Shortage Of Affordable Housing Research Articles

Affordable Housing Crisis or Shortage?: Reconciling Legal Scholarship with Free Market Solutions Over the Use of Eminent Domain for Economic Development

Throughout the United States, low-income families are having an increasingly difficult time finding an affordable place to live.[1] Due to high rents, static incomes, and a shortage of housing, local communities, particularly in urban areas, are struggling to fight off this wave of decline and displacement.[2] Currently in the U.S., an estimated 12 million families are now spending more than half of their income on rent.[3] According to Federal Guidelines, “[f]amilies who pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing are considered cost burdened and may have difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation, and medical care.”[4]A large reason for this overspending by low-income families is that the supply of affordable housing is shrinking.[5] Landlords and tenants both are adding to the affordable housing problem as “all sides are being squeezed.”[6] Today, most new construction on rental housing is for the high-end market, “not for low and middle-income families.”[7] So while the problem is clear, the cause of the problem is anything but.This note seeks a better understanding of the current housing problems plaguing local communities around the United States. Whether it is attributable to a crisis of societal construction or a shortage in the supply of affordable housing, this note attempts to reconcile current legal scholarship on local government initiatives, and economic free market solutions to lower barriers.

Affordable Housing Crisis or Shortage?: Reconciling Legal Scholarship with Free Market Solutions Over the Use of Eminent Domain for Economic Development

Throughout the United States, low-income families are having an increasingly difficult time finding an affordable place to live. Due to high rents, static incomes, and a shortage of housing, local communities, particularly in urban areas, are struggling to fight off this wave of decline and displacement. Currently in the U.S., an estimated 12 million families are now spending more than half of their income on rent. According to Federal Guidelines, “[f]amilies who pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing are considered cost burdened and may have difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation, and medical care.”A large reason for this overspending by low-income families is that the supply of affordable housing is shrinking. Landlords and tenants both are adding to the affordable housing problem as “all sides are being squeezed.” Today, most new construction on rental housing is for the high-end market, “not for low and middle-income families.” So while the problem is clear, the cause of the problem is anything but.This note seeks a better understanding of the current housing problems plaguing local communities around the United States. Whether it is attributable to a crisis of societal construction or a shortage in the supply of affordable housing, this note attempts to reconcile current legal scholarship on local government initiatives, and economic free market solutions to lower barriers.Part I of this note examines the historical background of government initiatives to promote local development primarily through the mechanism of eminent domain. Frequently one of the first tools pulled out of the local government toolkit, eminent domain has evolved over the past century along with a shroud of controversy over its use. Part II details the current problems associated with local governments’ use of eminent domain, particularly regarding its effectiveness (or lack thereof) in accomplishing the government’s intended policy. Part III observes many of the other incentives local governments are using beyond eminent domain and examines their effectiveness in redeveloping their communities for all classes of residents.Part IV reviews current proposals of legal and government-side solutions including “inclusionary” eminent domain, Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs), and Community Development Corporations (CDCs). Part V then proposes alternatives to these regulatory proposals through market-oriented solutions based on increasing the overall supply in the market through deregulation of the zoning and permitting process. Exploring case studies in: Durham, North Carolina: Atlanta, Georgia: and Anaheim, California, this note will make the case that the solution to creating more affordable housing can be found in a reconciliation of both the legal/government and market-based proposals. Part VI offers this reconciliation and provides a comparative study of a proposal first implemented in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and its potential application to local governments in the United States. Lastly, I will conclude this note by describing how local governments should help alleviate the affordable housing problem in light of the reconciliation of government and market-based solutions.

