Does an Urban Wilderness Promote Gentrification? A Case Study from Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

The Knoxville Urban Wilderness (KUW) is a successful example of a growing global movement to utilize vacant urban land as many cities “de-urbanize”. A key question is whether this particular kind of green space promotes social inequality via green gentrification. Our analysis shows how the KUW has affected nearby home prices. Socioeconomic data including income, educational attainment, and race is also presented to explore the possibility of gentrification in South Knoxville. Our findings do not support strong evidence of gentrification, which implies that lower-income households are benefiting from advances in environmental amenities. Other households in specific areas are benefiting from both increases in home values and from expansions of the KUW. These are encouraging results for urban planning efforts that seek to utilize large areas of vacant urban land while also having positive social and economic impacts.

From Audits to Projects: Evaluating New York State Policy to Encourage Home Retrofit Projects

This research explores socio-spatial characteristics of home retrofit projects in New York State and their association with the state’s free home energy audit program. Prior work by the authors found that zip codes with more elder individuals and higher levels of education are more likely to undertake an energy audit; it was also found that higher incomes may be negatively correlated with audit decisions. Less understood is the follow-up decision after an audit to undertake a retrofit. From a policy and climate perspective, the actionable retrofit decision is far more impactful than the informational audit, making it an important area of further research. This work examines this understudied area using a combination of datasets, including census data, American Community Survey (ACS) data, and retrofits data provided by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Findings indicate that many of the same socioeconomic characteristics that predict audits are influential in retrofit projects as well (age, education, higher home values). A strong statistical relationship was found between audits per capita and subsequent retrofit projects, which is to be expected, as NYSERDA requires audits of residents desiring efficiency retrofits. However, this also indicates that the role of the audit in information transfers may be highly influential in encouraging home energy efficiency projects. This finding underscores the policy importance of offering low- or no-cost energy audit incentives to encourage greater participation in home retrofit programs.

Do Restrictive Land Use Regulations Make Housing More Expensive Everywhere?

This study makes three contributions to the debate over the effect of local land use regulations on housing prices and affordability. First, it is more geographically extensive than previous studies, encompassing 336 of the nation's 384 metropolitan areas. Second, it looks at multiple measures of regulatory stringency, not just one. Most prior studies have focused either on a single regulatory measure or index across multiple metropolitan areas, or multiple regulatory measures in a single region. Third, this paper considers the connection between regulatory stringency and housing values as a function of employment growth and per-worker payroll levels. We find that restrictive land use regulations do indeed have a pervasive effect on local home values and rents, and that these effects are magnified in faster-growing and more prosperous economies. We also find more restrictive land use regulations are not associated with faster rates of recent home value or rent growth, and that their effects on housing construction levels—that is, the degree to which they constrain supply—is uneven among different housing markets.

Golf courses and home values in California’s Central valley

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the net effect of golf courses’ proximity on home sale prices in Kern County, California. Design/methodology/approach A spatial Durbin error model is used with sales price data for 1,693 homes sold in Kern County in the third quarter of 2018. This paper compares 90 different spatial econometric models using Bayesian techniques to produce posterior model probabilities which guided model selection and the number of neighbors to use. Findings The results show that significant spatial dependence exists in home values in Kern County. Point estimates indicate that homes abutting golf courses are valued at less than those which are not. This study also finds that the farther away from golf courses the average home is, the higher its value. Originality/value This study contributes to the existing literature in three dimensions. First, this paper analyzes whether proximity to golf courses impacts home values in Kern County where a study of this nature has not been conducted. Second, the analysis uses transaction data for 2018 which was a period when the sport’s popularity was fading and golf courses closing. Third, Bayesian model comparison techniques are used to select the appropriate model.

The Impact of Natural Amenities on Home Values in Western Colorado

This paper investigates the impact that proximity to natural amenities has on improving home values in Mesa County, Colorado. Controlling for standard home characteristics, the study investigates the value to homes of the proximity to trails, the Colorado National Monument, Bureau of Land Management Land, golf courses, the Colorado/Gunnison River, open space, and public parks, using ordinary least squares, fixed effects (controlling for time and zip codes), and a spatial error model. GIS is used to determine distances for the spatial econometric model. Each amenity is evaluated at 250, 500, and 1000 meters. The results show that homes located within 250 meters of a trail sell for 4.45% more, homes located within 500 meters of BLM land sell for 9.07% more, homes located within 250 meters of a golf course sell for 12.70% more, and homes located within 250 meters of the Colorado National Monument sell for 12.90% more.

How Race Counts for Latinx Homeownership

In recent decades, the racial wealth gap has widened with extant literature reporting that Black and Latinx families hold fewer assets than white families. One such asset that receives substantial attention because of its wealth-generating principles is homeownership. Whereas intergroup homeownership inequalities are found throughout the literature, less is known about racialized inequality within groups. Latinxs provide a novel case for exploring how racialized homeownership inequality is structured within an ethnic group. Using data from the American Community Survey, we examine the odds of homeownership and predicted logged home values among Latinxs. We find that the association between race and housing outcomes varies substantially across Latinx groups. Drawing from theories of Latinx racial identity and the future of racial structures, we discuss the implications of our findings for understanding racial inequality among Latinx groups.

Geographic Disparities in Access to Specialized Dementia Care

With novel, previously undescribed data on the availability of dementia-specific assisted living communities (ALs), we analyzed variation among counties in the availability of this important service for persons with dementia. In twenty-one states, we identified 6,961 ALs (16%) with a dementia-specific license/certification. Counties with at least one AL providing dementia-specific care had substantially higher college attainment versus counties that had at least one AL, but no dementia-specific beds: 25% versus 18% (p<0.01). Counties with dementia care also had significantly greater median incomes ($54,000 vs. $46,400), and home values ($159,000 vs. $113,000), lower poverty rates (13.7 percent vs. 16.3 percent), and lower proportions of Black residents (7.8 percent vs. 8.7 percent). Our findings are suggestive of a mismatch in need and availability of residential care options for older adults with ADRD that are also low-income or racial/ethnic minorities. Part of a symposium sponsored by Assisted Living Interest Group.