Well-being and housing policy : a capability approach perspective on the subsidised homeownership policy under public private partnerships in Hong Kong

Abstract

Housing policy is the foundation of public policy (Kimhur, 2020). In the public policy analysis, the government traditionally used the mean perspective as its guiding principle and end goal. Human feelings were ignored by public policy, negatively impacting citizens’ wellbeing. Several scholars suggested extending the capability approach to housing research (Kimhur, 2020; Batterham, 2020; Taylor, 2020; Foye, 2020; Irving, 2023; Kimhur, 2024). However, scholars criticized it for being a theoretical framework that could not be applied to real-world scenarios, making it difficult to proceed (Kuklys, 2005; Yerkes, et al., 2019; Kimhur, 2020; Dissart and Ricaurte, 2023). This study was the first to demonstrate how the capability approach could be adopted to reform housing policy by placing wellbeing at its core. Its contributions complemented the theoretical framework of capability approach in housing research and extended it to the example of housing policy analysis in real-world situation. The current subsidised homeownership policy under public-private partnerships was analyzed through literature review, case study and semi-structured interviews to explore whether they impacted citizens’ capabilities. The findings of this study indicated that housing deprivation and inequity limited the capabilities of citizens through housing policy, particularly in relation to the development of life and family. There were four possible entry points for reforming housing policy, including value, design, pattern and symptom, to integrate wellbeing into the policy process.