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This report analyses production of complex services to households or persons who have problems in the housing market and also in other respects. In other aspects means in our context psychiatric problems, problems related to drug/alcohol use or other types of social problems. More specifically the question of whether use of public-private-partnership can enhance efficiency and cost-effectiveness in the production of housing and related services targeted towards people with such complex problems. The analysis performed in the report is kept at a purely theoretical level. Our ambition is to supplement the theoretical analysis by empirical studies at a later stage. Design and approach to empirical studies are discussed as a part of the theoretical analysis here. Production of housing services to part of the target groups treated here can, to a varying degree, be described as supported or assisted housing, or may be even as assisted living. Assistance is in this context composed of a variety of services such as: practical assistance, somatic and psychological health services, social support and also different kinds of monitoring in order to maintain a living environment of a sufficiently good quality. The set of services treated are denoted housing related services. This set is heterogeneous and the appropriate mix of services varies strongly over individual tenants. Even within a group of receivers with quite similar characteristics we expect the needs to vary strongly. Moreover, for a single tenant the need will probably vary over time. This individual need over time does not follow any predictable pattern. Our analytical approach is that different parts of the production process are identified; these are described as a kind of activities. The most important ones are (an aggregate of different kinds of) related services, acquisition of housing units and maintenance and operation of the housing units. The costs of each of these activities and their interdependency are discussed. The need for maintenance for example, will probably depend on the quantity, quality and nature of related services provided. Hence there is a considerable need for coordination. Two factors do together feed into the need for coordination and do at the same time make coordination difficult. Firstly, production of related services and operation of housing units are quite different services and different competence is needed in them. In practise, one of the consequences of this is that different agents are responsible for the production of each of the activities. In the related services there can be many different agents involved. Secondly, there is a considerable stochastic element in the costs and it is not possible to monitor effort put into the production perfectly. This again implies that it is not possible to establish a certain assessment of whether production results and realised costs are due to realised stochastics or of effort. Hence the expected costs in one activity depend on how the agents responsible for this activity believe that other activities are handled. Based upon the analysis of costs and production activities we discuss whether there can be found suitable public-private-partnerships (PPP) in the production of housing and related services targeted towards groups with complex difficulties. PPPs are often proposed because some private agents can be more efficient in operation of housing units than public agents. When PPPs are proposed it is usually a form where some public agents produces the appropriate set of related services, while the acquisition, operation, and may be also ownership, are handled by a private agent. Also if a private agent takes care of the whole production of both housing and related services for the target groups, there will remain problems of coordination and governing the production process. This is due to the fact that the political responsibility of providing housing ad relatedservices remains with the public sector, and this responsibility can not be delegated. Even though there are severe coordination problems within a PPP, this can not alone be an argument for turning this solution down. Many of the coordination problems within a PPP would remain even if the whole production process is done within the public sector. It is; however, fair to say that the analysis in the report left the author with a sceptic attitude towards PPPs within the social housing policy field. The most important reason for this scepticism is that it is difficult to define quality in this field. It is difficult to define and even more difficult to write and to implement and enforce a contract that specifies the quality of the services provided. ; Produksjonen av boligsosiale tjenester er en kompleks aktivitet. Det handler om tildeling og drift av boliger, og det handler om tilknyttede tjenester. Kostnadene består av mange komponenter, og størrelsen på hver enkelt av komponentene avhenger av hvordan ulike aspekter ved den boligsosiale produksjonen håndteres. Rapporten gir en analyse av kostnadsstrukturen som skal gi innsikt som er relevant for beslutninger om hvordan produksjon av boligsosiale tjenester bør organiseres.En spesiell måte å organisere produksjon av boligsosiale tjenester på er ved hjelp av såkalte offentlig-private samarbeid (OPS). Dette gir spesielle utfordringer - knyttet til koordinering. Koordineringsproblemer må ikke utelukkende ses som utfordringer knyttet til etOPS. En kompleks produksjonsstruktur, der ulike deler av kommunen og ulike fagfelt må bidra, vil også være en del av koordineringsproblemene. Det kan imidlertid være at koordineringsproblemer er større mellom en offentlig og en privat aktør enn mellom to kommunale etater.

