scholarly journals Charlottesville Urban Design and Affordable Housing

1995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Schwartz ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
Economic Decline ◽  
World War ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Suburban Sprawl ◽  
Home Mortgage ◽  
The Impact ◽  
American Cities

One of the most pressing problems confronting architects and planners involves the erosion of urban fabric in American cities and small towns. Many factors have contributed to the physical and economic decline of previously healthy cities since the end of World War 11. Federal tax policies involving home mortgage deduction, FHA loan programs, and highway policy and subsidies have all conspired to promote suburban sprawl and a concurrent abandonment of city centers by the middle class. Nowhere has the impact of this problem been felt more seriously than in the area of housing. The legacy of the late 1950's and 1960's "urban renewal" has decimated vast tracts of land. In many areas of many cities, lower and middle income housing stock has been eliminated, often leaving a wasteland of parking in its place.

scholarly journals Informing the informal: visualizing laneway housing and increased density in Toronto

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samira Behrooz
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Housing Crisis ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Informal Housing ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Physical Character ◽  
Density Limit ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City

Toronto is growing and attracting new population. Given that housing is a basic human need, Toronto’s population growth indicates a rising demand for housing. Meanwhile, spatial polarization of income is increasing in the city. Using Hulchanski’s illuminating study outlining those low and middle income households initially lived in the core of the city, near to transit networks and currently they cannot due to the high costs of housing this research investigates the physical and spatial capacity of a Toronto neighbourhood to increase affordable housing close to public transit while maintaining the physical character of the neighbourhood. As a means to address this affordable housing crisis laneway and informal housing is studied and the impact of these on the urban fabric, morphology, of neighbourhoods is studied. This research paper utilizes a mixed methods approach using semi-structured interviews, field research, spatial analysis and mapping, and the development of scenarios to test laneway and informal housing paradigms. This research concludes that: 1) informal housing and laneway housing can increase density while maintaining the physical character of a neighbourhood, 2) Toronto has an under-utilized laneway system that is a missed opportunity to increase density, 3) The current density limit for stable neighbourhoods defined by Toronto’s Zoning By-law is not realistic and there is a potential for increasing density limit while retaining the integrity of neighbourhood character, 4) Four to six storey laneway developments can create a new distinct character in laneways without changing street character.

scholarly journals Why do people continue to live near polluted sites? Empirical evidence from Southwestern Europe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Levasseur ◽  
Katrin Erdlenbruch ◽  
Christelle Gramaglia
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Unobserved Heterogeneity ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Location Choices ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
The Us ◽  
Residence Location ◽  
Pollution Exposure ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Poverty is a major determinant for pollution exposure, according to the US location choice literature. In this paper, we assess the impact of socio-economic status on location choices in the European context. Our analysis relies on an original dataset of 1194 households living in polluted and non-polluted areas in three European countries: Spain, Portugal and France. We use instrumental variables strategies to identify the socioeconomic causes of location choices. We show that low education, wealth and income are main reasons for living in polluted areas. We provide several robustness checks testing for the exogeneity of selected instruments. We observe that unobserved heterogeneity tends to understate the impact of socioeconomic status on residence location. Interestingly, we highlight that an important proportion of intermediate social groups (especially young couples) are living in polluted areas, probably because of place attachment and affordable housing facilities. Similarly, we show that middle-income households have lower move-out intentions than other income groups. These latter results contrast the linear vision of environmental inequalities found in the US.

Managing the Economy, Managing the People

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Tomlinson
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Economic Decline ◽  
World War ◽  
The People ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Second World ◽  
Roll Back

The volume provides a distinctive new account of British economic life since the Second World War, focusing upon the ways in which successive governments, in seeking to manage the economy, have sought simultaneously to ‘manage the people’: to try and manage popular understanding of economic issues. In doing so, governments have sought not only to shape expectations for electoral purposes but to construct broader narratives about how ‘the economy’ should be understood. The starting point is to ask what goals have been focused upon; how these have been constructed to appeal to the population; and how far the population has accepted these narratives. In its first part, the volume analyses the development of the major narratives from the 1940s onwards. This part covers the notion of ‘austerity’ and its particular meaning in the 1940s; the rise of a narrative of ‘economic decline’ from the late 1950s, and the subsequent attempts to ‘modernize’ the economy; the attempts to ‘roll back the state’ from the 1970s; the impact of ideas of ‘globalization’ in the 1980s and 1990s; and, finally, the way the crisis of 2008/9 onwards was constructed as a problem of ‘debts and deficits’. The second part of the volume then focuses in on four key issues in attempts to ‘manage the people’: productivity, the balance of payments, inflation, and unemployment. It shows how in each case governments have sought to get the populace to understand these issues in a particular light, and have shaped strategies to that end.

scholarly journals Redefining the Boundaries of Hidden Homelessness: An Examination of the Experiences of Women in Toronto and Barrie

