Housing Affordability Issues Research Articles

Why affordability matters

Recent years have witnessed widespread public concern and increased policy attention to issues of housing affordability. In 2015 a full one-half of U.S. households were paying more than 30 percent of their income in rent. We identify multiple channels by which individual or family outcomes are inferior when rents increase faster than income. Research further suggests that rising rent burdens may reduce the economic potential of metropolitan areas. This paper reviews the evidence on why affordability matters.

Transitional supported housing for mental health consumers enabling personal recovery: Allowing me to be me

ABSTRACTObjective: Safe, secure, affordable housing is recognised as pivotal to supporting mental health recovery. This article aims to evaluate an innovative West Australian transitional supported housing service for mental health consumers. The service offers 12-months accommodation and individually-tailored, recovery-oriented outreach support followed by six months of less intensive support.Method: Informed by the principles of personal recovery and co-production, the research team, consumers and service staff worked together to create a participatory evaluation process. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with consumers (n = 8), family members (n = 3), and staff (n = 5) which focused on the experience and impact of the service. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.Results: Consumers and family members were satisfied with the service, particularly its person-centred and co-produced approach, and the primacy of relationships characterised by power sharing, authenticity and transparency. Having stable accommodation enabled consumers to make positive changes, including engaging in new therapies, developing independence, and pursuing study and work opportunities. When re-interviewed at least three months after leaving the accommodation, consumers reflected that the service had a significant role in facilitating their recovery and were hopeful about their future.Discussion: Housing stability alongside flexible, tailored, recovery-oriented support were central to satisfaction with the service. Challenges in securing stable, affordable housing post-service highlight the broader issue of housing affordability and supply, and highlight the need for more low cost and social housing to promote mental health recovery. As recovery is a unique, individual process, a variety of flexible supported housing options are needed.

The dynamics of housing affordability and housing demand analysis in Ankara

PurposeInformation about the current and future composition of the population in terms of household size and the desired housing preferences provides a good foundation for determining current and future housing needs. The policy-makers and developers can also use such knowledge as a starting point in their housing and commercial real estate investment decisions. In Turkey, urbanization and housing issues have accompanied the growth of industrialization. Within the scope of the country’s urbanization history, various instruments have been used to solve the lack of housing issues. The constructed houses should be accessible or affordable by fixed-income earners in the middle and lower socio-economic classes, who are mostly excluded. In particular, the real estate development sector has taken manageable risks by closely following the changing social and economic conditions and developing a variety of housing concepts. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the housing sector situation and affordability issues and then use time series analysis to present relationships between macroeconomic factors and housing demand in Ankara region.Design/methodology/approachThe approach uses a survey of recent housing projects cover 2016 to 2018 for housing affordability conditions. Also, the study uses the Johansen co-integration test, variance analysis and impulse-response test to explain the relationships between macroeconomic indicators and housing demand for Ankara.FindingsAccording to the results of time series analysis, the macroeconomic factors are affecting the demand and the number of houses sold. The research results try to find a negative or positive correlation between the numbers of houses sold and the monthly macroeconomic variables. Mortgage interest rates, usage permits, construction permits and household expenditure were found the most correlated with housing sold as a representative proxy of housing demand. This paper claims that current housing affordability is related to current housing supply and demand variables. If housing supply (as construction and usage permits) and income (as interest rates and expenditures) are at favorable levels, then housing transaction volumes increase.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper highlights the need to examine how to assist developers to more rapidly develop knowledge and experience to reflect the implications of change in practice. This paper is formulating a housing demand model for real estate developers, using number of house sales and other administrative statistics in Ankara region.Practical implicationsIf macroeconomic conditions are stable, then this encourages consumers to invest for housing whether they are affordable or not. According to the results, key factors of housing market are based on interest rates, income expectation and gaining social status. The consumers anymore not only want to buy a house to live and also want to gaining prestige.Originality/valueThe paper not only shows that current price is affordable or not but also supports why price is going up although price is not affordable. The findings identify how the market is developing and adhering to a product model development theory. The paper is different from previous studies because of the use of monthly income and supply proxies together in Turkey with time series model. These results are close to the theoretical expectations and provide good indicators for policy-makers.

