Download Exploring Links Between Home Ownership and Attitudes to Welfare

Exploring Links Between Home
Ownership and Attitudes to
Welfare
Rosie Smith PhD Student
University of Lincoln
School of Social and Political Sciences
Introduction
Thesis explores the relationship between home
ownership and public attitudes to welfare.
Specifically it addresses whether higher levels
of home ownership result in lower levels of
support for social security benefits.
Establishes a theoretical link between housing
tenure and attitudes to welfare
Quantitative analysis of British Social Attitudes
data.
Concludes there is an association which needs
to be further explored.
Contents
• Research Questions
• Justification of Study
• Changing Public Attitudes
to Welfare
• Establishing a theoretical
link between housing and
attitudes to welfare
• Methods
• Preliminary Analysis
• Future Research
• Summary
Research Questions
• Is there a relationship between tenure mix and support for social
security benefits?
• Has a period of increasing inequality in assets in the UK impacted on
public attitudes towards the social security system and those in
receipt of welfare benefits (or groups who are thought to be)?
• Do people feel financially protected during economic downturns as a
result of owning assets?
Justification of the study
The relationship between housing and the welfare state (traditionally
considered to be health care, education and monetary benefits) is an
underexplored area of social policy and housing studies.
The implications of tenure differences in people’s outlook on to other
aspects of the welfare state has not been greatly explored.
This thesis aims to shed new light onto how housing affects other areas
of social policy and the wider future effects of increasing asset
inequality.
Changing Public Attitudes to Welfare
Attitudes to welfare have become increasingly punitive in recent years
with greater emphasis on reciprocity and characterised by a narrative
of deservingness.
Baumberg et al. (2012, p.7)
note that “people now see
claimants as less deserving …
people are more likely to say
that claimants don’t deserve
help and that people in need
are lazy”.
Shildrick and MacDonald (2013, p.291)
found that even those receiving benefits
separated themselves from ‘other’ poor
people who were on benefits who ‘didn’t
want to work’. They viewed poverty in other
people’s lives as a consequence of individual
ineptitude or moral failure.
Changing Public Attitudes to Welfare
Source: BSA Data
1983-2014
Establishing a theoretical link between housing and
attitudes to welfare
Housing as the ‘Fourth Pillar of the
welfare state’
Kemeny (2001) argues that housing is
the ‘wobbly fourth pillar’ of the welfare
state alongside health care, education
and social security benefits.
He notes that although housing rarely
falls completely within the realm of
public provision, it is considered to be a
universal right and is subsidised by
many states.
Asset Based Welfare
Theorists of ‘Asset-based welfare’ argue
that governments are (or should be)
increasingly restructuring their welfare
states so that individuals accept greater
responsibility for their own welfare
needs by investing in financial products
and property assets which augment in
value over time (Ronald and Dorling,
2012; Groves et al. 2007; Regan and
Paxton 2001; Sherraden 2003; Watson
2009).
Establishing a theoretical link between
housing and attitudes to welfare
3 elements of housing tenure that influence people’s attitudes to
welfare and in particular social security provision:
• material well-being
• feelings of financial security
• feelings of independence (particularly in the UK)
Drawing on the comparative research of Kemeny (1981, 2001) and
Saunders’ (1990) UK in depth qualitative study of UK home owners.
The Problem of Equity?
• Home owners are not a homogenous group
• The amount of equity a person holds varies considerably between
individuals.
• Some people’s houses are worth more than others
• New mortgage holders possess considerably different amounts of
assets to outright owners.
• Differences between mortgage holders and outright owners are
accounted for in methods and analysis.
• Analysis splits the two groups and limitations are taken into account.
Methods
• Quantitative secondary data analysis of British Social Attitudes (BSA)
survey from 1983-2014.
• BSA uses random sampling and has a response rate of around 4000
people per year.
• Includes many of the same questions every year, allowing for long
term changes and trends in public opinion to be identified.
• Tenure question included in every wave, with mortgage holders and
outright owners differentiated in every year apart from 1983.
• Several questions related to attitudes towards welfare.
Analysis
• 18 questions relating to welfare
• One variable: “Dole- Respondent’s view of the level of benefits for
unemployed people”
• Some differences between tenure type found
• Home owners more likely to believe benefits for unemployed people
are too high and discourage work
• Initial findings: a statistical significance between tenure type and
responses to this question
Source: BSA Data
1983-2014
Analysis: Growing Asset Inequality
UK Home Ownership 1984-2014
Source: BSA Data
1984-2014
Analysis: Growing Asset Inequality
Tenure by age group 2014 (Source: BSA Data 2014)
Age
Others %
Own Outright %
Mortgage %
18-39
56.9
7.7
35.3
40-59
31.7
22.8
45.5
60+
22.9
69.6
7.5
N
1106
888
883
Future Research
• Further investigation into the UK picture is needed. The correlation of
one variable is not enough to prove a link between public attitudes to
welfare and levels of home ownership.
• Exploration of a wider range of social indicators to test the hypothesis
more rigorously.
• Exploration of the more recent decline in home ownership and see
what affect, if any, this is having on attitudes to welfare.
• Undertake comparative research, investigating whether EU countries
with lower levels of home ownership show higher levels of support
for social security benefits.
Summary
• Presented a theoretical relationship between tenure mix and
attitudes to welfare based on subjective and objective wellbeing.
• Undertaken data analysis which supports an association between
tenure and attitudes.
• Data analysis also raises questions about the impact of increasing
asset inequality on attitudes.
• Identified future research to look into.
Bibliography
• Baumberg, B., Bell, K. and Gaffney, D. (2012), Benefits Stigma in Britain, Elizabeth Finn Care.
• Groves, R., Murie, A. and Watson, C. J. (2007), Housing and the new welfare state: perspectives from East
Asia and Europe, Aldershot, Ashgate.
• Kemeny, J. (2001), Comparative Housing and Welfare: Theorising the Relationship, Journal of Housing and
the Built Environment, Vol.16, pp.53-70.
• Kemeny, J. (1981), The Myth of Home Ownership, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul.
• Regan, S. and Paxton, W. (2001), Asset-based welfare: international comparisons, London, IPR.
• Ronald, R. and Doling, J. (2012), Testing Home Ownership as the Cornerstone of Welfare: Lessons from East
Asia for the West, Housing Studies, Vol.27(7), pp.940-961.
• Saunders, P. (1990), A Nation of Home Owners, London, Unwin Hyman.
• Sherraden, M. (2003), Assets and the social investment state. Equal shares, Building a progressive and
coherent asset based welfare policy, pp.28-41.
• Shildrick, T. and MacDonald, R. (2013), Poverty Talk: How People Experiencing Poverty Deny Their Poverty
and Why They Blame “the Poor”, The Sociological Review, Vol.61(2), May 2013.
• Watson, M. (2009), Planning for a future of asset-based welfare? New Labour, Financialized Economic
Agency and the Housing Market. Planning, Practice & Research, Vol.24(1), pp.41-56.