Demand For Affordable Housing Research Articles

Dynamic financial modeling and feasibility studies for affordable housing policies: A conceptual synthesis

The escalating demand for affordable housing necessitates innovative approaches to financial modeling and feasibility analysis to ensure the success and sustainability of housing policies. This abstract presents a conceptual synthesis of dynamic financial modeling and feasibility studies, exploring their pivotal role in shaping effective affordable housing policies. Dynamic financial modeling involves creating flexible and adaptive financial models that account for varying economic conditions, policy changes, and market fluctuations. These models are essential for predicting financial outcomes, assessing the viability of housing projects, and guiding investment decisions. By incorporating real-time data and scenario analysis, dynamic financial models help stakeholders understand potential risks and opportunities, enabling more informed decision-making. Key components of dynamic financial modeling include cash flow analysis, sensitivity testing, and scenario planning, which together provide a comprehensive view of a project's financial viability over time. Feasibility studies complement financial modeling by evaluating the practical aspects of affordable housing projects, such as site selection, regulatory compliance, and market demand. These studies assess the alignment of housing projects with community needs and regulatory requirements, ensuring that proposed developments are both feasible and beneficial. Feasibility studies often include market analysis, cost estimates, and risk assessments, providing a detailed understanding of project constraints and opportunities. The synthesis of dynamic financial modeling and feasibility studies offers a robust framework for evaluating affordable housing policies. It allows for the integration of financial projections with practical considerations, ensuring that policies are not only economically viable but also aligned with social and regulatory objectives. Case studies from various regions demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach in identifying successful strategies and addressing common challenges. In conclusion, dynamic financial modeling and feasibility studies are crucial tools for developing and implementing effective affordable housing policies. They provide a comprehensive understanding of financial and practical dimensions, facilitating informed decision-making and enhancing the sustainability and impact of affordable housing initiatives. This conceptual synthesis underscores the importance of integrating these methodologies to achieve long-term success in addressing housing affordability challenges. Keywords: Policies, Affordable Housing, Feasibility Studies, Dynamic Financial Modeling, conceptual Synthesis.

Exploring inhibiting factors to affordable housing provision in Lagos metropolitan city, Nigeria

Different inhibiting factors have affected the need for affordable housing provisions to keep pace with the increase in urbanisation and population growth, leading to the non-availability of desirable, affordable housing goals for low-income earners. Unfortunately, these inhibiting factors continue to create challenges that affect affordable housing development for low-income earners. Hence, this study examines the inhibiting factors affecting affordable housing provisions using Lagos metropolitan city, Nigeria, as a case study exemplar. A quantitative research design was employed, using the survey to collect data from the target populations of low-income earners in Lagos, Nigeria, through a purposive sampling technique with a high response rate of 75.3%. Descriptive and exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the retrieved data and Cronbach’s alpha test to determine data reliability and interrelatedness. Thirty-seven identified inhibiting factors of affordable housing provisions were clustered into seven components: problems with affordable land and security of tenure; socioeconomic constraints; problems with conventional materials and technologies; unpredictable internal factors; absence of innovative framework and supply chain; absent of community collaboration and external economic factors; and urbanisation factors. The implications of the study findings provide a better understanding of land tenureship, improved social inclusion, community-based stakeholder collaboration, standardisation of indigenous construction materials and technologies utilisation, and housing policy reforms to alleviate the shortage of affordable housing delivery in metropolitan cities. The study recommends successful implementations of affordable housing provisions hinged on an innovative housing framework and affordable supply chain through design, standardisation of non-conventional materials and technologies utilisation and social inclusion. The study’s conclusion gives housing stakeholders, realtors, policymakers, and government agencies the ability to understand and implement strategies to overcome socioeconomic constraints, land security of tenure, and urbanisation factors to predict and improve affordable housing demand and supply in metropolitan cities.

