Speaker
Description
Social housing is a crucial lever for breaking the cycle of structural poverty, although its effectiveness can vary depending on the location. Nevertheless, the accessibility of social housing, essential for reducing mobility-related exclusion, is an underexplored topic and thus far, the relationship between accessibility of social housing and mobility-related social exclusion is poorly understood. Accessibility in this context refers to the extent to which residents have access to various destinations such as jobs, schools, shops and other amenities. A lack of accessibility could partly cancel out the material benefits of social housing for social tenants in the form of decreased social and economic participation.
Using Flanders (Belgium) as a case study, we employ a set of proximity and mobility indicators to analyse the accessibility of the current social housing stock in relation to public transport, amenities and employment. In addition, by means of interviews with key stakeholders, we examine how the accessibility of social housing is currently addressed at the policy level.
The accessibility analysis indicates that social housing tends to be situated in central locations, achieving relatively high accessibility scores. However, this is not the case for all projects. We can distinguish locations with limited accessibility, while we also identify areas that are particularly favourable from an accessibility perspective, but where the number of social housing units is low. The interviews suggest that accessibility does not currently play a central role in Flemish social housing policy and is not systematically considered when housing authorities select new development sites. We conclude that systematic mapping of social housing accessibility can provide new insights on the opportunities and constraints associated with the location of social housing. In conclusion, we recommend a more structural integration of accessibility in social housing policy, taking the needs and wants of social tenants as a starting point.
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
|---|
