Housing Subsidies Research Articles

From side‐work to main task: Housing, status, and Tibetan labour migration in Qinghai, China

AbstractAcross China, as in other parts of the world, urbanisation has accelerated at an unprecedented scale over the past 15 years. In farming areas of Qinghai in western China, large‐scale rural–urban movement of Tibetan villagers began around 2010 – a time when state‐led housing subsidy projects were launched. Drawing on ethnographic field research and focusing on the older cohort of rural Tibetan migrants to Xining, the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau, this article explores the complexities and linkages between state‐led housing subsidy projects, status, and Tibetan labour migration. It examines how housing and family status intersect to shape patterns of Tibetan labour migration and gendered divisions of labour. This study highlights an important but less explored factor in migration studies: in my research sites, the recent large‐scale Tibetan labour migration to cities has been driven by the desire to build new houses to secure family status as a result of the motives and social pressure created by state‐led housing subsidy projects.

Investigating the housing and transportation burden in a Ghanaian city

ABSTRACT Although there is a strong relationship between housing and transportation (H+T) spending, traditional housing affordability estimates from sub-Saharan Africa exclude transportation costs. Also, the H+T literature has few case studies from small cities and developing countries. This dearth of research makes it difficult to understand the housing burden and provide workable solutions. This paper measures H+T affordability in Koforidua, Ghana, based on rental and transportation costs. A household survey comprising 600 renting households was conducted and analyzed using group comparisons and Ordinary Least Square regressions. The results showed that H+T consumes approximately 56% of household income. This is a huge household burden considering the high unemployment rates in developing countries. Household income and size are significantly associated with H+T spending. Interestingly, smaller households have a marginal propensity to spend on H+T than larger households due to dependency ratio and housing choices. We recommend transport and housing subsidies, and affordable housing to ameliorate the H+T burden. Other policy recommendations and actions have been discussed to guide policymakers.

Real Estate Economy in the Post-epidemic Era

The COVID-19 outbreak has had a significant impact on China's real estate market, with the sector's recovery lagging behind the overall economy. This study evaluates the pandemic's influence on consumer behavior, housing demand, and preferences, highlighting substantial declines in real estate development investment and commercial housing sales. Key factors contributing to reduced demand include a shift towards remote working models, heightened health and safety concerns, and evolving perceptions of urban living. To stimulate the market, government incentives such as tax breaks and housing subsidies are recommended. Additionally, developers are encouraged to embrace smart city technologies for optimizing energy consumption and providing convenient community services. Emphasizing health-conscious design is crucial for improving air quality and increasing green space while investors should diversify their portfolios to mitigate market volatility risks and enhance resilience. The objective of this study is to devise an appropriate real estate economic recovery plan that aligns with the changing urban to sustain economic growth.

Rental subsidies and take‐up barriers in an era of expensive rents: An extended version of the theory of planned behaviour

AbstractDespite increasing rent price burdens throughout Europe, many eligible households for rental subsidies do not use them. Understanding determinants of low take‐up is crucial for evaluating program effectiveness and anticipating fiscal implications. To identify those determinants, we built an extended version of the theory of planned behaviour, incorporating dimensions from the claiming costs scale. In an online survey, participants comprising renting households likely eligible for the housing subsidy from Germany (n = 862) and Spain (n = 1032) completed measures of behavioural intention, rental cost burdens, theory of planned behaviour constructs (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, and past behaviour), and claiming costs constructs (information costs, process costs, and stigma). Results supported a multi‐group model, showing different paths for Germany and Spain. Several similar paths were identified for both countries, such as the indirect association of stigma with intention to apply for rental subsidies via attitude, the positive and strong association of subjective norms, and the positive association between perceived behavioural control and intention. The indirect relationship involving information costs was observed for Spain but not Germany, and rental cost burdens operated differently as well. These findings suggest that multiple dimensions, both psychological and policy‐related, should be considered when investigating claiming behaviours for rental subsidies, while emphasizing the need to acknowledge the unique characteristics of each country. This evidence is also relevant to policymakers, offering insights into leveraging established policy tools. Please refer to the Supplementary Material Section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Changes in online public opinions associated with various three-child supportive policies in China: Observational study using social media data over time.

