Course: Supervised Research Project

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Abstract

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The rise and fall of the social rented sector are closely correlated with political and economic paradigm shifts.  While the pillars of Keynesian theory supported the expansion of the social rental sector, the recent diffusion of neoliberal policies has contributed to its decline. Born out of the shortcomings of the laissez-faire approach, social housing played a vital role in curbing exploitation of vulnerable communities, redistributing wealth, minimizing speculation and ensuring socio-spatial integration in cities. In light of a chronic shortage of affordable housing in urban centers, reversal of the mass-suburbanization trend and the erosion of the regulatory framework of the state, reappraisal of the trajectory of current housing policies is pressing. In this research project, I reflect on global trends in social housing policy by examining the evolution of these policies in two divergent housing regimes, within liberal and social-democratic welfare typologies, over the course of the 20th and the 21st centuries, while referring to key periods and institutional and governance shifts.

 

Relying on a comparative historic approach, this study focuses on three major issues: the formation of the social rental sector in unitary and dualist housing markets, the local response through social housing policies to globalizing forces and the relation between these policies and socio-spatial segregation. Drawing on academic and grey literature, I found that the state can create a dominant tenure in the housing market, and by extension socio-spatial patterns of segregation, by combining specific tools of governance. In addition to deep state intervention, tenure neutral subsidies and policies and universal access produce a thriving social rental sector. In contrast a market driven approach, with tenure-specific subsidies and policies and means-testing access, would create a constrained and residual social-rented sector. The choice between these two different approaches is part of the continuous debate on the efficiency of the market versus the virtues of planning. Furthermore, the impact of neoliberal polices is far-reaching, evident by the fact that two contrasting housing regimes, the Canadian and the Swedish, are becoming increasingly similar. Both housing systems exhibit neoliberal tendencies evidenced by a wave of privatization, austerity measures, institutional decentralization and encouragement for home-ownership and consequently an ever-shrinking social rental sector. This study concludes with policy recommendations to address social housing issues in Canada.