The effects of social housing regeneration schemes on employment: The case of the Glasgow Stock Transfer

Abstract

Regeneration is an internationally popular policy for improving distressed neighbourhoods dominated by large social housing developments. Stimulating employment is often touted as a secondary benefit, but this claim has rarely been evaluated convincingly. In 2003, Glasgow City Council transferred ownership of its entire social housing stock to the Glasgow Housing Association and over £4 billion was invested in physical repairs, social services and other regeneration activities. Using a linked census database of individuals (Scottish Longitudinal Study), we evaluate the causal effect of the Stock Transfer on employment in Glasgow through a quasi-experimental design that exploits idiosyncrasies and changes in Glasgow’s administrative boundaries. We find that the Stock Transfer had a positive effect on employment for Glasgow residents who were not living in transferred social housing stock. We establish that this effect was mainly accomplished through the local employment multiplier effect of capital spending rather than through any other programmatic elements of the Stock Transfer. Exploratory analysis shows heterogeneous effects: individuals who were over 21, female, living with dependent children and with less education were less likely to benefit from the intervention. We did not find significant subgroup effects by neighbourhood deprivation.

Rethinking urban utopianism: The fallacy of social mix in the 15-minute city

“…It can also illuminate issues that may not be immediately apparent and involve interpersonal dynamics, such as potential divisions within a community (forms of micro-segregation) or conflicts related to the ‘right to the neighbourhood’. To achieve this, we stress the need to prioritise both comparative and longitudinal research, following exemplars of both qualitative and quantitative longitudinal research, which are particularly dominant in the US mixed communities’ context (Chetty et al, 2016; Deluca and Rosenblatt, 2010; Fraser et al, 2013; Mendenhall et al, 2006; Popkin et al, 2009) and more recently evident within analyses of regeneration in the UK (Jupp, 2021; Zhang et al, 2022). By comparing different places, potentially in different countries and contexts, and by following interventions decades after their completion, researchers can gain insight into whether and how social mixing strategies produce different outcomes in different circumstances, leading to a learning process of identifying best practices and avoidable risks in policies perpetuating social disparities.…”