According to the Seventh National Census, China's fertility rate is less than 1.5, marking a significant national issue with potential risks. To counter this low birth rate, the Chinese government has relaxed family planning policies and introduced supportive measures. Changes in birth policy have attracted considerable attention from the people of China. This article aims to study the public's response to the three-child support policy using Weibo as a window. The goal is to provide a more balanced evaluation of current perspectives, enabling policymakers to formulate better fertility information, particularly when anticipating a poor public response to controversial policies. This research uses a crawler to gather data from Sina Weibo. Through opinion mining of Weibo posts on the three-child policy, Weibo users' online opinions on the three-child policy are analyzed from two perspectives: their attention content and sentiment tendency. Using an interrupted time series, it examines changes in online views on the policy, matching policy documents to the time nodes of Weibo posts. The public has shown great interest in and provided short-term positive feedback on policies related to improving maternity insurance, birth rewards, and housing subsidies. In contrast, there has been a continuous negative response to policies such as extending maternity leave, which has particularly sparked concerns among women regarding future employment and marital rights protection. On social media, the public's attention to the three-child birth policy has focused mainly on the protection of women's rights, especially legal rights after childbirth, and issues related to physical and mental health. Child-rearing support and economic pressure are also hot topics, involving the daily expenses of multichild families, childcare services, and housing pressure. However, this study also revealed that infertile or single women express a strong desire to have children, but due to limitations in the personal medical insurance system, this desire has not been fully satisfied. Our study demonstrates the feasibility of a rapid and flexible method for evaluating the public response to various three-child supportive policies in China using near real-time social media data. This information can help policy makers anticipate public responses to future pandemic three-child policies and ensure that adequate resources are dedicated to addressing increases in negative sentiment and levels of disagreement in the face of scientifically informed but controversial, restrictions.

Connection fee as a factor to ensure financial affordability of utility services for consumers

Utilities as a type of mixed public good have the characteristic of non-rivalry, that is, they must be available to the entire population without exception and all households must be able to pay for them. As a rule, such financial inclusion is achieved by providing targeted assistance to low-income families. For example, in Russia this problem is solved by a program of subsidies for housing and communal services. In various countries, other mechanisms are also used: the provision of social housing, budget subsidies for producers, price discrimination. This paper analyzes another way to reduce the financial burden for consumers of utility services, which has been used in most developed countries. It consists of shifting part of the costs of developing engineering infrastructure to future consumers through connection fees (technological connection) for capital construction projects. From the perspective of pricing theory, it is shown that connection fees can reduce the average costs of a utility company passed on to consumers of services; it is graphically illustrated how connection fees increase the financial affordability of utility services for consumers and reduce budget costs for subsidizing the payment of housing and communal services for households with low incomes.

Homeownership of young adults in Austria from a national and regional perspective since 2010 – a fading dream?

Since around 2008 there has been a sharp decline in homeownership rates in many OECD countries, particularly among young adults. This may reflect changing preferences for more flexible housing options or a decline in affordability due to a combination of house price increases and more difficult access to finance (mortgage loans, deteriorating labour market conditions, insufficient income, etc.). We first examine how these trends affect Austria as a whole and then focus on two regions with long-term policy strategies to promote homeownership through tailored housing subsidy programmes (Lower Austria, Vorarlberg). We use survey data from three sources (Microcensi, EU-SILC, HFCS) and regional administrative data. Our results show that young adults (up to 35) are less likely to become homeowners in 2020 than in 2010, although this is more pronounced for the middle-aged (35–49) than for younger people. We show that the analysis at national level is insufficient, as there are large differences between regions and between types of dwelling. Focusing on the regional level reveals that price dynamics in urban areas, which exceed income developments, appear to be the main drivers. As young households participate less in homeownership than previous generations, this points to a latent and deepening problem of intergenerational equity. Current regional policies to promote homeownership do not reach the necessary scale to counteract the dominant market trends. We discuss regional policy options that make use of the Austrian housing policy framework and focus on increasing the overall supply of housing rather than exclusively on demand-side measures.

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.

