Publication

Towards housing sustainability: a framework for the decision-making process of tenants

Abstract

The mismatch between the supply and demand of rental apartments in Switzerland represents an obstacle to the transition towards a more sustainable society. The difficulty for the housing providers to accommodate the fast societal change of the demand brings about an increase in vacancies and, to minimize investment risks, a resistance to innovation in the building sector. In this context, understanding the determinants of tenants' residential mobility and location choice becomes key to designing and promoting sustainable housing. In this paper we present a new interdisciplinary framework for the decision-making process of tenants. To do so, we elucidate the main parameters of the decisions to move and where to move, based on literature review and a group discussion in the Swiss canton of Vaud with the tenants of the two housing providers SCHL and Swiss Mobiliar. We find that the desired housing function determines the tenants' housing selection. We observe that this desired function changes according to the type of trigger that pushes tenants to move. Additionally, we elicit the potential sustainability implications of the housing functions in the Swiss context. We conclude that the framework can serve as a starting point for rethinking sustainable interventions in the housing sector.

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Related concepts (34)
Public housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, definitions of poverty, and other criteria for allocation vary within different contexts. In the United States, public housing developments are classified either as housing projects that are owned by a city's Housing authority or federally subsidized public housing operated through HUD.
Housing association
In Ireland and the United Kingdom, housing associations are private, non-profit making organisations that provide low-cost "social housing" for people in need of a home. Any budget surplus is used to maintain existing housing and to help finance new homes and it cannot be used for personal benefit of directors or shareholders. Although independent, they are regulated by the state and commonly receive public funding. They are now the United Kingdom's major providers of new housing for rent, while many also run shared ownership schemes to help those who cannot afford to buy a home outright.
Apartment
An apartment (American English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single storey. There are many names for these overall buildings, see below. The housing tenure of apartments also varies considerably, from large-scale public housing, to owner occupancy within what is legally a condominium (strata title or commonhold), to tenants renting from a private landlord (see leasehold estate).
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Quels sont les liens entre les prix fonciers, les prix immobiliers et les prix pour l'usage des immeubles? Est-ce que les prix immobiliers permettent de comprendre les prix fonciers? Ou l'inverse? Que

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