to growth from some localities, establishes the state as at least an equal partner in dealing with housing supply and affordability issues. Understanding these distinctions is important, and the housing community needs to take them into account as it moves on the state front.