Housing Costs Research Articles

Flash Flood-Resilient House Design: A Step towards Climate Adaptation

Traditional and amphibious houses situate their foundation on the ground or at a certain height and commonly do not anticipate the rapid increase in water level during flash floods, which can damage the structure. The study aims to design a flash flood-resilient house and estimate the construction cost. Archimedes' buoyancy principle is applied to allow the structure to float in times of flash flood. The buoyant component, EPS Geofoam, is attached to each of the structure's columns, encased by a retaining wall and lightweight materials such as bamboo panels are used for the structural parts carried by the buoyant component. With this, the flash flood-resilient house design can elevate from its stationary position, 1.5 m above the ground up to 3 m, making it a credible design based on the National Structural Code of the Philippines (NSCP) 2015 and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Moreover, the flash flood-resilient house design is 47% more expensive than the traditional housing cost, although the future expense from house reconstruction after flash floods makes it an economical approach. Thus, implementing the flash flood-resilient house design advances climate adaptation as it caters to the threat of flash floods and ensures safety.

Predicting the longitudinal patterns of housing affordability stress: Evidence from the Korea Welfare Panel Study

As housing costs increase faster than salary and wage growth worldwide, housing affordability stress (HAS) becomes an increasingly crucial urban problem. However, little evidence exists on under what preconditions HAS experiences are likely to be persistent. This study examines the predictors of chronic forms of HAS experiences in the Korean housing market, characterized by a unique tenure system represented by Jeonse renting (i.e., renting only with a security deposit) and severe regional disparities between the Capital region and the rest of the country. After classifying the longitudinal patterns of HAS between 2011 and 2020, we examine under which preconditions between 2007 and 2010 households were likely to experience chronic forms of HAS. The results reveal that certain combinations of household income, housing tenure choice, and location of residence significantly heighten the probability of experiencing chronic forms of HAS. This study contributes to the literature by highlighting the importance of the longitudinal view of HAS experiences and expanding knowledge about the potential mechanisms that drive chronic forms of HAS.

Landlord opposition to rent control and the politics of class monopoly rent

Housing costs have soared in the United States and beyond in recent years, leading to growing calls for rent control among tenant rights advocates and legislators. This push to enact rent control has been met with substantial opposition by landlord associations, an opposition which is mobilized by long-standing arguments by economists rooted in neo-classical economic principles. The article extends existing criticism of one particular facet of this opposition: the argument that rent control will only worsen any housing crisis as rents increase due to landlords actively reducing supply. We argue that this argument amounts to the pursuit of something that mainstream economists have long ignored or disavowed to counter-act the intended purpose of rent control: class monopoly rent. By drawing on evidence from the statewide rent control legislation passed in Oregon in 2019, we engage with scholarship on the sociology of housing markets and Marxian rent theory to reveal that landlords acting as a collective voice through landlord associations to advance this argument effectively constitutes the discursive deployment of class monopoly power as a political strategy to lobby against tenant rights proponents. As such, we argue that landlords effectively engage in a “politics of class monopoly rent” which functions as a discursive weapon against tenant rights activists and low-income renters otherwise held captive in unaffordable housing markets. We offer this article as a resource for tenant rights activists and legislators who must inevitably confront this opposition in the process of mobilizing rent control legislation.

중·고령가구의 은퇴 이후 주거모델 선호 연구

This study conducted a survey of middle-aged and elderly households aged 55 or older to study their preferences for post-retirement residential models, and asked to choose their preferred model among four residential models(elderly welfare housing(silver town), community housing, and in-home service and living at home). The analysis results are summarized as follows. First, different residential models were selected depending on the lifestyle, assets, monthly income, and demographic characteristics of middle-aged and elderly households, which shows that the development and supply of various residential models is necessary. Second, in order to provide a practical residential model after retirement, it is necessary to present alternatives by considering the level of housing costs that middle-class households can pay. Third, as the proportion of respondents who did not want to move to senior housing was high, there is a need to expand in-home service that allow people to receive living support and health care services while living at home. These results can provide implications as basic research when establishing senior housing policies, and are expected to contribute to expanding housing choice opportunities for middle-aged and elderly households.

