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.     

From Tenants to Homeowners: Housing Renters After Disaster in Bhuj,India

While renters comprise one-third of urban housing markets, the barriers to long-term housing needs of renters following a disaster are significant. This paper examines post-disaster urban housing policy for renter households following the 2001 Gujarat earthquake in India and its implications for the housing recovery of renters in Bhuj city, an urban area close to the epicenter of the earthquake. Employing a qualitative case study method, the study finds that urban housing policy for renter households was defined by an ad hoc approach with multiple shifts over a period of 4 years. The improvised policy eventually lead to the creation of a publicly funded homeownership program that could rehouse less than one-third of impacted renters, whereas issues of equity, land tenure, lack of affordable units, and uncertainty of recovery for the poorest renters in the city remained.     

The Limits of Housing Investment as a Neighborhood Revitalization Tool: Crime in New York City

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Local residents often oppose place-based affordable housing on the grounds that such housing will increase crime and decrease property values. New York City has actually used affordable housing investment as a neighborhood revitalization tool, leading to a positive impact on neighborhood property values. Households in distressed neighborhoods consistently cite crime as a problem, but we know little about the impact of housing investments on crime. Using a unique set of point-specific data on affordable housing and crime locations between 2002 and 2008 in New York City, I estimate a set of regression models to identify the effect that affordable housing investments have on crime on the block where they are situated. I find little evidence that affordable housing investments either reduce or increase crime on New York City blocks, suggesting there are limits to the revitalization effects of these subsidies and that crime fears about subsidized housing are unwarranted.

Takeaway for practice: Cities with tight rental markets such as New York should continue to invest in affordable housing construction. However, these cities need to find ways to expand housing options in higher-income, less-distressed neighborhoods, or they risk exacerbating concentrated poverty and further subjecting low-income households to unsafe living environments.     

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.     

Beyond HOPE VI: Demolition/Disposition and the uncertain future of public housing in the U.S.

Public housing redevelopment in the United States is virtually synonymous with the HOPE VI program, through which the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has transformed over 250 housing projects into mixed-income communities. However, the overall the extent of public housing redevelopment has far exceeded the original mandate of HOPE VI due to the expansion of Demolition/Disposition activities facilitated by the program. The permissiveness of such activities has resulted in the replacement of housing projects with luxury condominiums, shopping and convention centers, and other land uses unrelated to affordable housing. In the process, over 210,000 housing units guaranteed to be affordable to low-income households have been removed from the country??s public housing inventory. This article investigates the foundations, the overall scope, and the characteristics of Demolition/Disposition activities beyond the purview of HOPE VI, and discusses their implications for the uncertain future of public housing in the U.S.     

Why there? Developers' rationale for building social housing in the urban periphery in Latin America

Inadequate housing has become endemic to Latin American cities for over six decades. All that has changed has been who is going where. In the 1960s, the rural poor who came to the city solved their housing needs by building their own informal settlements on peri-urban lands. Today, the urban poor relocate to peri-urban housing complexes built by the private sector with state subsidies. Why have these new housing units for low-income households been built in peri-urban areas? This paper examines some of the mechanisms behind the location of the urban poor in cities, with a specific focus on the role developers have played in the construction of affordable housing in peri-urban areas of Brazil and, Mexico. The paper explores these mechanisms through interviews with affordable housing developers. We found that economies of scale – and not land prices – explain developers' preference for building in peripheral areas. Initial savings that accrue to developers due to lower land prices in the periphery are offset by the cost of having to build basic onsite infrastructure. Plus, large lots – which are available almost exclusively in urban peripheries – enable developers to achieve significant cost savings because these large lots make it possible for developers to build more than 500 units. In addition, weaker municipal regulations and fewer bidders, both of which are typical for projects in difficult-to-access peripheral locations, make for a shorter and easier approval process for these large housing projects.     

ANTI‐SNOB LAND USE LAWS,SUBURBAN EXCLUSION,AND HOUSING OPPORTUNITY

ABSTRACT: Creating housing opportunities in exclusionary suburbs for lower‐income households is an essential component of any effort to reduce the concentration of the poor and minorities in central cities. Three New England states have adopted anti‐snob land use laws in an effort to promote the development of more affordable housing in the suburbs. Those laws limit the ability of local government to use its power over land use and development permitting to effectively exclude housing that lower‐income households can afford. This research describes how those laws relate to other efforts to open the suburbs, how the laws work, and what impact adoption of the laws has had on the supply of affordable housing in exclusionary municipalities.     

Silver bullet or trojan horse? The effects of inclusionary zoning on local housing markets in the United States

Many local governments are adopting inclusionary zoning (IZ) as a means of producing affordable housing without direct public subsidies. In this paper, panel data on IZ in the San Francisco metropolitan area and suburban Boston are used to analyse how much affordable housing the programmes produce and how IZ affects the prices and production of market-rate housing. The amount of affordable housing produced under IZ has been modest and depends primarily on how long IZ has been in place. Results from suburban Boston suggest that IZ has contributed to increased housing prices and lower rates of production during periods of regional house price appreciation. In the San Francisco area, IZ also appears to increase housing prices in times of regional price appreciation, but to decrease prices during cooler regional markets. There is no evidence of a statistically significant effect of IZ on new housing development in the Bay Area.     

