Can Social Innovations in Housing Save Public Money? The Case of Slovakia

ABSTRACT

The paper deals with research into the innovative provision of public services by the non-governmental organizations in the field of housing. The paper describes the legislation of the housing system in Slovakia and aims to analyse innovation in social housing provision. The paper contributes to the knowledge on innovative social housing solutions provided by non-governmental organizations. The use of cost benefit analysis reveals the benefits of innovation in housing provision by an internationally awarded organization ETP Slovakia. The analysis proves the government´s possible savings of public expenditures if it would decide to support the innovative approach in social housing provision.     

The politics of quantitative easing and housing stimulus by the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank, 2008‒2018

Abstract

Central banks have been important yet underexplored actors in the fight against the Great Recession. In addition to ultra-low interest rates, they adopted large-scale bond-buying programmes known as quantitative easing (QE). Yet there is significant variation in QE programmes with important distributive consequences. Why has the Fed adopted multi-trillion-dollar bond-buying programmes in housing, while the ECB has not? This article argues that the Fed targeted the integrated housing finance market as a monetary transmission strategy to stimulate core elements of the US growth model: credit, demand, and consumption. In contrast, the ECB hardly stimulated housing given the eurozone’s fragmented housing finance markets and the macroeconomic frictions with some eurozone growth models, particularly export-oriented Germany. Analysing archival and interview data, this article traces the decisions of these central banks since the Great Recession, contributing to scholarship on the politics of central banking, economic policy in hard times, and the welfare state.     

Retrenchment of Social Policy by Other Means: A Comparison of Agricultural and Housing Policy in Turkey

Abstract

In many low- and middle-income countries, conventional welfare state institutions provide social protection only for the formally employed. In contrast, the rural and urban poor are often protected by “social policy by other means”. Based on a comparative analysis of two major unconventional welfare programs in Turkey, agricultural state support and access to squatter housing, this article explains retrenchment of social policy by other means. Agricultural retrenchment was the result of coercive policy transfer from international organizations in a post-crisis context, while the retrenchment of squatter housing was driven by domestic political entrepreneurs responding to decreases in the availability of urban land and the number of informal squatters. In both cases, retrenchment became politically sustainable due to functional replacement with more conventional welfare programs. This analysis challenges the narrow focus of mainstream welfare state research, provides an explanation of retrenchment of social policy by other means, and enhances our understanding of Turkey’s uneven welfare state development.     

Study on the Problems and Countermeasures of Public Rental Housing Fraud: Based on Signal Transmission Model

The information asymmetry between the government and the housing security object would lead to adverse selection, opportunism and moral hazard during the rental process of public rental housing. Based on the review of China’s public rental housing policy implementation and effect, and combing the relevant literature about public rental housing fraud, we constructed the signal transfer model suitable for the explanation of the behavior of China’s public housing fraud, and focused on the explanatory variable of social service time. The theoretical analysis shows that social service time can be used as an explanatory variable to reveal the separation equilibrium and pooling equilibrium of various income groups under different social service times. Finally, we took the public rental housing community of Lanqiao Jingyuan in Hangzhou as an example to make a case analysis, the results confirmed the operability of the model, and indicated that social service time as the signal is helpful for the reaching the ideal state of equilibrium of different income groups.     

房价“双轨制”的双重效应与政策取向

房价"双轨制"是指目前我国住房市场并存的两种价格制度体系,房价"双轨制"具有利弊双重效应:适应"渐进式"改革和不完备市场体系的需要,符合现阶段多元化社会结构解决和改善住房条件的需求,有利于调动房地产商的积极性,明确政府的责任,促进社会的和谐稳定。但房价"双轨制"与商品的本质和市场经济原则相矛盾,在运行操作上有很大的难度,容易造成社会福利的流失和形成新的社会不公平。房价"双轨制"的政策取向是:在供需矛盾突出的体制过渡时期不能取消而且要继续强化房价"双轨制",促进住房公平,加大保障性住房建设力度,增加住房的有效供给。     

