The Efficacy of Allocating Housing Growth in the Los Angeles Region (2006–2014)

California is known for home values that eclipse U.S. housing prices. To increase housing inventory, California has implemented a regional housing needs allocation (RHNA) to transmit shares of housing growth to cities. However, no study has established RHNA’s efficacy. After examining the 4th RHNA cycle (i.e., 2006–2014) for 185 Los Angeles region cities, this study determined that RHNA directed housing growth to the city of Los Angeles and the region’s outlying cities as opposed to increasing density in the central and coastal cities. Second, RHNA directed 62% of housing growth to the region’s unaffordable cities. Third, the sample suffered a 34% shortfall in housing growth due to the Great Recession but garnered an average achievement of approximately 93% due to RHNA’s transmission of minimal housing growth shares. Lastly, RHNA maintained statistically significant associations with increased housing inventory, housing affordability, and housing growth rates, indicating that RHNA may influence housing development.

Is Housing Growth Ever Inclusive Growth? Evidence from Three Decades of Housing Development in England and Wales, 1981–2011

There is global concern about who gains from economic growth, including housing development, and global interest in making growth more inclusive. This article creates a new definition of ‘housing growth,’ growth in median space per person. It says that this housing growth is ‘inclusive’ if the worst-off make some gains, and ‘just’ if inequality does not increase. It applies these terms to data for 1981–2011 on rooms per person for England and Wales, the bulk of the UK, a nation with high income inequality but lower housing inequality. At national level, median housing space increased but the worst-off gained nothing, and inequality rose, so growth was neither inclusive nor just. Sub-national evidence shows that housing growth benefitted the worst-off in most areas, but they generally made very modest gains, and growth without increasing inequality was very rare. There was housing growth in all 10 regions except London, it was inclusive in 6 regions, but not just in any region. 97% of local authorities experienced housing growth, and it was inclusive in 72%, but the average gain for the worst-off was just 0.2 rooms/person over thirty years. Only 3% of local authorities achieved both inclusive and just growth. This suggests that in the UK and similar nations, local initiatives will be insufficient to achieve growth with significant gains for the worst-off, and that substantial change to the national system of housing development and allocation is needed. There may be a policy choice between benefitting the worst-off and reducing inequality. There is potential for further and comparative research.

Suburbs and Suburbanization

The suburb is defined as a residential area situated on the outskirts of a city or urban district. Suburbs are an outgrowth of many influences and ideas stemming from a desire for individual home and land ownership, population decentralization, enthusiasm for dwellings located a greater distance from industrialization, and finally an eagerness for community building and a sense of belonging—an opportunity to forge new social contracts literally and geographically. Suburbs, characterized initially as clusters of remote country estates or picturesque villages, have been in existence since before the time of Pompeii. They became most widespread in the latter half of the 19th century as byproduct of the Industrial Revolution and grew increasingly popular with the advent of commuter rail travel. Today, the suburb and suburbanization persist as a double-edged sword—as housing alternatives spawned to relieve urban density and as options for affordable residential growth, yet more often than not suburban development has occurred in a heedless manner. Most frequently, suburbs have been built lacking the collaborative input of planners, government officials, and architects and thus are identified as responsible for the course of unchecked housing growth, problematic social assimilation, and strident class divisiveness. The course of suburbanization has led to the unfolding of a complicated and complex housing type spurring analysis from every possible angle. The genesis of the suburb and suburbanization has been examined from the perspectives of various academic disciplines. The scholarship is vast and comprehensive. Herein lies the basis of where to begin such research.

Ring Road Development Problems in Metropolitan Cities of Indonesia

The development of ring roads in Indonesia are not only as a means of transportation needs but also as a means for the urban regional development. Although it produces many economic benefits, this development produces many new problems, especially in metropolitan cities. The aim of this research is to formulate and describe the problems of ring road development in the metropolitan cities of Indonesia. The data collection was carried out through a survey and interview with related institutions in 7 cities, they are Medan, Palembang, Bandar Lampung, Surabaya, Makassar, Manado, and Jakarta. The result of this research shows that there are 23 problems found there. The most common problem found are the uncontrolled housing development (urban sprawl) and public transportation (occurs in 6 cities). The second most problems found are regional connectivity, ring road intersection, housing access, settlement facilities, and social problems (occurs in 5 cities). All the existing problems can be classified into 6 problem types, they are (1) problem of ring road preparation and construction, (2) problem of disobedience and inconsistency of regulation, (3) problem of spatial planning and urban development, (4) problem of housing growth and facilities provision, (5) problem of coordination among institution and regulatory synchronization, and (6) problem of environmental management related to the integration of ring road and settlement development.

Housing, growth and infrastructure: Supporting the delivery of new homes in the Sheffield City Region, UK

Set against a background of failing housing markets and years of austerity, with spending cuts to many of the public services traditionally involved in housing, the UK Government’s ambition to deliver 300,000 new homes a year was always going to be a challenge. At the same time however, a programme of devolution to city regional bodies across England has provided the opportunity to test new approaches to support housing growth, with the potential for innovation and more tailored interventions designed around the needs of a specific place. This paper uses experience in the Sheffield City Region to illustrate the challenges and opportunities for housing growth in one part of the country as well as the interventions being developed to address these. The paper sets out some of the geographic and economic factors shaping the housing sector in the city region, and the role that housing growth has come to play in the wider economic ambitions for the area. It then describes some of the plans and programmes being developed to encourage the development of new homes and the success of a pilot Housing Fund could have in overcoming problems where national programmes have failed.