DESIGN OF QUICK-ASSEMBLY MODULAR BUILDINGS FOR THE NEEDS OF UKRAINIAN DISPLACED PERSONS

Problem statement. From time to time, natural or man-made disasters (floods, fires) occur in various parts of the world, during which residential and infrastructure objects are completely or partially destroyed. Due to the destruction of houses, detached or multi-storey, as a result of hostilities, people are forced to leave their destroyed buildings and look for temporary accommodation. Unfortunately, due to the open military aggression of the Russian Federation that began in February 2014 on the territory of the Republic of Crimea and the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and the second, more intensive phase of military operations from February 2022 on the territory of ten regions of Ukraine (Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr, Kyiv regions). In the territory of the specified regions, during the hostilities, the housing stock of some cities and villages suffered significant destruction (Mariupol, Irpin, Gostomel, Bucha), in addition, there are a large number of families who are forced migrants fleeing from the temporarily occupied territories. At present, it is important to design a separate residential modular building from the available building materials on the Ukrainian market and in accordance with current building, climatological and sanitary norms of Ukraine. The aim of this work is to design an economical autonomous modular building from publicly available building materials, which will meet state building standards for reliability, energy efficiency and sanitation. Conclusions. A modular building has been designed that meets all the necessary modern reliability criteria. Local public building materials are used for the construction of the building, which significantly reduces the total cost. The construction of the house is made in factory conditions, and the erection is carried out on site within 2 days. The building is designed to be collapsible, which allows it to be moved for repeated use. The cost of a modular house is UAH 146,808. (as of May 2022). The low cost of construction is relevant in the period of weakening of the economic capacities of the state.

Housing affordability indicators and the sustainability paradigm in OECD countries

The present study aimed to analyse the housing affordability indicators (HAI) and sustainability paradigm (SP) of 23 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries for the period of 2010–2019. The study used different estimators to overcome the heterogeneity and endogeneity problems of panel data and adopted many diagnostic tests to increase robustness. The findings of panel least square, generalized least square, and instrumental variables of the two-stage least squares regression approach showed that three HAI proxies - households' housing-related expenditures, housing costs, and housing market proxies - had a significant positive impact on the sustainability paradigm. In contrast, the final two HAI proxies - housing allowance and housing quality – significantly negatively impacted the sustainability paradigm. Regarding the control variables, population density had a significant positive impact on the sustainability paradigm indicators. However, GDP per capita growth had a significant negative impact on most of the sustainability paradigm indicators. The main conclusion is that decision-makers should prioritize making housing more affordable. This could be achieved by controlling rents and low-cost buildings. The OECD should explore alternative methods of support, such as providing low-interest loans or targeted assistance, to help families bear housing costs without negatively impacting their financial sustainability.

Assessment of the Impact of Migration Processes on Pricing in the Residential Real Estate Market in the Russian Federation

The dynamics of the housing construction industry can be seen as an indicator of the level of social and economic development of the country. The attractiveness of residential real estate is largely determined by price availability for the population. However, it is important to consider demographic factors. Therefore, the study assessed the effects of migration, along with parameters such as salary dynamics, mortgage lending and construction volumes of the Russian Federation. The purpose of the study is to justify the importance of migration dynamics to change the value of residential real estate. The subject of study is the existence of dependence of migration processes and pricing dynamics taking into account additional parameters of the country’s economy. The object of the study is pricing in the residential real estate market in Russia. Research methods are vector autoregression models (standard and Bayesian ones). Monthly data of official statistics for Russia for 2011–2021 as well as scientific articles and published studies of employees of the Bank of Russia were used as the information base. The initial hypothesis of the study is that the factor of migration significantly affects the final indicator of the cost of housing. The analysis made it possible to determine the importance of factors that have a sustainable long-term impact on the dynamics of prices in the residential real estate market.