Современная социальная политика в России: актуальные проблемы и возможные пути решения

The research discusses the implementation of social policy in Russia in the modern context. The main problems of its implementation are defined. Social policy is an important part of the state strategy related to the social sphere. There are many definitions of social policy in various documents; however, in a narrow sense, it is the support for vulnerable, underprivileged people. The author emphasizes that social policy reflects the interests of modern society and is a pivotal part of the modern state activities. The scope and focus area of social policy are determined. The research defines the key issues of housing affordability, access to education and healthcare in Russia. The well-being and living standards of Russian people are analyzed. Public policy measures to remedy the situation are discussed. The author presents the models of social policy and reveals its positive and negative aspects.

Affordability Measurement among Public Housing Tenants In Ipoh, Malaysia

Affordability issues are frequently debated by housing policy makers. These debates on housing affordability issues occur not only in developing countries, but have attracted attention even in developed nations. Housing affordability requires careful consideration since housing forms one of the biggest expenditure that needs to be allocated for by a family, especially those from the low-income bracket. As not all households can afford to own a house, renting is the last resort for such households. Some of them must rely on public housing tenancies. It is thus crucial for housing management to use a discerning selection process for eligible tenants for the public housing due to the limited supply. Hence, a suitable method of measuring affordability needs to be adopted by the housing management. Affordability measurement methods offer various benefits not only to the policy makers; they also help households determine their own housing affordability levels. The approaches employed in this study are through literature review, reviews of tenant selection forms and interviews with the housing management. Data collated will then be analysed using content analysis method. It is hoped that the findings of the study will aid public housing management to revise the existing tenant selection policies especially on aspects of selecting the most eligible tenants to occupy public housing.

Transitional distribution dynamics of housing affordability in Australia, Canada and USA

PurposeThe main purpose of this paper is to explore the transitional dynamics of housing affordability indicators of major cities in three developed countries: the USA, Canada and Australia, in the period after the global financial crisis. As the global housing markets are more interconnected today, it is essential to investigate the demographic movement pattern and their impacts on housing market dynamics.Design/methodology/approachBased on the Markov transition matrix approach and the stochastic kernel technique, a newly established framework named the mobility probability plot (MPP) is adopted to investigate the city-level trends of housing affordability in the three countries during the period 2008-2015.FindingsThe results suggest that the transitional dynamics of the USA’s housing affordability trend saliently differs from those of Canada and Australia: in the USA, MPP results reveal that when the price-to-income (P/I) ratio is higher than 3.5 times, it has a high tendency of moving downward in the next period. In Australia, housing affordability tends to continue deteriorating when the P/I ratios are in the range from 8.0 to 8.6. In Canada, the MPP analysis indicates that the P/I ratios tend to increase further when the ratios are between 5.7 and 7.0, and within the range of 8.3-9.5.Originality/valueThis paper adopts an innovative approach to explore the city-level trends of housing affordability in the three developed countries during the period 2008-2015. The distribution dynamics approach has several virtues: first, this approach does not merely focus on the issue of housing affordability but also includes an analysis of the underlying housing affordability distribution. Second, it can clearly show the mobility of the city-level units in terms of the P/I change. Third, it can predict the proportion of the entities in different P/I ratio bands in a number of years ahead and even in the long run.

A Micro-Level View of Housing Affordability in Malaysia Using an Age Cohort-Housing Type Analysis

Housing affordability has been a troubling issue for both developed and developing countries. Much of the prior literature has used the price-income ratio as the main standard to assess housing affordability, with the median disposable household income of the sample population commonly used. As such, conclusions drawn from macro-level analyses are devoid of practical policy recommendations. This paper attempts to address the housing affordability issue in greater detail by considering age cohorts, income percentiles, and different house types. An analysis was also conducted over the time period from 1995 to 2014 to compare affordability across time. Using the common benchmark of banks, a cut-off ratio of 0.35 for the mortgage installment to income ratio is used as a measure of housing affordability. The results show that for those aged 20-24 and 60-64, housing is severely unaffordable across all house types, except for the 75th income percentile group. The most expensive are semi-detached and detached housing types, which remain unaffordable to all income and age groups, except for the 75th income percentile group aged 30 and above. Terrace and high rise housing types are the most affordable across each income percentile. There is a lack of housing affordability improvement over time even with recent government interventions through affordable housing schemes specifically targeted at the lower income groups. This paper makes several contributions. By analyzing the affordability problem from a more granular perspective, strategies to develop a thriving rental market should be targeted to those in the 20-24 age cohort. A concerted effort in information dissemination by the government must be undertaken to convince would-be house purchasers that the best time, on average, to enter the housing market is when they reach their mid-30s. Emphasis should also be placed on entering housing with high-rise and terrace housing types. This analysis also helps commercial mortgage lenders segment their clienteles and thus helps reduce information asymmetry.

