Regulation as Social Policy: Home Evictions and Repossessions in the Uk and Sweden

Abstract

This article asks how the UK and Sweden regulate, prevent, or mitigate the consequences of mortgage‐related household eviction and repossession. Contrary to initial expectations, the findings show a growth and diversity in both regulation and social spending in the UK intended to address this social issue; something that has not occurred in Sweden. In the UK's liberal ‘regulatory welfare regime’, the aim is to prevent the eviction and repossession of vulnerable borrowers who have defaulted on their housing loan. In the Swedish social democratic ‘regulatory welfare regime’, effort focuses instead on minimizing the risk of default before it occurs rather than after the fact. These findings offer a more nuanced understanding of the relations between regulation and welfare more generally, demonstrating that regulation may be used as a form of social policy once the welfare state has failed, as a safety net of last resort.

The Regulatory Welfare State in Pension Markets: Mitigating High Charges for Low-Income Savers in the United Kingdom and Israel

“…For instance, in the fields of electricity and water in Israel, state regulations task service providers with the social role of providing targeted, minimal social measures, such as social tariffs and discounts for vulnerable citizens and the prevention of service disconnection due to non-payment resulting from social hardship (Haber, 2011(Haber, , 2016. Similarly, among other measures, regulatory tools have been increasingly used to assist vulnerable mortgage borrowers in avoiding repossession of their homes in the private housing sector in the UK (Haber, 2015). These instances of the provision of services through regulated markets demonstrate how non-fiscal tools can be used in the market for social welfare purposes, even though they represent a low level of de-commodification, mainly for poverty relief (typical of 'liberal' welfare states in Esping-Andersen's framework).…”

Homelessness Prevention Policy: A Case Study

“…This is supported by the historical account of homelessness prevention in Israel. More recent examples from other countries (Haber ; Haber et al , in preparation) provide reassurance that this is possible also towards the third decade of the 21st century, under a varied mix of political economies such as exist in the UK, Sweden, Hong Kong and Singapore.…”

“…Two recent academic contributions discuss the management of the risk of losing one's home because of eviction in the UK and Sweden (Haber ) and in Hong Kong and Singapore (Haber et al , in preparation). Haber, Kosti and Levi‐Faur discuss state tools used to prevent evictions and resulting homelessness due to mortgage borrower debt and arrears.…”

“…Haber () explicitly poses the issue of the form in which the state regulates the social risk of eviction and repossession following mortgage debt and arrears. This discussion is interesting in the context of David Moss' () analysis of prevention from the angle of historical economy.…”

Rise of the Regulatory Welfare State? Social Regulation in Utilities in Israel

“…This research is important because it focuses on social protection of vulnerable consumers in crucial services, vital to social citizenship. Second, this article contributes to the growing literature on the relation between the regulatory state and the welfare state (Haber 2011;Urueña 2012;Chng 2012;Dubash and Morgan 2012;Leisering and Mabbett 2011;Mabbett 2013;Levi-Faur 2014;Pflieger 2014;Haber 2015), asking how regulation is used for social protection, and what role social protection plays in regulatory policy.…”