PREFABRICATED HOUSING SUBSIDY ANALYSIS IN CHINA BASED ON AN EVOLUTIONARY GAME MODEL

Prefabricated housing and cast-in-site housing are two alternatives for selection by developers and customers. The government, as the policy maker, creates incentive policies to encourage developers and customers to choose prefabricated housing. This paper aims to analyze the subsidy mechanism to theoretically confirm the subsidies’ scopes, amounts and end times through an evolutionary game model and simulation. In the game model, government subsidies affect the interactions between developers and customers in the decision-making process. The findings are as follows: 1) The developer housing subsidy can lower the housing price, while the customer housing subsidy can increase the price; 2) The government should first offer the developers a larger subsidy amount during the early development stage and then offer the customers a smaller subsidy amount later; 3) The government should determine the end time based on the proportion of developers and customers who choose prefabricated housing; 4) A higher prefabrication ratio may not always improve the development of prefabricated housing, and there is an optimal production scale that creates the best development situation. The empirical analysis shows that this model can help the government develop reasonable and optimal subsidy policies within the limit of budget to stimulate developers and customers.

The Influence of Living Conditions on Self-Rated Health: Evidence from China

Despite growing attention to living conditions as a social determinant of health, few studies have focused on its diverse impacts on self-rated health. Using data from the China Family Panel Study in 2018, this study used logistic regression analysis to examine how living conditions affect self-rated health in China, finding that people cooking with sanitary water and clean fuel were more likely to report good health, and that homeownership was associated with higher self-rated health. The self-rated health of people living in high-quality housing was lower than that of people living in ordinary housing, and people living in tidy homes were more likely to report good health. The findings suggest that the link between multiple living conditions and self-rated health is dynamic. Public health policies and housing subsidy programs should therefore be designed based on a comprehensive account of not only housing grade or income status, but also whole dwelling conditions.

The Social Housing Crisis and the Barriers to Developing Dementia-Friendly Communities in Chile

Interaction with living place and neighbourhood is one of the cornerstones for creating dementia-friendly communities (DFC). Chile has one of the largest proportions of older adults in Latin America and is currently facing an increase in the number of people with dementia. In this context, the Chilean government has launched a national strategy that involves actions in the health and social care system, including the promotion of DFC. From a multisectoral approach, social and environmental aspects involving engagement with local communities and access to social connections and services are directly related to urban policies. This perspective article focuses on urban aspects of social housing policy, such as placement, networks, affordability and the relationship between subsidy structure and adequate housing provision in a country with a qualitative housing deficit of around 1,200,000 units and where a large proportion of people with dementia and their families live in poverty. We identified several barriers to delivering appropriate environments for people living with dementia in relation to a two-fold problem: (a) the social housing subsidy displaces caregivers and/or older adults to satellite towns where social connections and access to services and urban equipment are lost; and (b) people resisting displacement live in overcrowded neighbourhoods where dementia is a common problem. In both scenarios, a detrimental environment and social conditions directly affect the quality of life of elderly people living with dementia and their caregivers.

The missing asymmetry in the Polish house price cycle: an analysis of the behaviour of house prices in 17 major cities

This paper investigates the house price cycle in 17 major cities in Poland, analysing separately prices of newly constructed housing and prices in the existing stock. We apply the Andre, Gupta and Mwamba (2019) framework and test the deepness and steepness of the cycles. Deepness concerns the relative magnitude of peaks and downturns, while steepness determines, how fast peaks or downturns are reached. When at least one of those measures is not symmetric, there is asymmetry in the cycle. We apply the triples test and the entropy test and find little evidence for asymmetry, mostly only in small cities. This seems to be intriguing, because usually there are asymmetries, for example slow price increases end in sudden drops. The explanation for the smooth cycle in the Polish housing market are a still not satisfied demand for housing and continuously growing wages. Banks issued mortgages only to the more affluent people, which were able to pay back the mortgage. Additionally, two housing subsidy schemes helped to keep house prices stable, when the situation in the global economy worsened, which might have led to price drops.

