Moderate-income Households Research Articles

The big contradiction between the dream and the reality of homeownership: access to homeownership in Canada, 1986–2016

Homeownership is a symbol of success in many societies. Yet, deteriorating housing affordability, coupled with the spread of casual labor and job insecurity, makes homeownership out of reach for many and calls into question the sustainability of the homeownership ideology. This study contributes to the scholarly debate on the ideal versus the reality of homeownership by examining stratified access to homeownership in Canada from 1986 to 2016 using six waves of population census data. We examined three narratives underlying the promises of the homeownership ideology: (1) widespread and (2) equal opportunities for homeownership access, and (3) the achievement of financial security through building property assets. This study investigates access to three types of housing tenure: outright homeownership, mortgaged homeownership, and renting, and presents empirical evidence that challenges the ideological premises of homeownership. As homeownership becomes more unattainable, “Generation Rent” and low- and moderate-income households lose opportunities for asset building and wealth accumulation.

Public-Private partnership frameworks for financing affordable housing: Lessons and models

The pressing need for affordable housing in both developed and developing countries has prompted governments to explore innovative financing mechanisms, with Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) emerging as a viable solution. This paper examines the frameworks, lessons, and models of PPPs for financing affordable housing, aiming to provide insights into their effectiveness and scalability. PPPs combine the resources, expertise, and efficiencies of both the public and private sectors to address the housing affordability crisis. By leveraging the strengths of each sector, PPPs aim to reduce financial burdens on governments while ensuring the delivery of quality housing solutions. This review outlines the various PPP models, including build-operate-transfer (BOT), design-build-finance-operate (DBFO), and lease-develop-operate (LDO), highlighting their structural differences and application contexts. Key components of successful PPP frameworks include clear regulatory environments, transparent procurement processes, risk-sharing mechanisms, and robust stakeholder engagement. Regulatory frameworks that support PPPs play a critical role in providing legal certainty and fostering investor confidence. Transparent procurement processes ensure fairness and competitiveness, while effective risk-sharing mechanisms distribute financial, construction, and operational risks appropriately between public and private partners. Engaging stakeholders, including communities and civil society, is essential for aligning project objectives with local needs and ensuring social acceptance. Case studies from various regions illustrate the practical application and outcomes of PPP frameworks. In the United Kingdom, the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) has effectively utilized PPPs to deliver thousands of affordable housing units, demonstrating the benefits of strong regulatory support and private sector participation. Singapore's Housing and Development Board (HDB) employs PPP models to maintain high housing standards while ensuring affordability through extensive government subsidies and private sector involvement. In South Africa, the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA) leverages PPPs to develop rental housing for low- and moderate-income households, highlighting the importance of government incentives and capacity-building initiatives. The review concludes that PPP frameworks, when effectively designed and implemented, can significantly enhance the availability of affordable housing. Lessons learned from successful models emphasize the need for supportive policies, transparent processes, and inclusive stakeholder engagement. Policymakers and practitioners can draw on these insights to develop tailored PPP approaches that address specific housing challenges and contribute to sustainable urban development. Keywords: Public-Private Partnership: Frameworks, Financing, Affordable Housing, Models.

Modeling the potential effects of rooftop solar on household energy burden in the United States

Policymakers at the federal and state level have begun to incorporate energy burden into equity goals and program evaluations, aiming to reduce energy burden below a high level of 6% for lower income households in the United States. Pairing an empirical household-level dataset spanning United States geographies together with modeled hourly energy demand curves, we show that rooftop solar reduces energy burden across a majority of adopters during our study period from a median of 3.3% to 2.6%. For low- and moderate-income adopters (at or below 80% and 120% of area median income, respectively), solar reduces median 2021 energy burden from 7.7% to 6.2%, and 4.1% to 3.3%, respectively. Importantly, solar reduces the rate of high or severe energy burden from 67% of all low-income households before adoption to 52% of households following adoption, and correspondingly from 21% to 13% for moderate-income households. Here, we show rooftop solar can support policy goals to reduce energy burden along with strategies such as weatherization and bill assistance.

