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- Bengtsson, Bo, 1947-, et al.
(author)
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Lokal kontroll och kollektivt handlande : En utvärdering av självförvaltning i Bostads AB Poseidon i Göteborg
- 2003
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Local Control and Collective Action. An Evaluation of Self-Management in the Municipal Housing Company Poseidon in Gothenburg. This report presents an evaluation over three years of a programme on ’local democracy and self-management’ in the municipal housing company Poseidon in Gothenburg. The point of departure is the assumption that a programme of this type has to offer both local control and individual motives for collective action if it is to be sustainable. Tenants must be able to influence housing conditions together, as well as to have some individual motivation to take part in the activities. The evaluation is based mainly on three data sources: (1) a questionnaire distributed to a random sample of 1400 tenants; (2) a number of questionnaires distributed to all tenants who are active in the self-management, all chair-persons in local tenants associations (LTAs) in Poseidon’s housing stock, and all Poseidon’s ’area hosts’, who are responsible for the local management of the estates; (3) intensive studies of the processes of self-management in seven local housing estates. Use has also been made of official and company statistics, earlier surveys, programmes, agreements, minutes and other documents, as well as interviews with key informants, observations from meetings and inspections in the estates. The report includes a comprehensive evaluation in terms of tenants’ local control and collective action and a number of special studies on particular themes and perspectives.By Autumn 2002 self-management had been established in all Poseidon’s districts and in a considerable share of the housing stock. The number of active tenants was estimated at 800–1000. They are organised in about 80, mainly informal and rather loosely defined groups. The ambitious programme aiming at considerable local decision-making proved to be unrealistic, and activities today are based on informal collaboration between local staff and active tenants, in a few cases formalised in ’estate associations’. Initially both the area hosts and the representatives of the local tenants movement were rather sceptical of the self-management, but both groups have gradually acquired a more positive attitude.At the time of the tenant questionnaire (January 2001) no more than one fourth of all tenants knew about the project, but since the knowledge was clearly better in those districts where activities were most developed, the share today is probably considerably higher, perhaps nearly 40 per cent. Ordinary tenants consider that most physical aspects of the outdoor environment has been improved, in particular the care of plants and lawns. In contrast they see only minor positive effects on social relations. Active tenants, LTA chair-persons and area hosts all judge that the self-management has had clear positive effects on the outdoor environment and on tenants’ influence, as well as on the social ties and general well-being among residents. Tenants, and not only active tenants, feel an improved sense of control over their housing conditions.A majority of the active tenants are women. While women have been engaged in all types of activities, men have primarily taken on physically demanding tasks. Tenants with foreign background are somewhat fewer among the active than their share of the population, but still they are better represented than usual in local housing activities. This may be due to the informal organisation and the orientation towards practical work. The self-management also seems to have stimulated a higher growth in commitment and sense of responsibility among tenants with foreign background than among those with Swedish background.The active tenants are on average 55 years old; the active women on average nine years younger than the active men. The share of age pensioners is high, and a large number of the somewhat younger activists are also without gainful employment. The active tenants take part in organisational and political life somewhat more than the population in general. Their prime mover is a ’norm of local utility’, i.e. a norm that prescribes that they take part if it would mean a positive contribution to the common good of their neighbourhood. Economic incentives are less prominent, and the participation of one’s neighbours is rarely seen as a prerequisite of taking part oneself. The tenants’ most important resources are time in and knowledge of the estate, and the work carried out comprises an important contribution to the management of Poseidon’s housing stock.The intensive studies – in most cases in housing estates with a relatively high level of activity – confirm this picture. They also make clear that the self-management activities are dominated by informally organised practical work outdoors. The case studies also show that the mode of interplay between active tenants and local staff is formed to a large extent by local conditions and traditions. The decentralised organisation of Poseidon’s housing management has been of particular importance to the actual influence of the tenants. The decentralisation of decision-making has made it meaningful to keep up a continuous and goal-oriented dialogue about the different issues that have been raised locally.The self-management has improved the outdoor environment and strengthened the ties between the active tenants as well as their identification with the estate. However, the effect on ecological issues has been limited, and so have the direct economic effects on housing management. Conflicts have been few and the informal conflict management has been on the whole successful. The absence of formally democratic elections, decision-making and accountability has sometimes been a problem when controversial issues have come up on the local agenda. Still many active tenants in the case-study estates are sceptical of introducing more formal procedures. By now the self-management has reached a certain degree of institutionalisation within the company. In contrast the prospects of institutionalisation among tenants still seem uncertain. The absence of democratic forms of decision-making could make it difficult to deal with issues about rents, periodic maintenance and repair, local rules of conduct, etc. A crucial condition for Poseidon’s self-management to be sustainable is that the positive attitudes of the company and the local staff will continue, another that a workable division of responsibility between the tenants association and the self-management can be developed. The most plausible scenario is a development towards a higher degree of differentiation. This would mean some estates without local collective action, other estates remaining on the current level of informal work on the outdoor environment, and still other moving towards formal local democracy and influence.
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