PREVALENCE AND DISPARITIES OF VERY LOW-INCOME OLDER ADULT RENTERS IN US METROPOLITAN AREAS

Abstract Income eligibility for federal housing subsidies is based on HUD calculations of area median income (AMI) and family size. Frequently used measures of poverty and income do not reflect the geographic economic variations on which HUD eligibility is based. By integrating Current Population Survey (CPS) data for metropolitan-dwelling people in 2000, 2010, and 2020 with HUD yearly 50% AMI thresholds (very low-income (VLI)), this study aims to provide a novel estimate of the number of metropolitan older adult (OA) (62+) VLI renters and to compare their growth rate, rental assistance use, race, and health with other population groups. Sample weights are used to produce national estimates of four metropolitan OA subgroups: VLI renters, VLI owners, non-VLI renters, and non-VLI owners. Results show that between 2000 and 2020, the total number of metropolitan OAs increased by an estimated 84%, OA VLI renters increased by an estimated 74%, and OA VLI renters without rental assistance increased by an estimated 71%. Across all years, metropolitan VLI OA renters were more likely to be non-white, disabled, report poorer health, and receive rental and utility assistance. Approximately two-thirds of metropolitan VLI OA renters did not receive any form of rental assistance across time points. VLI OA renters without rental assistance face significant affordability challenges as metropolitan rental prices rise faster than most retirement incomes. Communities should proactively link their growing OA VLI renter populations with financial assistance and supportive services to reduce their risk of housing precarity in late life.

Collective Housing Subsidies: A Public Policy Proposal for Sustainability

One way in which governments foster sustainable homebuilding and housing is by subsidizing single homes’ investment in sustainability technologies. The problem with these programs is that they incentivize inefficient investment by supporting technologies that make technical and economic sense on a small scale. Furthermore, this arrangement constitutes a flawed marketing system, producing a limited impact on global well-being and sustainability in the long term, as it rules out more efficient sustainability technologies. This paper addresses these shortcomings by designing a public policy proposal based on a contract between the government and homeowners that incentivizes the adoption of collective sustainable technologies, changing the marketing system with a shift in the behavior of a dominant actor, the government. Results indicate that an equilibrium in which the homeowners choose to participate in the new collective program in exchange for a subsidy is feasible and stable. Moreover, the generalization of the proposed program may generate a new way to incentivize the more efficient use of sustainable home technologies in the long run.

Barriers to safe and secure housing in the US section 8 voucher programme post-Dobbs

The US affordable housing crisis has exploded since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, spurring increased interest in low-income housing subsidies (Section 8). However, potential Section 8 beneficiaries can lose eligibility, or their spot in line, when family size changes, especially if they do not provide the appropriate paperwork to the public housing authority. We identify two external concerns for Section 8: the disparity between programme demand, available vouchers, and housing stock, and the challenges domestic violence victims face in securing housing assistance. These challenges compound for poor families fleeing violence, and more so since the Dobbs decision. In many states, abortion trigger bans severely limit household family planning, creating a triple-bind for poor families seeking housing and women fleeing violence. We identify several policy recommendations to address these concerns in both the short- and long-run.

The effect of the housing provident fund on housing affordability in Urban China: A quantitative analysis

Demand-side housing subsidy schemes have been widely adopted in many countries to improve housing affordability, but quantitative investigations of the policy effect are still rare. This study evaluates the effect of the Housing Provident Fund (HPF), the largest demand-side housing subsidy scheme in the world and under hot debate, on housing affordability in mainland China. We construct a comprehensive housing affordability (CHA) indicator by considering both down payments and monthly payments to reveal the potential pass-through effect. Taking 2020 as an example, we find that the HPF increased housing affordability by 50.54% on average when assuming that down payment affordability (DPA) and monthly payment affordability (MPA) are equally important. The subsidized interest rate and withdrawn balance can compensate for the increased HPF loans transferred from the lower required down payment. Notably, the impact is concentrated in cities where households have favourable housing affordability even without the HPF. Further simulations show that potential reforms of the HPF cannot solve housing unaffordability problems in superstar cities. This study highlights the divergence in the effects of the HPF between types of cities, and it provides a reference for the ongoing reform of the HPF.