Can Fair Share Policies Expand Neighborhood Choice? Evidence From Bypassing Exclusionary Zoning Under Massachusetts Chapter 40B

Opening up neighborhoods that offer greater opportunities for social mobility to low- and moderate-income households remains a challenge in the United States. Exclusionary zoning practices act as a barrier to current efforts by restricting the supply of affordable housing. In this paper, we examine whether fair share policies that seek to bypass these restrictive zoning practices offer one potential solution. Focusing on Massachusetts Chapter 40B, we find clear evidence that such policies build affordable housing in neighborhoods with strikingly greater opportunities for social mobility than are otherwise available to low- and moderate-income households. Leveraging novel data on 40B development addresses linked to a wide range of public and administrative records, we find that 40B produces affordable units in neighborhoods with greater economic mobility, higher performing schools, greater social capital, less pollution, better health outcomes, and lower incarceration rates than both the typical neighborhood in Massachusetts and those available to beneficiaries of the state’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, Housing Choice Voucher, and public housing programs. Consistent with previous research on policies that have segregated affordable housing and opportunity, we also find that neighborhoods with affordable 40B units are whiter and more affluent than average. An examination of underlying policy mechanisms suggests that 40B’s ability to bypass exclusionary zoning plays a central role in explaining differences in neighborhood characteristics between 40B and other programs. We further find little evidence to support concerns that 40B’s zoning override leads to affordable 40B units being built in the least advantaged areas of municipalities, in polluted zones, or near highways, though a non-trivial share of units are located in industrial zones. These results suggest that policies like 40B may be valuable complements to other major housing programs in the United States.

Shady solar: understanding barriers and facilitators to residential solar adoption for low- and moderate-income homeowners in New York City

Low- and moderate-income (LMI) households face substantial barriers in accessing solar energy despite incentives at the local, state, and federal levels. Notwithstanding the rapid deployment of resources, there is still much to understand and address from a program design and implementation perspective to effectively realize an equitable energy transition. This qualitative study, which draws on interviews with policymakers, implementers, and LMI homeowners, provides novel insights into barriers and facilitators surrounding the inclusive adoption of solar energy. Our findings underscore the substantial differences and frequent misalignments in perspectives among these stakeholders. We find that both implementers and LMI homeowners encounter economic and administrative burdens, though the specific ways these factors hinder solar adoption differ between the groups. We leverage the viewpoints and experiences of policymakers, implementers, and LMI homeowners to guide evidence-based recommendations to overcome the many hurdles that actively impede equitable and inclusive solar adoption.

Can New Housing Supply Mitigate Displacement and Exclusion?

Problem, research strategy, and findings The housing affordability crisis is exacerbating displacement and exclusion in built-up urban neighborhoods. Although new housing development might help, it faces local opposition. Researchers have struggled to inform this debate because of data challenges, so we constructed a unique database on construction and household-level mobility to determine how development affects displacement and exclusion in the subsequent 5 years in Los Angeles (a typical coastal “hot market” in California) and San Francisco (the extreme “superstar city” case in California). We found that developing new market-rate housing generally helped slightly to alleviate both displacement and exclusion pressures for low-income households in Los Angeles and helped increase in-migration into weaker market neighborhoods in San Francisco. But particularly in the hottest markets, the new market-rate units could fail to spur low- and moderate-income households’ in-migration and exacerbate their out-migration. Likewise, the positive impacts of the new market-rate units may fade over time. Subsidized housing generally mitigated both exclusion and displacement slightly in most markets. Future research should examine long-term effects in a variety of contexts, controlling for the role of housing policies such as rent stabilization. Takeaway for practice Market-rate housing development may help alleviate rent pressures locally and regionally, but it is not sufficient to address displacement and exclusion at the neighborhood level. Because new production helps to mitigate displacement and exclusion in some contexts but exacerbates it in others, planners need to understand the market and neighborhood context for development. In addition to supporting more market-rate and subsidized housing development through zoning and fiscal tools, planners should implement complementary policies such as housing preservation and tenant protections.

Housing policies and energy efficiency spillovers in low and moderate income communities

Housing policies address the human dimensions of increasing urban density, but their energy and sustainability implications are hard to measure due to challenges with siloed civic data. This is especially critical when evaluating policies targeting low- and moderate-income (LMI) households. For example, a major challenge to achieving national energy efficiency goals has been participation by LMI households. Standalone energy efficiency policies, such as information-based programmes and weatherization assistance, tend to attract affluent, informed households or suffer from low participation rates. In this Article, we provide evidence that federal housing policies, specifically community development block grants, accelerate energy efficiency participation from LMI households, including renters and multifamily residents. We conduct record linkage on 5.9M observations of housing programme participation and utility consumption to quantify the hidden benefits of locally administered housing block grants in a typical entitlement community in the US Southeast. We provide long-run evidence across 16,680 properties that housing policies generate 5–11% energy savings as spillover benefits to economically burdened households not conventionally targeted for energy efficiency participation.