Embodied Energy and Thermal Performance of Alternate Walling Materials in Affordable Housing in the Composite Climate of Delhi

Meeting the affordable housing shortage in India in a short time has its environmental and social challenges. It not only requires huge resources but is also a big social responsibility to provide economical and comfortable housing for the marginalized section of society. Improper selection of construction materials may lead to the locking up of massive energy as embodied energy of materials and uncomfortable indoor living conditions. The present study focuses on the need for consideration of both embodied energy and thermal performance in the selection of materials for the building envelope in naturally ventilated affordable housing in India. Walling materials form a major part of the building envelope and thus it's crucial to assess their performance. This paper presents an analysis of embodied energy and thermal performance of fly ash Bricks, AAC blocks, and RCC precast panels as walling options in comparison to conventional walling material of burnt clay brick in the composite climate zone of Delhi. This analysis is being carried out for the alternate walling solutions in practice or emerging for mid to high-rise EWS housing construction in this region. The embodied energy values per cubic meter are compared for each wall assembly for the lifecycle stage cradle to gate. Thermal simulation results are presented in terms of indoor operative temperatures achieved by each wall type material and compared with the comfort temperature range prescribed by the comfort model IMAC-R, 2022 to find out the ‘discomfort degree hours’. The results of the study underscore the suitability of fly ash bricks and AAC blocks as sustainable alternatives due to their lower embodied energy compared to traditional burnt clay bricks base case. Fly ash bricks even outperform the base case in terms of thermal comfort. The study discourages the use of burnt clay bricks due to very high embodied energy. The study also strongly discourages the use of RCC panels in the composite climate as they exhibit both poor thermal comfort and high embodied energy. The study findings would help government agencies to make environmentally and socially conscious decisions about the use of walling materials on a large scale in meeting the affordable housing demand.

INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE ON THE TRANSITION TO ECO-FRIENDLY SINGLE-FAMILY HOMES

As the global climate continues to change, countries across the world face a critical challenge in balancing sustainable construction, lowering construction costs, and increasing housing affordability and the United States is no exception. Since the U.S. building sector is a major contributor to CO2 and other greenhouse gases emissions, it necessitates the adoption of eco-friendly construction practices, which may increase construction costs. On the other hand, with the persistent yet increasing demand for affordable housing, it is imperative to navigate these concurrent issues efficiently. The challenges of climate-friendly buildings, affordable construction, and housing costs come together in a complex way. Ensuring that housing is both environmentally friendly and affordable for everyone, a deep understanding and innovative ideas are essential. The overarching goal of this study is two-fold. First, it aims to understand how the building industry in the state of Massachusetts, U.S. is addressing the transition to building more eco-friendly single-family homes. Second, it looks at the construction costs associated with building these energy-efficient homes by obtaining real estimates from subcontractors. Through these steps, this study offers a clear picture of the challenges and opportunities in an effort to provide housing that is both energy-efficient and affordable.

INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE ON THE TRANSITION TO ECO-FRIENDLY SINGLE-FAMILY HOMES

As the global climate continues to change, countries across the world face a critical challenge in balancing sustainable construction, lowering construction costs, and increasing housing affordability and the United States is no exception. Since the U.S. building sector is a major contributor to CO2 and other greenhouse gases emissions, it necessitates the adoption of eco-friendly construction practices, which may increase construction costs. On the other hand, with the persistent yet increasing demand for affordable housing, it is imperative to navigate these concurrent issues efficiently. The challenges of climate-friendly buildings, affordable construction, and housing costs come together in a complex way. Ensuring that housing is both environmentally friendly and affordable for everyone, a deep understanding and innovative ideas are essential. The overarching goal of this study is two-fold. First, it aims to understand how the building industry in the state of Massachusetts, U.S. is addressing the transition to building more eco-friendly single-family homes. Second, it looks at the construction costs associated with building these energy-efficient homes by obtaining real estimates from subcontractors. Through these steps, this study offers a clear picture of the challenges and opportunities in an effort to provide housing that is both energy-efficient and affordable.

