Effect of electricity price reform on households’ electricity consumption in urban Ethiopia

Until recently, the price of electricity in Ethiopia was among the lowest in the world. Such low prices have contributed to a substantial financial deficit for the government-owned electric utility and led to a degradation in the quality of electricity services delivered to customers. In December 2018, the utility increased the electricity tariff to help to finance improvements in the quality of electricity services. This paper studies the effect of the revised tariff on urban household electricity consumption and alternative fuel expenditure. The study relied on two rounds of household survey data and six years of electricity consumption data from the utility company. The study finds that prepaid customers reduced their electricity consumption by about 22 kWh per month in the post-tariff-adjustment periods, equivalent to about 10% of electricity expenditure and 14% of daily consumption. In the overall sample, however, consumption slightly increased over time. These results imply that the price elasticity of demand for electricity in urban Ethiopia is highly inelastic. Moreover, households did not shift substantially toward the use of alternative fuels. The findings indicate that governments and utilities in settings where electricity is priced well below cost-covering levels may be able to increase revenues and improve their balance sheets with relatively modest effects on households’ electricity consumption, though effects from more substantial tariff hikes should be examined.     

Urban rehabilitation,governance, and housing affordability: lessons from Portugal

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the role of ‘urban rehabilitation societies’, a legal and institutional framework launched by the Portuguese government in 2004 and implemented locally ever since. The paper discusses how this model has provided an alibi for neoliberal narratives, grounded on the virtues of the market and on market-oriented strategies. The research methodology uses a combination of qualitative documentary analysis and face-to-face interviews with government officials and public officers to scrutinize the effects of policies on issues of governance and housing affordability.     

Planning for Mixed Use: Affordable for Whom?

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Mixed-use zoning is widely advocated to increase density; promote active transportation; encourage economic development; and create lively, diverse neighborhoods. We know little, however, about whether mixed-use developments affect housing affordability. We question the impact of mixed-use zoning on housing affordability in Toronto (Canada) between 1991 and 2006 in the face of waning government support for affordable housing and increasing income inequality due to the occupational restructuring accompanying a shift to a knowledge-based economy. We fi nd that housing in mixed-use zones remained less affordable than housing in the rest of the city and in the metropolitan region. High-income service occupations experienced improved affordability while lower wage service, trade, and manufacturing occupations experienced stagnant or worsening affordability. Housing in mixed-use zones is increasingly affordable only to workers already able to pay higher housing costs. Our findings are limited to Canada's largest city but have lessons for large North American cities with similar urban economies and housing markets.

Takeaway for practice: Mixed-use developments may reduce housing affordability in core areas and inadvertently reinforce the sociospatial inequality resulting from occupational polarization unless supported by appropriate affordable housing policies. Planners should consider a range of policy measures to offset the unintentional outcomes of mixed-use developments and ensure affordability within mixed-use zones: inclusionary zoning, density bonuses linked to affordable housing, affordable housing trusts, and other relevant methods.     

‘From Choice to Chance’: choice-based letting use in forced tenant relocations in New South Wales,Australia

Abstract

The redevelopment of large social housing estates has emerged as a central policy response to address housing affordability and social housing crises in Australia. These projects, often done in partnership with the private sector, are seen as opportunities to leverage government land assets and increase densities to expand social and private housing stock. While extensive research has been conducted on the rationale and processes of estate renewal, less attention has been paid to tenant relocation practices. This is the focus of this article. In particular we explore the New South Wales Government’s use of a choice-based letting program called ‘My Property Choice’ (MPC) that involves tenants bidding via a ballot system for available social housing properties. We argue, despite policy rhetoric emphasising resident ‘choice’, MPC emerges as a chance-based process for tenants seeking to ‘win’ their desired relocation destinations.     

