Housing Choice as a Function of Risks Confronting Low-income Households

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-118
Author(s):  
Anand Sahasranaman ◽  
Vishnu Prasad ◽  
Aditi Balachander
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Rental Housing ◽  
Urban Residents ◽  
Jel Codes ◽  
Rental Markets ◽  
Health And Mortality ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Low Income Households

The design of housing solutions for low-income populations has been one of the most pressing policy concerns in developing countries like India. In this work, we explore the effect of risks confronting low-income households—unemployment, health and mortality—on their choice of housing arrangements. We use simulations to study the evolution of long-term wealth of a stylised low-income household faced with these risks and find that, on average, rental housing significantly reduces the risk of undesirable wealth fluctuations over time. From a policy perspective, this means greater focus and incentives for the development of low-income rental markets using strategies such as provision of rental vouchers, rent-to-own models or long-term leases, in addition to the traditional ownership-based housing strategies. The development of housing solutions encompassing a range of rental and ownership models will be critical to ensuring the availability of safe and affordable housing for all urban residents. JEL Codes: C63, O18

scholarly journals Examining building age, rental housing and price filtering for affordability in Melbourne, Australia

Urban Studies ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 004209802092783
Author(s):  
Matthew Palm ◽  
Katrina Eve Raynor ◽  
Georgia Warren-Myers
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Government Expenditure ◽  
Rental Housing ◽  
Housing Affordability ◽  
Supply Side ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

Governments worldwide have responded to housing affordability challenges with supply-side solutions. Proponents of these approaches often draw on the notion of ‘filtering effects’ to argue that new supply naturally trickles down to lower-income households over time, improving affordability. This study examines the characteristics of Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing in Melbourne, Australia, analysing how dwelling age impacts rental cost. We specify a non-linear relationship between building age and rents through hedonic rent modelling, reflecting a premium for historic properties in inner Melbourne. We also conduct a cluster analysis of rental listings and measure affordability by cluster. Our results problematise the notion of filtering, finding that most contemporary affordable housing was initially built in the 1960s and 1970s as social housing or targeted at low-income households. We argue that filtering in this instance is not natural but is instead a reflection of historic government expenditure and past construction choices, or ‘filter up’.

Millennial ‘YIMBYs’ and boomer ‘NIMBYs’: Generational views on housing affordability in the United States

2020 ◽  
pp. 003802612091612
Author(s):  
Max Holleran
Keyword(s):  
Baby Boomers ◽  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Rental Housing ◽  
The United States ◽  
Housing Affordability ◽  
Single Family ◽  
Market Rate ◽  
Job Opportunities ◽  
Housing Costs

This article examines housing activism in five American cities using interviews with millennial-age housing activists, seeking more apartment development, and baby boomers who are members of neighbourhood groups that oppose growth. Many of the groups supporting growth have banded together under the banner of the ‘Yes in My Backyard’ (YIMBY) movement which seeks fewer zoning laws and pushes for market-rate rental housing. In desirable cities with thriving job opportunities, housing costs are pricing out not only low-income renters but also the middle class. The millennial activists sampled blame baby boomers for the lack of affordable housing because of resistance to higher density construction in neighbourhoods with single-family homes (characterising these people as having a ‘Not in My Backyard’ [NIMBY] mindset). The research shows that boomers and millennials not only disagree over urban growth but also more fundamental questions of what makes a liveable city.

No Margin for Error: Fifteen Years in the Working Lives of Lone Mothers and their Children

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
JANE MILLAR ◽  
TESS RIDGE
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Qualitative Research Study ◽  
The Past ◽  
Lone Mothers ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Social Security Policy ◽  
Over Time

AbstractOver the past two decades, the emphasis on paid work has become one of the defining features of social security policy in the UK. Lone mothers and their families have been one of the key groups affected. In this article we focus on the working and family lives of lone mothers and their children over time, drawing on material from a long-term qualitative research study, and setting this in the context of policy developments. We explore the long-term consequences of trying to sustain work, and manage low-income family life as children grow up and needs change over time. This highlights some of the tensions and limitations in family support and relationships when resources are limited. We reflect on the links between insecurity, legacies and the state.

Public Housing and Vouchers

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Public Housing ◽  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
The United States ◽  
Housing Subsidy ◽  
Housing Program ◽  
Design Evolution ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Privately Owned ◽  
Low Income Households

Public housing and rental vouchers constitute two distinct forms of housing subsidy in the United States. Public housing, the nation’s oldest housing program for low-income renters provides affordable housing to about 1.2 million households in developments ranging in size from a single unit to multibuilding complexes with hundreds of apartments. The Housing Choice Voucher Program, founded more than 35 years after the start of public housing is now the nation’s largest rental subsidy program. It enables around 2 million low-income households to rent privately owned housing anywhere in the country. Although both programs provide low-income households with “deep” subsidies that ensure they spend no more than 30 percent of their adjusted income on rent, and both are operated by local public housing authorities, they offer distinct advantages and disadvantages. This chapter reviews and compares the two programs, examining their design, evolution, and strengths and weaknesses, including issues of racial segregation and concentrated poverty.

scholarly journals High rises and low-quality shelter: rental housing dynamics in Mathare Valley, Nairobi

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 481-502
Author(s):  
Baraka Mwau ◽  
Alice Sverdlik
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Informal Settlement ◽  
Rental Housing ◽  
Housing Markets ◽  
Single Room ◽  
Rental Markets ◽  
Central Pillar ◽  
Shelter Delivery

Informal rental housing remains a hidden – yet central – pillar of low-cost shelter markets across the global South. The large informal settlement of Mathare Valley illustrates Nairobi’s rapidly changing informal rental housing markets, with the ongoing rise of tenements alongside metal shacks. Informal single-room rental units (shacks and tenements) already house most Nairobi residents in low-quality but highly profitable shelter. This case study describes how multiple exclusions can shape access to rental housing and examines the politics of shelter delivery. We underscore the importance of private rental markets and offer recommendations for inclusive, multi-pronged interventions combining support for rental housing, land governance and infrastructure delivery. Through a better understanding of the myriad actors and dynamics of informal rental housing, it may be possible to develop strategies that serve low-income tenants for whom renting is often the only viable option.

Design of Housing Security Model Based on Family Lifecycle

2012 ◽  
Vol 472-475 ◽  
pp. 2111-2115
Author(s):  
Yu Ying Cui ◽  
Jin Xin Tian ◽  
Zhi Qing Li
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Home Ownership ◽  
Rental Housing ◽  
Security Model ◽  
Housing Security ◽  
Public Rental Housing ◽  
Implementation Effect ◽  
Rent Subsidy

In order to understand the demand characteristics of housing security and improve the implementation effect of security policies, the subdivided family lifecycle of low-income family housing need was analyzed by fuzzy clustering with some Harbin samples, and the characteristics of various stages of housing security need, which was meet by four modes, such as “high subsidy +cheap-rent housing”, “rent subsidy”, “home ownership subsidy+ affordable housing”, “low rent subsidy + public rental housing”. The study has positive theoretical significance and practical value on the housing security policy.

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