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosemary Muzorewa
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Frontline Workers ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
Red Tape ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender

Following the devolution of affordable housing to lower levels of government, municipalities have been partnering with private developers to address the growing problem of hidden homelessness, through the inclusionary housing (IH) policy. Very little has been written about this policy in Ontario, hence the purpose of this qualitative case study was (i) to uncover how women experience hidden homelessness in Toronto and Barrie, (ii) to analyze, understand, and evaluate the implementation of IH policy in Ontario, and (iii) to examine the effect of IH policy as it relates to women experiencing hidden homelessness in Toronto and Barrie. In-depth interviews were conducted with eleven women who were currently experiencing hidden homelessness or had a history of hidden homelessness, five policy experts, two private developers, and five frontline workers from community organizations working to end homelessness in Toronto and Barrie. An intersectional gender-based analysis was used to uncover the prevalence of hidden homelessness among women, and the effect of the IH policy in addressing this problem. Data analysis was done using thematic analysis and particular attention was given to women’s experiences with hidden homelessness and the perspectives of policy-makers and stakeholders. The findings suggests that, women experiencing hidden homelessness were situated within a hostile housing market where some were compelled to live in unsafe, substandard, overcrowded conditions, and were exposed to violence, while others lived in houses they could not afford, often working two jobs to cover rent. Although the introduction of Bill 7of the Affordable Housing Act, 2016, gave municipalities authority to implement IH strategies to boost affordable housing stock, yet slow implementation processes, challenges in negotiating a happy medium, red tape and the high cost of land, minimizes the effect of the IH strategy in Ontario. As such, the IH policy has not yielded any significant effect in Toronto or Barrie, and is only targeted at middle to upper middle income earners, at the exclusion of low-income women experiencing hidden homelessness. In addition, poor conceptualization of gendered homelessness, coupled with the absence of gendered statistics, and gender neutrality in the formulation and implementation of the IH policy, exacerbates women’s experiences with hidden homelessness. Moreover, a lack of political will to end homelessness further dampens the effects of IH strategies. Participants suggested a more integrative, multidimensional approach to ending homelessness.

scholarly journals Why do people continue to live near polluted sites? Empirical evidence from Southwestern Europe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Levasseur ◽  
Katrin Erdlenbruch ◽  
Christelle Gramaglia
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Unobserved Heterogeneity ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Location Choices ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
The Us ◽  
Residence Location ◽  
Pollution Exposure ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Poverty is a major determinant for pollution exposure, according to the US location choice literature. In this paper, we assess the impact of socio-economic status on location choices in the European context. Our analysis relies on an original dataset of 1194 households living in polluted and non-polluted areas in three European countries: Spain, Portugal and France. We use instrumental variables strategies to identify the socioeconomic causes of location choices. We show that low education, wealth and income are main reasons for living in polluted areas. We provide several robustness checks testing for the exogeneity of selected instruments. We observe that unobserved heterogeneity tends to understate the impact of socioeconomic status on residence location. Interestingly, we highlight that an important proportion of intermediate social groups (especially young couples) are living in polluted areas, probably because of place attachment and affordable housing facilities. Similarly, we show that middle-income households have lower move-out intentions than other income groups. These latter results contrast the linear vision of environmental inequalities found in the US.

Subsidizing the Supply of Rental Housing

2020 ◽  
pp. 175-194
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Meen ◽  
Christine Whitehead
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
Traditional Approach ◽  
Rental Housing ◽  
Planning System ◽  
Housing Associations ◽  
Vulnerable Households ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Right To Buy

Chapter 11 discusses subsidies to the supply of rental housing. The traditional approach has been to subsidise first local authorities and then housing associations to produce additional social housing. Later the emphasis shifted to introducing private finance and recycling past subsidy to provide a range of affordable housing products. Additionally, the planning system was modified to make it possible to require the provision of affordable housing on residential development sites. Allocation principles have also changed, moving away from accommodating lower-income working households to emphasising provision for vulnerable households of all types. Here we examine the impact of changing financing mechanisms on the capacity to add to the housing stock; the types of provision; and the rents that are charged across the country. We also consider the impact of Right to Buy and other approaches to transferring accommodation between tenures. Finally, we look to comparable international experience.