Defining and measuring housing affordability using the Minimum Income Standard

Abstract

There is growing concern about a crisis in housing affordability in the UK, renewing longstanding debates about what constitutes ‘affordable’ housing. The growing use of the private rented sector by low income households has also led to increased interest in understanding the impact of housing costs on living standards. This paper builds on existing work on ‘residual income’ measures of housing affordability, accepting that what households can afford to pay for housing is related to their ability to cover other costs, and so not directly proportional to income. It proposes a new approach to defining and measuring housing affordability, based on the Minimum Income Standard (MIS). The paper then uses data from the Family Resources Survey (2008/09 to 2015/16) to examine housing affordability within the rented sector across the UK, exploring the value of this measure both in revealing the scale of the ‘problem’ and assessing the likely impact of suggested interventions.     

Neighborhood Affordability and Housing Market Resilience

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Although many researchers have examined factors associated with vulnerability to foreclosure, few have investigated the role neighborhood affordability plays in foreclosures in metropolitan areas. In this study, we examine the effects of location affordability (i.e., housing and transportation affordability combined) on resilience to foreclosure in more than 300?U.S. metropolitan areas during the U.S. housing recovery period. Using hierarchical linear regression with changes in zip code–level home foreclosure rates, our findings suggest the relationship between affordability and foreclosure resilience varies according to urban form (central/high-density city versus suburban low-density area) and types of metropolitan housing markets (boom–bust versus strong versus weak). In the national analysis, where location affordability was high, home foreclosure rates dropped substantially in central/high-density areas but not in suburban low-density areas. When we disaggregated the zip codes according to the market type, location affordability contributed to recovery in central cities in strong and weak metros and in the suburbs of boom–bust metros. There was no positive association in the suburbs of strong and weak metros. With improved data, future studies could measure an association between affordability and lower income renter households.

Takeaway for practice: Our study of the affordability crisis that followed the foreclosure crisis shows that planners can foster resilient and affordable housing markets by expanding and densifying affordable neighborhood locations and considering interactions between the costs of housing and transportation. Planners can improve neighborhood affordability with local and regional strategies based on the local residential density and the type of metropolitan housing market.     

Energy Cost Burdens for Low-Income and Minority Households

Abstract

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Of the three primary components of housing affordability measures—rent, transportation, and utilities—utility costs are the least understood yet are the one area where the cost burden can be reduced without household relocation. Existing data sources to estimate energy costs are limited to surveys with small samples and low spatial and temporal resolution, such as the American Housing Survey and the Residential Energy Consumption Survey. In this study, we present a new method for small-area estimates of household energy cost burdens (ECBs) that leverages actual building energy use data for approximately 13,000 multifamily properties across five U.S. cities and links energy costs to savings opportunities by analyzing 3,000 energy audit reports. We examine differentials in cost burdens across household demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and analyze spatial, regional, and building-level variations in energy use and expenditures. Our results show the average low-income household has an ECB of 7%, whereas higher income households have an average burden of 2%. Notably, even within defined income bands, minority households experience higher ECBs than non-Hispanic White households. For lower income households, low-cost energy improvements could reduce energy costs by as much as $1,500 per year.

Takeaway for practice: In this study we attempt to shift the focus of energy efficiency investments to their impact on household cost burdens and overall housing affordability. Our analysis explores new and unique data generated from measurement-driven urban energy policies and shows low-income households disproportionately bear the burden of poor-quality and energy-inefficient housing. Cities can use these new data resources and methods to develop equity-based energy policies that treat energy efficiency and climate mitigation as issues of environmental justice and that apply data-driven, targeted policies to improve quality of life for the most vulnerable urban residents.     

Full cost recovery of water services and the 3 T's of OECD

In Europe today, tariff design is no simple matter; consumption decline highlights that ‘optimal’ tariff doesn't exist. The OECD 3 T's cost recovery approach allows to discuss solutions to implementing the triple bottom line of sustainability in the water services sector, through new governance mechanisms. For both internal and external governance, additional knowledge can help adapt tariff design. And the recovery of environmental and resource costs paid by authorities in charge of water services could be passed on citizens (local taxes) rather than customers (water bills). In France, the liberal state tradition makes it impossible, leading to incoherent tariffs.     

