The Transformation of Social Housing Provision in Switzerland Mediated by Federalism, Direct Democracy and the Urban/rural Divide

Abstract

The transformation of Swiss social housing policy provides a rich case study for researchers interested the role of unique state structures and dynamic welfare regimes and their influence on social policy. Housing policy is rarely theorised from this perspective and this paper provides both empirical description and abstract explanation towards this goal. Swiss non-profit housing has been part of the urban landscape for more than a century and strategies promoting this tenure have mediated very different movements in public policy from municipal socialism, the co-operative movement, to privatisation and monetarism. Alongside a housing system orientated towards private landlordism, there are more than 1,500 non-profit housing providers. This paper examines transformations in their modes of provision over the 20th century, with a focus on financing arrangements.Social housing, housing history, state theory, financial relations, bonds,

A Review of Structurally Inspired Approaches in Housing Studies – Concepts, Contributions and Future Perspectives

“…The concepts of welfare regimes strongly influences comparative housing research via the selection of case studies and has also generated a number of country cases studies (Kleinman, 1996, Hoekstra, 2005 on the Netherlands, Matznetter, 2002 on Austria) and less examined regions of Europe (Allen et al, 2003) and the investigation of familial based welfare models. In addition to more nuanced categorisation of cases, theoretical progress has attempted by combining welfare regime theory with other types of development regimes (Matznetter, 2002, Lee, 2002. Most recently Schröder (2008) attempts to integrate welfare regime typologies with variety of capitalism thesis (mentioned below) but ignores housing in the process!…”

“…Beyond history and change in housing systems, one of the central projects of urban political economy has been the development of a theory of the capitalist / state relations as they apply to regions, cities and systems of housing provision and these efforts go back to the 1970s when locality studies (Massey, 1978, Urry, 1986 and Structuration thesis (Giddens, 1984), Regulation theory (Boyer, 1986, Jessop, 1990, Goodwin, 2001) and most recently Structural-Relational theory (Jessop, 2007) have all emerged as theoretical frameworks to inform an explanation of housing provision and its differences (Lawson, 2006 on difference and change, Aalbers, 2006 on the unique geography of mortgage markets, Becker and Novy (1999)on the interaction between nation and city states in Austria, Berry, 1998 on Australian urban history and Marcuse, 1986 challenging simplistic views of the benevolent or meddling state).…”

“…Saskia Sasson expresses a similar view in an analysis of RMBS in the US (Sassen, 2009). Lawson (2003Lawson ( , 2006 explored the issues of how key social relationships underpinning forms of housing provision were contingently defined and packaged together over time. Cumulative phases of coherence, crises or adaptation were defined by the contingent definition of property, finance and consumption underpinning open and vulnerable forms of housing provision (Lawson, 2006:88).…”

“…In CR terms this new interpretation is known as a postulate, or hypothetical conceptual model, which aims to explain what is actually going on. This model is tested and revised in the second retroductive stage, using methods such as contrastive and counterfactual questioning, in order to provide a more competitive explanation (Harre, 1974, Blaikie, 1993, Lawson, 2006.…”

Request and Potential for Social Housing Projects in Germany, by the example of the Federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia

“…• Financial aspects of social housing (Clarke L. & Herrmann G., 2004;Housing NSW et al, 2011;Lawson J, 2009) Furthermore, there are several external influences which shape social housing in Germany. The following themes have a great impact and should be considered within this investigation:…”