Non-bank credit and food hardship: The association between payday loans, pawn loans, rent-to-own contracts and food hardship in households with children

Low- and moderate-income (LMI) households with children are at-risk for food hardship and may rely on short-term credit to meet their food needs. This research examines how the use of three types of non-bank credit – payday loans, pawn loans, and rent-to-own transactions – is associated with food insecurity, food insufficiency, and food inadequacy using households matched between the Current Population Survey’s Food Security Supplement and the Unbanked and Underbanked Supplement. It finds a strong association between the use of any non-bank credit and food hardship. Payday loan and pawn loan use, particularly for households that use these products more frequently, have a larger association with food hardship than use of rent-to-own transactions. When examining the self-reported reasons for using non-bank credit, households that use non-bank credit to pay for basic living expenses rather than for specific expenses, such as a repairs or childcare expenses, have a stronger association with food hardship. However, biprobit estimates are imprecise and do not establish a causal link between use of non-bank credit and food hardship. Policy should promote affordable credit, expand assistance to purchase food, and assist households in acquiring savings to address the food hardship experienced by households using AFS credit.

Framing energy-efficiency programs: A survey experiment

In the U.S., many low- and moderate-income households live in energy-inefficient homes and are burdened by energy bills. Although energy-efficiency home improvement programs are long-term solutions for home energy problems, the take-up of income-eligible energy-efficiency programs can be low. This study investigates how information framing affects low- and moderate-income individuals' willingness to participate in energy-efficiency programs in the U.S. as informed by prospect theory and regulatory focus theory. The author used a survey experiment to test how framing free energy-efficiency programs as helping homeowners avoid monetary losses versus framing programs as providing energy savings affects respondents' interest in program participation. Results from a national sample of homeowners pre-stratified by income (N = 1590) suggest that gain-framed messages are more effective in encouraging take-up willingness among moderate-income homeowners than loss-framed messages. At the same time, framing's effect on take-up willingness is statistically insignificant among low-income homeowners. Stress about paying energy bills also predicts willingness to take up energy-efficiency programs with statistical significance. This study contributes to helping policymakers customize information about energy-efficiency programs with different framings for individuals across the income strata.

Who owns the city? Neoliberal urbanism and land purchases in Gurgaon, India

Increasing purchases of valuable real estate for storing capital have contributed to the soaring prices of modest housing in many global cities and in several South Asian cities such as Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. Saskia Sassen has drawn attention to the phenomenon of underutilisation of purchased properties existing alongside the acute demand for housing by low- and moderate-income households in the same cities. Despite the gravity of this issue, empirical analyses of urban land transactions remain rare, especially because such purchases often tend to be piecemeal and obscure, involving a multitude of smaller land deals and a variety of actors. This paper examines corporate purchases of urban land in Gurgaon, a city adjacent to New Delhi that has embraced neoliberal economic policies. By creating a land database for the upcoming sectors in the city, the study makes sharply visible: (1) the radical changes in property ownership patterns from agricultural land to luxury gated communities, (2) the growing corporate investments, extreme concentration of land ownership and deeply unequal distribution of urban land and (3) the use of various illicit practices by market-leading companies in land banking.

Disparities in the “who” and “where” of the vehicle purchase decision-making process for lower-income households

The completion of a vehicle purchase is a major decision point which presents substantial financial implications for low-income households. As compared to the expansive bodies of literature on the low-income housing search and the relationship between travel behavior constraints and intra-household race and sex/gender dynamics, literature on the sociodemographic drivers influencing the vehicle search and purchase process for low-income households is scant. We begin to fill these knowledge gaps by analyzing data on major decision-making aspects of vehicle purchase from a representative survey of 1,604 low- and moderate-income households in California, where vehicle ownership and dependence among low-income households is high. We find that sex/gender and race or ethnicity both influence who within a household is the reported primary-decision maker in vehicle purchase searches, with Hispanic and Asian females being significantly less likely to be described as the primary decision-maker in their households’ processes. More educated, higher income and older respondents were also more likely to purchase a vehicle from a traditional automobile dealer rather than an online seller or other informal source. These findings reflect broader, regressive differences in intra-household financial decision-making as well as inequitable disparities in the purchase process. The results also present implications for lower-income household financial management, and a growing field of policymaking aimed to support a just transition in clean vehicle adoption.