From Renters to Owners

2021 ◽  
pp. 58-94
Author(s):  
Benjamin Holtzman
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Real Estate ◽  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
Rental Housing ◽  
Housing Crisis ◽  
Failed State ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Market Rate ◽  
Apartment Ownership

After numerous failed state-led initiatives to stem the exodus of middle-income residents in postwar New York, in the late 1960s landlords and major real estate associations proposed their own solution to increase homeownership and retain the middle class: converting rental housing into cooperatives. The middle-income tenants of this housing, however, initially widely rejected apartment ownership, preferring the security of rent-regulated housing. This set off a decade-long battle over the control and nature of moderate- and middle-income housing. This chapter traces how over the 1970s middle-income tenants came to embrace apartment ownership, a shift that pushed the housing stock toward market-rate condominiums and cooperatives and exacerbated the city’s mounting affordable housing crisis.

scholarly journals Informing the informal: visualizing laneway housing and increased density in Toronto

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samira Behrooz
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Housing Crisis ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Informal Housing ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Physical Character ◽  
Density Limit ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City

Toronto is growing and attracting new population. Given that housing is a basic human need, Toronto’s population growth indicates a rising demand for housing. Meanwhile, spatial polarization of income is increasing in the city. Using Hulchanski’s illuminating study outlining those low and middle income households initially lived in the core of the city, near to transit networks and currently they cannot due to the high costs of housing this research investigates the physical and spatial capacity of a Toronto neighbourhood to increase affordable housing close to public transit while maintaining the physical character of the neighbourhood. As a means to address this affordable housing crisis laneway and informal housing is studied and the impact of these on the urban fabric, morphology, of neighbourhoods is studied. This research paper utilizes a mixed methods approach using semi-structured interviews, field research, spatial analysis and mapping, and the development of scenarios to test laneway and informal housing paradigms. This research concludes that: 1) informal housing and laneway housing can increase density while maintaining the physical character of a neighbourhood, 2) Toronto has an under-utilized laneway system that is a missed opportunity to increase density, 3) The current density limit for stable neighbourhoods defined by Toronto’s Zoning By-law is not realistic and there is a potential for increasing density limit while retaining the integrity of neighbourhood character, 4) Four to six storey laneway developments can create a new distinct character in laneways without changing street character.

scholarly journals Why do people continue to live near polluted sites? Empirical evidence from Southwestern Europe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Levasseur ◽  
Katrin Erdlenbruch ◽  
Christelle Gramaglia
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Unobserved Heterogeneity ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Location Choices ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
The Us ◽  
Residence Location ◽  
Pollution Exposure ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Poverty is a major determinant for pollution exposure, according to the US location choice literature. In this paper, we assess the impact of socio-economic status on location choices in the European context. Our analysis relies on an original dataset of 1194 households living in polluted and non-polluted areas in three European countries: Spain, Portugal and France. We use instrumental variables strategies to identify the socioeconomic causes of location choices. We show that low education, wealth and income are main reasons for living in polluted areas. We provide several robustness checks testing for the exogeneity of selected instruments. We observe that unobserved heterogeneity tends to understate the impact of socioeconomic status on residence location. Interestingly, we highlight that an important proportion of intermediate social groups (especially young couples) are living in polluted areas, probably because of place attachment and affordable housing facilities. Similarly, we show that middle-income households have lower move-out intentions than other income groups. These latter results contrast the linear vision of environmental inequalities found in the US.

Redefining the Boundaries of Hidden Homelessness: An Examination of the Experiences of Women in Toronto and Barrie

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosemary Muzorewa
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Frontline Workers ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
Red Tape ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender

Following the devolution of affordable housing to lower levels of government, municipalities have been partnering with private developers to address the growing problem of hidden homelessness, through the inclusionary housing (IH) policy. Very little has been written about this policy in Ontario, hence the purpose of this qualitative case study was (i) to uncover how women experience hidden homelessness in Toronto and Barrie, (ii) to analyze, understand, and evaluate the implementation of IH policy in Ontario, and (iii) to examine the effect of IH policy as it relates to women experiencing hidden homelessness in Toronto and Barrie. In-depth interviews were conducted with eleven women who were currently experiencing hidden homelessness or had a history of hidden homelessness, five policy experts, two private developers, and five frontline workers from community organizations working to end homelessness in Toronto and Barrie. An intersectional gender-based analysis was used to uncover the prevalence of hidden homelessness among women, and the effect of the IH policy in addressing this problem. Data analysis was done using thematic analysis and particular attention was given to women’s experiences with hidden homelessness and the perspectives of policy-makers and stakeholders. The findings suggests that, women experiencing hidden homelessness were situated within a hostile housing market where some were compelled to live in unsafe, substandard, overcrowded conditions, and were exposed to violence, while others lived in houses they could not afford, often working two jobs to cover rent. Although the introduction of Bill 7of the Affordable Housing Act, 2016, gave municipalities authority to implement IH strategies to boost affordable housing stock, yet slow implementation processes, challenges in negotiating a happy medium, red tape and the high cost of land, minimizes the effect of the IH strategy in Ontario. As such, the IH policy has not yielded any significant effect in Toronto or Barrie, and is only targeted at middle to upper middle income earners, at the exclusion of low-income women experiencing hidden homelessness. In addition, poor conceptualization of gendered homelessness, coupled with the absence of gendered statistics, and gender neutrality in the formulation and implementation of the IH policy, exacerbates women’s experiences with hidden homelessness. Moreover, a lack of political will to end homelessness further dampens the effects of IH strategies. Participants suggested a more integrative, multidimensional approach to ending homelessness.

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