Severe housing cost burden and premature mortality from cancer.

Unaffordable housing has been associated with poor health. We investigated the relationship between severe housing cost burden and premature cancer mortality (death before 65 years of age) overall and by Medicaid expansion status. County-level severe housing cost burden was measured by the percentage of households that spend 50% or more of their income on housing. States were classified on the basis of Medicaid expansion status (expanded, late-expanded, nonexpanded). Mortality-adjusted rate ratios were estimated by cancer type across severe housing cost burden quintiles. Compared with the lowest quintile of severe housing cost burden, counties in the highest quintile had a 5% greater cancer mortality rate (mortality-adjusted rate ratio = 1.05, 95% confidence interval = 1.01 to 1.08). Within each severe housing cost burden quintile, cancer mortality rates were greater in states that did not expand Medicaid, though this association was significant only in the fourth quintile (mortality-adjusted rate ratio = 1.08, 95% confidence interval = 1.03 to 1.13). Our findings demonstrate that counties with greater severe housing cost burden had higher premature cancer death rates, and rates are potentially greater in non-Medicaid-expanded states than Medicaid-expanded states.

Winter housing systems and costs of sheep production in Norway

Housing and indoor feeding of sheep is required throughout the cold season, which can last more than half a year, in Nordic highlands and Alpine regions. This study aimed to examine and evaluate the housing costs, including labour requirements, according to type of sheep housing system and degree of mechanized feeding by investigating systems commonly used in Nordic and Alpine regions. Detailed cost data were obtained from 61 surveyed sheep farmers in Norway with sheep houses built between the years 2008 and 2015. Costs were calculated for a baseline scenario (2021-prices) as well as for five scenarios at low and high discount rates and opportunity cost of labour, and high energy prices. The median (interquartile range) flock size was 150 (100) winter-fed sheep. Houses with slatted floors were more expensive than deep-litter systems. Costs of bedding material and feed waste were however higher, and the net value of the manure were lower in houses with deep-litter systems. At the baseline assumptions, overall net housing costs per sheep was not statistically different among the main housing types studied. Multiple regression analyses showed that net housing costs per sheep were lower in larger flocks and for centrally located farms (control variables). Undertaking daily chores, such as feeding of roughages twice a day rather than once, resulted in significantly higher net housing costs. Mechanized feeding of roughages, and even more so for concentrates, were not economically justified since labour savings were not sufficient to pay for the additional capital costs. A round bale chopper lowered net housing costs, significantly at a high labour cost. None of the scenarios found slatted floors to be significantly more expensive than deep-litter systems. High costs of labour and capital favoured deep-litter systems, while slatted floor systems were more advantageous at rising prices of energy that resulted in increased values of organic manures and costs of feed wastes and bedding materials. The study was based on a decade old data from common Norwegian sheep house variants. Farmers that consider constructing a new sheep house today, still must compare these variants as their main alternatives. We encourage other researchers to include effects of housing systems and mechanized feeding on animal performance, health, and welfare. Moreover, future studies should preferably also be undertaken in other environmental or socio-economic settings to produce more general results.

Balancing Sustainability: An Analysis of Habitat for Humanity Affiliates in Mississippi

Non-profit organizations (NPOs) support economically disadvantaged communities by improving housing conditions and building homes, despite limited resources. With rising housing costs and poverty causing homelessness and poor housing quality, NPOs’ efforts are crucial. However, operating constraints (such as financial, policy, and others), often lead NPOs to prioritize initial costs over sustainability and environmental impacts. Therefore, this research investigated the adoption, implementation, and routinization patterns for sustainability and green efforts in Mississippi (US) by a leading NPO. The research used a two-phased combined design methodology, with the first phase involving explorative design that involved the identification of criteria that led to selecting the affiliates of Habitat for Humanity (HFH) as the unit of analysis. The selected NPO (HFH) had 38 affiliates across Mississippi, US, at the time of the study. The second phase involved a cross-sectional design, with data collected by utilizing a structured telephone survey. All collected data were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics, and thematic analysis. Twenty-five affiliates (66% response rate) participated in the study, and the results indicate that a small proportion of affiliates were actively adopting sustainability practices for projects constructed, and most were located in the southern part of the state. The research identified factors that lead to the routinization of sustainability practices, the most commonly used third-party benchmarking tools, and perceptions of NPOs towards such tools to evaluate the greenness of residential projects. Some crucial implications were identifying uneven project completion within HFH, limited adoption of green strategies, and perception of green certification as non-vital.

