Urban Deprivation and the Inner City by Colin Jones

Author:Colin Jones [Jones, Colin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781138036482
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2019-04-09T00:00:00+00:00

The Allocation Process

Ordinarily the allocation of commodities is determined in the market through the operation of the price system but a characteristic of social services is that they are provided at zero or subsidised cost to the consumer. Consequently demand usually exceeds supply and a rationing mechanism is required. This is generally the case even when a service purports to meet all demand: rationing then appears as a restriction on or dilution of the quality of provision. Rationing may be implicit rather than explicit: deterrence or secrecy are used to deflect demand (Parker, 1967). Council housing has a relatively explicit rationing mechanism: first, through eligibility rules and, second, through waiting lists. But the rationing process for council housing has certain features which differentiate it from superficially similar procedures, for example hospital waiting lists. These relate primarily to the manifest lack of homogeneity of housing as a consumption good and to the relative lack of legitimacy extended to claims for professional expertise in the allocation of housing as against consumer preferences.

Although there are variations in the quality, for example, care in different hospitals and education in different schools, variations in the quality of council housing are probably relatively greater and are certainly more obvious to the ordinary man or woman. The acceptability of housing depends on a whole range of factors. Some of these are personal or idiosyncratic in the sense that they vary randomly between individuals: for example, nearness to relatives or work or the possession of an exceptionally large garden. But overall demand tends to approximate to a single hierarchy; in other words, some housing is generally popular and some generally unpopular. Each individual trades off a large number of considerations which relate to the type and condition of the dwelling itself, to the estate and to the nearness of amenities for shopping and entertainment. Recent research has suggested that perceptions of the estate are of more salience than type of dwelling (Great Britain, 1976) but, other things being equal, houses are likely to be more popular than flats, central than peripheral areas, modern than old-fashioned dwellings and ‘respectable’ than ‘rough’ neighbourhoods. Two factors which are of relatively little significance in the public sector are price and size of dwelling: rent structures are usually relatively flat with only modest variations according to quality while housing departments are generally only willing to allocate accommodation of the ‘correct’ size.

A second difference between council housing and most social services is that consumers have few qualms about judging for themselves the quality of the available accommodation. There is little parallel to the veil of professional obfuscation which is drawn over the standard and type of medical care or of education. Housing managers do not attempt to decide what is appropriate for particular applicants beyond a few very basic considerations such as adequate size to prevent overcrowding and ease of access for the elderly and disabled. Most people regard themselves as the best judges of their housing needs; these are transmitted to housing departments which on the whole do their best to meet them.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.