The Economic Role of Housing and Construction Fund towards Inhabitants of Public Housing in Karary Locality”

This work aims to study the economic role of Housing and Construction Fund (HCF) towards the Sudan inhabitants in public housing in Karary Locality of Khartoum State, the problem statement will be expressed by raising these questions: To what extent living standard of inhabitants in public housing will be affected in social relations, economic status, educational standard and their health status? How the inhabitants adapt public housing environment? Is living in public housing improves inhabitant’s economic status? To have your own house as property is it a motivation for increasing one’s his national affiliation? The study derived its importance from knowledge of the extent of the social and economic impacts of HCF which will be touched the Sudan inhabitants, social & economic needs and expectation, especially for the inhabitants who were being moved to a different environment which affect a large category of inhabitants and it will move the inhabitants from various environmental fields, cultural, social, economic, educational …. etc., besides gaining special importance for addressing human vital topic anywhere, especially in developing world which is public housing concern. The objectives are the social and economic impacts of Public Housing towards the Sudan inhabitants, in terms of social and cultural relations, with other various communities, and environments and availability of public services as health, education and public transportation, and to highlight the efforts exerted from HCF to avail appropriate housing for the needs of a broad segment of very low to moderate income households. The hypotheses are the impacts of HCF towards the Sudan Inhabitants in the social, cultural relations, some environmental variances & availability of public services and the HCF is providing inhabitants’ stability by creating public housing. The methodology of this work used social methods approach which consists of two components: quantitative and qualitative methods. This study used both quantitative and qualitative methods as mixed methods approach. The conclusion showed the relations of economic status of inhabitants were affected, besides provided stability, choosing suitable location for public housing and rendered essential services such as water and electricity. Based on the conclusion of this work, HCF in Khartoum State is recommended to construct places for entertainment, recreation and establish shopping centers in each residential neighborhood or block in the public housing to contribute to the creation of employment opportunities. Beside other major missing services centers such as health centers.

Monetary Policy and Home Buying Inequality

Does monetary policy influence who becomes a home owner? Home purchases by low- and moderate-income households may be particularly sensitive to mortgage interest rates, as these households’ budgets are tighter and they more frequently come up against binding payment-to-income ratio constraints in credit decisions. Exploiting the timing of high-frequency observations of mortgage applicants locking in their interest rates around monetary policy shocks, I find that a 1 percentage point policy-induced increase in mortgage rates lowers the presence of low-income households in the population of home buyers by 1 percentage point, and of low- and moderate-income households by 2 percentage points, immediately following the shock. Effects are substantially stronger among first-time home buyers, and persist for approximately one year.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Housing Instability During the COVID-19 Pandemic: the Role of Assets and Income Shocks.

Stable and adequate housing is critical to sound public health responses in the midst of a pandemic. This study explores the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on housing-related hardships across racial/ethnic groups in the USA as well as the extent to which these disparities are mediated by households' broader economic circumstances, which we operationalized in terms of prepandemic liquid assets and pandemic-related income losses. Using a longitudinal national survey with more than 23,000 responses, we found that Black and Hispanic respondents were more vulnerable to housing-related hardships during the pandemic than white respondents. These impacts were particularly pronounced in low- and moderate-income households. We found that liquid assets acted as a strong mediator of the housing hardship disparities between white and Black/Hispanic households. Our findings imply that housing became less stable for minority groups as a result of the pandemic, particularly those households with limited liquid assets. Such housing-related disparities demonstrate the need for policies and practices that target support to economically marginalized groups and families of color in particular.

Rooftop solar incentives remain effective for low- and moderate-income adoption

Financial incentives for rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) adoption have declined in the United States over time by policy design. Incentive phase-down can efficiently promote early adoption and avoid ineffective payments to late adopters. However, incentive phase-down may exclude low- and moderate-income (LMI) households from realizing the same financial benefits from PV adoption as high-income early adopters. Here, data from two state-level LMI PV incentive programs are analyzed to test whether incentives still drive PV adoption among LMI households. As a first order approximation, the analysis suggests that incentives drove adoption that would not otherwise have happened in about 80% of cases. To the extent that policymakers prioritize PV adoption equity as part of the emerging energy justice policy agenda, the results suggest that ongoing incentive support for LMI adoption may be merited.

