Home Ownership In A Risk Society

This book argues that the emergence of unsustainable owner -occupation is emblematic of broader changes in contemporary society associated with the emergence of what commentators such as Beck and Giddens have characterised as a "risk society."

In context of ongoing transformations in housing markets and socioeconomic conditions, this book focuses on past, current and future roles of home ownership in social policies and welfare practices. It considers owner-occupied housing in terms of diverse meanings and manifestations, but in particular the part played by housing tenure in the political, socioeconomic and demographic changes that have characterized the pre- and post-crisis era. The intensified promotion of home ownership in recent decades helped stimulate an increasing orientation towards the private consumption of housing, not only as a home, but also an asset – or possibly speculative vehicle – that enhances household economic capacity and can be transferred to children or other family, or even exchanged for other goods. The latest global financial crisis, however, made it clear that owner-occupied housing markets and mortgage sectors have become deeply embedded in networks of socioeconomic interdependency and risk. This collection engages with numerous debates on housing and society in a range of developed societies from North America to Asia-Pacific to North, South, East and West Europe. Interdisciplinary contributors draw upon diverse empirical data to explore how housing and home ownership has become so embedded in polity, economy and household welfare conditions in various social and cultural contexts. Another concern is what lies beyond home ownership considering the integration of housing systems with economic growth and social stability appears to be unravelling. This volume speaks to public debates concerning the future of housing markets, policy and tenure, providing deep and provocative insights for academics, students and professionals alike.

Home ownership sectors in most European countries have grown in size. Whatever assets European households have acquired in recent decades, real estate appears to form a significant element in wealth portfolios. Frequently, national governments have been active in promoting the shift-in tenure balance. The general question pursued in this book is about the gains and losses accruing to individual households by virtue of their position as home owners. The focus, here, is on financial gains and losses. This book is also concerned with the losses, in the form of repayment risk, related to, difficulties that some households may experience in meeting housing loan repayment schedules. The immediate background to this volume is the Conference on Housing Growth and Regeneration. Hosted by the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research, Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge, it was held under the auspices of the European Network of Housing Researchers.

Demand for owner-occupied housing has expanded dramatically across modern-industrialized societies in recent years leading to volatile increases in residential property values. This book explores the rise of modern home-ownership as a cultural, socio-political and ideological phenomenon.

Home ownership sectors in most European countries have grown in size. Whatever assets European households have acquired in recent decades, real estate appears to form a significant element in wealth portfolios. Frequently, national governments have been active in promoting the shift in tenure balance. The general question pursued in this book is about the gains and losses accruing to individual households by virtue of their position as home owners. The focus, here, is on financial gains and losses. It also concerns the losses, in the form of repayment risk, related to difficulties that some households may experience in meeting housing loan repayment schedules. The immediate background to this volume is the Conference Housing in Europe: New Challenges and Innovations in Tomorrow's Cities, held in Reykjavik, Iceland. Hosted by the Urban Studies Institute of the University of Iceland and Centre for Housing and Property Research, Bifröst School of Business, it was held under the auspices of the European Network of Housing Researchers.

The growing use of housing equity to support a range of activities and needs raises complex issues, particularly for older owners. In an environment in which older owners are pushed towards housing equity transactions to meet income and welfare costs, they are required to make choices from a complex and sometimes bewildering range of options. The transactions which facilitate the use of home equity as a resource to spend in later life - from 'trading down' and 'ordinary' secured and unsecured debt to targeted products including reverse/lifetime mortgages, home reversion plans and sale-and-rentback agreements - raise important legal and regulatory issues. This book provides a contextual analysis of the financial transactions that older people enter into using their housing equity. It traces the protections afforded to older owners through the 'ordinary' law of property and contract, as well as the development of specific regulatory protections focused on targeted products. The book employs the notion of risk to highlight the nature and causes of the 'situational' vulnerabilities to which older people are now subject as 'consumers' of housing equity, showing that the older owner's personal situation is crucial in determining whether and why they may seek to release equity, the options and products available to them, and the impact of harms resulting from adverse transactions. The book critically evaluates the extent to which this context is incorporated in the legal frameworks through which these transactions are governed, as a measure of the 'appropriateness' of existing legal provision, as well as considering the arguments surrounding 'special protection' for older owners in housing equity transactions.

Offers information by linking developments on home ownership with developments in the financial and labor markets in the context of globalization. This book is the conclusion of a body of research that started with a workshop held at the University of York in October 2000, and which resulted in the book Globalisation and Home Ownership.

From the very first negotiations of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights half a century ago to the present day, socio-economic rights have often been regarded as less enforceable than civil and political rights. The right to adequate housing, even though protecting one of the most basic needs of human beings, has not escaped this classification. Despite its strong foundations in international, regional and domestic legislation, many people are still deprived of one or more of the different key elements that comprise adequate housing. How, then, can international human rights theory and case law be developed into effective vehicles at the domestic level? Rather than focusing merely on possibilities for individualized relief through the court system, The Right to Housing in Law and Society looks into more effective socio-economic rights realization by addressing both conceptual and practical stumbling blocks that hinder a more structural progress at the national level. The Flemish and Belgian housing legislation and policy are used to highlight the problems and illustrate the pathways here presented. While first and foremost legal in its approach, the book also offers a more sociological perspective on the functioning of the right to housing in practice. It shows the latest state of knowledge on the topic and will be of interest to researchers, academics, policymakers and students in the fields of international socio-economic rights law and human rights law more generally.