Mapping property redevelopment via GeoAI: Integrating computer vision and socioenvironmental patterns and processes

Domain knowledge of social and environmental sciences is generally derived from less structured small data and/or small models. The integration of deep learning with socioenvironmental and geographical patterns and processes is still in an early phase. This study proposes a flexible framework that synthesizes computer vision with patterns and processes of geographical phenomena (e.g., urban redevelopment) via deep convolutional neural networks and spatiotemporal neighborhoods, respectively. Meanwhile, undesirable visual cues (e.g., temporary objects such as cars) cause false alarms in urban change detection. Thus, a masked deep pyramid similarity model (i.e., the computer vision model) is proposed to minimize the negative impact of nonbuilding changes. This pipeline has robustness against obfuscation of undesirable street scene changes and elasticity of geographical knowledge representations in mapping property redevelopment. This model is reproducible and adaptable due to the wide availability of SVI and flexibility of the framework. The results suggest that the domain-driven rules and nonbuilding change masking mechanism can significantly increase the accuracy of a computer vision model. We also find that urban redevelopment should be understood as a locally tuned back-to-the-city process with weak replicability. Hybrid gentrification (i.e., the combination of “seesaw” gentrification and continuous gentrification) is observed globally with local variations. Takeaway for practiceFirst, the population of those affected should be carefully identified and the benefits of gentrification need to be redistributed on a larger scale. For Auckland, decision-makers should not divert attention away from low-income tenants in outer suburbs that slipped below the radar of local government and scholars. Second, more attention should be given to less resourcing neighborhoods in constantly gentrifying neighborhoods when governments formulate and implement housing subsidy policies. Locally, incessant redevelopment in Auckland CBD, New Market and Remuera, etc., should be contained.

Analisis Faktor Yang Mempengarugi Permintaan Kredit Pemilikan Rumah

Rapid technological developments have led to rapid population growth, which in turn has increased the demand for various types of properties and homes. This increase in demand is very important because property and houses are people's basic needs, but the land available for development is increasingly limited. With population growth continuing to increase in Indonesia, demand for housing is also increasing. Every individual needs a house as a place to live, protection, and a place to gather with family. The aim of this research is to investigate the factors that influence mortgage demand in the Puspa Asri housing complex in Plalangan, which is located in Jenangan District, Ponorogo Regency. The research method used is a qualitative method, which produces descriptive data in the form of observed behavior, speech or writing. This research methodology focuses on library research or library research, which involves analyzing sources such as books, articles and other sources relevant to the research topic. The results of this research are that when choosing a place to live, people do not only consider their income level. People tend to prefer housing subsidies based on personal needs, such as locations close to work and schools, as well as good accessibility to meet their daily needs. In addition, people currently prioritize long-term ownership by buying a house on credit, even though the payment term is longer, rather than renting a monthly fee.

IMPLEMENTASI PROGRAM PEMBANGUNAN PERUMAHAN RAKYAT DI KABUPATEN BONE BOLANGO

The housing assistance program is a form of housing subsidy in the form of money or direct development which is intended for low-income households as an effort by the government to increase housing resilience and provide social protection to targeted households. The Government of Bone Bolango Regency in order to improve the welfare and equity of development for the people in their area, has implemented a decent housing assistance program for the less fortunate, where it is the government's responsibility to create a just and prosperous society. This study uses a qualitative descriptive method by prioritizing primary data and secondary data, focusing on how the implementation of the public housing development program in Bone Bolango Regency and the factors that influence it. The results of the study show that the public housing development program in Bone Bolango Regency from 2010 - 2018 has been going well and the benefits have been felt directly by the community as the recipients of the policy itself. However, the government must further maximize the public housing development program in 2019 and 2020, because the planned development program has not been fully realized. The supporting and inhibiting factors for policy implementation include communication, resources, attitudes of policy implementers, and bureaucratic structure.

Exclusion by design: a case study of an Indian urban housing subsidy scheme

Abstract The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban)—Housing for All mission (PMAY-U), a flagship mission of the Government of India, aims to address the need for affordable housing in urban areas through five different schemes. One of these schemes is a housing subsidy scheme, the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS), which has significantly contributed to the success of PMAY-U. However, the design of the CLSS scheme favors households considered creditworthy, with stable and secure income streams. This article examines the gap between the policy design and practice of the CLSS scheme to explore how biases get embedded into the policy, resulting in the exclusion of economically vulnerable households. Schneider and Ingram’s Social Construction of Target Population (SCTP) framework is used to identify the target groups involved in the CLSS policy chain. These target groups and policymakers were interviewed to understand their interpretations of the concept of affordable housing. Using a relational lens, these interpretations are compared to know how the meanings of affordable housing get represented within CLSS policy documents. The analysis presents two key insights. First, the power and interests of the target groups predict their representation in policy design and policymaking. Second, privatized implementation design of the subsidy scheme embeds negative selectivism creating exclusionary tendencies in the CLSS design. Lastly, given the shrinking of the welfare state across the globe, this study raises the critical question of “who benefits and who loses?” while challenging the normative aspects of the policy goal of affordable housing.