Analysing the Potential of Neighbourhoods in Sustainable Development: A Systematic Review of Interventions

Between 1950 and 2018, the global urban population spiralled four-fold from about 0.8 billion accounting for just 30% of the total world population to 4.2 billion in 2018 with a 55.3% share in the world population. At present, it is estimated that 57.4% of the total global population is urban and is projected to cross 60% by 2030. Given the growth and scale of urbanization, this brings forth irreversible challenges, limiting land and water resources at its disposal. This makes it difficult to meet the increasing demand for affordable housing and viable infrastructure besides other challenges. In this context, the local-level planning and development approaches that have been experimented with globally are studied to understand the potential of neighbourhoods in sustainable development. The authors conducted a systematic literature review based on the SCOPUS database to identify relevant scholarly literature. The study identified the most significant associations within various domains based on phased iterations with the VOSviewer analyser tool to gain confirmatory results. The study has explored planning interventions at the neighbourhood level that would assist in sustainable development. The article concludes that there is a lot of scope for stakeholders to channel their efforts innovatively for leveraging the potential of neighbourhoods in sustainable development.

Reshaping concrete

Less Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs) struggle to meet the demand for affordable housing in their growing cities. There are several reasons for this, but a major constraint is the high cost of construction materials. In LEDCs, material costs can constitute 60 to 80 percent of the total cost of residential construction. Nonetheless, their construction mimics the materially inefficient practices of the More Economically Developed Countries (MEDCs), which were developed to reduce labor over material costs. As a result, prismatic beams and flat slabs are often used despite their structural inefficiency. The mounting use of steel-reinforced concrete structures in LEDC cities also raises concern for the environmental costs of construction; construction accounts for 20-30 percent of LEDC carbon emissions. This research addresses these challenges with a flexible and accessible methodology for the design and analysis of materially efficient concrete elements that may reduce the economic and environmental costs of urban construction. Designed for the constraints of LEDCs, structural elements are optimized to reduce the embodied carbon associated with the concrete and reinforcing steel while resisting the required loads of a standard building structure. The optimization method includes a novel approach to 3D-shape parameterization, as well as a decoupled analytical engineering analysis method that accounts for the key failure modes and constraints of reinforced concrete design. This method is then built into an open-source toolkit, combined with machine learning for real-time analysis and visualization, and tested using lab- and full-scale prototypes. The goal of this research is to present several generalizable methods that are applicable and accessible to LEDC building designers. These methods can enable the design of concrete elements for multiple performance criteria such as structural behavior, acoustic transmission, and thermal mass. They can also enable an accessible design practice through machine learning, real-time iterative workflows, and visualization tools that include the end-user in the architectural design process. This paper provides a high-level overview of ongoing research that explores how materially efficient design methods might enable sustainable development through low-cost, low-carbon concrete structural systems for affordable housing in LEDCs.

Modelling Housing Demand Factors for Affordable Units in Malaysia

The Malaysian government is prioritizing the development of affordable housing units to cater to the needs of the underprivileged. However, it is not sufficient to merely meet the required number of units; it is crucial for developers to understand the actual demand for affordable housing in urban areas. This is because even middle-class homebuyershave their own preferences when it comes to purchasing a home at an affordable price. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the current demand attributes that contribute to the affordable housing demand model in urban areas, using Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia asa case study. Data was collected from 400 potential buyers of affordable housing units, and 25 significant attributes of housing demand were examined. Partial Least Square Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to develop the housing demand model. The findings revealed that a total of five factors with nine attributes in housing demand significantly contribute to the affordable housing demand model in urban areas, as determined by the coefficient’sdetermination, path coefficient, effect size, and predictive relevance towards endogenous variables of housing demand.Overall, the result has confirmed that government intervention has play major role in supporting affordable housing development and at the same time has encourage the potential buyer form the right group to have their own house at affordable price.

Effective affordable housing strategies for the urban poor in Nigeria

Providing affordable housing (AH) in a suitable manner has continued to be a global challenge despite various research attempts and policy interventions, suggesting a need for innovativeness in affordable housing provision. Review of literature exposes a mismatch between AH demand and what is supplied. A pragmatic approach to AH provision warrants an investigation of the urban poor, being targets of AH interventions. To achieve this, this study examined the urban poor to diligently explore their informal housing strategies. 40 randomly selected respondents were interviewed from the 5 strata of largest slums in Lagos, Nigeria. Following a descriptive, content and thematic analyses of data, findings are that there are concealed and untapped resources within the housing strategies of the urban poor that may inform suitable affordable housing provision approaches. Findings are that suitable rent for housing the urban poor should not exceed $9 per month, rental housing is more suitable for the urban poor than homeownership, incremental housing, use of cheaper construction materials, adopting alternative housing approaches such as shared housing, convertible homes and hostels are suitable housing construction strategies. Suitable housing financing strategies will be modifying their existent housing finance means among other essential findings. This study provides insights into informally devised housing strategies of settlers in the slums of Lagos. Data from this study may benefit policymakers and are useful for future studies on pro-poor housing provision. Study recommended that the informal strategies of the urban poor can be improved, institutionalized and incorporated into housing policies to achieve effective and sustainable affordable housing provision for the urban poor in developing economies.