An Analysis of Rural Households’ Earthquake-Resistant Construction Behavior: Evidence from Pingliang and Yuxi, China

Due to the lack of earthquake-resistant rural houses, small and medium earthquakes caused massive casualties in rural China. In 2004, China began implementing the Earthquake Rural Housing Safety Project Policy (ERHSPP) to reduce earthquake losses, mainly promoting the adoption of earthquake-resistant structures in rural residents’ self-built houses through subsidies, training of construction craftsmen, and provision of earthquake-resistant housing drawings. We conducted a field survey, collecting 1169 rural households in Pingliang, Gansu Province, and 1501 rural households in Yuxi, Yunnan Province, China. We studied Earthquake-Resistant Construction Behaviors (E-RCB) by the logistic and the ordered logistic regression models. Results show that government housing subsidy promotes E-RCB of rural households; E-RCB was affected by ERHSPP, positively correlated with economic status and housing earthquake damage; E-RCB was negatively correlated with structure danger, house age, and earthquake experience; and housing earthquake damage, not earthquake experience, strikingly promoted E-RCB in rural China. The results could provide suggestions in communication risk strategies for the government. We suggest the local government should promote local acceptable disaster propaganda, provide hierarchical housing subsidies, pay attention to housing seismic supervision, publish earthquake-resistant housing design drawings, and conduct more earthquake-resistant technical training for rural craftsmen.

Does the Temporal Pattern of Moving to a Higher Quality Neighborhood across a 5-Year Period Predict Psychological Distress among Adolescents? Results from a Federal Housing Experiment

Using the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) experiment (1994-2002), this study examined how a multidimensional measure of neighborhood quality over time influenced adolescent psychological distress, using instrumental variable (IV) analysis. Neighborhood quality was operationalized with an independently-validated 19-indicator child opportunity index (COI), linked to MTO family addresses over 4-7 years. We examined if being randomized to receive a housing subsidy (versus remaining in public housing) predicted neighborhood quality across time. Using IV analysis, we tested if experimentally induced differences in COI across time predicted psychological distress (N=2829; Mean(standard deviation (SD)) = -.04(1.12)). The MTO voucher treatment improved neighborhood quality for children compared to in-place controls. A one-SD change in COI since baseline predicted 0.32 point lower psychological distress for girls (B(95%CI)= -0.32 (-0.61, -0.03)). Results were comparable but less precisely estimated when operationalizing neighborhood quality as simply average post-random assignment COI, (B(95%CI)= -0.36(-0.74, 0.02). Effect estimates based on a COI excluding poverty and on the most recent COI measure were slightly larger than other operationalizations of neighborhood quality. Improving a multidimensional measure of neighborhood quality led to reductions in low-income girls’ psychological distress, and this was estimated with high internal validity using IV methods.

Moving to Opportunity, or Aging in Place? The Changing Profile of Low Income and Subsidized Households and Where They Live

The profile of households receiving rental assistance has changed over time, yet much of the policy and political dialogue surrounding rental assistance has not. Understanding the changing profile of subsidized households is important to evaluating the role of rental subsidies, particularly in the context of neighborhood access. This paper analyzes how the composition of subsidized households has changed over time, and how this relates to existing measures of neighborhood opportunity. We find that since 2000, the share of subsidized households headed by seniors grew, while the share with children dropped. In particular, households using vouchers used to be young relative to the general population and to households in other housing subsidy programs but have aged rapidly. We also find that current neighborhood amenity measures do not reflect these changes, and we use a national analysis and a case study of southeastern Pennsylvania to test alternative metrics.

Affordable, Energy-Efficient Housing Design for Chile: Achieving Passivhaus Standard with the Chilean State Housing Subsidy

In Chile, it is estimated that the energy demand will continue to increase if substantial energy efficiency measures in housing are not taken. These measures are generally associated with technical and mainly economic difficulties. This paper aims to show the technical and economic feasibility of achieving Passivhaus standard house in Chile, considering the budget of the maximum state subsidy currently available (Chilean Unidad de Fomento (CLF) 2000 ≈ 81,000 USD). The design was simulated in the Passive House Planning Package software to determine if the house could be certified with the selected standard. At the same time, the value of all the items was quantified in order not to exceed the stipulated maximum budget for a house considered as affordable. It was shown that in terms of design it is possible to implement the Passivhaus standard given the current housing subsidy. The designed housing ensures a reduction of 85% in heating demand and a 60% reduction in CO2 emissions during the operation, compared to an average typical Chilean house.

Decision Support System for Community Housing Subsidy Recipients

Human needs consist of primary, secondary, and tertiary needs. In primary needs, the house is one of the most critical primary needs in supporting one’s life. However, not all residents in Indonesia can meet these needs. Therefore, the government provides subsidized housing ownership programs for people with low income. This study aims to propose a decision support system in determining the proper housing subsidy recipients. The method used in weighting is Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Previous research was still limited to the selection of subsidized housing for developers and potential buyers. This method is projected to provide results in the form of a priority sequence of alternative solutions based on test results. The results were considered capable of providing a better solution for selecting prospective recipients of the housing subsidy program.