Key Worker Housing, Welfare Reform and the New Spatial Policy in England

Abstract

Raco M. Key worker housing, welfare reform and the new spatial policy in England, Regional Studies. Under the Labour government the character of spatial policy in England has been subject to significant change. The emphasis has increasingly been on spatial policy as an active social policy. This paper uses the example of public sector key worker housing programmes in England to exemplify and analyse the character of these changes. It argues that the new approach also contains an explicit recognition that social policies can and should be re-oriented towards the wider objectives of accumulation and competitiveness and this has broader implications for the organization and character of the welfare state.

Raco M. Le logement des travailleurs essentiels, la réforme du sytème de protection sociale et la nouvelle politique régionale au R-U, Regional Studies. Sous le gouvernement travailliste, la politique régionale s'est sensiblement modifiée. De plus en plus on met l'accent sur la politique régionale comme politique sociale active. Cet article cherche à se servir de l'exemple de la construction de logements destinés aux travailleurs essentiels du secteur public en Angleterre pour illustrer et analyser le caractère de ces modifications. On affirme que la nouvelle façon comprend aussi une reconnaissance que la politique sociale pourrait et devrait être réorientée vers les objectifs plus larges d'accumulation et de compétitivité. Il y a des leçons à en tirer pour ce qui est de l'organisation et du caractère du sytème de protection sociale.

Politique régionale Politique sociale Logement Travailleurs essentiels Compétitivité

Raco M. Wohnungsprogramme für öffentliche Angestelle, Sozialreform und die neue Raumpolitik in England, Regional Studies. Unter der Labour-Regierung hat sich das Wesen der Raumpolitik in England grundlegend verändert. Die Betonung liegt zunehmend auf der Raumpolitik als aktiver Sozialpolitik. In diesem Beitrag wird anhand des Beispiels von Wohnungsprogrammen für wichtige öffentliche Angestellte in England das Wesen dieser Veränderungen beschrieben und analysiert. Nach meiner Argumentation wird durch den neuen Ansatz explizit anerkannt, dass sich Sozialpolitiken an den breiteren Zielen der Akkumulation und Wettbewerbsfähigkeit umorientieren können und sollten, was zu weitläufigeren Folgen für den Aufbau und das Wesen des Sozialstaates führt.

Raumpolitik Sozialpolitik Wohnungswesen Öffentliche Angestellte Konkurrenzfähigkeit

Raco M. Alojamiento para trabajadores clave, reforma del bienestar y la nueva política espacial en Inglaterra, Regional Studies. Bajo el gobierno laborista el carácter de la política espacial en Inglaterra ha experimentado importantes cambios. El énfasis ha recaído cada vez más en la política espacial como una política social activa. En este artículo ilustro y analizo el carácter de estos cambios con el ejemplo de los programas de alojamiento para trabajadores clave en el sector público en Inglaterra. Sostengo que el nuevo planteamiento también reconoce explícitamente que las políticas sociales pueden y deben ser reorientadas hacia objetivos más amplios de acumulación y competitividad y esto repercute en mayor medida en la organización y el carácter del estado del bienestar.

Política espacial Política social Alojamiento Trabajadores clave Competitividad

Keywords:

• Spatial policy
• Social policy
• Housing
• Key workers
• Competitiveness

JEL classifications:

• R5
• R58

Acknowledgements

The research material used in this paper is drawn principally from two research projects, one funded by the British Academy (Grant Award SG: 40053 ‘Key Worker Programmes, Changing Modes of Citizenship and Regional Development in Post-war Britain 1945–70’) and the other under the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council's collaborative research programme on ‘Sustainable Urban Brownfield Regeneration: Integrated Management’ (Grant Number GR/S148809/01). The author would like to thank three anonymous referees and the editorial team at Regional Studies for their insights, suggestions and helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Special thanks to Allan Cochrane of the OU and to audiences at King's College London, Durham and Sheffield for their helpful and supportive comments on presentations relating to the paper. Responsibility for the final draft is, of course, the author's alone.

Notes

1. The DCLG assumed the functions of the now defunct Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in May 2006.

2. Government figures show that public sector employment has become increasingly important to economic growth, both directly and indirectly with 650 000 jobs created between 1997 and 2004 (Philpott, 2005). While overall, public pay has increased during this time, this growth has also been matched by growing inequalities with contracted out staff bearing the cost-saving reforms.

3. The ski resort of Aspen in Colorado became a much used exemplar that acted as ‘Rapid growth in the city during the 1990s caused average property prices to soar to “twelve times the national average”, until 70% of all private housing was being used as vacation homes’ (Salman, 2002, p. 1). It was feared that the place would become ‘dysfunctional’ as it not only lacked community facilities and social infrastructure but also was losing its status as an attractive venue for holidaymakers, thereby undermining its longer term competitiveness. The response from the City and State authorities was to develop radical measures through a series of strong and well-resourced ‘Aspen Area Community Plans’ (AACP) in the late 1990s and 2000s. The scheme has been seen as a success and the community has become more balanced and functional, with a wider range of citizens and workers co-present, although some of the structural problems of market inflation are still causing difficulties and the costs of the scheme are being born by taxpayers outside of the City. It has become a cause celebre for policy-makers and activists and is cited not only for its alleged parallels with fast-growing areas of the UK, but also because it exemplifies what can be achieved once the ‘problem’ of an unbalanced community is recognized and tackled through coherent (and expensive) state investment programmes.

4. Regional Housing Boards were established as part of the Sustainable Communities Plan in 2003 to ensure that housing policies would be better integrated with the regional, spatial, transport, economic and sustainable development strategies.