In this article, we analyse the social distribution of residential property in Norway post-1945 in light of the concept of social citizenship. Drawing on data from censuses and tax registers, we examine the social stratification of owner-occupation and housing wealth in a Nordic nation of homeowners. Our study shows that residential property and housing wealth is very unevenly distributed, and that the share of low-income homeowners decreased markedly after 1990. The implications of these findings are discussed with reference to three different conceptions of citizenship: the socio-liberal, the republican and the libertarian. Our main argument is that the falling rate of low-income owner-occupation constitutes an erosion of social citizenship viewed from the socio-liberal and republican conception of citizenship. This follows from theoretical arguments and empirical studies linking homeownership to positive welfare outcomes, such as civic engagement and social integration. The latter is arguably particularly true in some high-homeownership countries, such as Norway, where owner-occupation is the cultural norm and rental housing is associated with low quality and insecurity.

AbstractHedonic house price models are frequently used to improve our understanding of local housing markets. In recent years, rich registers containing details about home‐qualities and neighbourhood characteristics have successfully been coupled with spatial qualities such as job‐accessibility or distances to transport. Additional data sources provided by Open data communities, NGOs, data created by governmental agencies on regional national and international level has the potential of being very useful for analysing housing prices. However, the recent methodological advances in GIS and spatial analysis have not been extensively applied. We expand the hedonic price modelling toolbox with geo‐coded free data on environmental amenities. We specifically include local measures describing the view‐shed, and more varied specifications of access or dominance of green and blue amenities, in addition to urban public‐type service and sport facilities. The GIS‐derived data is used to study how the variables should be specified and to study their ability to improve even well specified hedonic price models. To our knowledge, this paper is the first to combine all the listed environmental properties in a hedonic model, and at the same time controlling for a large number of other important local neighbourhood characteristics.

Hedonic house price models are frequently used to improve our understanding of local housing markets. In recent years, rich registers containing details about home‐qualities and neighbourhood characteristics have successfully been coupled with spatial qualities such as job‐accessibility or distances to transport. Additional data sources provided by Open data communities, NGOs, data created by governmental agencies on regional national and international level has the potential of being very useful for analysing housing prices. However, the recent methodological advances in GIS and spatial analysis have not been extensively applied. We expand the hedonic price modelling toolbox with geo‐coded free data on environmental amenities. We specifically include local measures describing the view‐shed, and more varied specifications of access or dominance of green and blue amenities, in addition to urban public‐type service and sport facilities. The GIS‐derived data is used to study how the variables should be specified and to study their ability to improve even well specified hedonic price models. To our knowledge, this paper is the first to combine all the listed environmental properties in a hedonic model, and at the same time controlling for a large number of other important local neighbourhood characteristics. ; This paper is based on research funded by the Norwegian Research Council, Grant 217210/H2. ; publishedVersion

The main goal of the project 'Housing needs and imbalances in large cities" is to enhance the knowledge underpinning the planning of housing and the built environment in the so-called "big Norwegian cities": Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger, Kristiansand. The project's three studies are presented in this research report. Lena Magnusson Turner's study is an analysis of household headship rates and household formation among three groups: young adults (aged 20-35), seniors above 60 years and people with immigrant background. The study's empirical backbone is a database constructed by Statistics Norway for the research projected 'Neighbourhoods at risk', funded by the Research Council of Norway. The database includes demographic-, geographic- and socioeconomic information for all inhabitants living in selected municipalities in the period from 1990 to2011, as well as data from the Norwegian census of housing and people for 2001 and 2011. Magnusson Turner asks what mechanisms drive population growth in the five largest cities in Norway, and analyses changes over time in household formation among young adults, individuals