The next urban paradigm: Cohabitation in the smart city

Ubiquitous computing, mobile devices, and big data come together to give rise to a new urban paradigm being celebrated by many technology corporations and municipalities alike: the smart city. Yet, the general tenor of the current hype around smart cities is mainly about efficiency and productivity gains through automation and algorithmic analysis, and growth. What evidence is there to suggest that the smart city can provide genuine answers to a number of wicked problems humanity faces? The smart city agenda is only now starting to slowly move beyond the technology and data hype and come to terms with issues of housing affordability, digital inclusion, social justice. However, the list of challenges does not end here. Climate change already has a great impact on cities with a notable increase in adverse weather events, and some thought leaders actively seek to reconcile the smart city with the resilient city. A pertinent question to ask is whether the people-centric focus is in fact worth rethinking in order to imagine a new economy that embraces the post-anthropocentric city. With society’s current limited perspective that centres around humans, we risk to forget other living beings, the environment, and the wider ecosystem that keep us alive. Can we reconceptualise the smart city as a place where people and place meet to make a net positive contribution to the world? This paper will dissect components that make up smart cities from cradle to grave and focus on questions of sustainability and a new economy in cities. It offers a critical review of examples and case studies with a view to widen the scope of the debate. Concluding remarks around citizen co-creation, co-habitation and participatory governance beg further questions about not just the future of cities, but the future of the economy and democracy.

Prevalence and predictors of food insecurity among people living with HIV affiliated with AIDS service organizations in Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACTUp to half of people living with HIV in resource-rich settings experience moderate to severe food insecurity. Food insecurity, in turn, has been linked to adverse health outcomes including poor antiretroviral adherence, poor HIV viral suppression, frailty, and mortality. We estimated the prevalence of food insecurity among 649 adults living with HIV and recruited from community-based AIDS service organizations in Ontario, Canada. Food security was assessed using the Canadian Household Food Security module. We used logistic regression modeling to identify demographic, socioeconomic, and psychosocial factors independently associated with food insecurity. Almost three-fourths of participants (70.3%) were food insecure and a third (31%) reported experiencing hunger. The prevalence of food insecurity in this sample is approximately six times higher than that of the general population. Factors independently associated with food insecurity were: having dependent children at home, residing in large urban areas, low annual household income (<$40,000), difficulty meeting housing-related expenses, cigarette smoking, harmful drug use, and depression. Broad, multisector interventions that address income, housing affordability, substance use and mental health issues are needed and could offset future public health expenditures.

Housing Affordability in the State of Selangor, Malaysia

This paper examines the issue of housing affordability in the most developed state in Malaysia namely Selangor, looking within the context of housing as a need to every individual and increasing the quality of housing will improve peoples’ quality of life. In Malaysia, housing policies have focused primarily on demand side and this has led to unregulated housing supply and prices. The study examines housing affordability with the view of housing for the low income group or bottom 40 percent of the population is necessary, thus improving the affordability of housing in general. Five perspectives are discussed, namely definition and measurement of affordability, household income, housing prices, affordable housing policy in Selangor; and econometric analysis of housing affordability. The paper analysed the housing affordability index (HAI) for the year 2014 in all nine districts in the state of Selangor using the median income over the overall median housing prices. From the analysis, it was found that the median all house prices for the state of Selangor was at RM300,000 with median annual income at RM74,568.00 making the affordability level is at 4.0, which is considered to be moderately unaffordable. Futhermore, the study identified more than 50% of the household in Selangor have an average monthly income of around RM6,214 making their affordable housing price, based on housing affordability index of 3, should be below RM220,000. The study found that locational factors, types of economic based of the areas and the income level of population influence the calculated index making the affordability level differ between districts. In certain districts, monitoring and control from the related authorities on the construction of affordable houses are essential in ensuring the continued supply of these houses to the targeted low income population within the community.

