Housing and poverty: official Irish data sources

Joe Finnerty School of Applied Social Studies,

& Institute for Social Science in 21st Century,

University College,Cork.

Presentation at the UCC summer school on Conceptualising and Measuring Poverty 19th June 2012

Content of presentation

● introduction to the main, publicly available, official, regularly produced, quantitative, Irish data sources (survey or administrative) relating to housing poverty, and to housing and poverty.

● some general remarks on the importance of paying attention to the context of these stats (facilitating an understanding what they mean, their uses and limitations) - the production and reception of housing / poverty data, using the concept of tenure and

of homelessness statistics by way of illustrations.

Structure of presentation

● PART 1 DATA SOURCES NOT DISCUSSED – NGO HOUSING / POVERTY DATA

● PART 2 HOUSING COSTS, HOUSING DEPRIVATION and HOMELESSNESS in the framework of IRISH ANTI-POVERTY STRATEGIES

● EXCURSUS #1 – 'tenure' as an indicator of housing poverty

● PART 3 OFFICIAL SURVEY SOURCES OF HOUSING / POVERTY DATA: 1.SILC, 2.HBS, 3.Census of Population

● PART 4 ADMIN SOURCES OF HOUSING / POVERTY DATA: 4.Social Housing Needs Assessment, 5.Statistical Information on Social Welfare Services, 6.Department of Environment, Community and Local Government stats online, 7.Central Bank stats on mortgage arrears

● PART 5 OFFICIAL SURVEY AND ADMIN SOURCES OF HOMELESSNESS DATA: 8.Counted In, 9.PASS, 10.2011 Census 'new question', 11.3-yearly counts under the 1988 Housing Act, section 9, 12. rough sleeper count in Dublin area

● EXCURSUS #2 – the contexts of homelessness measures

PART 1 Data sources not discussed

PART 1 Data sources not discussed (1)

'Non-official' data

= data produced by a variety on NGOs in the areas of Irish housing / poverty and homelessness, such as

● Simon Communities of Ireland● Focus Ireland● RESPOND!● Threshold

– see their websites for relevant reports and data

Data sources not discussed (2)

● This data is typically based on the NGO admin data on uptake of services such as hostel accommodation, food provision, etc. over a given period

● In many cases, NGOs will produce robust stats for their own organisation

● Where the NGO, or a coalition of NGOs, have a rigorous research function, they may provide estimates of the size of a relevant population

● e.g. the MakeRoom coalition www.makeroom.ie● See O'Sullivan (2008) 'Researching homelessness in Ireland: explanations, themes and

approaches' in Downey (ed.) Perspectives on Irish Homelessness

● some reflections on data produced by advocacy groups occurs in the later slides on the 'politics of measurement'.

PART 2 HOUSING COSTS, DEPRIVATION AND HOMELESSNESS IN IRISH ANTI-POVERTY STRATEGIES

INADEQUATERESOURCES

‘UNACCEPTABLE’STANDARD OF

LIVING

EXCLUSION FROMPARTICIPATION IN

SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR THAT ISTHE NORM

Tripartite poverty definition/measurement, NAPS Sharing in Progress 1997

INCOME DEPRIVATION

Using the NAPS poverty framework, the presentation will focus on the main data sources classified by:

-housing costs (mortgage and rental payments) - relevant to the

income (and expenditure) dimensions to poverty

-housing facilities and quality - relevant to the deprivation dimension to poverty

-indirect or broader indicators of housing and poverty – those housing variables that can be correlated with income and deprivation variables (principally tenure)

-homelessness, where households are without 'accommodation' that is in the form of permanent private housing units (to which these variables re costs, quality, and tenure, ipso facto cannot apply)

• Homelessness is first discussed in the mid-term revised NAPS, Building an Inclusive Society (2002)

EXCURSUS #1

'SOCIAL HOUSING' AS A (TENURE-BASED) INDICATOR OF POVERTY?