above sixty years old, and individuals with an immigrant background. She argues for the importance of focusing on both the number of households, the household composition and the household headship rate in analyses of housing needs. In addition, the heterogeneity that has emerged in Norway's largest cities because of high immigration also has a profound impact on the housing market. Even among immigrants who have lived for several years in in Norway and their descendants, there is a tendency for traditional household and residential patterns to endure. In the Norwegian housing sector, this is a novel phenomenon. Viggo Nordvik analyses the preferences of the population in the large Norwegian cities for certain residential areas. He employs household mobility, house prices and rent levels as indicators for assessing a neighbourhood's relative popularity amongst consumers. Based on these indicators he concludes that the peripheries play an important role in the 'division of labour' of residential areas: some neighbourhoods attract families with children, others are popular among couples and singles. Most importantly, Nordvik argues that there is commercial potential for housing construction in the periphery of the largest Norwegian cities. Jardar Sørvoll studies the political debate on housing construction at the national level and in the large cities between 2011 and 2013. He draws on an analytical framework, stressing that all relevant political actors accept, explicitly or implicitly, that the housing sector is conceptually situated between the market and the welfare state. Thus, even in the era of market based housing construction (1990 - ) and deregulated housing policy, politicians formulate political goals for the housing market. Sørvoll argues that there is a discrepancy between rhetoric and policy in the Norwegian debate on housing construction: the goal of increasing housing construction is not matched by powerful political reforms. In addition, he claims that both right- and left-wing politicians are in danger of obscuring the power of housing producers. Politicians do not have the necessary carrots or sticks at their disposal. Housing producers only build in where and when they find it profitable, regardless of the promises of politicians. ; Folketallet i de norske storbyene forventes å stige relativt kraftig fram mot 2030. Veksten fører til mer økonomisk aktivitet og større behov for kommunale tjenester, infrastruktur og transport. Den tiltagende urbaniseringen gir økt press på kommunenes begrensede arealer og ressurser. Befolkningsveksten bør håndteres innenfor bærekraftige økonomiske og miljømessige rammer, og arealplanlegging må ta hensyn til interessene til både nye og eksisterende befolkningsgrupper. Rapporten består av tre delstudier. Den studerer boligmønstrene og boligfrekvensene til unge voksne, personer over 60 år og innvandrere. Denne kunnskapen er sentral for beregningen av boligbehov og boligplanlegging. Videre undersøkes stedspreferanser og avstanden mellom retorikk og praksis i den boligpolitiske debatten.

This research report addresses the challenges of housing provision in light of the ageing society. The proportion of the population over 70 years old may increase from 9 per cent to 19 per cent between 2016 and 2060, according to Statistics Norway. The challenges and conundrums related to this demographic transition motivates the main research questions of the report: Within the theoretical framework of welfare economics, what are the normative arguments for a specific housing policy directed at the elderly? How do Norwegian municipalities attempt to influence housing construction in light of the ageing society? How wide is their scope of action in the field of housing policy for the elderly? To what extent do seniors (55+) and the elderly strategically adapt their housing to the inevitable reality of ageing, for instance, by moving to modern and more accessible apartments or adapting their existing home to the challenges associated with old age? This is an important question, not least since strategic investments from the elderly themselves may contribute to a more efficient provision of municipal care and health services. How can the municipalities and the state contribute to strengthening the opportunities of older people to invest in housing alternatives adapted to the realities of old age? The report «Housing for the elderly. Housing markets and housing policies for an ageing society» consists of four interlinked studies: Municipal housing policy for an ageing society (J. Sørvoll) Policy instruments and economic theory. Normative arguments in defense of a housing policy directed at the elderly? (V. Nordvik). The housing wealth and housing preferences of seniors and the elderly (H. C. Sandlie & L. Gulbrandsen) Policy instruments and the elderly's incentives for housing investment (J. Sørvoll). In part one of the report, we analyze municipal housing policies directed at the elderly, on the basis of an empirical material consisting of qualitative interviews in six municipalities and policy