Affordable Housing Crisis or Shortage?: Reconciling Legal Scholarship with Free Market Solutions Over the Use of Eminent Domain for Economic Development

Throughout the United States, low-income families are having an increasingly difficult time finding an affordable place to live.[1] Due to high rents, static incomes, and a shortage of housing, local communities, particularly in urban areas, are struggling to fight off this wave of decline and displacement.[2] Currently in the U.S., an estimated 12 million families are now spending more than half of their income on rent.[3] According to Federal Guidelines, “[f]amilies who pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing are considered cost burdened and may have difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation, and medical care.”[4]A large reason for this overspending by low-income families is that the supply of affordable housing is shrinking.[5] Landlords and tenants both are adding to the affordable housing problem as “all sides are being squeezed.”[6] Today, most new construction on rental housing is for the high-end market, “not for low and middle-income families.”[7] So while the problem is clear, the cause of the problem is anything but.This note seeks a better understanding of the current housing problems plaguing local communities around the United States. Whether it is attributable to a crisis of societal construction or a shortage in the supply of affordable housing, this note attempts to reconcile current legal scholarship on local government initiatives, and

Backyard Housing Boom: New Markets for Affordable Housing and the Role of Digital Technology

In an effort to address California’s affordable housing shortage, lawmakers recently passed statewide legislation removing barriers to the development of accessory dwelling units (ADU). Not since the postwar suburban housing boom has such a significant new market for residential production been created in Los Angeles and, more broadly, across the entire state. Simultaneously, new digital technologies are overcoming constraints in finance models, design processes, and construction practices that restrict ADU production. Through interviews conducted with emerging ADU service providers in Los Angeles, this paper identifies how digital technologies and regulatory change are enabling emergent forms of practice and production for addressing a significant housing shortage. Specifically, it asks what role digital technologies may play in facilitating the mass production of affordable housing in the post-suburban city.

Can Real Property Law Play a Role in Addressing Housing Vulnerability? The Case of Older Women Experiencing Housing Stress and Homelessness

There is much discussion about the shortage of affordable housing in Australia and the rising tide of homelessness. Perhaps surprisingly to some, older women are one of the fastest growing groups of people experiencing homelessness. In the aftermath of a lifetime of income inequality and taking ‘time out’ for caring responsibilities, older women may be in a precarious position should they encounter illness, divorce or unemployment in mid to older age. This article outlines the background to the growing number of older women experiencing homelessness and, although the authors are not suggesting the law can provide ‘the answer’ to this multi-faceted conundrum, the article examines possible contributions the law could make in alleviating some pitfalls encountered by older women experiencing housing stress or homelessness.

A framework & dynamic model for reform of residential land supply policy in urban China

Urban residential land supply is both driven by and significantly influences urbanisation processes, the optimisation of which are necessary to address housing issues. At present, China's urban housing system has three major problems, namely a shortage of affordable housing, rapidly increasing prices for regular commodity housing, and an under-supply, relative to market demands, of high-end commodity housing, calling into question the effectiveness of existing land supply policies. This paper first reviews policies governing residential land supply and then considers these policies in light of findings from semi-structured interviews conducted with key actors and a survey of households in Hangzhou, a city of more than nine million in eastern China. These analyses show that although the Chinese government has undertaken steps to reform land use allocation and increase housing affordability in its cities, significant opportunities for reform remain in both affordable and commodity housing sectors.Results from this study aid in formulation of a framework for residential land supply and a dynamic model for reform for Chinese governments to undertake to integrate housing provision across a range of household income and housing type classifications. The model demonstrates how reformation of the residential land supply system through improvements to the elasticity of residential land supply, optimisation of land supply for affordable housing, deregulation of land supply for and taxation of high-end commodity housing will significantly ease housing stress within Chinese cities. Finally, international experience indicates that the Chinese government can leverage revenues to acquire or otherwise support construction of additional affordable housing, with the increased volume of activity helping to arrest housing price inflation while achieving socialist ideals.

Factors Affecting the Shortage and or Provision of Sustainable Affordable Housing in Developing Countries - A Case-Study of Cross River State, Nigeria

The problem of shelter in Cross River State, Nigeria is the shortage of affordable housing especially for the urban poor. This housing shortage exposes the citizens to live in inadequate housing conditions. This study presents evidence of the factors affecting the shortage and or provision of sustainable affordable housing in Cross River State, Nigeria. The study provides evidence from a descriptive cross-sectional survey. Primary data was collected from semi-structured interviews and unobtrusive observations. This data was then analysed using descriptive statistics (frequency counts and simple percentages). The findings of this study reveal that, many interviewees identified rural-urban migration 98% (n=48), and lack of planning, maintenance and management 90% (n=45) as the main factors leading to the shortage of affordable housing. Similarly, the interviewees identified the poor implementation of government housing policies 84% (n=42), difficulty in purchasing land 94% (n=47), the high cost of building materials 96% (n=48), and lack of finance and access to credit facilities 80% (n=40), as significant problems facing sustainable affordable housing provision. The research provides recommendations that affordable housing shortage and or provision can be minimised and enhanced by encouraging building developments that are flexible and smart with minimal usage of non-renewable energy, availability of housing for the target population and a switch to a more sustainable way of planning, design, construction and maintenance of buildings. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.sace.22.1.20573

