1st Quarterly, 2005 No.135

GRASPING THE REALITY OF TODAY'S BURAKU
towards a post-special-measures solution to the Buraku problem

This is a series of articles summarizing the report entitled, "Study of Actual Conditions of Dowa Districts towards a Solution of Dowa Problem," prepared by the local government of Osaka Prefecture in March, 2001 when the Law on Special Budgetary Measures Concerning Projects designated for Area Improvement became invalid. The report aimed at providing information for developing strategies in combating Buraku discrimination in the Post-Special-Measures era.

PART 7- Housing <the final part of Series>

1. Housing Tenure

Housing tenure can be split into four types: single-family homes (28.9%), condominiums (0.6%), public or reformed rental housing (61.6%), and privately owned rental housing (6.7%). In Dowa areas, more than 60% of households are of the public and reformed rental housing category. This figure is six times that of Osaka Prefecture. The figure has risen over the past ten years, while the percentage of households renting a privately owned house has decreased.

Housing tenure

	Homeowners			Public and reformed housing	Renting a privately owned house	Others	Unknown	Total households
	house	condominium	total	Public and reformed housing	Renting a privately owned house	Others	Unknown	Total households
Latest Research(%)	2,232	46	2,278	4,758	514	117	53	7,720
Latest Research(%)	28.9	0.6	29.5	61.6	6.7	1.5	0.7	100.0
Osaka Pref.(%)	*	*	1,643,400	365,300	1,137,200	94,700	66,700	3,307,300
Osaka Pref.(%)	*	*	49.7	11.0	34.4	2.9	2.0	100.0
Research in 1990(%)	*	*	7,903	18,005	3,853	546	1	30,308
Research in 1990(%)	*	*	26.1	59.4	12.7	1.8	0.0	100.0

Note: Numbers for Osaka Prefecture are sourced from "Statistics on Residence and Land (1998)"
Others include households living in company-dormitories and privately rented rooms.

2. Dwelling Types

Among house and condominium owners, single-family households account for the overwhelming majority (93.5%). However, 98.6% of those renting public or reformed housing live in apartments. Among households that live in privately rented accommodation, nearly half live in apartment housing (49.2%). The next most popular domicile among this group is tenement housing (40.5%). While the percentage of households residing in one or two story apartment housing is small for the category of public and reformed housing (0.7%), those in privately rented apartment housing account for a significant portion (25.5%).

Dwelling types

		Single-family home	Tenement house	Apartment housing				Unknown	Total households
		Single-family home	Tenement house	1 or 2 storied	3 to 5 storied	taller than 6 storied	total	Unknown	Total households
Tenure of housing	Owning a house or condominium (%)	2,130	107	2	10	10	22	12	2,278
	Owning a house or condominium (%)	93.5	4.7	0.1	0.4	0.4	1.0	0.5	100.0
	Renting public or reformed housing (%)	\|	60	33	3,056	1,599	4,691	6	4,758
	Renting public or reformed housing (%)	\|	1.3	0.7	64.2	33.6	98.6	0.1	100.0
	Renting privately owned housing (%)	46	208	131	87	32	253	2	514
	Renting privately owned housing (%)	8.9	40.5	25.5	16.9	6.2	49.2	0.4	100.0
	Others (%)	46	25	11	10	6	29	\|	117
	Others (%)	39.3	21.4	9.4	8.5	5.1	24.8	\|	100.0
	Total (%)	2,238	408	177	3,172	1,650	5,008	35	7,720
	Total (%)	29.0	5.3	2.3	41.1	21.4	64.9	0.5	100.0

3. Household Size

In general, household size is small. 15.4% of households are single-person and 27.5% are two-person. This is especially notable among households renting privately owned housing, in which the percentage of single-person households and two-person households adds to nearly two thirds of the total (single-person households: 36. 4%, two-person households: 28.6%).

4. Household Income

The number of households with an income of between one and two million yen accounts for the largest proportion of every tenure. As income increases, the number of households decreases. This trend is more pronounced for households in public and reformed housing than for homeowners.