Key housing concept: TENURE

●from the French tenir, to hold●refers to nature or basis of occupancy by the household of its accommodation.●See Doling, 1997, Comparative Housing Policy

3 main tenures in Ireland

I.Owner occupation●Either mortgaged●Or owned outrightII.Private renting (from private for-profit landlord)

III.Social renting

-from local authority (‘public’ not-for-profit landlord)

- from housing association (private not-for-profit landlord)

See O’Connell, (2008), The state and housing in Ireland: ideology, policy and practice

CONTEXT: Social housing as indicator of problems...or solutions?

● % of households in social housing tenure and / or in receipt of rent supplement is commonly used as an indicator of housing poverty (e.g. Edwards and Linehan, City of Difference)

● But it may be argued that this is actually an indicator of welfare responses to housing poverty (the extent of housing welfare 'effort')

Social housing as indicator of problems...or solutions?

● Part of the answer lies in the unit of analysis being used

● At household level, the focus tends to be on housing costs and quality of accommodation

● At neighbourhood level, the focus may also include issues around tenure, social mix and neighbourhood quality

Another part of the answer...

Note the distinction made earlier between:

● 'housing poverty',

and

● 'housing and poverty'● The policy rationale of social housing provision is to alleviate housing poverty (good

quality housing – alleviating housing deprivation, plus at an affordable rent – alleviating housing cost aspects of income poverty)

● See e.g. DoECLG (2011) Housing Policy Statement (Dublin: DoECLG)

● Evidently it is an empirical question (to be evaluated via, inter alia, the data sources listed) whether this policy aspiration is realised

● The impact of housing poverty alleviation on the alleviation of other poverty dimensions (the extent to which it alleviates either post-housing cost income poverty, or non-housing dimensions of deprivation) is a separate issue

PART 3

OFFICIAL SURVEY SOURCES OF HOUSING / POVERTY DATA

PART 3 official surveys on housing / poverty

1.Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC)

2.Household Budget Survey

3.Census of Population

PART 3 official surveys on housing / poverty

1.Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC)

2.Household Budget Survey

3.Census of Population

1.Survey on Income and Living ConditionsThe EU-SILC is the data collection instrument providing 'official' evidence about the income and deprivation dimensions of poverty in Ireland.

Research body? Central Statistics Office

Data selection? a large sample of households

Data collection? primarily based on questionnaires administered on a rolling basis

How often? annually from 2003

Online? www.cso.ie/en/silc/

Availability to researchers? anonymised microdata available to bona fide researchers via the UCD Irish Social Science Data Archive

www.ucd.ie/issda/

SILC tenure data

SILC data is collected in relation to a tenure variable, with three categories:

● Owner-occupied● Rented at the market rate● Rented at below the market rate or rent free

And these are correlated throughout the SILC report with other variables....

SILC tenure data

● Note however that these 3 categories don't correspond directly with the standard classification by housing analysts above...

Note on SILC tenure categories

The categories of the tenure variable at data collection stage, for subsequent collapse into the three-fold typology, are as follows:

1. Owned Outright

2. Owned with Mortgage (including joint owner rental with Local Authority)

3. Owned with tenant purchase system

4. Owned with affordable housing

5. Rented from Local Authority

6. Rented from landlord with furnishings

7. Rented from landlord without furnishings

- From CSO 2010, SILC questionnaire manual, p. 19 www.cso.ie/en/silc/methodology/

SILC questions on housing poverty #1

● Comprise 2 of the items on the official deprivation index

‘lacking two or more items from the following 11-item index’:

'6. Had to go without heating during the last year through lack of money7. Keep the home adequately warm'

Generating (tenure by deprivation) data such as:

● "Individuals living in households renting at 'below the market rate or rent free' reported the highest levels of deprivation in 2009, with only 29.1% experiencing no deprivation at all."

– CSO 2012

SILC - (tenure by at-risk-of poverty) data example:

persons living in owner-occupied accommodation had a significantly lower at risk of poverty rate

● "The at risk of poverty rate for persons living in owner-occupied accommodation was 10.1% in 2009

● while the rate for persons living in accommodation rented at the market rate was 16.5% and for

● persons living in accommodation rented at below the market rate or rent free was 31.7%."