plans from 89 local governments. We argue that many municipalities lack the knowledge and the competence to execute an informed housing policy adapted to an ageing society. In general, moreover, it seems that housing policy directed at the elderly is not prioritized in the vast majority of municipalities. On a more positive note, from the perspective of Norwegian authorities, the six municipalities analyzed in-depth in part 1 all acknowledge the importance of housing policy for the gradual adaptation of the Norwegian welfare state to the ageing society. Many have considered employing policy instruments that would seriously expand the municipalities' influence over the provision of housing for the elderly. This may indicate that one should follow the field of housing for the elderly closely for new developments in the coming years. Part two of the report is an attempt to provide a systematic overview of arguments for social policy interventions in the form of in-kind housing interventions. We confront these arguments with housing needs emerging over the processes of ageing. The discussions are related to challenges and debates concerning housing for the elderly in Norway. In the absence of externalities and market failure, well-informed agents choose among available combinations of consumption goods. The outcomes of these choices are superior in terms of providing the combination of goods and services an agent herself prefers. This is the core of the principle of consumer sovereignty. James Tobin has forcefully demonstrated both the intuition of the concept consumer sovereignty and part of the explanation that it is not universally embraced in discussions of specific support as e.g. housing for elderly: While concerned laymen who observe people with shabby housing or too little to eat instinctively want to provide them with decent housing and adequate food, economists instinctively want to provide them with more cash income. Then they can buy the housing and food if they want to, and if they choose not to, the presumption is that they have a better use for the money (Tobin, 1970:246). Starting from this point of departure we argue that externalities feeding into need, costs and efficiency in provision of health care and practical help to elderly provide a sufficient argument for housing specific interventions, e.g. in order to improve physical accessibility (Universal design). Moreover, we argue that informational asymmetries and depreciated agency should be considered seriously when formulating a housing policy for the elderly. In part three, we analyse the housing conditions, housing wealth and housing preferences of the elderly in Norway. Based on a survey conducted in cooperation with TNS Gallup (2016), Sandlie and Gulbrandsen find that very few people aged from 50 to 71 years old have made improvements on their current dwelling. Most people (about 3 out of 4) do not plan to carry out such adjustments to their current dwelling. However, moving homes seems to be a more widespread strategy for adjusting housing for old age. About 20 percent of the people aged from 50 to 71 have moved during the last six years. The movers have to a large degree downsized and they live in smaller dwellings than non-movers. They do also live in more accessible housing than non-movers. Thus, Sandlie and Gulbrandsen argue that strategic mobility in light of old age is more common among middle aged and old people than previous research suggests. People adjust their housing for old age, but the adjustment and change of dwelling happen before they become old and pensioners. Part 4 on incentives for strategic housing investments draws on all the other parts of the report. In this part of the report, we try to answer one of the main research questions of the project "Housing for the elderly: How can the state contribute to increasing the incentives and opportunities for strategic housing investments by the elderly? In light of the findings of the report, Sørvoll argues that the authorities should emphasize provision of practical help and knowledge transmission to elderly households, housing policy for the elderly in areas with weak housing markets, and the need for the Housing Bank and the municipalities to continue refining the instruments of housing policy in light of the ageing society. ; Her drøftes tema av stor betydning for bolig- og omsorgspolitikken. Forskerne undersøker blant annet hva kommunene gjør for å fremme en boligforsyning som tar samfunnets aldring på alvor, og diskuterer normative premisser for eldreboligpolitikk. I tillegg analyseres utviklingen av eldres boligpreferanser, boligkapital og flyttemønstre over tid. Basert på en spørreundersøkelse via internett fra 2016 spør de i hvilken grad eldre og seniorer tilpasser sin boligsituasjon med tanke på alderdom. Dette er et viktig spørsmål all den tid kommunene kan spare penger på omsorgsboliger og institusjoner hvis flere kan bo lenger i eget hjem. Derfor diskuterer forskerne også hvordan det offentlige kan styrke mulighetene og insentivene til å investere i bolig med tanke på aldring.