Expanding inclusionary housing in Italy

The provision of social and affordable housing is a crucial objective in current debate and literature. In the absence of national guidelines, cities and towns in Italy are testing various ways to use planning instruments and housing policies. To a large extent, inclusionary housing (IH) programs play an increasing role in local plans. The results are often noncomparable, mainly because they come from different objectives and welfare policies. Nevertheless, they share both the abandonment of the expropriation mechanism as a tool to acquire land for social housing and a serious commitment to create a social mix in new developments. Although the primary purpose is to build social and affordable units, in some cases land value recapture is addressed too. The article aims to explain and explore the quantitative and qualitative outcomes of the ongoing IH programs, pointing at their different characters in different contexts, as a consequence of regional laws and local rules. The underlying question is to what extent such programs fully address public and private needs in the supply of housing, through the negotiation process and the compensation approach, in addition to competitions and bonus incentives as well as more innovative devices such as perequazione (the Italian instrument for the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) and land readjustment).     

Preservation from the bottom-up: affordable housing,redevelopment, and negotiation in Washington,DC

Previous iterations of large-scale redevelopment were been marked by displacement of the residents whose homes stood in the way of perceived progress. Now these neighborhoods face a new kind of urban renewal. A city with significant vacancy and city government ownership, Washington, DC, is in the process of rapid infill redevelopment. As property values surrounding city-backed developments that were once affordable increase, residents struggle to afford housing. DC has developed significant tools for the preservation of affordable housing, including an existing stock of subsidized housing, legal and financial resources, and a network of organizers and advocates that have given many residents in changing neighborhoods the opportunity to remain. This paper uses the example of Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, DC to examine potential strategies to preserve affordable housing in rapidly changing housing markets.     

Squatter Settlements in the Kathmandu Valley: Looking Through the Prism of Land Rights and Tenure Security

Rural–urban migration has resulted in the rapid growth of slums and squatter settlements in the Kathmandu Valley. Such migration is due to low socio-economic growth, a poor land administration system, inadequate capacity to cope with housing needs and poor governance. These settlements are not recognised administratively, but they are legitimatised through the provision of amenities. However, due to the lack of land rights and tenure security, the squatter settlements are facing multiple problems, i.e. lack of urban investment, poor access to financing options, increasing vulnerability and social exclusion. The present trend of land development and housing provision is inadequate due to the limited allocation of land and housing units. A twofold strategy is necessary to reverse this trend. New policies are required to recognise the existing genuine slums and squatter settlements and prevent the formation of such areas in the future, to make provision for easy finance options and affordable housing units, as well as to establish special funds for upgrading and relocating squatters. At the local level, different forms of land tenure should be granted to squatters after classifying them based on their characteristics. Instead of providing freehold land title and free shelter and amenities, the identification of the right combination of grants and loans through the establishment of community credit and a microfinance system is recommended so that the relevant communities can purchase (rent or lease) the land and house and extend infrastructure development in the long run. Economic empowerment of the dwellers and coordination between local-level and national-level institutions are prerequisites to reverse the current situation of the settlements.     

Measuring the rebound effect: A case study of residential photovoltaic systems in San Diego

This study examines the effect of solar photovoltaic system installation on the electricity consumption in residential households across various geographic regions in San Diego. Using meter-level data, the electricity consumption for residential households is calculated before and after installation to assess whether there are any significant rebound effects in usage. Results reveal significant variations in the change in electricity usage depending on geographical location. The findings are relevant to regional resource planning and climate response, as the failure to account for the rebound effect may result in significant overestimation of the energy and emissions benefits of distributed renewable energy adoption.     

Residential satisfaction among young people in post-socialist countries: the case of Serbia

Change in labor markets, extended education period and economic instability are negatively influencing housing accessibility of young adults. In post-socialist countries, such as Serbia, the biggest issues are the lack of supply volume and diversity of government subsidized housing, as well as the soaring prices of the newly built homes. As a result, young people are relying on the unregulated private rental market or their families to help them enter homeownership and acquire residential independence. There is an apparent need for affordable housing or policies which are catering to young people’s needs. The relevant body of research has been using residential satisfaction approach to provide an evaluation of the variety of housing available to young tenants. Hence, the primary purpose of this paper is to identify the factors which are significantly related or can predict the higher residential satisfaction and can be beneficial to the future policy makers in Serbia. To assess the residential satisfaction, following variables were included: socioeconomic characteristics, residential status, current housing characteristics, problems faced in the current dwelling, housing attribute preferences, privacy perception, dwelling proximity, neighborhood attachment, as well as overall residential satisfaction. The findings indicate that young people in Serbia had average levels of satisfaction with their housing despite the various problems and lack of privacy they were facing in the apartments. Higher residential satisfaction in this research was significantly predicted by the marital status of our respondents (single people were more satisfied), homeownership tenancy status, independent living arrangement, larger apartment size, greater levels of privacy and higher neighborhood attachment.     