Housing cost burden and external causes of mortality: Variations across housing regimes in high-income countries, 2010–2020

ObjectivesWhile comparative studies reported that generous welfare state improves population health, they did not take into account the roles of housing as a cornerstone of welfare state. To reduce knowledge gaps, this study aims to estimate (a) the link between housing affordability stress and mortality rate due to external causes and (b) the moderating effects of housing regime on such association. MethodsUsing country level panel data from the databases of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), fixed effects were performed to estimate the effects of housing costs to income ratio on mortality rates due to external causes (accidents, intentional self-harm, and assault). Also, we tested whether housing regimes moderate the association between housing cost burden and mortality rate. ResultsAn increased level of housing cost burden predicted mortality rates due to accidents and intentional self-harm. Such association was pronounced for countries with higher rates of homeownership and limited access to market self-help. In addition, when homeownership rates and debt-to-income ratios are taken into account as time-varying variables, the elevated mortality risks associated with both increased housing cost burden and higher homeownership are mitigated in countries where debt relative to income increases. ConclusionOur findings suggest that different housing systems shape divergent patterns of mortality risks associated with housing affordability stress. Future studies may wish to incorporate housing in macro comparative studies on population health.

Homophily, selection, and choice in segregation models

Schelling's 1971 work on the dynamics of segregation showed that even a small degree of homophily, the desire to live among like neighbors, can lead to a starkly segregated population. One of the driving factors for this result is that the notion of homophily used is based on group identities that are exogenous and immutable. In contrast, we consider a homophily that arises from the desire to be with neighbors who are behaviorally similar, not necessarily those who have the same group identity. The distinction matters because behaviors are neither exogenous nor immutable but choices that can change as individuals adapt to their neighborhoods. We show that in such an environment, integration rather than segregation is the typical outcome. However, the tendency toward adaptation and integration can be impeded when economic frictions in the form of income inequality and housing cost are present.

Moving Because of Unaffordable Housing and Disrupted Social Safety Net Access Among Children.

To measure associations between residential moves because of unaffordable housing costs and disruptions in access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children; and Medicaid in a health care-based sample of families with young children. We used cross-sectional survey data on social safety net-eligible caregivers and children recruited into the Children's HealthWatch study from emergency departments and primary care clinics in Baltimore and Philadelphia (2011-2019). Children's HealthWatch measured residential moves (cost-driven and noncost-driven) in the past year and disruptions in safety net access. We used logistic regression to estimate associations between each type of move and disrupted access to social safety nets. Across 9344 children, cost-driven residential moves were associated with higher odds of disrupted access to at least 1 safety net program (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children; or Medicaid; adjusted odds ratio 1.44; 95% confidence interval 1.16-1.80), as well as higher odds of disruption to each program separately. Noncost-driven moves were also associated with disruptions to at least 1 safety net program, but less strongly so (adjusted odds ratio 1.14; confidence interval 1.01-1.29; P value for comparison with cost-driven = .045). Residential moves, particularly cost-driven moves, are associated with social safety net benefit disruptions. The association between these events suggests a need for action to ensure consistent safety net access among children facing cost-driven moves and vice versa (ie, access to housing supports for children with disrupted safety net access).