对“集体土地上建公租房”政策的法律思考

利用农村集体建设用地进行公租房建设政策试点实际上突破了法律的刚性规定,变相允许利用农村集体土地进行服务于集体经济组织成员以外群体的房地产建设;将国家公益事业责任交由集体经济组织这一私权主体承担,其合理性也不无疑问。因此,从长远来看,公益事业保障和集体利益实现仍应依赖于建立科学合理的城市土地资源配置及农村集体建设用地使用权制度。     

“以债生财”还是“因债致贫”？——家庭住房债务对贫困脆弱性的影响

脱贫的长效机制应考虑到未来贫困风险问题，即应关注贫困脆弱性。随着住房债务在家庭债务中的主体地位日益显现，住房债务或将影响家庭的贫困脆弱性。基于2016年中国家庭追踪调查（CFPS）数据对两者关系展开研究，结果显示，平均而言，负有住房债务的家庭贫困脆弱性程度显著低于无住房债务的家庭，且以住房债务资产比度量的住房债务压力能够缓解贫困脆弱性。但这种缓解作用并非是持续的，而是表现出“U型”非线性特征。当住房债务资产比低于137.5%时，住房债务主要表现出净“财富效应”，存在“以债生财”的可能；在此之后，“房奴效应”将占主导地位，刺激“因债致贫”现象的发生。当然，家庭特征不同也会使这种影响产生差异。为减缓相对贫困，可进一步提高住房信贷效率、发挥住房信贷效能。     

Work Requirements in Public Housing: Impacts on Tenant Employment and Evictions

In recent years, many have debated adopting work requirements in the public housing program, and a limited number of public housing agencies (PHA) have implemented these policies through the flexibility provided by the Moving to Work program. One such agency—the Charlotte Housing Authority (CHA)—has implemented a work requirement across five (of 15) public housing developments that mandates households to work 15 hr weekly or face sanctions. This article evaluates this policy and presents the first empirical analysis on the outcomes of a work requirement on employment and evictions. We find that, following work requirement enforcement, the percentage of impacted households paying minimum rent (a proxy for nonemployment) decreased versus a comparison group. Analysis of additional data on both employment and hours worked indicates similar results regarding employment gains, but no increase in average hours worked. We find no evidence that work requirement sanctions increased evictions, and very modest evidence that enforcement increased the rate of positive move-outs such as moves to unsubsidized housing.     

政治嵌入行政:乡村拆迁补偿安置政策的"弹性运作"

当前乡村拆迁补偿安置政策实施实效不彰,"弹性"执行现象多发。对此,学界有政策不完备论、街头官僚论、地方性知识论和府际关系论等几种解释,但都存在不足。在深度调研的基础上,从乡村拆迁补偿安置政策的运行实际出发,探究了实践中拆迁补偿安置政策的多种"弹性运作"表现及实施机制,揭示出基层政治运行中存在的治理逻辑、政绩逻辑。分析表明,压力型体制下的"政治嵌入行政"是导致乡村拆迁补偿安置政策执行出现"目标替代"及"弹性运作"的根本原因,并在一定程度上阻碍了乡村社会治理的法治化、规范化。     

房价上涨的途径——财政、人口与预期的再验证

在国家“六稳”、“六保”的政策目标下，稳定房价具有较大现实意义。基于中国267个地级市2006-2018年的面板数据，通过联立方程模型实证研究地方财政支出、人口迁移以及预期对房价的影响。结果显示，市场对房价上涨的预期是推升房价上涨的主要因素，此外，全国层面的房价受到地方财政支出资本化的正向作用，东、中部地区房价受到人口迁移数量的显著影响，西部地区房价受到第三产业占比的支撑。因此，稳定房价的关键途径是维持购房者的市场信心，确保人口流入有助稳定东、中部地区房价?确保第三产业发展则是 稳定西部房价的重要途径。