5. Rent: The average monthly rent for public and reformed housing is low (13,047 yen) since it is officially fixed. Nearly 60% of households with an income of less than two million yen pay less than 10,000 yen in rent. For every group with an income of more than four million yen, nearly 70% of households rent for between 10,000 and 30,000 yen. Moreover, the rent for three-quarters of households that earn more than eight million yen is less than 30,000 yen.

However, the average monthly rent for privately rented housing is 43,883 yen. This reflects the market-oriented price and it is about three times as expensive as public and reformed housing

6. Concentration of Relatives in the Same Area

In Dowa areas, the percentage of households with direct relatives residing in the same area is high (44.4%). At the same time, the percentage of households in which the registered head of the household is elderly is also high. 35.2% of households are headed by people aged between 60 and 69.

Age of the head of household	Have children, parents or grand parents living separately in the same area	Don't have children, parents or grand parents living separately in the same area	Unknown	Total number
under 29	63.0 (%)	36.2	0.8	381
30 to 39	63.7	35.2	1.1	832
40 to 49	52.5	46.3	1.2	1,422
50 to 59	40.3	57.8	1.8	2,045
60 to 69	35.2	63.5	1.3	1,787
over 70	36.6	62.1	1.3	1,200
Total	44.4	54.0	1.6	7,720

7. Reasons for Settling and Moving

Reasons given for settlement in areas of residence are: (1) relatives and friends live nearby (58.8%); (2) it is the place where the respondent was born and raised (41.2%); (3) the rent is inexpensive (29.4%). The is also a significant proportion of people who cite the availability of measures for human rights and the Dowa issue as a reason for settlement (14.7%). Elderly people especially chose good medical and welfare care as a reason for settlement in their area of residence. On the other hand, those who wish to move out of their areas of residence cite the following reasons: (1) security and moral order are poor (30.2%); (2) there is a risk of experiencing discrimination (27.5%); (3) the living environment is bad (23.7%).

8. Circumstances Surrounding Public and Reformed housing

Features of public and reformed housing:
1. There is no structural difference between public housing and reformed housing. Also, residents feel no differences between them.
2. Such housing is basically collective housing constructed with reinforced concrete.
3. The size of recently built housing ranges from 50 to 70m2, while that built in the 1960s tends to be smaller than 40m2.
4. Compared to market-oriented rent and that for the public housing in general, the rent in Dowa areas is extremely inexpensive. However, the rent system is currently under transformation. The new system adjusts rent in accordance with residents' income.
Common characteristics of public housing residents:
1. There are high proportions of small households, households with elderly people and low income households.
2. Small households commonly live in housing that is larger than 50m2. This meets targeted housing standards.
3. For larger families, public housing does not meet targeted housing standards, but does meet minimum housing standards.
4. The proportion of vacant houses is relatively high. (In Dowa areas, the percentages of vacant public housing and reformed housing are 5.8 % and 5.9 % respectively; while in Osaka Prefecture they are 1.9% and 5.3%)
5. There is an undersupply of housing in consideration of family composition and low levels of movement to new dwellings in response to changes in family composition.
Change in social stratification in Dowa areas
One criterion that determines eligibility to move into the public housing is low income (amongst the lowest 25%, or 40% for those aged over 40). This may lead to changes in social stratification for Dowa areas. It is likely that the households with low-incomes and elderly will move into the vacant public housing in Dowa areas.
Desire to move out
Those who wish to move out of public housing and Dowa areas site the following reasons.
1. They would like to own their own house, but few properties are available in the area.
2. They want to live in a single-family home.
3. The rent will be expensive in the future.

This is the last part of the series, and we thank you for reading all through the series!
Buraku Liberation News is fully responsible for summarizing the Reports in this series.

Notes: Some of the reports are available (Japanese version only) on the website of the Osaka Prefectural Government: http://www.pref.osaka.jp/jinken/measure/tyosa/index.html