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Market-based low-carbon retrofit in social housing : Insights from Greater Manchester

Cauvain, Jenni ; Karvonen, Andrew LU and Petrova, Saska (2018) In Journal of Urban Affairs 40(7). p.937-951
Abstract
In recent years, social housing providers in the UK have become influential actors in realizing the national government’s decarborization agenda. However, when decarbonization is considered in light of austerity measures and the privatization of public housing, a number of contradictions arise. From interviews and a workshop with policymakers and registered provi- ders in the city-region of Greater Manchester, three tensions are high- lighted. First, since the 1980s, the housing stock condition has been used as a political pawn in successive reforms to demunicipalize social housing. Second, local authorities continue to harness the collectivities that remain in the social housing sector to realize their decarbonization goals. Third, the... (More)
In recent years, social housing providers in the UK have become influential actors in realizing the national government’s decarborization agenda. However, when decarbonization is considered in light of austerity measures and the privatization of public housing, a number of contradictions arise. From interviews and a workshop with policymakers and registered provi- ders in the city-region of Greater Manchester, three tensions are high- lighted. First, since the 1980s, the housing stock condition has been used as a political pawn in successive reforms to demunicipalize social housing. Second, local authorities continue to harness the collectivities that remain in the social housing sector to realize their decarbonization goals. Third, the retrofit practices of social landlords are only superficially aiming for carbon control; instead, they focus on the social aims that are seen as important to the ethos and business model of the landlord. The article concludes that there are unavoidable conflicts between the interests of different actors whose low-carbon economy is conceived at different spatial scales and with different underlying objectives. As social landlords are foregrounded in subregional low-carbon policy, they are effectively co-opted into market- based retrofit, resulting in unintended consequences for the social housing sector. (Less)
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type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Journal of Urban Affairs
volume
40
issue
7
pages
15 pages
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:85044445594
ISSN
0735-2166
DOI
10.1080/07352166.2018.1439340
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
95456a5f-546b-468b-b12e-259c94fac982
date added to LUP
2021-10-20 17:48:56
date last changed
2022-04-27 05:16:07
@article{95456a5f-546b-468b-b12e-259c94fac982,
  abstract     = {{In recent years, social housing providers in the UK have become influential actors in realizing the national government’s decarborization agenda. However, when decarbonization is considered in light of austerity measures and the privatization of public housing, a number of contradictions arise. From interviews and a workshop with policymakers and registered provi- ders in the city-region of Greater Manchester, three tensions are high- lighted. First, since the 1980s, the housing stock condition has been used as a political pawn in successive reforms to demunicipalize social housing. Second, local authorities continue to harness the collectivities that remain in the social housing sector to realize their decarbonization goals. Third, the retrofit practices of social landlords are only superficially aiming for carbon control; instead, they focus on the social aims that are seen as important to the ethos and business model of the landlord. The article concludes that there are unavoidable conflicts between the interests of different actors whose low-carbon economy is conceived at different spatial scales and with different underlying objectives. As social landlords are foregrounded in subregional low-carbon policy, they are effectively co-opted into market- based retrofit, resulting in unintended consequences for the social housing sector.}},
  author       = {{Cauvain, Jenni and Karvonen, Andrew and Petrova, Saska}},
  issn         = {{0735-2166}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{7}},
  pages        = {{937--951}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Journal of Urban Affairs}},
  title        = {{Market-based low-carbon retrofit in social housing : Insights from Greater Manchester}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2018.1439340}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/07352166.2018.1439340}},
  volume       = {{40}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}