1st Edition
Inclusionary Housing and Urban Inequality in London and New York City Gentrification Through the Back Door
Municipalities around the world have increasingly used inclusionary housing programs to address their housing shortages. This book problematizes those programs in London and New York City by offering an empirical, research-based perspective on the socio-spatial dimensions of inclusionary housing approaches in both cities. The aim of those programs is to produce affordable housing and foster greater socio-economic inclusion by mandating or incentivizing private developers to include affordable housing units within their market-rate residential developments.
The starting point of this book is the so-called ‘poor door’ practice in London and New York City, which results in mixed-income developments with separate entrances for ‘affordable housing’ and wealthier market-rate residents. Focusing on this ‘poor door’ practice allowed for a critical look at the housing program behind it. By exploring the relationship between inclusionary housing, new-build gentrification, and austerity urbanism, this book highlights the complexity of the planning process and the ambivalences and interdependencies of the actors involved. Thereby, it provides evidence that the provision of affordable housing or social mixing through this program has only limited success and, above all, that it promotes – in a sense through the ‘back door’, – the very gentrification and displacement mechanisms it is supposed to counteract.
This book will be of interest to researchers and students of housing studies, planning, and urban sociology, as well planners and policymakers who are interested in the consequences of their own housing programs.
List of figures
List of maps
List of tables
List of boxes
Acknowledgements
Acronyms
Introduction
Rethinking Inclusionary Housing in an Age of Austerity
A Tale of Two Doors: The ‘Poor Door’ Phenomenon
Benevolent Planning Policy or ‘Recipe’ for Gentrification?: Recent Approaches to Inclusionary Housing in London and New York City
Researching Inclusionary Housing: Literature Review and Conceptual Framework
Approaching Inclusionary Housing: Methods and National and Local Context
Summary of the Chapters
Chapter 1
Building the Way out of the Crisis?
The Evolution of Inclusionary Housing Policies in London and New York City under Conditions of Austerity
First Phases of Inclusionary Housing
Second Phase of Inclusionary Housing
Third Phase of Inclusionary Housing
Continuity Despite Change
Chapter 2
Creating Value for Profit Rather Than ‘Affordable Housing’: Neighborhood Regeneration Under the Pretext of Inclusionary Housing
Urban Regeneration in the Context of Urban Entrepreneurialism and Financialization of Housing in London and New York City
Creating Value Out of Thin Air?
The State as Developer: The Redevelopment of Central Hill Estate in London
The State as Enabler: Rezoning Inwood in New York City
Comparing New York City and London
Chapter 3
Reclaiming What, Where and for Whom?
How the Provision of a ‘Public Good’ Contributes to New-Build Gentrification
The Role of Local Governments in the Uneven Spatial Distribution of Inclusionary Housing Developments
Cases Studied in Each City
Negotiating Inclusionary Housing in Affluent Neighborhoods
Negotiating Inclusionary Housing in Low-Income Neighborhoods
Neighborhood Inequalities Reinforced
Chapter 4
Vertical Segregation by Design:
How Inclusionary Housing Developments Contribute to a Vertical Gentrification Movement
Theoretical Considerations of Vertical Segregation by Design
Vertical Segregation by Design in London and New York City
Vertical Gentrification of Mixed-Income Housing
Chapter 5
Limited Accessibility to and Affordability of ‘Affordable Housing’ as a Form of Gentrification
Accessible for Whom?
Affordable for Whom?
Gentrification of ‘Affordable Housing’
Conclusion
Inclusionary Housing as Part of the Problem, Not the Solution to the Housing Affordability Crises
Afterword
The COVID-19 Pandemic as a Transformative Moment of Inclusionary Housing?
Index
Biography
Yuca Meubrink currently works as academic coordinator of the interdisciplinary expert group "Sustainability in structural engineering – saving of resources and climate” at Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. She previously worked as a research and teaching assistant in the study program Metropolitan Culture at the HafenCity University Hamburg, Germany from where she also received her Ph.D. She has been a visiting scholar at City University of New York and at Birkbeck, University of London. She is also a member of the editorial collective, sub\urban. zeitschrift für kritische stadtforschung – a peer-reviewed, open access journal. Yuca Meubrink studied North American Studies, Cultural and Social Anthropology and Journalism in Berlin, Germany.
“Inclusionary Housing and Urban Inequality in London and New York City, provides an exemplary comparative critical analysis of how inclusionary housing policies and practices provide a ‘back door’ to gentrification rather than an entree to more truly affordable housing provision.”
Paul Watt, Visiting Professor, London School of Economics and Political Science.
“On the basis of fine-tuned fieldwork and careful policy analysis Yuca Meubrink’s book alerts us to the insidious effects of supposedly win/win inclusionary housing policy. An extremely timely and important analysis, her book should be required reading for all urban planners and anyone following or trying to change contemporary housing policy.”
Ida Susser, Ph.D. Distinguished Professor, Graduate Center/City University of New York.
“Inclusionary housing is widely regarded as an effective tool for solving the housing crisis by providing affordable housing while also fostering social mix. This careful empirical study comparing new-build mixed income developments in NYC and London demonstrates expertly how and why the planning, design and ‘real life’ outcomes not only fall far short of the promised targets, but even accelerate gentrification and displacement.”
Margit Mayer, Senior Fellow at the Center for Metropolitan Studies, Germany.