Whose master plan? Kisho Kurokawa and ‘capital planning’ in post-Soviet Astana, 1995–2000

ABSTRACT

Astana, Kazakhstan’s new capital city, was established in 1998 and became the only seat of government to be relocated within the former Soviet Union. In 1998, the government of Kazakhstan held an open international competition for a new master plan of Astana, for which 27 projects from 14 countries were received. This article focuses on the activities of the Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, who, despite having been awarded third place by the competition’s jury, was nevertheless declared its winner. I propose to re-examine the circumstances behind the choice of Kurokawa’s proposal (not to mention its financing by the Japan International Cooperation Agency) that eventually led to its implementation as the Master Plan for the new capital of Kazakhstan. A close look at this process will shed light on the way Astana has been perceived and planned since 1998 and also reveal the ways in which planning strategies and (international) politics influenced and co-constructed one another in post-Soviet Kazakhstan.     

Is the human right to water sufficiently protected in Spain? Affordability and governance concerns

Most research on water poverty focuses on developing countries. However, research is also needed in developed countries, where water may be too expensive for some households. This paper examines the case of Spain, using data from 16 cities that combined are home to 35% of the Spanish population. We study both national and local systems of regulation and governance. The objective is to determine whether low-income families face a genuine threat of exclusion from water supply. To this end, we analysed whether the Spanish legal framework allows that water supply is cut off for non-payment of the bill. We also did different estimates of the percentage of the family income spent on the water bill, which in some cases can surpass 10%. The estimates account for tariff discounts, as well as assistance programmes available to those who are struggling to pay their water bill. Although there is no problem of affordability for an average Spanish family in general, we conclude that families at risk of poverty face a real threat of exclusion from water services because they are not able to pay for them and the institutional framework does not sufficiently protect them.     

A relay race: intergenerational transmission of housing inequality in urban China

Abstract

Housing affordability has become a critical challenge worldwide, consequently constraining young generation from entering the housing market. Despite growing attention to housing inequality in China, little research has been undertaken to reveal the extent to which a family of origin contributes to housing inequality among young adults. Family resources could support the young generation to achieve homeownership not only directly through intergenerational transfers of wealth, but also indirectly through intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic characteristics. Using the 2013 Fudan Yangtze River Delta Social Transformation Survey, this study constructs a structural equation model to examine the direct and indirect influence of parents’ resources on the young generation’s housing outcomes. The results show that the direct influence of parents’ homeownership is prominent, whereas the impact of transmitted socioeconomic status is limited. Housing advantages of parents, derived from their superior institutional status during China’s housing reforms, are being transmitted to their offspring, particularly to sons.     

More and better credit: Housing policy reform in Bolivia

Access to financing for housing in Third‐World countries is in very limited supply and formal‐sector housing finance is only available to a small proportion of the (higher‐income) urban population. Typically, the great majority of households in developing countries rely entirely on their own savings. Since investment by owner‐occupiers is usually three to four times their annual incomes, the inability to borrow against future earnings using the house as collateral prevents them from satisfying their housing needs and inhibits investment in housing. Consequently, a variety of lending policies and practices have been suggested and attempted in many countries to make housing finance more accessible to borrowers. This paper describes recent attempts by the Bolivian government to improve the supply of funds available for low‐income housing credit through the examination of the Fondo Nacionale de Viviendas Sociales (FONVIS), an entity designed to improve access to mortgage credit among low‐income households and funded through a mandatory payroll tax. The impact of FONVIS on problems of affordability and housing supply is estimated using data from the organization's data banks as well as those culled from recent household surveys. In addition, the paper includes a discussion of the most salient problems with FONVIS’ current procedures and regulations, such as its unnecessary control over housing design standards and the exclusion of informal‐sector workers. The paper concludes with recommendations regarding how to make FONVIS more responsive to the housing conditions of the poor, assuming that the current administration wants to continue using a mandatory payroll tax to support the credit market.     