Die Prognose von Wohnungsnachfrage und Wohnungsangebot

Steadily rising costs for housing combined with a persistently high demand for affordable housing indicate that it is necessary to project housing supply and demand on a continual basis. This information supports decision-making in planning practice and for private investors so that the supply of households with housing can be secured in a timely manner. Various projection models can be found in the international literature. However, a conceptually oriented overview of the existing models and the underlying approaches is missing. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to systematise and evaluate different projection approaches in order to enable decision-making regarding the appropriate projection approach for the respective task. Two fundamentally different projection approaches emerge: component models and functional models. Component models divide the modelling of housing demand and supply into individual modules that work independently of each other. The modules interact via standardised interfaces in which output variables of the preceding module are transferred as input variables to the following module. Module-specific algorithms are used, which usually apply average ratios and rates. Functional models are based on an integrated concept in which input variables are functionally linked to output variables using multivariate statistical methods. The variables together with the model equations form an integral unit, so that individual parts of the model cannot be exchanged without altering the implemented correlations. The range of methods is broad and goes far beyond simple linear regression models. English title: The projection of housing supply and demand – a conceptual overview of projection models

Die Bereitstellung von leistbarem Wohnraum in Zeiten der Wohnkrise

Limited-profit housing associations are established players in Vienna’s housing market. The exorbitant rise in land and construction costs in recent years and increasing demand for affordable housing have far-reaching implications for the provision of affordable housing in Vienna. These developments are causing shifts not only in the housing market in general, but also within the nonprofit sector. This paper approaches these shifts at the level of limited-profit housing associations and examines a) which interpretations of affordability and related challenges can be found in the field of limited-profit housing, and b) which practices are applied in the provision of (affordable) housing. Empirically, the article draws on interviews with board members, managing directors and project developers from the limited-profit housing sector, which were conducted between 2020 and 2021. Finally, implications for the limited-profit sector in Vienna and for the provision of (affordable) housing are discussed. English title: The provision of affordable housing in times of the housing crisis. Interpretations and practices of the non-profit sector in Vienna

Housing as critical social and economic infrastructure: A decision-making framework

Housing is an important social and economic asset for society. However, increasing costs of living and demand for affordable housing is outpacing supply in Australia. Governments and housing providers, particularly community housing providers, are grappling with these challenges. This paper discusses steps towards building a more rigorous, evidence-based approach for social and affordable housing provision in Australia. It is proposed that housing be considered like other critical social and economic infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and civil infrastructure (i.e., roadways). The paper presents findings of Australian industry-led social and affordable housing research undertaken between 2014 to 2020. Past and current research findings inform the decision-making framework, including: (i) a productivity-based conceptual framework; (ii) the establishment of nine impact domains including meaningful and measurable outcomes and indicators; (iii) a composite return on investment approach which addresses the broader benefits of access to safe and secure housing; and (iv) thirteen elements being used to map the complex and integrated social and affordable housing network. The emergent decision-making framework resulting from this longitudinal study will be a critical tool for government and social and affordable housing providers to achieve economically and socially sustainable outcomes.

