The Underdeveloped Offering of Housing Ethics: New Possibilities for Housing Studies
Despite the significant presence in other disciplines, ethics remains a topic that is under-explored in a housing context. This paper posits the implications of employing a framework of housing ethics, demarcating ethics from a notion of politics. The central contention: that housing ethics already exist and structure housing systems and approaches, as evidenced in three examples from policy, theory and philosophy. This framework, with an outlined two-part grammar, illuminates the importance of descriptive claims behind the normative context that is of great interest to housing studies. Therefore, the argument presented does not just valorise the framework of housing ethics but too the necessity of philosophical engagement in the assumptions underpinning housing research, namely any foundational claims on the phenomenon of housing and the human relationship to it.
The Recent Rise in Mid-Term Rentals in Barcelona: Causes and Implications
Recent studies identify an increase in mid-term rentals (MTR) in cities like Barcelona and relate it to the growth of temporary populations and changes in labour dynamics in the post-Covid era. By analysing MTRs registered between 2018 and 2023, this study aims to quantify changes in rents and the number of contracts of this kind in three municipalities in the Barcelona area. The results show that MTRs are concentrated in Barcelona, where their number almost tripled and the average rent grew fivefold over the period analysed. The rise started in 2022, and this coincided with when the law to regulate residential rentals in Spain was announced rather than when it came into force. The shift in properties from the residential market to the barely regulated and more profitable mid-term market, hinders access to housing for the low-income population. This problem underscores the urgent need for the regulation of MTRs.
Introduction to the Special Issue: The View from Housing - The Contributions of Housing Research to Social and Behavioural Theory
Introduction to the Special Issue: The View from Housing - The Contributions of Housing Research to Social and Behavioural Theory
The Influence of Interest Organisations on Swedish Rental Housing – Implications for Corporatist Theory
Although academic definitions of ‘corporatism’ differ, the concept is generally about organisational influence on state politics. Around 1980, Sweden was regarded as the archetype of welfare-state corporatism, but around the turn of the millennium the broad representation of organised interests in state politics was largely abolished. However, in the housing sector, strong interest organisations have continued to play a dominant and institutionalised role. Rents are negotiated collectively between organisations of estate owners and tenants, and these organisations also have strong influence on rental legislation and on housing policy more generally. We argue that this system should be seen as corporatist and to that end suggest a somewhat modified version of Philippe Schmitter’s well-established definition of corporatism. We claim that our ‘view from housing’ may contribute to the increased relevance of corporatism theory also in studies of other welfare sectors where market distribution is increasingly important.
Theorising Housing Precarity Governance from A Relational Perspective: Affective Attachment of Debtors
This article aims to theorise the housing governance of vulnerable debtor populations from a relational perspective, developing the affective attachment concept. While the emotionality of housing has been studied in housing research, the relational understanding of affects/emotions offers a fruitful perspective for understanding the interface of power (re)production between subjects and structures. The argument is supported by a literature review and excerpts from a qualitative analysis of 30 interviews with overindebted people and 20 institutional actors which demonstrate the relevance of emotions in attachment to the precarious housing market. Linking the relevance of affective attachment with moral discourses, the article shows the potential to better understand how the (self)control and (self)discipline–(self)governance–of vulnerable people could be performed by morally modulated affects and emotions.
The Endowment Effect and Housing Studies: The Role of Multiple Reference Points
One of the most researched and proven behavioural biases is the endowment effect, which manifests in people''s higher valuation of goods they own relative to goods they do not. Loss aversion is considered the main cause of the endowment effect because of the assumption that losses loom larger than gains. Whether decisions are framed as either gains or losses depends on the adopted reference point, which is usually taken as current ownership. Mainstream behavioural economics also postulates that the decision-making process involves multiple reference points. This study aims to provide new arguments in favour of the existence of multiple reference points affecting the formation of the endowment effect based on theoretical reflections and empirical evidence from the housing market. A critical review of the literature, as well as an empirical study, revealed that there are multiple reference points in the housing market, the interaction between which leads to the endowment effect.