Rural centralized residences and the health of the acting heads of rural households: The case of China

The rural centralized residence (RCenR) has been adopting to promote rural development in 24 provinces in China. Acting heads of rural households are older and their health is worse than average rural residents. However, their health has greater externalities since they play a central role in families and in daily village operations. It is therefore important to investigate the causal effect of RCenR on the health of the acting heads, which remains econometrically underexplored. This study controls for cross-prefecture contiguous-villages group fixed effects and uses the expected once-off government housing subsidy as the instrumental variable to estimate the causal effect of RCenR on the health of acting heads. It is found that RCenR significantly improves acting heads' health through increased income, reduced strenuous agricultural activities, greater use of clean energy and clean water, as well as easier access to local medical services. These findings are important because they can guide developing countries to improve their rural development policies.

New approaches to the design and public functions of social rental housing

Social security-oriented rental housing is not only an important way to solve the housing problem for urban residents, but also an effective means to improve the quality of urban life and promote sustainable development of urban environment. Past public rental housing emphasized efficiency in construction, allocation, and use, but lacked public functionality, resulting in many projects becoming identical "miniature commercial housing". Therefore, this article focuses on the "two-type" security-oriented rental housing and lists new design cases of Modern rental housing. It proposes that social security-oriented rental housing should enjoy multiple rights and have the aesthetic function of open shared space and personalized innovation, low-carbon emission reduction intelligent function, fair transfer and participation function. Measures such as providing preferential housing, rental or new housing subsidies, and land price subsidies are provided for specific populations in need. By realizing the design concept of multiple values, social security-oriented rental housing can not only maintain basic rights, but also enhance the quality of residents' lives, further improving their quality of life and environmental friendliness.

Homelessness and housing assistance among persons with HIV, and associations with HIV care and viral suppression, New York City 2018.

To measure housing assistance and homelessness among persons living with HIV (PLWH) and their association with health. Exposure categories were: experiencing homelessness (per emergency shelter use or self-report), receiving housing assistance (per housing subsidy) without homelessness, or neither homelessness nor receiving housing assistance. Outcomes were: engagement (≥1 visit) and retention (≥2 visits ≥90 days apart) in HIV-related medical care and one-time (latest viral load) and durable (≥1 viral load test, all suppressed) HIV viral suppression (<200 copies/mL). Among PLWH in New York City (NYC), we calculated and conducted modified Poisson regressions of the four outcomes according to exposure category. During 2018, 45% of NYC's 84,053 PLWH received housing assistance, and 8% experienced homelessness. Relative to homelessness, receipt of assistance without homelessness was associated with 3-7% higher adjusted relative risk (ARR) of engagement and retention in care and 31-64% higher ARR of one-time and durable viral suppression. Relative to not receiving assistance, receipt of assistance without homelessness was associated with 6-18% higher ARR of care and 2-5% lower ARR of viral suppression. Programs promoting housing stability may support HIV care and viral suppression, particularly if preventing homelessness. These may help improve HIV care and suppression rates.

Approach and Problem Solving Implementation of Housing Subsidy Policy for Low-Income People

The government plays an important role in providing access to home ownership for low-income people. The implementation of the housing subsidy policy as a government policy in the housing sector has been developed and ongoing for more than ten years now. Until now, government monitoring officials, both internal and external, still find the same problems and they tend to recur from year to year, including inaccurate targeting of housing subsidy recipients and low occupancy rates for subsidized housing. This research is aimed at analyzing the problems of implementing housing subsidy policies faced by the government and the government's steps to overcome these recurring problems. In this research, several research methods were developed, including using a literature review approach, logic model approach, systems thinking approach and SWOT analysis. The results of the research are in the form of policy recommendations that the government can use as an alternative solution to overcome the same and recurring problems, including carrying out closer supervision by involving developers/local community administrators and implementing strict sanctions by revoking subsidy benefits that are not on target.