A Circular and Bio-based Renovation Strategy for Low-income Neighbourhoods

The impact of climate change is expected to increase in the following decade. Possible effects on the built environment are identified as urban heat stress, air pollution, extreme weather conditions, etc. As a result, there is an increase in disease and mortality specifically in the cities among the vulnerable citizens such as elderly people and children. Moreover, many cities worldwide are in the evolution of urbanization which leads to increased carbon emissions as well as a demand for more material production and waste. Consequently, the construction industry embodies great potential for reaching the energy and carbon mitigation goals. For regeneration of the built environment, the European directives requires for the renovation of existing building stock as quick as possible. In Flemish context, cities stimulate renovation projects on a systematic and planned basis, by defining ‘urban renovation districts’ which received special financial facilities and subsidizing. Consequently, there is a growing demand for affordable housing in combination with a shortage of qualitative and energy efficient housing opportunities. In the last decades, there has been an intensive effort to develop different retrofit strategies, but there is a lack of comprehensive approach that delivers innovative technical solutions such as circular and bio-based construction methods as a solution to the increased housing demand of vulnerable people. For this purpose, this study combines the efforts of two initiatives, (1) Interreg Circular Bio-Based Construction Industry (CBCI) and (2) the innovative financial policy instrument of subsidy retention for low-income groups (refers to citizens living in poor quality houses with insufficient economic means & social skills to renovate). The study has the ambition to explore the coherence between technical, economical, legal, social aspects for circular urban retrofit strategies. Circular building materials and methods were developed and tested in real-life setting with construction of a prototype living lab (LL) in Technology Campus, Ghent. Depending on the results from the LL, an urban renewal strategy for Flemish districts is proposed by using subsidy retention on macro-economic and social level. The scenario is envisaged as a collective approach with the local community in which the vulnerable users also benefit as direct participants to the research.

Application of TOPSIS Method for Alternate Construction Technology Selection for Efficient Performance of Sustainable and Affordable Housing

India’s Urban Population has grown over the past 3-4 decades from 109 million in 1971 to 377 million in 2011 and is expected to grow to almost 600 million by 2030. This influx of population is causing an increased demand for affordable housing in urban areas. There are numerous parameters that need to be considered for selection of these technologies to make the project economically viable which is the utmost priority for Affordable Housing. Accounting to the post occupancy affordability of housing, sustainability must be incorporated to help reduce the overall life cycle costing of the building simultaneously ensuring a comfortable and affordable living for LIG and EWS. The framework was developed using the method of “Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS)”, which helps identify the best ACT for a particular project by analyzing its closeness to the Ideal Solution. The attempt is to make the decision making of technology selection efficient considering the possible risk and for ensuring that the project meets the criteria of affordability in the truest sense.

An Affordable Identity—Customisation Prior to Housing Construction in Australia

This paper presents a study that explores an affordable housing scheme which allows customisation prior to construction for owner-occupiers. Due to ongoing concerns about the economic fallout caused by the COVID-19 pandemic affecting large populations, the demand for affordable housing is increasing. In particular, low-income households continue to struggle with unaffordable rents throughout major Australian cities. Assailed by this growing affordability crisis and deemed environmentally unsustainable, Australian suburbs are in need of revitalisation. The implementation of mass customisation solutions can heighten the sense of identity within a community and also significantly increase occupant satisfaction. However, presently, there is a lack of studies discussing the financial model and design of affordable mass customisation solutions for housing. To address that gap, this paper employs the method of case studies by analysing five relevant cases from the perspectives of affordability and customisation. The results of this study indicate that there is great room for future improvement in what is currently claimed to be defined as affordable housing, in terms of both affordability and customisation. These results will potentially assist and provide guidance to future architects, developers and planners.

Examining informal housing supply through rent gap analysis: An empirical study of sub-divided units in Hong Kong

This study examines informal housing supply factors through rent gap analysis. Gentrification brings displacement implication, especially for households in the lower end of the housing market. Serious affordability problem excludes households from formal housing sector. Informal housing often emerges when formal market cannot fully respond to affordable housing demand. Incentive for property owners to supply lower-cost units by informal means e.g. apartment subdivision for higher rental return is created with the rent gap between informality and formality. It is largely attributed to quasi-rent which is temporary in nature. Meanwhile, renters' housing needs are met by forgoing living space and housing facilities. Informal housing supply leads to displacement of original incumbents and inflow of lower-income class. With assistance of local non-governmental organizations, this study examines informal housing supply determinant based on a case study of sub-divided units (SDUs), which are Hong Kong's key informal housing component. Rent gap size, disinvestment conditions and accessibility of the apartments are found to be key SDU supply factors. The results could be generalized to other cities with serious housing unaffordability and informal housing arrangements. Implications are also drawn from the results for future affordable housing supply and social welfare policy implementation.

