No description available.

Energy efficiency improvements in the social housing sector have the potential to produce a range of environmental and social benefits. These improvements can be produced through retrofits that deliver energy savings or new construction built to a high standard of energetic efficiency. However, implementation of these approaches is hindered by economic and organizational constraints affecting the agencies that provide society with social housing and the governments that support the provision of these services. This thesis builds on the work of other researchers studying these constraints by supplying an in-depth case study from Alberta and a discussion based on its findings. The case study focuses on E4C, a social service agency with several housing projects. Overall, findings matched important themes identified in the academic literature. The in-depth nature of the case study added additional insight to many of these themes. Most barriers are economic in nature and related to a lack of sufficient funding or the up-front costs of energy-saving retrofits. The recommendations presented are based on consideration of the multiple barriers and opportunities faced. Most of these require a considerable investment of time on the part of agencies and would be followed up by capital investments to implement energy-saving changes. Therefore it is important to note that the most significant barrier is commitment, which is one of E4C's central values. This thesis showed that commitment cannot exceed capacity to act. Greater commitment on the part of governments, agencies or society at large could have significant impacts in improving the energy efficiency of buildings in the Albertan, and Canadian, social housing sector.

No description available.

Ancrée dans la monographie d'un quartier d'habitat social situé en ville moyenne (Auxerre) et adossée à un cadre théorique réhabilitant la classe sociale, cette thèse interroge, à travers les deux formes qu'elle revêt (un texte et un film), les effets de la politique de rénovation urbaine contemporaine sur les populations des quartiers ciblés.La recherche montre la manière dont la rénovation urbaine, en transformant les espaces physiques et la composition de la population locale, procède d'un mouvement de différenciation entre quartiers et entre secteurs, qui tend à rejouer le clivage entre la cité et le pavillon (lequel confère notamment ses allures au « nouveau » quartier étudié). Ce faisant, la rénovation urbaine retravaille le statut socio-résidentiel des habitant qui se prêtent dans ce cadre à un jeu de distanciation complexe – visible dans les rapports (variés) qu'ils entretiennent à l'espace, tant en termes de représentations que des conduites.En même temps, à travers ces rapports à l'espace pourtant faits de différences et oppositions, la recherche donne à voir la rénovation urbaine comme une mise à l'épreuve générale où se réaffirme l'appartenance commune des habitants aux classes populaires. En éprouvant inévitablement leurs richesses et leurs relations, elle contribue en particulier à souligner l'étroitesse des ressources économiques des habitants et révèle également l'importance que conserve la sociabilité locale.Cette dernière participe d'un ensemble de tentatives de réappropriation qui jalonnent les paroles et pratiques des habitants et enjoignent de ne pas succomber à l'image d'une domination unilatérale, aussi fondamentales que puissent apparaitre les contraintes pratiques et symboliques dans lesquelles les classes populaires évoluent. / Rooted in the monograph of a social housing neighborhood situated in a middle-sized city (Auxerre) and leaning on a theoretical framework rehabilitating social class, this thesis addresses the effects of the contemporary urban renewal on the targeted neighborhoods' population, through two forms (a text and a movie).The research shows how urban renewal, while transforming spaces and the composition of the local population, creates a movement of differentiation between neighborhoods and sectors, which tends to widen the (social) divide between housing estates and detached houses (that convey character to the “new” neighborhood in question). In doing so, urban renewal rebrands the socio-residential status of the inhabitants that are playing a game of complex detachment – which can be observed in the various connections they have with space, whether in terms of representation or conduct.Meanwhile, through the connections to space, made of differences and oppositions, the research shows urban renewal as a global probation in which the inhabitants' communal belonging to working classes gets confirmed. While putting their wealth and connections to the test, it underlines the narrowness of their economic resources and reveals the fundamental importance of local sociability.The latter contributes to a number of reappropriation attempts that punctuate the words and customs of the inhabitants, and demand not to give way to a unilateral domination, as essential as the practical and symbolic constraints in which the working classes evolve may seem.

No description available.

