Who:
Professor Anne Haila, University of Helsinki
PhD student Mika Hyötyläinen, University of Helsinki
What:
Housing research has largely focused on the consumption of housing neglecting an analysis of land development processes. The land development process begins with the purchase and assembly of land and continues until the selling of housing units. Since the beginning of the 1990s two important changes have occurred in Finland: (a) the change of management of state and municipal land, and (b) changes in the regulation of planning and development. This subproject will analyze these changes and their impact on housing.
(a) Until the mid-1990s state real estate ownership and management was taken care of by a central bureaucracy called the National Board of Public Building. That was closed down and its functions were decentralised to two state-owned companies. The state real estate companies are under the Ministry of Finance and have since their establishment practiced entrepreneurial real estate policy seeking to maximize market rent. This policy has led to conflicts with the tenants using state real estate and municipalities wanting to buy state land as raw land for housing. The project will analyze the conflicts between the state and municipalities concerning the acquisition of state land, a special attention will be given to the case of a municipality confiscating the state land.
(b) The new planning and construction law in 2000 made planning and development contracts legal. Traditionally in Finland municipalities have planned and construction companies constructed according to the plan. This institutional arrangement has been changed by the new law. The project will analyze such new development contracts for developing housing.
The research for this project is conducted at the Department of Social Research/Urban Studies/School of Public Policy, University of Helsinki. The researchers of the project are professor Anne Haila, professor Maros Krivy (Estonian Academy of Arts), PhD students Mika Hyötyläinen, Jussi Laukkanen and Kevin Drain.
Publications:
Hyötyläinen, M. (2013). “Makuuhuonevero” ja Britannian hyvinvointiyhteiskunnan alasajo. Yhteiskuntapolitiikka (6).