Collective Housing in Belgium and the Netherlands: A Comparative Analysis

Collective housing (CH) is undergoing a revival in Belgium. Since 2009, the Flemish Government Architect and his team have been advocating CH, stressing its importance as a task for architects given the demand for affordable housing and the need to reduce the environmental impact of housing. This support for CH has converged with the work of the non-profit citizen organization Samenhuizen<em> </em>(“Living together”) and the ad hoc initiatives taken by individual households and architects. In the Netherlands too, where there is a longer tradition of CH, the phenomenon is once more on the rise because of the housing crisis. As it is a developing topic, the terminology used for CH is also evolving. Drawing on publications on the subject in both Belgium and the Netherlands as well as on interviews with relevant stakeholders, this article sheds light on two widely published cases in both countries (pioneering and current, greenfield and conversion). These cases are compared in regard to thematic areas, based on an extensive literature study on collaborative housing by Lang et al. (2018). In addition to such aspects as the balance between “individuality” and the “collective,” we compare the role played by architects in both countries. Besides similarities, we show that the historical context, and especially the housing policy of each country, has a great influence and that the role of the architect is essential in the development of older and contemporary cohousing projects.

Improvements in Financing Could Increase the Single-Family Affordable Housing Supply

The United States faces a shortage of housing supply, estimated to be millions of units. This shortage is especially acute in the affordable sector. Although the causes of the supply shortage are many, we focus on one major set of constraints: financing. In particular, we focus on how to improve financing for the three types of affordable single-family housing where we see the most potential: manufactured housing (MH), accessory dwelling units (ADUs), and housing preservation. We argue that these financing issues constrain production; improving financing will grow consumer demand for affordable housing and preservation and prompt builders and manufacturers to respond by increasing supply. Finally, we try to quantify the potential impact in each of these areas to increase housing supply. Overcoming these financing hurdles would remove a major roadblock facing MH, ADU, and housing preservation and allow for the addition of a significant number of units of affordable housing supply.

How Many Rental Households Need Affordable Housing Policies?

The purpose of this study is to examine rental housing affordability to verify the determinant for rental housing affordability. Furthermore we measure the relative marginal change of overall demand of affordable housing as we adopt a standard of living from advanced countries such as U.K. and Japan. Using Residual Income Approach and Housing Quality Approach, we measure the number of total 1.5 million household are in need of affordable housing policy. Also we measure total 0.41 million household are counted as a group necessary for affordable housing policy. The income effect has positive impact on this measure which implies an increased income in each household decreases a possibility to be in a group necessary for affordable housing policy. If we assume a standard of living from advanced countries such as UK, and Japan, the percentage of group necessary for affordable housing policy has increased by 3% and 6%, respectively. We conclude that it is important to specifically measure the rental housing affordability in order to provide a necessary various affordable housing policy.

Renovating on Unequal Premises: A Normative Framework for a Just Renovation Wave in Swedish Multifamily Housing

While the energy transition of the EU housing stock is now being intensified with the launch of the Renovation Wave, economic inequalities are increasing in many OECD countries, which has effects on housing-related inequalities and the demand of affordable housing. The Renovation Wave is thus an opportunity to improve housing quality for low-income households, but also entails risks for increased rents. In Sweden, the standard of housing is relatively high and energy poverty in multifamily housing is rare, meaning that there are limited social benefits to be achieved from extensive energy retrofitting; moreover, Sweden lacks a social housing sector, which limits protection of the worst-off residents. This paper thus explores whether the limited social benefits of the Renovation Wave weigh up against the risks that it entails for the worst-off in the Swedish context. This is done within a normative framework for just energy transitioning that is developed within the context of the Renovation Wave and increasing economic inequalities, consisting of four ordered principles: (1) The equal treatment principle; (2) The priority principle; (3) The efficiency principle; and (4) The principle of procedural fairness. Analysis showed that to be considered just according to our framework, the Swedish energy transition of housing should, in contradistinction to what is suggested in the Renovation Wave, limit the imposition of extensive energy retrofitting in low-income areas. Finally, having identified a mismatch between the most effective approaches in terms of energy savings and the most acceptable approaches in terms of social justice, we offer policy recommendations on how to bridge this mismatch in a Swedish context.