A study of complexity sources on housing affordability (HA) in Housing Studies

A study of complexity sources on housing affordability (HA) in Housing Studies

JOSEPH KIM-KEUNG HO

Independent Trainer

Hong Kong, China

Dated: February 5, 2016

Abstract:

In Housing Studies, housing affordability (HA) is a key concept. This is especially relevant to Housing Studies in Hong Kong as the city has long been reported to have the worst housing affordability status in the world. This paper examines the sources of complexity of the housing affordability notion and concerns based on literature review, newspaper articles study and a Facebook questionnaire survey. It argues for the methodological relevance of using the systems-based Housing Imagination evaluation framework of Ho (2014a) to examine complex Housing Studies topics such as housing affordability. Indeed, housing affordability is conceptually complex and housing affordability concerns in the real world are very often also intricate.

Key words: Facebook-based questionnaire survey; Housing affordability; Newspaper articles study; The systems-based Housing Imagination evaluation framework; The System Complexity model

An earlier version of the paper appears in the journal of European Academic Research as: Ho, J.K.K. 2015. “An examination of the sources of complexity on housing affordability (HA) as a concept and concerns in Housing Studies” European Academic Research 2(10) January: 13128-13152.

Introduction

In Housing Studies, housing affordability (HA) is a key topic of study, see, for example, Balchin and Rhoden (2002: chapter 11). Typically, the HA topic examines (i) effects of house price/earnings ratios and house price/income ratios, (ii) affordability among people of different profiles and (iii) ways of increasing affordability (Balchin and Rhoden, 2002) and (iv) the reasons for high housing prices (Lau and Li, 2006). Two concepts appear fundamental, i.e., housing affordability and affordable housing. The former is about people’s housing concerns while the latter is more on housing solutions and products. Both concepts deal with the core attribute of affordability. For Stone, Burke and Ralston (2011), there are three main questions in housing affordability study: (i) affordable to whom?, (ii) on what standard of affordability?, and (iii) for how long? In Hong Kong, where the writer lives, it has long been reported to have the least housing affordability status in the world, e.g., Liu (2014) and Holliday (2014). Thus housing affordability is described as a big issue (Lam, 2012) or the Number 1 priority (South China Morning Post, 2014) in the city. Out of both teaching and research interest, the writer makes an attempt to uncover the complexity sources of the housing affordability notion and concerns via literature review, newspaper articles study and a Facebook-based questionnaire survey. It then argues for the relevance of using the systems-based Housing Imagination evaluation framework of Ho (2014a) to study housing affordability concerns.

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