Housing Policy and Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Housing Policy and Strategy - Essay Example How do agenda become policies The two terms, which are often confused, need to be clarified. These are the agenda setting and problem definition. Agenda setting is bringing issues to active consideration by the government (Cobb and Ross 1997 as cited in Dery 2000 ) while problem definition is what issues are selected for agenda setting (Rochefort and Cobb, 1994 as cited in Dery 2000). Weiss (1989 as cited in Dery 2000) clarifies this hazy boundary between agenda setting and problem definition by stating that problem is defined as how people perceive a circumstance while agenda setting is process by which some problems come to public attention at a given time and place. In the past the policies were based on a general approach. During the past two decades , however, policies are outcome of creative inputs from local authorities, housing associations and lenders. The government is also required to play role in supporting and sustaining rather than directing and controlling. The implementers in UK judge an idea on pilot scale prior to changing it into a policy. (Williams & Holmans 1997). The UK policy making has undergone further change. The evidence based policy has taken over, to some extent, the earlier opinion based policymaking. Now the hard data, thoroughly analysed on statistical and economic scales, are central to a policy (Defra 2008). The development of a policy can be explained by technocratic or political model (Majone 1989). In the former, the policy develops or changes as per the preferences (or opinion) of policy makers . In the political model, the agenda setting occurs when the public support is gained for an issue. (Cobb & Elder, 1983; Kingdon, 1984; Baumgartner & Jones, 1993 as cited in Dery 2000). Several ideas generated by policy analysts, researchers, and others have become trends as these have been integrated into thinking and policy making (Basolo 2003). Evaluation of a policy brings necessary changes, if required. For e.g. many public housing developments, especially in cities, were originally designed and built to accommodate large numbers of households. The problems to residents in such houses brought attention to the design of public housing developments. It was also realised that the return of policy responsibilities to state and local governments from the central government would offer more suitable policy framing to the local needs.The ill effects of the concentration of poverty developed as observed by public officials and policy scholars. The minorities and poor were shifted to white areas. It is an example where significant amount of public policy attention is aimed at reducing the concentration of poverty (Goetz, 2000 as cited in Basolo 2003). Beland (2005) refers (Lieberman 2002) that while framing or changing a policy equal importance to ideas and institutions should be given. He thinks ideas are 'roadmap' to framing a policy. The pioneer in agenda setting study, Kingdon (1995) states that agenda could be defined as the most aggravated problem of the moment and alternative as policy options capable of solving it. He further elaborates that agenda and policy options arise by the interaction of three elements viz. Problem, policy and politics. The social groups and politicians to mobilize system in favour of a specific issue use these three elements. The