YOUNG PROFESSIONALS HOUSING AFFORDABILITY THROUGH HOUSING PREFERENCES IN KUALA LUMPUR AND A REVIEW ON THE MEANS-END CHAIN MODEL

In a broad-spectrum, housing affordability issue is interrelated to young professional's well-being. However, this paper deliberated on young professional's housing preference in affordability context by taking into account some attributes of housing preference criteria. Data was obtained through questionnaire survey among 50 respondents aged between 25 and 35 years old and working in various professional fields in Kuala Lumpur. Descriptive analyses were then undertaken on the data from the survey. The study found that security criterion is the highest priority in housing preferences among the respondents. Having Wi-Fi is the second most important criterion. Additionally, this paper also provides a conceptual review on the Means-End Chain model.

YOUNG PROFESSIONALS’ HOUSING AFFORDABILITY THROUGH HOUSING PREFERENCES IN KUALA LUMPUR AND A REVIEW ON THE MEANS-END CHAIN MODEL

In a broad-spectrum, housing affordability issue is interrelated to young professional's well-being. However, this paper deliberated on young professional's housing preference in affordability context by taking into account some attributes of housing preference criteria. Data was obtained through questionnaire survey among 50 respondents aged between 25 and 35 years old and working in various professional fields in Kuala Lumpur. Descriptive analyses were then undertaken on the data from the survey. The study found that security criterion is the highest priority in housing preferences among the respondents. Having Wi-Fi is the second most important criterion. Additionally, this paper also provides a conceptual review on the Means-End Chain model.

The uberisation of housing markets: putting theory into practice

PurposeDigital disruption offers an innovative opportunity to address housing affordability issues through the use of market design theory and two-sided matching markets. The purpose of this paper is to scope a model for how “uberisation” can revolutionise the traditional apartment delivery model in Australia, leading to improved housing affordability.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses semi-structured interviews with operators of online real estate platforms and deliberative developers to examine how the principles of “uberisation”, that is two-sided matching markets, are driving innovation in the apartment supply process.FindingsFindings confirm that real estate internet platforms and deliberative developers innovators are informed by the benefits of aggregating demand to reduce development risk, thus enabling apartments to be provided at a substantially lower price than by traditional methods.Research limitations/implicationsThe number of interviews is small reflecting the limited number of market actors currently engaged in the innovations investigated.Originality/valueThis research is innovative as it introduces theoretical understandings gained from market design theory and applies those concepts to disrupt the apartment development process.

Engaging Nonprofit Sector to Ensure Social Justice in Local Housing Marketplaces

The essay attempts to fill the gaps found in knowledge and practice for conceptualizing local housing marketplaces in public policy administration. Dichotomous conceptualization in terms of homeownership and rental housing led to inefficient local housing marketplaces and affordability issues. The rationally evolving economic concept of local housing marketplaces is to financially leverage every family and stimulate investing in landed properties for decent homes. Hence, the Housing Act of 1949 reasonably envisaged every American family having access to a decent home as the great equalizer. Social change to rational conceptualization of local housing marketplace would help resolve affordability issues. Then, complementary civic engagement through community-based nonprofit real estate management programs highlighted could ensure social justice.

Housing for essential service workers during an oil boom: opportunities and policy implications

This article analyzes the affordability of housing in two counties in western North Dakota, during a period of rapid economic and population growth, triggered by increased oil industry activity. The focus is on affordability issues of essential service workers—such as teachers, nurses, police officers, and local government employees—who are also the moderate-income earners in a community. Findings presented in the article shows that essential service workers face considerable housing affordability issues, because of the housing market conditions generated by the economic and population growth. Findings also show that conventional housing assistance programs are of little use to solve the affordability issues of essential service workers. The article further explores three models or mechanisms that could be used to improve the affordability of housing: a community land trust (CLT) model, a property tax exemption model, and a low-interest model. Analysis shows that the CLT model has considerable financial potential toward provision of housing that is affordable to essential service workers.

