The value of housing to welfare:
Reflection from East Asian experiences
Misa Izuhara
School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol
Housing Studies Association Annual Conference, York, April 2014
Introduction
Linking home ownership to welfare
Housing as a platform of wealth accumulation
‘Asset-based welfare’
Home ownership aims to promote ‘widening
access and social integration’
From the ‘social project’ to the ‘economic project’
Household assets = housing assets: difficulties
and potential for equity release
Importance of individuals attitude
The East Asian context
The East Asian context
Japan
Asset-based welfare pronounced
Post-bubble economy (1990 on)
From ‘corporate paternalism’ to
neoliberal policy reforms
Post-growth society
The East Asian context
Japan
Asset-based welfare pronounced
Post-bubble economy (1990 on)
From ‘corporate paternalism’ to
neoliberal policy reforms
Post-growth society
China
From planned economy to marketoriented economy
Parallel processes of privatisation
reforms and commercialisation
From low-level, universal welfare
provision to cash-driven system
The East Asian context
Japan
Asset-based welfare pronounced
Post-bubble economy (1990 on)
From ‘corporate paternalism’ to
neoliberal policy reforms
Post-growth society
Singapore
China
The ‘soft-authoritarian’ state
From planned economy to marketoriented economy
Parallel processes of privatisation
reforms and commercialisation
From low-level, universal welfare
provision to cash-driven system
The state control on housing and
welfare provision
Welfare depends on housing
The Central Provident Fund; the
Housing and Development Board
Institutional mechanisms
 To consider the ways in which housing assets can
be turned into cash/cash flow to use for welfare
 ‘Immobile assets’ – need help of institutions?
 Market development: China, Japan
 Non-market approach: Singapore
 Institutional incentives: e.g. access to long-term care is
not means-tested (Japan)
 Cultural barriers: Family v individual assets, attitudes
towards the use of assets, perception of risk
Whose welfare?
 Process and impact of intergenerational transfers
 Different level and direction of the flow of resources:
China v Japan





Parents are a key source of welfare
Timing: Tax incentives to encourage early transfers (Japan)
Pooling resources: increasing ‘interdependency’
Is housing an intergenerational project?
Are children welfare resources?
Widening social divisions
 The equality of opportunity v outcomes
 Commodification of housing, neoliberal policy
reforms, housing price volatility produces wealth
divisions
 The ‘housing asset rich’ = the ‘welfare rich’:
exclusionary than inclusionary welfare?
 Family wealth is greater source of social
stratification
 Gender divisions
Concluding comments
 Micro-macro interaction: need better balance
between individual accumulation and social redistribution?
 The active ‘role of the state’ in asset-based
approaches: more pragmatic
 Volatility in the housing market: how can housing
values be maintained?
 Families counter-weigh asset-poor, incomedifferentiated younger people