Presentation Transcript

1. A Social Innovative Initiative to Invade the Private Rental Market: The Case of Social Rental Agencies in Belgium

   Pascal De Decker Sint-Lucas Architecture Ghent/Brussels European Research Conference Access to Housing for Homeless People in Europe York, 21st September 2012
2. Content SRA: what? Goals Regulation History, context, roots State of affairs Allocation of dwelling Recognition/basis
3. What? SRA’s are non-profit organisations dealingwithhousingproblems of poor & vulnerablepeople rooted in services dealingwith the homeless persons Rent from private landlords andsublettotenants securing the payment of the rent (event in periods of vacancy) securinghousingquality affordable rent to the subtenant organising support ifnecessary ‘trytosocialize’ the private rented sector – withdrawrentingfrom free market mechanisms
4. Fig.2: Overview of the partnership between an SRA and Landlord: Source: Adapted from OCMW Gent Presentation, 2012 HABITACT Peer Review
5. Fig 3. Overview of the relationship an SRA and its tenants Source: Adapted from OCMW Gent Presentation, 2012 HABITACT Peer Review
6. Goals Enlarge the number of availabledwellingsforvulnerablepeople Improve the quality of the accommodation at the bottomend of the housing market Use a socially correct rent
7. Regulation Belgium=federal state, with ‘split responsibilties’ Changes underway (allhousingresponsibilitieswillbetransfered) Private renting=federal matter new rents are free length of the lease is regulated some subsidies (tax exempations) SRA’s=matter of the regions (Flanders, Brussels, Wallonia) subsidies forstaff & working rent allowance (undercertainconditins) renovation subsidies
8. History – context - roots Housingactivism (1970s) General: legaladvise shops  tenant’sassociation (UK model) Labour migrant discrimination  SRA avant la lettre Woonfonds Gent (idem in Antwerp & Brussels) Housing ‘crisis’ Economic crisis  drop new house construction (private & social) Squeezed market Freeing of private renting in times of crisis New housingtimes (demographics)  more housesneeded Filtering up  filtering down: rentingbecomes more & more unaffordable (queeingforadvertisers) Cfrdefsocialinnovation: compensatefor the market, whichcannotaddresssocialneeds De-institutionalisation Welfare Work: experienceincreasinghousingproblems of itsclients De-institutionalisation (elimination of the ‘totalinstitutions’/ideology of the small scale)  need ‘housing’ for the services itself
9. Homeless service sector in general Growthafter 1975 Dueto the de-institutionalisationideology Professionalisation passing throughphilosophy – client has tobecome independent as soon as possible theoryvsreality: lots of failures small scaleideology  needforordinaryhouses Idea of emancipation
10. Consequence Welfare work ‘invades’ the housing market SRA’s Tenant’sassociations Cfr: socialinnovation is a bottom-up proces
11. Devepment of the SRA model Socialinnovationscreate new structures & methods 1985: the umbrellaorganisations of homelessorganisations (VDVO) presents the SRA model 1993: foundation of the umbrellaorganisationof ‘new housinginitiatives’ (VOB) 1993: 9 SRAs & VOB get subsidies as ‘experiments’  VOB has todevelop a workable model 1997: integration of ‘rent services’ in the Flemishhousinglaw = SRAsbecome a housinginstitution Sincethen: different regulationsaiming at making SRA’sstronger/bigger 2007: assessment through the eyes of the landlords
12. State of affairs (Flanders) Number of recognisedSRAs
13. State of affairs Number of dwellings Average number of dwellings per SRA rose from 54.8 in 1999, over 77 in 2006 to 96.3 in 2009 – largest: +500 dwellings
14. State of affairs Number of applications End 2011 -23,635 households on waiting list -5,750 dwellings New applications in 2011: 10,910
15. State of affairs Work situation new tenants, 2009, % unemployed 17.6 subsistence income 34.3 part-time job 0.7 disability/illness 10 work 19.4 pension 3.2 other 5 no info 9.3
16. State of affairs 33% were homeless at the moment of allocation Homeless=living in a caravan, uninhabitable dwelling, living on the street, living in a service for homeless persons
17. Allocation Allocation Flemish regulation for all social rental dwellings, but differentiated, so SRAs can and do use a point system in order to fit with housing need (e.g. living on the street=higher score than someone living in an institution) local municipalities can develop a local allocation system that refines the Flemish one, but they hardly do (avoid the risk) there was the possibility to work besides this regulation in order to house very difficult ‘housable’ persons in a co-operation with welfare work
18. Recognition/basis Recognition political support in policy notes of political parties & policy notes of ministers and aldermen support from the representatives of landlords high satisfaction on landlords working with SRAs But: difficult to enter the ‘crowded’ housing field
19. Further reading De Decker, P. (2002): On the rise of social rental agencies in Belgium, in: Urban Studies, vol. 39, nr. 2, p. 297-326. De Decker, P. (2009): Social rentalagencies : still a splendididea?, in: European Journal of Homelessness, vol 3, December, p. 217-232. FeantsaOffice (2012): Social rental agencies: an innovative housing-led response to homelessness, Feantsa, Brussels.