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More volatile, less equal : housing and welfare in 21st century France

Le Goix, Renaud ; Kutz, William LU and Ysebaert, Ronan (2025) In Housing Studies
Abstract

Contributing to analyses of housing welfare and inequality, this article examines how the territorial circumscription of asset-based welfare policies impact the pattern and trajectory of residential inequality in situ. We look to France, which since the 2000s has used asset-based welfare policies as a tool for rebalancing local territorial cohesion throughout the country. These policies, which once had broad nationwide eligibility, have progressively fragmented into a patchwork of geographically-defined benefits and incentives that seek to catalyze buying and selling in certain places over others. Drawing on aggregated datasets of individual housing transactions, we map how asset-based welfare policies have redrawn the geography of... (More)

Contributing to analyses of housing welfare and inequality, this article examines how the territorial circumscription of asset-based welfare policies impact the pattern and trajectory of residential inequality in situ. We look to France, which since the 2000s has used asset-based welfare policies as a tool for rebalancing local territorial cohesion throughout the country. These policies, which once had broad nationwide eligibility, have progressively fragmented into a patchwork of geographically-defined benefits and incentives that seek to catalyze buying and selling in certain places over others. Drawing on aggregated datasets of individual housing transactions, we map how asset-based welfare policies have redrawn the geography of residential inequality in recent decades. We find a growing bifurcation arising from the reforms: trending at once towards increasingly volatile and unequal outcomes. As this has happened amid explicit governmental efforts to reduce socio-spatial imbalances in the country, we question whether asset-based welfare can meaningfully provide the security and well-being it purports to realize.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
in press
subject
keywords
asset-based welfare, homeownership, inequalities, public policy, vulnerability, wealth
in
Housing Studies
pages
27 pages
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • scopus:105018817364
ISSN
0267-3037
DOI
10.1080/02673037.2025.2565248
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
id
915300de-3b19-462d-92ed-c9d42a8f2c3a
date added to LUP
2025-11-30 16:12:59
date last changed
2025-12-04 09:35:48
@article{915300de-3b19-462d-92ed-c9d42a8f2c3a,
  abstract     = {{<p>Contributing to analyses of housing welfare and inequality, this article examines how the territorial circumscription of asset-based welfare policies impact the pattern and trajectory of residential inequality in situ. We look to France, which since the 2000s has used asset-based welfare policies as a tool for rebalancing local territorial cohesion throughout the country. These policies, which once had broad nationwide eligibility, have progressively fragmented into a patchwork of geographically-defined benefits and incentives that seek to catalyze buying and selling in certain places over others. Drawing on aggregated datasets of individual housing transactions, we map how asset-based welfare policies have redrawn the geography of residential inequality in recent decades. We find a growing bifurcation arising from the reforms: trending at once towards increasingly volatile and unequal outcomes. As this has happened amid explicit governmental efforts to reduce socio-spatial imbalances in the country, we question whether asset-based welfare can meaningfully provide the security and well-being it purports to realize.</p>}},
  author       = {{Le Goix, Renaud and Kutz, William and Ysebaert, Ronan}},
  issn         = {{0267-3037}},
  keywords     = {{asset-based welfare; homeownership; inequalities; public policy; vulnerability; wealth}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{Housing Studies}},
  title        = {{More volatile, less equal : housing and welfare in 21st century France}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2025.2565248}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/02673037.2025.2565248}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}