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Learning from the past? Essay of a comparative approach of social housing history

Learning from the past? Essay of a comparative approach of social housing history. Claire Lévy-Vroelant Université de Paris 8 Saint-Denis/Centre de recherche sur l’Habitat (CNRS) Christoph Reinprecht Institut für Soziologie, Wien Universität. Introduction.

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Learning from the past? Essay of a comparative approach of social housing history

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  1. Learning from the past? Essay of a comparative approach of social housing history Claire Lévy-Vroelant Université de Paris 8 Saint-Denis/Centre de recherche sur l’Habitat (CNRS) Christoph Reinprecht Institut für Soziologie, Wien Universität

  2. Introduction The history of social housing has begun around 1900 in western Europe (France, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, The Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom) Under the action of most governments it has become over the decades a key element of local and national welfare policies. A century later, the landscape is contrasted, and some fundamental interrogations are emerging about the role of a social sector in the housing supply. Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  3. Path dependency and change • Socio-political experiences and practices on national, regional or municipal levels remain potentially powerful in the following historical stages (path dependency) • But this do not exclude change • Due to its different institutional contexts, and the varying interplay of actors, the history of social housing reflects a complex patchwork of disparate legislative, financial and architectural realities rather than a linear evolution Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  4. Austria, France, and the Netherlands • 3 countries where the social housing sector traditionally has been relevant in terms of stock, and where it still represents a large percentage in the whole housing supply • France has the more important stock in absolute numbers (4.230.000 units) - but only 71p.1000 inhabitants live in social housing. • The Netherlands has the higher rate (35% of the dwellings are social rental) and 149 p.1000 • Austria the larger rental sector (45% in total, 27% social) and 94 p.1000 Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  5. Similarities • All three countries are sharing a strong tradition of municipal power in their biggest cities (Paris, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Vienna) (e.g. Vienna 40%). • In each of these countries the development of social housing is deeply rooted in its political history - and in the development of the modern welfare state. • 5 periods from the origins to the current times Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  6. 1. The origins: Housing reshaped by utopia, philanthropy and industry • 2. Municipalities' commitment to social housing: Defining social housing as a social project in the context of the new emerging local welfare states • 3. The great depression and its effects for social housing • 4. Towards housing for all? Mainstreaming of social housing after Word War II • 5. Individualisation and fragmentation: Social Housing at the end of 20th century Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  7. 1. The origins: Housing reshaped by utopia, philanthropy and industry • 1850-1900: rapid industrialisation and urbanisation; poor housing conditions for the majority of working class • First initiatives for better housing by private actors (companies, factory owners, philanthropists), e.g. Schneider at Le Creusot, Menier at Noisiel; foundations like Rothschild or Rowston active in countries of religious and social commitment (Great Britain, the Netherlands) • Aim of early social housing is make the relation between work force and capital more profitable; holistic organisation and control of workers’ life (“from cradle to grave”) Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  8. 1. 1914: the system of “social housing” is basically installed • A combination of social motivation (injustice), economic profit (healthy workmen), fear for diseases and for uprisings created the conditions for state intervention • Housing Acts: Belgium 1889; Great Britain 1890; France 1894 (Loi Siegfried), 1908 (Loi Ribot),1912 (Loi Bonnevay); Netherlands 1901 (Woningwet); Austria 1910 (22 December Act) • Based on a large consensus from right to left these policies mixed, with different intensity, actions on the tax system, reorientation of savings in favour of housing construction initiatives, tentative of tenants’ protection, support for home ownership, creation of housing associations and administrative instruments to combat housing misery. Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  9. Coal minors' houses, Le Creusot, France in the second part of the 19th century Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  10. « Total housing », Le familistère de Guise, built between 1859 et 1877, Godin himself lived there, Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  11. Familistère de Guise: implementation of youngest socialization and women’s labor commitment at the same time Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  12. 2. Municipalities' commitment to social housing • Defining social housing as a social project in the context of the new emerging local welfare states (“municipal socialism”) • Austria (“Red Vienna”, 1922-1934), France (HBM, “Habitation à Bon Marché”), the Netherlands (Amsterdam School, Garden Cities) • Innovative architecture with some collectivistic equipments for one-earner working class families; housing as a part of mass mobilisation and of mass education (”Woonscholen”) Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  13. Spaarndammerbuurt neighbourhood, Amsterdam. designed by Michel de Klerk (1884-1923) and built during the 1920th for the working class Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  14. Housing the working class Paris, the « pink belt », 1920-1930 Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  15. Municipal Housing in Vienna, 1952-1954 Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  16. Modernization and rationalization “Frankfurt Kitchen”, Schütte-Lihotzky, 1927 Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  17. 3. The great depression and its effects for social housing • Economic crises of 1929 leads to a decline of constructions in social housing sector and to a weakening of state intervention • Netherlands: Freezing of subsidies • France: Employers remain key actors • Austria: Mix of functionalism and blood-and-earth oriented settlement ideology; racist NS-welfare state; after 1939 few new constructions due to wartime economy Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  18. NS-settlement ideology, Salzburg, 1940-42 Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  19. 4. Towards housing for all? Mainstreaming of social housing after Word War II • The „golden age“: Mass production of social housing; national welfare state embedding • Key role of central governments and of direct (brick and mortar) subsidies for housing providers • Formation of a „techno-structure“ of banks, construction companies, architects, urban planners, and engineers • Social housing as a vehicle for social mobility toward middle class positions; accessibility, functionality, uniformity as main principles • Target groups: Employees and their families, nationals Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  20. Vienna, the first tower as a symbol for social mobility (1957, 5th disctrict) Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  21. Paris,from old to new: very social housing in the 18th district (2007) Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  22. More than half of new social housing in Paris is created by renovation (2007, 18th.district) Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  23. Social housing for the new middle classes, Vienna (1985, 23th district) Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  24. 5. Individualisation and fragmentation: Social Housing at the end of 20th century • In the context of the neo-liberal in the late 20th century individualisation and fragmentation become main characteristics of the social housing system • Whereas individualisation refers both to socio-demographic changes and to the neo-liberal ideology, it is also strongly linked to an increasing fragmentation of the social park • This fragmentation reflects also the structural changes in economy and labour market with its weakening effects for living standards, job-stability, and the equality of opportunities. These growing inequalities leave strong marks in the social housing system Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  25. 9.16. 2005 Demolition « barre 260 », La Duchère (Lyon – France) Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  26. ANRU. Ville de Joue-les-Tours – renovation, 2006 Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  27. Vienna, « Gender housing », 2004 Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  28. Is social housing still social? • From brick and mortar subsidies to personal subsidies: weakening the financial basis of social construction • From generalist social housing to housing for the poorest: weakening the political basis of social housing as a “global project” Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  29. What Social Housing has been in the past • Behind “social housing” there has always been a relative, but sufficient consensus on defining the common good • Social Housing in Europe has developed as a utopia and a collective project for the modern industrial society • Emerged in the context of the conflictual antagonistic relation between labour and capital, this project was implemented in the power triangle of state, market and societal actors • Equivalent to other elements of the modern welfare state, social housing fulfilled important functions both on economic, social, cultural, and integrative levels. • How this collective project is achieved in the current period? Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  30. Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  31. Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  32. Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  33. Questions for the current times Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

  34. Thank you for your attention! Lévy-Vroelant/ Reinprecht Budapest 2008

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