– CSO 2012

SILC - (tenure by consistent poverty) data example

● "the highest consistent poverty rate reported was for those renting at below market rate in 2009 - at17.9%,

● a consistent poverty rate of 8.3% for persons

in accommodation rented at the market rate● 2.5% for persons living in owner-occupied

housing"– CSO 2012

SILC questions re housing costs

( first introduced in 2009):● on household indebtedness, there is a

dichotomous yes/no question on rent and mortgage arrears

● (by income quintile)

● 'Housing cost burden' offers three response categories: heavy / somewhat / none

● (by income quintile)

SILC questions re housing & neighbourhood quality

● Damp walls● Dark rooms● Absence of hot running water● Noise a problem in neighbourhood● Crime a problem in neighbourhood

2. Household Budget Survey

2. HOUSEHOLD BUDGET SURVEYResearch body? Central Statistics Office

Data selection? sample of 8,000 households in last round

Data collection? Household questionnaires

How often? every 5 years (since 1951)

- last conducted in 2009 -2010

Online? www.cso.ie/en/surveysandmethodology/housingandhouseholds/householdbudgetsurvey/

Availability to researchers? anonymised microdata available to bona fide researchers via the UCD Irish Social Science Data Archive

www.ucd.ie/issda/

2. HOUSEHOLD BUDGET SURVEYResearch body? Central Statistics Office

Data selection? sample of 8,000 households in last round

Data collection? Household questionnaires

How often? every 5 years (since 1951)

- last conducted in 2009 -2010

Online? www.cso.ie/en/surveysandmethodology/housingandhouseholds/householdbudgetsurvey/

Availability to researchers? anonymised microdata available to bona fide researchers via the UCD Irish Social Science Data Archive

www.ucd.ie/issda/

Household Budget Survey

Collects data on

● household expenditures (including housing)

● income and labour market status

● household facilities and appliances

● housing tenure

3. Census of Population

● Research body? Central Statistics Office

● Data selection? Universal coverage (not a sample)

● Permits detailed analysis down to Electoral Division level (and anonymised files are available online)

● How often? every 5 years with some exceptions (from 1926)

● Online? www.cso.ie/en/census/

● Availability to researchers? Interactive tables, Small Area Population Stats (SAPS) for selected variables and geographic areas, for more recent censuses. Anonymised microdata available to bona fide researchers – contact CSO for details.

● Data on tenure were first collected in the post-WWII census (1946), and then in the first census of every decade

● From the 2006 census, tenure questions are also asked in mid-decade censuses

Other Census housing data

● Indicators of housing quality:● type of heating● no. of rooms● indoor toilet● age of house

Other Census housing data

● Data on rental housing costs [but not on

mortgage payments]

PART 4 Administrative data on housing / poverty

PART 4 Administrative data on housing / poverty

4. Social Housing Needs Assessment

5. Statistical Information on Social Welfare Services (rent and mortgage interest supplements)

6. Department of Environment, Community and Local Government stats online

7. Central Bank stats on mortgage arrears● (The local authority Ihouse database)

4. social housing needs assessment

Research body? Based on local authority admin data

Data selection? A census of all relevant cases of need

How often? Every 3 years (based on data returned by Local Authorities under the 1988 Housing Act, section 9)

This data is available by housing authority

- though with some delays between data collection and dissemination

Online? www.environ.ie/en/Publications/StatisticsandRegularPublications/HousingStatistics/

Availability to researchers? No, dataset not supplied.

Breakdown of households assessed as being in need of social housing by:

● Tenure● Employment status● Age;● Household type;● Duration ;● Income analysis of households;● Number of non- EU National households

5. DoSP (2011) Statistical Information on Social Welfare Services 2010

● Research body? Admin data from DoSP

● Data selection? A census of all relevant files

● Data collection? Admin data

● How often? Annually (online from 1998)

● Online?

