Rent increase strategies and distributive justice: the socio-spatial effects of rent control policy in Amsterdam

Abstract

Rent controls and rent setting regulation in different contexts incorporate and balance different aims, in particular when securing affordability and the effective distribution of scarce housing by incorporating market mechanisms. As rent policy is frequently discussed in terms of affordability or market functioning in broad terms, small-scale distributive socio-spatial effects are often not regarded. In this paper, three strategies under the new rent sum policy are compared against the former policy and practice for Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to observe the effects of distributive justice. The new rent policy partly decentralizes rent increase decisions from the national level to local authorities and housing associations. Using microdata on all social housing units and their tenants’ distributive justice, outcomes under the former policy and practice are observed for a 6-year period (2008–2014) and the effects of three different rent increase strategies under the new rent sum policy are forecasted for the same period, combining an ex ante and an ex post evaluation. The possibilities for housing associations to vary rent increases for different groups of tenants in order to improve distributive justice outcomes are explored. Results show that all three possible strategies decrease the observed affordability gap between new and long-term tenants. Valuing the distributions of these strategies by applying two different standards for distributive justice shows the rent sum policy may only result in modest improvements.

Spatial Justice of a Chinese Metropolis: A Perspective on Housing Price-to-Income Ratios in Nanjing, China

“…Housing is not only a space resource but also a space product [30], and therefore housing justice belongs to the field of spatial justice and is an important part of spatial justice [31]. Housing spatial justice is usually regarded as social equality and justice within the field of public housing spatial rights and interests.…”

Access to Affordable Houses for the Low-Income Urban Dwellers in Kigali: Analysis Based on Sale Prices

“…As the annual demand is 20,000 housing units [16], the current rate of housing production is insufficient to satisfy this demand. Therefore, tax exemptions should be applied for real estate developers who are interested in 9 The exchange rate was 886 Rwandan Francs for 1 US dollars on 17 January 2019. 10 See also https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/shelter-afrique-brd-revive-low-cost-housing-project Skat Consulting Rwanda proved that these construction materials can be used in constructing both single houses and apartments of up to four floors.…”

“…10 See also https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/shelter-afrique-brd-revive-low-cost-housing-project Skat Consulting Rwanda proved that these construction materials can be used in constructing both single houses and apartments of up to four floors. Their experiments show that the construction of a three-bedroom unit can cost less than 13,544 US dollars and a five-bedroom unit can cost 28,216 US dollars 9 , including all installations, tax and profits, with land excluded [93]. Compared to the prices of housing units developed by real estate developers using the cement blocks or burned bricks, the cost for these housing units varies from 28,950 to 42,500 US dollars and from 68,000 and 68,859 US dollars for the three-and four-bedroom housing units, respectively (field survey, January-March 2019).…”

“…However, eight of these agencies have been discouraged by the high cost of housing construction and therefore have not yet started their projects, due to fear of not selling the developed houses, since they are not affordable for Kigali city inhabitants, as stated by our key-informants during the field surveys. Other currently operational real estate developers who have 9 The exchange rate was 886 Rwandan Francs for 1 US dollars on 17 January 2019.…”

“…Apart from being a basic human right, access to affordable housing has been introduced in the contemporary urban development programmes as a strategy for redressing the exclusion of the poor and low-income groups from the cities due to high cost of housing [8]. This is operationalised when the developed housing units, which are the products of any spatial re-organisation processes, and primary spatial goods are equally distributed among all urban dwellers, especially the low-income group [9]. Thus, the development of affordable housing for this category of people can counteract the competitive housing market from which they are excluded [10,11].…”