Is Residential Housing Affordable? An Improved Price-to-Income Ratio Approach

Although China's housing affordability issue has been the subject of numerous studies, this paper adopts an improved price-to-income ratio to better reveal and assess the status of housing affordability in China over time. Two research questions will be discussed: (i) Is there a housing affordability problem? (ii) Does the situation of housing affordability improve or worsen over time? Regarding the first question of whether there is a housing affordability problem, down payment ratio and years of installment will be examined, subject to regulation changes for home mortgage loan over time. Regarding the second question of whether the situation improves or worsens, different income categories are classified for comprehensive analysis. The statistical and analytical results have policy implications concerning the nature, extent and duration of housing subsidies, which have been emphasized by government’s guideline (13 April 2010, State Official Document No. 2010-10). Housing subsidies in terms of providing affordable or low rent housing is not effective or efficient to meet the needs of sheltering the poor. Relaxing entry access to bank loans is still of little value, as it renders substantial default risks. An adequate alternative is the adoption of heavily levied property tax, in particular targeting at the upper higher or highest income groups.

Housing Affordability among Generation Y in Malaysia A Conceptual Analysis

Over the past few years, the house prices in Malaysia have experienced a huge value development and urned into a stress pattern for those who want to own a house, especially first time home buyers. This conceptual paper will examine issues of housing affordability among young Malaysians who have intentions of buying a house. The persistent increment of house prices have influenced the capability and ability of individuals to buy houses. The issue is extremely serious among the first time home purchaser, particularly the Generation Y. Thus, this paper will discuss some of the reasons behind this issue and also examine the current government housing policies which are in place to help home buyers. This conceptual study would form atheoretical framework for further empirical work to be done by future researchers and which can be usedby policy makers and stakeholders in designing affordable housing for Generation Y in Malaysia.

The emergence of large-scale housing programs: Beyond a public finance perspective

Over the past decade there has been a sudden, extraordinarily large, and simultaneous expansion of multi-billion dollar housing programs in many emerging and developing economies. This shift occurred after a long period of limited public involvement in social housing production. Yet, despite the fact that countries and cities have introduced such large-scale programs, there has been little independent analysis of the rationale, efficacy and potential long-term effects of these interventions. Adopting a perspective that expands beyond typical public finance approaches, this paper examines the renewed shift in public housing provision. It provides an outlook of recent experiences in housing provision, showcases general trends in housing, proposes an evaluation framework, and offers a series of recommendations aiming at strengthening the programs. The paper concludes that if large-scale housing assistance is to help accommodate the almost 2 billion additional people who will live in cities over the next 35 years, as well as help to address the growing housing affordability issues, much more attention should be paid to the lasting effects that such programs can have on the structure of cities for generations to come.

The trends, promises and challenges of urbanisation in the world

This paper examines the trends of global urbanisation and the magnificent scale and rapid pace of urbanisation in developing countries, and the different characteristics of urbanisation trends in developing and developed countries. It presents the economic powers and opportunities of urbanisation. On the other hands, rapid urbanisation is triggering huge problems and challenges, such as urban sprawl, urban poverty, higher urban unemployment rates, higher urban costs, housing affordability issues, lack of urban investment, weak urban financial and governance capacities, rising inequality and urban crimes, environmental degradation and etc. It argues that policies and strategies should aim to optimise both the urbanisation process and urban functions and infrastructure. Policy responses should link to local conditions, and choose different tools and instruments such as regulatory tools, market-based tools, and spatial tools to achieve sustainable urbanisation and maximise the benefits of agglomeration economies and minimise the negative externalities.

25 Years After: What Has Changed in Central and Eastern Europe in Terms of Housing Availability and Affordability?

Access to good quality housing at reasonable price is one of the basic factors that affect human well-being. Yet, for years many residents of socialist states had to face a very problematic housing situation, because the centralised planning system failed to provide adequate housing space for everyone. The post-socialist transformation brought about an opportunity to overcome the shortcomings of the past, but it was also related to a far-reaching withdrawal of the state from the housing issues. Undoubtedly, the housing situation in the post-socialist years has improved, but the housing shortage was not completely overcome. Meanwhile, also the issue of housing affordability has gained prominence, as housing is not anymore a state-distributed resource, but it has become almost completely commodified. Within the framework outlined above, this paper takes a look at the changes of the housing situation in the post-socialist context, focusing on the Central and Eastern European countries.