Affordability of housing and accessibility of public services: evaluation of housing programs in Beijing

Acute housing poverty and low housing affordability among low-to-medium-income households have become challenges in the pursuit of a harmonious society in China. Promoting housing subsidies and stimulating investment on affordable housing have been at the center of China’s housing policy. This paper analyzes the correlation of affordable housing program in Beijing with household affordability of adequate housing and accessibility to public services, which include elementary and middle schools, hospitals and public transportation. Economic and Comfortable Housing is studied based on unique database of eligible household and affordable housing projects. We find that the program fails to make housing affordable and accessible for eligible households. The implications of housing policy design in the context of the economic and social well-being of targeted households are highlighted in the study.     

POLICY REVIEW

What was the record concerning housing for very low-income households under US President Bill Clinton? This paper reviews the record of federal funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and assesses how three major indicators changed between 1993 and 2000: the number of people who were homeless or who faced other serious housing problems; the net new number of affordable housing units added, including the net new number of households served by HUD housing programs; and changes in the rate of home ownership. The paper also presents a summary of how two major rental housing programmes fared during the Clinton presidency. In the concluding section, comments by a number of key observers, including several former HUD officials from the Clinton administration, are presented, along with a summation of Clinton's achievements in providing housing for very low-income households. Overall, the Clinton record is mixed at best, but on balance, inroads on the housing problems facing this group were not nearly as substantial as had been hoped and the needs continue to be acute.     

RACIAL SUCCESSION AND RESIDENTIAL MOBILITY IN DALLAS-FORT WORTH AND SAN ANTONIO

ABSTRACT: This paper examines the differences in residential succession patterns for black, Hispanic, and Anglo-American households in the Dallas-Forth Worth and San Antonio metropolitan areas. Demographic variables such as household income, household size, and age of household head are compared to improve understanding of housing mobility among groups. In addition, relevant variables are analyzed through application of multivariate logistic regressions. It was found that of the demographic variables that play roles in determining interracial residential succession, race was of overwhelming importance. This implies that there is a lack of interaction between housing markets for the different groups in both Dallas-Forth Worth and San Antonio. In San Antonio, however, the Anglo housing market appears to interact more with the other two groups.     

基于传统住宅合院思想的现代高层板式多户住宅平面设计模式研究

当代拥挤城市中高层住宅层出不穷,但基本是西方现代设计思想的产物,摒弃了汇聚千年居住智慧的中国传统合院式住宅之思想精髓,将传统文化的深厚积淀运用于现代建筑是历史委以建筑师的重任。高层板式住宅是多种住宅形式的组合原型,多户单元平面常用于经济适用房或保障性住房建设,一般来说平面户数越多居住环境相对较差,把传统院落设计思想融汇其中将为更多住户营造良好的居住环境和生活氛围,从而使更多人受益。     

Views of a Developing Region

The objective pf Santa Monica's rent control law, in effect since 1979, is to protect renters —particularly “the poor, minorities, students, young families and senior citizens” — from rapidly rising rents. Comparing 1987 and 1979 tenant surveys indicates that the rent control ordinance has fulfilled some of its goals. Length of tenure has increased, while lower-income tenants and the elderly have benefited most. In addition, the law may have contributed to stopping the decline in households with children. However, it has not stopped a decline in the proportion of black and Latino households. The results suggest that the vacancy control provision of the ordinance is the major factor offering protection to tenants. Since rent control does not increase the supply of affordable rental units nor prevent housing discrimination, it should be viewed as one of a number of housing policy strategies for maintaining affordable housing for specific target populations.     

The Link Between Local Comprehensive Plans and Housing Affordability: A Comparative Study of the Atlanta and Detroit Metropolitan Areas

Problem, research strategy, and findings: I question whether the strength of affordable housing policies in local comprehensive plans is associated with better affordable housing outcomes, which I measure as a decrease in the share of low-income households who spend more than 30% of their income for housing, otherwise known as cost-burdened households. I first assess the strength of affordable housing policies in 58 local comprehensive plans, counting the number of—and degree of coercion in—those affordable housing policies. I then analyze the relationship between the strength of affordable housing policies and changes in the share of low-income households with cost burden. I find that the strength of affordable housing policies is higher in the Atlanta (GA) metropolitan area than in the Detroit (MI) metropolitan area. I also find that the strength of affordable housing policies is positively associated with a decrease in the share of low-income households paying more than 30% of their income for housing in the Atlanta metropolitan area. I do not find a comparable relationship between plan strength and housing outcomes in the Detroit metropolitan area. I also find that the state role matters: Georgia provides more support and guidance for local comprehensive planning, and for affordable housing policies in those plans, than does Michigan.

Takeaway for practice: Planners should continually promote local comprehensive plans that include more and stronger affordable housing policies and advocate for greater state support for comprehensive planning and affordable housing policies because these appear to lead to a greater likelihood of implementing stronger plans.