● www.welfare.ie/EN/Policy/ResearchSurveysAndStatistics/Pages/StatInfoReportsIndex.aspx

● Availability to researchers? No, dataset unavailable

Statistical Information on Social Welfare Services

Trends in rent and mortgage interest supplement scheme including:

● Overall expenditures

● No. of recipients

● Age

● Gender

● Primary income source

● Geographical area (county)

● Types of household

● Duration of claim

6. DoE stats online

Research body? DoE

Appears to have replaced the Housing Stats Bulletin (until 2008, quarterly and annually)

Data selection? A census of all relevant cases

Data collection? Admin data

How often? Updated every few months

Online? www.environ.ie/en/Publications/StatisticsandRegularPublications/HousingStatistics/

Availability to researchers? No, original dataset not supplied

Presents data on activities by social housing bodies

Local authority new build

Voluntary / housing association new build

Shared ownership

Low cost housing sites

Improvement works in lieu of re-housing

Affordable housing

Local authority loans for home purchase and improvement

Overall social housing expenditures

7. Central Bank data on overmortgaged households

● Research body? Irish Central Bank

● Data selection and collection? compiles stats on all mortgage arrears, supplied by mortgage lending institutions,though these are not very (more detailed data incl. on Right to Buy mortgages, later in 2012)

● How often? quarterly from June 2011

● Online? www.centralbank.ie/polstats/stats/mortgagearrears/Pages/releases.aspx

● Availability to researchers? No, original dataset unavailable

Mortgage data is supplied on

● Total residential mortgage loans outstanding● Arrears by duration● Repossessions● Restructured mortgages

PART 5

OFFICIAL SURVEY AND ADMIN SOURCES OF HOMELESSNESS DATA

Data sources on homelessness

● “absence of reliable data on the homeless population represents one of the most significant data gaps in our knowledge and understanding of poverty in Ireland”

- Corrigan, C., Fitzgerald, E., Bates, J., and Matthews, A. (2002) Data Sources on Poverty. Dublin: Combat Poverty Agency

● "The major technical obstacle to thestudy of the homeless lies in the fact that conventional censuses and surveys are premised on the assumption that almost all persons can be reached and queried in their dwellings, a premise

that is untenable by definition when dealing with the homeless." Rossi, (1987) 'No good social research goes unpunished, Society , Nov – Dec, pp. 77-8

Quantifying homelessness

8. the Counted In surveys in Dublin

9. the PASS system (= administrative data)

10. new question asked in the 2011 Census

11. the 3-yearly counts under the 1988 Housing Act, section 9

8. Counted In (various years)

Survey of those accessing homeless services in the Dublin area:

Research body? Dublin Region Homeless Executive, formerly the Homeless Agency, formerly the Homeless Initiative)

How often? 1999, 2002, 2005, 2008

(superseded by the PASS system and by the new Census 2011 question on homelessness)

Online? www.homelessagency.ie/Facts/Homeless-Figures.aspx

Availability to researchers? No, original dataset unavailable

9. Pathway Accommodation and Support System (PASS)

Research body? Managed by the Dublin Region Homeless Executive

Data selection and collection? an online system providing ‘real-time’ information in terms of homeless presentation and bed occupancy across the Dublin region.

● Will allow gathering of data re presentation to homeless services and use of hostel accommodation.

Availability to researchers? Not currently

10. Census 2011

● a new category in relation to question on living arrangements in the 2011 Census for those in hostel and other accommodation

● (results in Aug 2012)● required under EU law: Regulation (EU) No

519/2010 – see Eurostat (2010) EU legislation on the 2011 Population and Housing Censuses Explanatory Notes

l

● „a first ever Census figure for the homeless population in Ireland, including rough sleeping (Dublin only) for the year 2011 (Census night was April 11th 2011)

● illustrate the spatial distribution of the Irish homeless population across urban and rural spatial units at regional scales and at other scales where possible

● provide data on the following aspects of the Irish homeless population: age; marital status; family composition; nationality and ethnicity; disability, general health and wellbeing; level of education; economic status and religious beliefs“

● May June Issue Pathway 2012 | 29 June, 2012

– http://thehomelessagency.newsweaver.co.uk/newsletter/1t3xui9jp7v1p3kguuiujn?a=1&p=25566745&t=19687805

11. Statutory 3-yearly enumeration

● Data collection agencies? local authorities (and Dublin Homeless Agency / Dublin Region Homeless Executive in Dublin area)

● The 3 year counts are intended to be a complete enumeration of the hss population, allowing a more or less detailed picture at local level.