The dynamics of housing cost burden among renters in the United States

ABSTRACT Housing cost burden—defined as paying more than 30% of household income for housing—has become a central feature of the American stratification system with dire consequences for the health and well-being of adults and children living in burdened households. To date, existing research has largely focused on the overall prevalence and distribution of housing cost burden—that is, the percentage of households that are cost burdened at a given time and differences in exposure to housing cost burden based on race and income using cross-sectional sources of data. To more fully understand the dynamics of housing cost burden among renter households in the United States including the frequency and duration of spells, we use 50 years of longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). The analysis reveals that, in contrast to the episodic nature of poverty, housing cost burden is deep, frequent, and persistent for a growing share of American households.

Experimental Evidence Shows That Housing Vouchers Provided Measurable Benefits, Including Parent Stress Reduction.

This article presents early findings on the causal effects of a housing voucher on family stress, which plays an important role in children's healthy development. Using the Housing and Children's Healthy Development study, which is the only randomized controlled trial of housing vouchers (conducted in the Cleveland, Ohio, and Dallas, Texas, metropolitan areas), we found measurable health and related benefits accruing to families who received vouchers even though half of those who leased housing with vouchers only lived in that dwelling for roughly one year or less. Vouchers also substantially improved cost burdens, sufficiency of space, adequacy of heat, and daytime neighborhood safety. Our analysis shows that the affordability secured by the voucher (reduction of cost burden) played the most important role in reducing parent stress. One policy implication of the affordability findings is the need to keep families' housing cost burden affordable.

Distributional Impacts of Carbon Pricing on Accessibility Across Space and Incomes

Urban transport is a major driver of global CO2 emissions, and, without strong mitigation strategies, its contribution is likely to increase with the rapid urbanization occurring in developing countries. There is a growing consensus on the fundamental role of carbon pricing for reducing CO2 emissions. However, carbon pricing policies are frequently criticized and resisted for having adverse distributional impacts, especially when they impact transit services, the cheapest motorized transport means. Policies affecting transport costs have impacts on household well-being. In the short term, they impact how much income is left after commuting expenses are incurred. But more generally, they impact accessibility to jobs, which is associated with reduced unemployment, better-paid jobs, and more formal and permanent employment. Accessibility is also a key determinant of where people can afford to live in urban areas. Carbon pricing can therefore negatively impact households, especially the poorest, by locking them out of the labor market or constraining them to live in locations with high housing costs.

The effect of supply- and demand-side subsidies on low-income renters’ housing outcomes: evidence from South Korea

In recent decades, there has been a global policy shift away from supply-side housing assistance towards demand-side cash subsidies. However, there has been insufficient empirical evidence on whether cash transfer has a critical advantage over the direct supply of subsidised housing in alleviating low-income renters’ immediate housing difficulties. This paper examines and compares the effects of supply- and demand-side housing subsidies on multidimensional housing problems among the lowest-income households in South Korea using longitudinal survey data. Our difference-in-differences analyses combined with propensity score matching demonstrate that public rental housing improves the recipients’ housing quality while it exacerbates housing cost burden and overcrowding. Meanwhile, the cash subsidy failed to enhance the recipients’ housing quality or lessen their housing cost burden, but it aggravated overcrowding. The study showed that different types of housing subsidies have different immediate housing outcomes, suggesting that the rationale for the ongoing global policy redirection towards demand-side subsidies needs to be reconsidered in the local context.

Cutting more than meals: Increasing severity of food insecurity is associated with the number and types of household financial strategies used to cope with inflation

AbstractFood insecurity is a prominent social determinant of health. There is evidence of increasing food insecurity in high‐income countries amid inflationary pressures. Yet, we know relatively little about the strategies that people employ to manage food insecurity nor how the severity of food insecurity affects the use of these strategies. Accordingly, this study of a nonprobability convenience online panel sample of 1284 adults in Tasmania assessed food insecurity and the strategies undertaken to manage rising costs of living. Structural equation modelling of 51 financial management actions revealed five strategies: reducing food quantity and quality, reducing housing and transport costs, drawing on assets, savings and credit, reducing insurance costs and reducing discretionary expenditure. Generalised linear regression modelling demonstrated that the use of coping strategies increased significantly with each categorical increase in food insecurity for each strategy except reducing insurance costs, in which increases became significant at moderate food insecurity. Overall, the results suggest that those experiencing food insecurity are also sacrificing in other areas, which is likely to have immediate and longer‐term effects on health, social and financial wellbeing. Opportunities to mitigate these consequences, including strengthening of social safety nets, nutrition programmes and structural investment to ensure universal access to food, are discussed.