The Design of Net-Zero-Energy Affordable Housing in Philadelphia

Sustainable buildings are often considered expensive alternatives to conventional designs. However, a decline in costs associated with materials, technology, labor and whole building approaches make green homes realistic to construct even within low-income neighborhoods. This can address the critical shortage of affordable housing in cities, and the emerging recognition of their impact on healthy communities. This study proposes an affordable and energy-efficient design for a low-income rowhouse in Philadelphia as a city having the highest poverty rate in the U.S. The design can be replicated as an investment in the future where people live with net zero energy and zero emissions. Furthermore, residents have the opportunity to create a more vibrant and healthy neighborhood economy by investing their savings locally. The results showed that the proposed prototype has a payback of approximately just over 16 years. Although this seems long, the building is affordable since the ongoing operating expenses are significantly less than a typical house. This is achieved by the combination of an efficient building design, onsite power generation, water conservation and rainwater harvesting. The payback period may suggest that larger-scale projects than just a single urban residence (two residences and larger) are needed to improve investment paybacks. This is discussed. Considering the added benefits (energy and water) that will continue after the payback period, the design can be a pioneer for low-income neighborhoods.

Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for the Adaptive Reuse of Industrial Buildings in Hong Kong

With the economic restructuring during the 1980s and 1990s in Hong Kong, most manufacturing plants were relocated to China and many industrial buildings were left neglected or vacant. At the same time, owing to limited land supply, a shortage of affordable housing has been a problem in Hong Kong for many years. Adaptive reuse of industrial buildings may be a way of solving this problem. However, adaptive reuse is not an easy decision because there are many factors affecting adaptive reuse. Therefore, this paper examines the current situation of adaptive reuse of industrial buildings in Hong Kong and identifies a list of factors affecting the adaptive reuse of industrial buildings. Six factors are considered Critical Success Factors (CSFs). Based on a Principal Component Analysis, 33 factors are grouped into eight principal components, namely, sustainability, economics and finance, the market, changeability, location and neighborhood, culture and public interests, legal and regulatory matters, and the physical condition of the building. The identified CSFs and principal factors provide a useful reference for various stakeholders to have a clear understanding of the adaptive reuse of industrial buildings in Hong Kong, especially for the government to review current policies of adaptive reuse.

Building Australia's affordable housing industry: capacity challenges and capacity-enhancing strategies

ABSTRACTAs in many other nations, Australia's intensifying shortage of affordable housing represents one of the most pressing policy challenges for government. Against a backdrop of ongoing population growth, the 20-year virtual moratorium on public housing construction means that, by 2016, the gross social housing provision deficit had reached 140,000 dwellings. And, while largely frozen in scale, the country's public housing system has also become increasingly residualised and rundown. In tackling these twin problems, some policy-makers and advocates have invested hopes in an emerging non-government affordable housing industry, largely configured around not-for-profit community housing providers. For some government players, however, the sector's nascent status and therefore ‘restricted capacity’ has been judged a crucial limitation on the extent to which it can be reasonably delegated responsibility for easing national housing stress. Applying a system-minded conception of the ‘affordable housing industry’ and adopting a multidimensional ‘capacity’ framework, this research investigated the factors limiting the scope for the industry's further expansion. In highlighting industry capacity restrictions stemming from the hollowing-out of government and its institutions, our findings connect with a wider policy studies literature and will have resonance in many countries beyond Australia – particularly in the Anglophone world.