Student Number : 9805976V - MSc research report - School of Architecture and Planning - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / This report explores the link between social housing and urban regeneration in Johannesburg. Social housing emerged to provide housing for people earning between R1 500 and R3 500, while regenerating and integrating the inner city. In Johannesburg social housing institutions operate in the context of the municipality’s Vision 2030, implemented through the Inner City Urban Regeneration Strategy whose focus is on renovating buildings in the inner city, with the increase property prices and attract investment. From this it is hypothesized that the objectives of social housing and urban regeneration are in conflict with one another because social housing is meant for low income a specific income group which will not be able to afford rent when property prices increase. The case study focus is the contribution that Johannesburg Housing Company as a social housing institution makes to property –led urban regeneration of the City of Johannesburg and the eKhaya Neighbourhood Programme it initiated in the Pietersen Street, Hillbrow. The report flags out the issues of who the beneficiaries of social housing are, whether the objectives of social housing and urban regeneration are in conflict or in synergy with each other, the implications of urban regeneration o property prices and the impact of this on the ability of social housing to accommodate low income earners in the inner city. This report is looked at from the theoretical angle, which acknowledges multiculturalism, communication and power struggles and conflicting rationalities.

With the onset of one of the worst economic downturns in recent history, the face of poverty is changing. This project seeks to explore a design solution aimed at helping a newly emerging segment of the population: the “half homeless”, formerly middle class individuals/families who lost their jobs and homes during the recession. Set in the building known as the Lucky Strike Power Plant, the project contains two distinct, but overlapping, programs: 1) multi-family housing, and 2) a continuum of supportive services accessible to both the residents and the community at large. The main focus of this project is the housing component; more specifically, exploring an unconventional housing typology designed to encourage interaction between the residents, as well as the residents and non-residents. Ultimately, this project is a study of how through the interplay between public vs. private and mass vs. void, design can heal, inspire, and bring people together.

Social housing wait lists are indicative of the need for affordable housing in communities across Ontario. Growing wait lists also suggest that existing social housing supply and programs are not a solution to immediate or foreseeable housing problems for most low-income households. As a result, many households turn to shelters or make do with what they are able to find in the private market, often spending more than 30% of their income on rent. The focus of this study is one-person households under the age of 65 who make up approximately 40% of the applicants on Ontario social housing wait lists. This cohort has the longest wait times. What are the housing experiences of this demographic while they wait? How do municipalities respond and what do community advocates say about this response? This study addresses these questions through key informant interviews conducted with single non-senior social housing applicants, community advocates and policy-makers, doing so comparatively for two CMAs: Guelph and Kingston. Examining homelessness through a critical lens of neoliberalism, this study concludes with policy recommendations to address urban housing issues for low-income singles.

Across the world traditional forms of urban management are affected by economic restructuring and neoliberalization processes. These processes alter the government role in the provision of social services, give rise to multi-sector partnerships for social service provision by public, private and non-profit actors, and stimulate the creation of alternative approaches to social service provision. In this dissertation I discuss the impact of these changes on social housing provision in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil. I provide a historically-grounded account of political-economic restructuring in Brazil that has emerged through neoliberalization, document how these policy shifts affect social service responsibilities and the fiscal capacities of local and state governments, and show how these transformations increased social housing needs but at the same time decreased overall capacity to deliver housing to the very poor. I also discuss the new proposals that attempt to replace the state’s withdrawal from several types of social service provision. Specifically I study partnerships among the public sector, private sector, and civil society, describe the emergence, structure, and functions of these partnerships in Brazil, and implicitly compare how these partnership approaches are used in northern nations such as the United States and United Kingdom. Finally, I look inside social housing organizations to examine alternative housing strategies that have emerged, and highlight the problems with these alternative strategies and suggest reasons for their failings. The arguments of this dissertation are developed from ethnographic research conducted in the Ribeirão Preto region of Brazil.

Maintaining affordable housing in Canadian cities remains a challenge for municipal governments. With few political and financial resources, local governments often turn to zoning bylaws to protect affordable housing opportunities. This research focuses on the development and implementation of inclusionary zoning programs in Toronto and Vancouver. In order to understand the value of these policies, this research asks how planners implemented inclusionary zoning and with what outcomes. Interviews with key actors in the public and private sector form the basis of an account that details the implementation of affordable housing requirements negotiated at two new-build gentrification sites in Toronto and Vancouver. The findings from this research show mixed results and highlight the barriers to the successful implementation of inclusionary zoning. While capable of securing subsidized units in gentrifying neighbourhoods, the poor results of these policies demonstrates the difficulty of managing gentrification unleashed by the state.