● They have now been amalgamated with the 3-yearly assessments of social housing need (see above)

● Counted In was the more detailed survey in the Dublin area that met this statutory requirement (see above)

12. rough sleeper count in Dublin area

● Data collection agency? Dublin Region Homeless Executive

● Data selection? Aims at a census of relevant population

● How often? every six months (April and Nov) from Nov 2007

● Online? Headline stats at www.homelessagency.ie/Facts/Homeless-Figures.aspx

● Availability to researchers? No, original dataset not available

How many homeless?

Irish Homelessness (households)

• 2002 2,468

• 2005 1,987

• 2008 1,394

= a reduction of 593 on 2005 figure (-29.9%)

= a reduction of 1074 on 2002 figure (-41.9%)

Source: Annual Housing Statistics Bulletin 2008 Appendix II

How many homeless?

• 2011 2,348= an increase of 68% on the 2008 figure

Source: Assessment of Social Housing Need 2011

How many rough sleeping in Dublin area?

● 87 persons on the night of 9th Nov 2011● An increase of 17 from Nov 2010

EXCURSUS # 2

the contexts of homelessness measures

Homelessness is the most acute form of housing poverty.

Measuring homelessness raises issues of

-definition

-politics

-methods

MEASURING HOMELESSNESS: DEFINITIONS

Housing Act 1988, Section 2 open to interpretation:

-narrowly (those sleeping rough, in hostels and county homes etc.)

-more broadly (to include those living in accommodation that they cannot be ‘reasonably expected’ to continue to live in due to poor quality, overcrowding, domestic disputes, threat of eviction.)

Homeless definitions

In practice, the definition was interpreted narrowly

The earlier Assessments of Homelessness provided limited data

Such poor data makes analysis of trends difficult!

Why the contested estimates of hsss?

THE POLITICS OF MEASUREMENT

Advocacy groups generally estimate larger homeless populations than do statutory bodies:

a felt need to show very large numbers of homeless people

See Rossi (1989)

Wright et al. (1998) Beside the Golden Door

O'Sullivan, and O'Connor, in Downey (ed.)

Perspectives on Irish Homelessness

Statutory bodies may downplay the extent of the problem

-They may feel that improving facilities or supplying housing (in response to large

‘counts’) may ‘worsen’ the social problem e.g.-attract demand from adjoining areas (where their traditional role is to cater to ‘locals’)

-‘encourage’ e.g. young people who might otherwise have resolved family differences to leave home.

-Budgetary / capacity constraints

MEASURING HOMELESSNESS: METHODS

a. Stock or flow measures?

b. Difficulties in counting different categories of homeless

c. Number of bodies involved in data collection raises data quality issues

Stock or flow measures?

A stock measure counts the number of homeless at a particular point in time

a flow measure counts the total number of persons who experience homelessness over a longer period (usually a year).

Difficulties in counting different categories of homeless

the easiest category of the visible hss to count are those in shelters and in B&Bs; more difficult to count rough sleepers.

- easier to count those in contact with hss services

- see the ETHOS typology of homelessness at www.feantsa.org

Variety of bodies involved in data collection

Town councils, borough councils, city councils and county councils

Raises issues of consistency of data collection methods

● The politically contested nature of hsss stats:● Note how the Dub stats are particularly sensitive,

given the existence of an action plan with targets, and with an agency 'responsible' for these outcomes.

– what is role of academic research?

• Rossi (1989) 'No good social research goes unpunished'