Rent determinants of sub-divided units in Hong Kong

This paper examines the rent determinants of sub-divided units (SDUs) in Hong Kong by hedonic pricing models. The supply of low-cost housing by SDUs is achieved at the expense of tenants’ living quality and tenure security. Tenants have to make trade-offs of living space and housing facilities for lower rent, resulting in overcrowdedness and poor living environment. Some SDUs even lack basic facilities for sanitation and ventilation. As most previous property price studies presumed the presence of these basic facilities, SDUs provide a rare opportunity to examine the effects of their deficiencies on rent. Meanwhile, due to the illegality of the building works, most rental agreements are arranged informally. Relatively higher information and search costs are thus involved. Observable attributes are expected to exert significant impacts on rent as tenants mainly rely on their availabilities when they assess the SDUs. For SDUs with shared sanitation facilities, the inconvenience escalates with the subdivision density, which is expected to cause negative impact on rent. The results confirm the hypotheses that basic and observable housing facilities are important rent determinants and tenants have to pay higher rent to mitigate the inconvenience of shared facilities. This study is a pioneer attempt to give a fuller account of the SDU market landscape, providing empirical evidence about the effects of housing facility trade-offs of this informal rental market. Tenants are expected to make more compromises on housing qualities if the shortage of affordable housing worsens. The findings provide far-reaching implications for future research on housing values and affordable housing design.

공공임대주택의 지역적 특성이 거주자의 주거만족도에 미치는 영향 - 다층모형(Multi-level Model)을 활용하여 -

For the past several decades, Korean government has provided public rental housings to solve the problem of affordable housing shortage for low-income households. However, the relevant policy, which has focused on quantitative expansion, has failed to carefully consider the residential environments or spatial characteristics of public rental housing. In this study, we sought to empirically verify the effects of the spatial characteristics of public rental housing on residential satisfaction among its residents. To do so, we conducted research on public rental housing across Seoul, using a multi-level model based on the data of Seoul Public Rental Housing Panel Survey in 2016. Our findings show that spatial characteristics of public housing have significant effects on the residential satisfaction of its residents. For example, urban parks, welfare facilities, markets, and banks are positively associated with residents’ satisfaction, while air pollution and harmful facilities are negatively related to residents’ satisfaction. In addition, it was found that the degree of the influence of spatial characteristics varied according to the types of public rental housing. These findings imply that when planning and constructing public rental housing in the future, its residential environment or spatial characteristics will need to be considered. In particular, different environment plans need to be applied to public rental housing of different types because residents’ characteristics vary according to the types of public rental housing.

For People With Disabilities, A Fight For Access To Housing.

The City of Los Angeles continues to struggle to make available housing that is both affordable and accessible.

Economic Prosperity and Housing Affordability in the United States: Lessons from the Booming 1990s

The United States is facing an acute shortage of reasonably priced housing with over 35% of households paying more than 30% of their income for housing costs in 2015. As the U.S. economy recovers from the Great Recession, will housing become less unaffordable as incomes rise and households could potentially pay a lower share of their income for housing costs? To see if this is likely, I examined the change in housing affordability in the 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in the United States between 1990 and 2000, a period of exceptional economic prosperity. I used the percentage of housing cost-burdened households (those that pay more than 30% of their gross income on ownership or rental costs) as a measure of the availability of reasonably priced housing. I used discriminant analysis techniques to detect statistically significant differences in the percentage of cost-burdened households in the 100 MSAs based on a variety of factors. I found that despite the phenomenal economic prosperity of the 1990s, about 30% of households were cost-burdened both in 1990 and 2000. High MSA median income was correlated with a greater shortage of reasonably priced housing. Neither economic growth rate nor poverty rate nor population growth rate distinguished high-shortage MSAs from low-shortage ones. Large MSAs and MSAs in the West had greater shortages than other MSAs. Economic prosperity did not alleviate the problem of lack of reasonably priced housing in the past, and is not likely to do so in the near future. Planners and policy-makers need to enact new policies at local, regional, state, and federal levels to effectively address America’s chronic affordable housing shortage.

