‘Active, young, and resourceful’: sorting the ‘good’ tenant through mechanisms of conditionality

Abstract

Governments’ attempts to link the provision of welfare services to (more) responsible self-conduct of citizens (i.e. responsibilization) is seen as a distinctive feature of the post-welfare state. Responsibilization often requires welfare receivers to comply with specific duties or behavioural patterns (i.e. conditionality). Except for UK-based studies, little is known about responsibilization strategies of social housing tenants based on specific allocation policies or management approaches. To fill this gap, this paper examines recent cases of tenants’ responsibilization through conditionality, i.e. allocation of housing on the condition that receivers regularly engage in supportive activities, in Utrecht (The Netherlands) and Milan (Italy). Through a qualitative methodology, this paper unpacks the use of conditionality as a means to increase tenants’ responsibilization. The paper contributes by showing both innovative aspects, such as eligibility criteria, obligations, accountability measures, and potential pitfalls connected to diverging expectations between tenants and professionals, and to specific context-related factors.

Keywords:

• Social housing
• comparative housing
• welfare state
• tenants responsibilization
• social mix
• conditionality

Acknowledgements

This paper is the result of the visiting research programme of Igor Costarelli at OTB Department, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands) from February to September 2017, which has been co-funded by the grant Erasmus+ for Traineeship for the academic year 2016/2017. The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewers who provided constructive comments and suggestions to improve earlier version of this manuscript. Our thanks go also to all professionals and tenants who were willing to be interviewed.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 As an example, since the introduction of the ‘Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act’ in 1998, public housing authorities in the United States require residents who are not exempt to perform eight hours of community service activities per month or participate in a self-sufficiency program for at least eight hours every month.

2 As an example, we can cite here the ‘Community Welfare and Social Innovation’ (Authors’ translation) programme, launched by Fondazione Cariplo that is one of the main foundations in Lombardy involved in the welfare service provision as part of the local ‘welfare mix’ model in the Region. This programme aims to promote innovative welfare practices based on citizens’ participation, and appealing to a communitarian dimension by targeting specific subgroups and territories.

3 As an example, in Utrecht applicants for social housing dwellings can wait up to 7 years until they get an accommodation. In Milan, the city which holds the largest public housing stock (around 10% compared to 5% at national level), more than 20,000 applicants are on the waiting lists.

4 Here the respondent is in all likelihood referring to the set of welfare reforms issued in 2015, that includes the Social Support Act but also the Housing Act.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Igor Costarelli

Igor Costarelli holds a PhD in Urban Studies from University of Milano Bicocca in co-tutorship with Delft University of Technology. He is a research associate at the Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Milano Bicocca, and guest researcher at the Department of Urbanism, Delft University of Technology. His research interests deal with social mix, residential segregation, urban renewal, social housing management, affordable housing, and comparative housing policy.

Reinout Kleinhans

Reinout Kleinhans is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology. His research interests include urban regeneration, self-organisation, social capital, community entrepreneurship, online-offline citizen engagement, social media, collective efficacy, and participatory planning.

Silvia Mugnano

Silvia Mugnano is an Associate Professor in Urban Sociology at the Department of Sociology and Social Research of the University of Milano Bicocca. Her research interests focus on extreme forms of housing exclusion, from homelessness to the housing question of refugees, and recent trends in housing vulnerability.