This panel will address the urban governance challenge of affordable housing provision in high-demand globalised cities. Drawing examples from Barcelona, Amsterdam, London, New York City and Toronto, speakers will examine how, in these increasingly financialised local housing markets, urban policies are enlisting actors across sectors to increase affordability. Attention is given not only to low income housing, but also to ‘affordable’ options for middle income households. While rental housing assistance in Western welfare states tends to be characterised in terms of residualised systems providing safety-nets for the disadvantaged, patterns of development in these global urban cultural and financial centres diverge from this model. State agencies have been redeployed to encourage new and more marketised forms of affordable housing through the not-for-profit and commercial sectors, with strong reliance on private finance. Target recipients are often low to middle-income working households, with assistance framed in terms of opportunity, rather than a reliable social safety net. The panel discussion will reflect critically on these developments giving attention both to the politics of these new forms of provision, and to their implications for housing providers, tenants, and groups whose needs are increasingly overlooked.
Moderator: Jeroen Van der Veer, Amsterdam Federation of Housing Associations
Financializing Affordable Housing Provision? Not-for-Profits and Institutional Investment in London and New York City Anita Blessing, University of Birmingham; Nicky Morrison, University of Cambridge
Affordable Housing Strategies in Amsterdam Jeroen Van der Veer, Amsterdam Federation of Housing Associations; Anita Blessing, University of Birmingham
Social Housing in Barcelona After 2007: Continuity or Disruption? Montserrat Pareja-Eastaway, University of Barcelona
Affordable Rental Policy in Toronto, 1997-2017 Greg Suttor, Wellesley Institute, Toronto