The TUM Accessibility Atlas: Visualizing Spatial and Socioeconomic Disparities in Accessibility to Support Regional Land-Use and Transport Planning

In recent years, the city of Munich has become more crowded due to its strong job market and its popularity as a tourist destination, resulting in a shortage of affordable housing and a strained transport network. It became evident that the city of Munich could not solve these problems alone, and would need close cooperation with neighboring municipalities that considered the various stakeholders. In 2007, this resulted in the formation of the Metropolitan Region of Munich, home to nearly six million people from 27 counties and 6 large cities, and includes 158 participating institutions. In 2009, the TUM Accessibility Atlas was developed for this newly formed region after numerous discussions with a variety of regional stakeholders who described their needs in assessing land-use and transport measures. The major task of this tool was to meet these needs and support this diverse region find a common regional identity.

Evidence Matters: Spring 2018

Local zoning and land use regulations, as well as “not in my backyard” opposition, the focus of this edition of Evidence Matters, increase development costs and contribute to a shortage of affordable housing in many places that desperately need it. Density limitations, height restrictions, and parking requirements, among other rules, limit the amount of land available for development, driving up land prices. Lengthy permitting and approval processes and community hearings create costly delays and uncertainty for developers. Consequently, less affordable housing is constructed, and the price of the housing that is built increases. Not only do renters end up paying higher prices, many becoming cost burdened, but economic growth is also stifled when workers cannot afford to live in places where they can be most productive. This issue examines some of the policies and practices that state and local governments are implementing to address the many regulatory barriers to affordable housing.

Optimizing prefabricated construction techniques in UAE as a solution to shortage of middle-income housing

Housing is a major subject in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, JLL, the world’s leading real estate investment and advisory firm, highlights the social and economic impact of a marked shortfall in the required supply of middle-income housing, suggesting that significant efforts are needed to address the current imbalance. For an equal standard and life style in UAE and KSA, the gap of sale and rent prices raises many questions. The middle-income sector of the market represent almost 40 percent of all households in the UAE. Several factors that have contributed to the current shortage of affordable housing, high land values, High capital costs for associated infrastructure development, low adoption of prefabricated construction techniques have contributed to higher construction costs, lower financial returns, making such developments less attractive for developers, limited access to suitable finance for low income families, due to generally immature mortgage markets. Resolving the shortage of middle-income housing requires a concentrated effort involving government agencies, private developers and other stakeholders. This Study will investigate the UAE Housing market to propose solutions for a better progress of the precast sector and focusing on the promotion of sustainable and industrial approaches to construction.

The Kerner Commission and the Irony of Antiracist Politics

The Kerner Commission and the Irony of Antiracist Politics

Building Affordable Housing in Urban Malaysia: Economic and Institutional Challenges to Housing Developers

Affordable housing has become an important issue with the greatest need being in urban centres. Currently, an increase in urban population growth is higher than the supply of affordable housing, and this has resulted in a severe shortage of affordable housing as house builders are unable to construct houses at prices which are low enough for urban middle income households. Despite efforts by the Malaysian government to launch homeownership schemes for first-time homebuyers, most private housing developers might not be motivated to participate in these schemes. One of the major reasons for the disappointing supply affordable house under these schemes is mainly due to institutional and economic issueslinked to the construction of such houses in the country. This paper looks at the challenges facing private housing developers in affordable housing provision and makes recommendations to address housing affordability in the country.

How affordable housing becomes more sustainable? A stakeholder study

Rapid urbanization poses a significant challenge of accommodating the poor, particularly in developing countries such as China where affordable housing has only been initiated a few years ago and will continue to be developed in the coming years. Two major considerations in affordable housing programs are cost and time, as the ability to meet the needs of low-income households is the main target of these programs. However, it is not a common strategy to address affordable housing shortage by means of incorporating sustainability features. One of critical issues is the lack of sustainability framework to integrate sustainability in affordable housing. This paper aims to identify the key sustainability performance indicators (KSPIs) which are useful to guide the development of affordable housing. A preliminary list of 42 key sustainability performance indicators of affordable housing was identified through an extensive literature review. This was followed by a questionnaire survey to solicit the professional views from three stakeholder groups, namely government, developers and academics in the Chinese construction industry. Via the fuzzy set theory and variance analysis, 24 KSPIs were finally highlighted. These findings provide useful references for policy makers as well as industry practitioners to develop affordable housing programs in a sustainable manner. This helps to achieve the sustainable development at the regional scale.