Achieving Regional Housing Planning Objectives: Directing Affordable Housing to Jobs-Rich Neighborhoods in the San Francisco Bay Area

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Low-income households face affordability issues and are often forced to live in areas with limited job access and inadequate transportation. Local communities exacerbate these problems through exclusionary zoning. We study the impact of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) change in allocation formula under California’s affordable housing mandate. The old policy followed a fair share strategy, whereas the new policy requires local jurisdictions to locate mandated affordable housing units in jobs-rich areas. We compare affordable housing produced in the region before and after ABAG adopted the jobs-housing policy; we also compare the new patterns to the location of market-rate housing and to the experiences of San Diego (CA) and Los Angeles (CA), both of which retain fair share allocation. We do not control for variables that may have affected affordable housing location. ABAG’s policy shift is associated with a 104% improvement in the balance of housing and jobs at the local level; affordable housing units are more likely than market-rate housing to locate in jobs-rich areas, which may indicate that localities prioritize affordable housing. We also find that more affordable housing locates in such areas in the San Francisco Bay Area (CA) than in San Diego or Los Angeles.

Takeaway for practice: A voluntary regional government in a state with mandatory affordable housing requirements can affect the production and distribution of affordable housing. A total of 25 U.S. states require localities to include affordable housing elements in their comprehensive plans; we suggest that regional and local planners use these opportunities to meet multiple policy goals by directing affordable housing to jobs-rich neighborhoods.     

A diagnostic tool for estimating the incidence of subsidies delivered by water utilities in low- and medium-income countries,with illustrative simulations

It is conventional wisdom that poor households use less water than rich households, and intuition suggests that an increasing block tariff with a lifeline block will target subsidies to poor households. In this paper we provide a simple diagnostic tool that a water utility can use to estimate the distribution of subsidies to households in different income quintiles and to check whether this intuition about the incidence of subsidies is correct in a specific local service area. The results of our illustrative simulations calibrated using data from low- and medium-income countries, show that subsidies delivered through the most common tariff structures are very poorly targeted to poor households. This finding holds regardless of the specific characteristics of the tariff structure used to calculate households’ water bills. We also find that the higher the correlation between household income and water use, the lower the proportion of total subsidies received by poor households.     

Immigrant Entrepreneurship and Economic Development

Problem, research strategy, and findings: A growing number of cities, especially those outside traditional immigrant gateways, have sought to leverage immigrant resources to promote local economic development in recent years. Although some cities have explicitly included immigrant entrepreneurship as a focal area in their plans, we know little about the breadth and depth of such strategies. In this research we explore the current landscape of local small business development policies toward immigrant entrepreneurship. We conduct a detailed review of the program documents of 16 selected welcoming cities and derive 20 specific programs across five broad types: information, language, business service, financial support, and place-based approaches. Their popularity, however, varies among the case cities given the number of adoptions. For example, all 16 cities adopted information hub–related strategies, whereas only 2 considered immigrant-friendly financing programs. In comparing these policies with immigrant entrepreneurs’ needs and barriers, we find their service gaps are addressed to different extents.

Takeaway for practice: Here we provide a comprehensive analysis of current local government policies that aim at tapping into immigrants’ entrepreneurial potential for community and economic development and their adoption levels across cities. Existing policies are able to address immigrants’ information and language needs but are less targeted at developing their business skills and facilitating their access to financial capital. Place-based approaches may serve to connect immigrant-owned businesses to customers and market in the mainstream economy and thus expand their scope beyond ethnic neighborhoods. Because these programs require different levels of resources, planners and policymakers considering this agenda can assess their relative fit with local population demand in designing appropriate policies.     

‘You can’t put your roots down’: housing pathways,rental tenure and precarity in older age

Abstract

In light of housing affordability concerns, we examine older people’s experiences of renting within a context of enduring home-ownership norms and aspirations. Adapting Clapham’s housing pathways framework, we ask: How is rental tenure experienced by older people who have encountered precarity in their housing history? Drawing on interviews with 13 older tenants, we observe the uneasy relationship between tenure insecurity and housing quality, and tensions between choice and luck in experiences of renting in later life. Three pathways related to renting in older age were apparent: life-long renting; loss of homeownership through adversity; and deliberate decisions to transition to renting. We note that challenges encountered in current and previous housing situations lead to diverse narratives of precarity in later life. These precarious experiences can be exacerbated by intersecting uncertainties associated with health, financial and personal circumstances. Older tenants’ housing pathways and experiences illuminate ways in which precarity can disrupt opportunities for ageing well and ageing in place.     