The aim of the Norwegian Housing Allowance is to enable low-income households to increase, or maintain, their housing consumption. The Housing Allowance is based on a "gap" notion; for households entitled, the allowance is determined as a certain percentage of their housing expenses in excess of what is considered as reasonable. Reasonable housing expenses increases with the household income, and there is an upper limit to eligible expenses, depending on size of family. Implicitly, this determines income limits for households that may receive the benefit. The Housing Allowance was reformed in 2009. While it preciously was reserved for families with children, old age and disability pensioners, and certain long term recipients of social welfare, now all types of low-income households may be entitled. Additionally, there previously were also certain conditions on the size and type and ownership of dwelling, now most dwellings are accepted. As part of the reform, the assessment of reasonable housing expenses and upper limits were revised, with the particular aim to make more families with many children eligible. In this Research Report we present an evaluation the reform after one year's experience with the new legislation. We discuss whether the reform has reached its housing policy aims and study the distributive effect of the reform. We have analyzed administrative register data, from The Norwegian National Housing bank, comparing the composition of recipients before and after the reform. We have also conducted a qualitative survey, interviewing administrators and politicians in a selection of municipalities. Administrative registers show that 124.142 households were recipients of the Housing Allowance in May 2009, an increase by 15.1 per cent from May 2009. We conducted simulations on register data, combining data from 2010 with the pre-reform legislation, and found that 24 000 of the recipients in 2010 would not have been entitled to the allowance the previous year. A majority of these households were categorized as other households, and many of them were tenants in privately owned dwellings. Our interpretation is that the reform actually has helped many the households it was aimed at, for example men 25 to 50 years, non-pensioners without children, and with low labour marked involvement. Contrary to the aims of the reform, however, we find only a small rise in the number of families with many children. The maximum income limits for eligibility are still somewhat below the poverty lines, so we cannot expect the Housing Allowance to close the poverty gap. The allowance redistributes income to household with very low income. Our calculations show that the allowance reduced the poverty gap with 16.1 per cent before the reform, and 16.9 per cent after the reform. Informants from all municipalities were we did our interviews reported that expenses on social assistance had been reduced. The Housing Allowance replaced social assistance for many recipients who had earlier not been entitled to housing allowances. Many municipalities offer rental housing to low income groups, preferably on a temporary basis. An increase in housing allowance from central government helps the tenants pay their rent, thus decreases the economic risk for local government. This should in theory increase the supply of municipal housing, but none of our interviewees reported plans for increased municipal housing. There are incentives for the tenants to stay in municipal housing, as the housing allowance is somewhat higher there than in other tenures of housing. Before the reform, municipal tenants could lose the allowance if they rented a privately owned dwelling, now all housing is treated equally. We find that in 2009 the turn-over among tenants in municipal housing was 1.25 per cent, and it fell to 0.9 per cent in 2010. How can the Housing Allowance scheme be improver further? We conclude that the allowance has no great flaws, is a good measure to help low income groups to decent housing, but that it can be improved by expanding its costs. To strengthen low income households' situation and reduce poverty, the allowance should be increased and still more families should be entitled to it. ; Fram til sommeren 2009 var bostøtten en ordning som ga støtte til barnefamilier og trygdede med lave inntekter og høye boutgifter. En reform åpnet da bostøtten for alle som har en kombinasjon av høye boutgifter og lave inntekter. Også andre deler av bostøttesystemet ble endret slik at mange fikk økt bostøtte, spesielt var dette ment å gjelde store barnefamilier. Denne rapporten er en første evaluering av hvordan den reformerte bostøtten har bidratt til oppfyllelse av boligpolitiske målsetninger og fattigdomsbekjempelse. Evalueringen viser at den reformerte bostøtten når mange nye mottakere, spesielt er det mange enslige menn med svak tilknytning til arbeidsmarkedet som er kommet inn under ordningen. En stor andel av de nye mottakerne leier bolig av private utleiere. Blant eldre over 65 år har reformen bremset en nedgang. Målene om å nå flere store barnefamilier synes enda ikke å være nådd.