The changing social class structure of London, 2001–2021: Continued professionalisation or asymmetric polarisation?

The changing class structure of cities has been a topic of considerable importance and debate for over a 150 years, since the industrial revolution created a large industrial proletariat in many western cities. But the rise of post-industrial society, the decline of the manufacturing industry, a shrinking industrial working class, and the growth of the professional and managerial class from the 1970s onwards has provoked fresh debate about this, as has the emergence of gentrification in many cities. This paper looks at the changing social class structure of London from 2001 to 2021 using data from the population Census. It shows that the higher professional and managerial class continued its long term growth after a pause in 2001–2011. But the number and proportions of small employers, the self-employed and routine workers have also grown. There is therefore continuing professionalisation but also ‘asymmetric polarisation’. The paper also examines the geography of social class change by borough over the period and shows that while the professional and managerial class grew in all boroughs, suggesting a gradual upward class change across London, it was highest in the most gentrified inner London boroughs. However, the percentage point growth of the self-employed and routine groups was generally higher in the mostly suburban boroughs where professional and managerial class percentage point change growth was smallest (and vice versa) which suggests an intensified social class sorting and divergence across London with the lower class groups growing most rapidly in suburban outer London where housing costs are less.

Evaluating the Economic Sustainability of Two Selected Urban Centers—A Focus on Amherst and Braintree, MA, USA

While the topic of sustainable development has been extensively explored, there is a lack of quantitative assessment of economic sustainability in the scientific literature; moreover, the term is often interpreted with excessive attention to the environment but not socio-economic inequality. In addition, university cities are often considered the most sustainable, although the higher education system in the United States is often criticized for the inequality of access to it among different racial and other groups of the population. This paper adds to the debate about how the concepts of sustainability and economic development relate. Many researchers have noted that they come into conflict with each other because their ultimate goals are fundamentally different: a voluntary limitation of production and consumption in the interests of future generations and, conversely, the pursuit of well-being during our lives. We would like to explore the issue of economic sustainability, which, at first glance, may become a compromise between the two approaches outlined above. So, our study is devoted to exploring the ambiguous concept of economic sustainability, which can add some new knowledge to the understanding of how social, economic, and ecological factors relate to each other in the broader framework of sustainability. For this objective, we analyzed the economic sustainability of the town of Amherst, MA. The city’s top employer and core enterprise is the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with over 32,000 students and almost 2000 staff members. Based on a literature review, a hypothesis was put forward that a university city should have a high level of economic sustainability. To assess economic sustainability, the original methodology based on the US Cities Economic Sustainability Index (USCESI) was developed. It evaluates sustainability in three groups of parameters: society, economy, and ecology. The first group includes the level of racial diversity, the level of education of the population, and the access to medical services. The second group consists of the Gini coefficient by income level, the median cost of housing, and the unemployment rate. The environmental situation is assessed according to the Air Quality Index developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency. For comparison, the town of Braintree, MA, was chosen. As a result of the study, the USCESI was calculated for both locations. The analysis showed that both Amherst and Braintree have a high degree of economic sustainability. However, it was revealed that proximity to a significant economic center has a more powerful positive impact on economic sustainability than the location of a large university. In our paper, we proposed a new methodology for measuring economic sustainability with a special focus on inequality as a major problem in American society. The findings provide new knowledge about university cities and debunk the myth that they represent an exception to the general logic of urban development in the United States. A similar approach, with clarification of statistical indicators and a different emphasis, can be applied to other countries where inequality may be the main threat to economic sustainability, not in terms of access to higher education but in other areas.