Adoption of increasing block tariffs (IBTs) among urban water utilities in major cities in China

Increasing block tariffs (IBTs) have been officially endorsed by the Chinese government since 1998, but by the end of 2013, fewer than half of the country’s 36 major cities had adopted IBTs as the tariff structure for their water utilities. Our study examines the main factors affecting these cities’ decisions on whether or not to adopt IBTs, considering both general characteristics of the cities and characteristics of their water utilities. A discrete-time hazard model is used for empirical analysis. Results show that factors most likely to affect a major city’s decision on IBT adoption include the city’s economic development as measured by growth rate of GDP; changes in the relative importance of the domestic water sector; the city’s wastewater treatment rate and leakage rate; and business structure of the water utility.     

Farmers’ livelihood assets and adoption of sustainable land management practices in north-western highlands of Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, farmers’ adoption and continued use of introduced land management technologies have not been widespread to reduce soil erosion and soil fertility depletion to an acceptable level. An important set of factors in farmers’ use of improved agricultural technologies is generally known to be their possession of livelihood assets. This study examines the influence of ownership of livelihood assets in farmers’ decisions to use cattle manure as land improvement technology, which is currently being promoted by Ethiopia’s agricultural extension system. The study was conducted in Dangila woreda (district) in the north-western highlands of Ethiopia. Data were collected from a survey of 201 rural households from April to June 2011 and in October 2012. Logistic regression modelling and Chi-square and t-tests were used to analyse data. The findings show that plot distance from residence, number of livestock owned, use of dung for fuel, maize–vegetable–fruit intercropping, land to man ratio and perception of land tenure security were important determinants of manure use among the farmers. Existing and future local development interventions should focus on these factors to improve the farmers’ capability to invest in cattle manure application and sustainable land management.     

Canada's increasing housing affordability burdens

This study uses national survey and census data on shelter costs and income to describe changes in the proportion and the number of low‐income households spending more than half of their income on shelter. While affordability problems increased consistently over the last two decades for almost all classes of households, the problems are highly concentrated among those with low‐incomes. Women household maintainers are significantly more likely to experience problems and the number of income recipients in a household is a key indicator of a potential problem. While all regions and major cities had increasing problems, the data show major differences across regions and urban centres. No correlation is found between the growth of cities or the growth in rent levels and the growth of the proportion of low‐income households with severe affordability problems. Housing prices were remarkably stable during the 1990s and cannot be claimed as the main cause of the escalating problem. However, strong correlations relate the growth of affordability problems to city size and to the prevailing rent level, suggesting that land rent is a factor in determining the problem's spatial incidence and that continued concentration of the population in major cities will continue to fuel the growth of the problem. The most disturbing finding is that, for the most vulnerable groups, the prevalence and severity of affordability problems worsened during the 1990s, reflecting the consequences of a larger and longer trend toward increasing income inequality in Canadian society. The paper points to other research which links the affordability issue to homelessness and argues that the trends in affordability burdens be considered as ripe for serious policy intervention at all three levels of government. While specific policy conclusions cannot be based on this study, the results do point to the growing need for a change in Canadian housing policy.     

Hybridity in the housing sector: examining impacts on social and private rented sector tenants in Scotland

Abstract

Housing Associations in many countries exhibit increasing levels of ‘hybridity’, as reductions in state financing for social housing, exacerbated by austerity policies since the 2008 crash, have instigated ‘enterprising’ approaches to maintaining income. Alongside this, hybrid organisations have emerged in the Private Rented Sector (PRS), responding to sectoral growth and consequent increases in vulnerable households entering private renting. These developing hybridities have been considered at a strategic level, but there has been little exploration of the impacts on tenants. This article examines two organisations, operating across the social and private rented sectors, to elucidate potential implications for tenants. The research suggests that different forms of hybridity can affect tenant outcomes and, moreover, that examining such impacts is important in understanding hybridity itself. Furthermore, the study suggests that emerging forms of hybridity, particularly in the PRS, may be blurring the boundaries between housing sectors, with implications for policy and research.