The Precarity of Self-Employment among Low- and Moderate-Income Households

Abstract Many people in the United States have achieved economic stability through self-employment and are often seen as embracing the entrepreneurial spirit and seizing opportunity. Yet, research also suggests that self-employment may be precarious for many people in the lower socioeconomic strata. Drawing on a unique dataset that combines longitudinal survey data with administrative tax data for a sample of low- and moderate-income (LMI) workers, we bring new evidence to bear on this debate by examining the link between self-employment and economic insecurity. Overall, our results show that self-employment is associated with greater economic insecurity among LMI workers compared with wage-and-salary employment. For instance, compared with their wage-and-salary counterparts, the self-employed have 78, 168, and 287 percent greater odds of having an income below basic expenses, and experiencing an unexpected income decline and high levels of income volatility, respectively. We also find that differences in financial endowment and access to health insurance are key drivers in explaining the relationship between employment type and economic insecurity, as being able to access $2,000 in an emergency greatly lowers the odds of budgetary constraint, whereas lack of health insurance increases those odds. These findings suggest that formal work arrangements with wages and benefits offered by an employer promotes greater economic stability among LMI workers compared with informal work arrangements via self-employment. We discuss implications of these results for future research and policy initiatives seeking to promote economic wellbeing through entrepreneurship.

Cut me some slack! An exploration of slack resources and technology-mediated human capital investments in entrepreneurship

PurposeIn this paper, the authors explore the relationship that slack resources and technology-mediated human capital investments can have on individuals’ entrepreneurial intentions. Focusing on human capital investments that individuals make through education and work, the authors analyze the relationship among formal online learning opportunities, informal skill development in the gig economy and entrepreneurial intentions.Design/methodology/approachLeveraging a novel dataset that merges administrative tax data with a survey of over 8,528 low- and moderate income (LMI) households, this study uses machine learning and propensity score weighting to examine the likelihood that individuals who make these technology-mediated human capital investments will have increased odds of entrepreneurial intentions when compared to similar individuals who do not make these investments.FindingsThe authors find that both partaking in online learning and working in the gig economy are significantly associated with increased odds of entrepreneurial intentions. Furthermore, through a variety of robustness and mechanism checks, the authors find that technology-mediation is an important factor in these relationships and that informal skill development and career preparation is one way in which gig employment influences entrepreneurial intentions.Research limitations/implicationsAs the study’s data come from a cross-sectional survey, the authors cannot make causal inferences about the relationship between online learning, gig employment and entrepreneurial intentions. Thus, future research should explore sources of longitudinal data.Practical implicationsThis study has practical implication for individuals and policymakers that seek to increase entrepreneurship among LMI households.Originality/valueDespite a wealth of research on the relationships among slack resources, technology and innovation at the firm level, there is little of this research at the individual level – especially among LMI individuals. The authors begin to fill this important gap.

Income Differences in Serious Financial Burdens Facing U.S. Households during Covid-19

Nearly two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, America’s economic recovery remains unequal. The authors find that low- and moderate-income households continue to suffer financially. In a new survey examining serious problems facing U.S. households during the delta variant outbreak, four key differences among the experiences of households by income level (<$50,000/year, $50,000–$99,999/year, or $100,000+/year) are discussed, as well as their implications for the future. First, despite trillions of dollars appropriated by federal and state governments during the Covid-19 outbreak to protect vulnerable Americans and a majority of American households reporting they have received financial assistance from the federal government in the past few months, 59% of U.S. households earning below $50,000 a year still report facing serious financial problems, while fewer than one in four households earning $50,000+/year report this. Second, the housing crisis among renters is likely to worsen in the near-term, as 34% of renters earning below $50,000/year report serious problems paying rent, compared to fewer than 10% of those earning $50,000+. This includes large shares of renters earning below $50,000 in the four largest U.S. cities (59% of Houston renters, 51% of Chicago renters, 44% of Los Angeles renters, and 44% of New York City renters). Third, problems for many lower-income households are likely to endure over time, as 30% of households earning <$50,000 lost all of their household savings during the Covid-19 pandemic and have no savings to fall back on. Fourth, these problems may extend intergenerationally, as 72% of households with children earning <$50,000 report facing serious financial problems, and 49% of these households report their children have fallen behind in school a lot during the Covid-19 pandemic, compared with one-third or fewer households with children earning $50,000+ who report these problems. This study was conducted by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, using a 2021 poll by Harvard, National Public Radio, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Financial Shocks and Financial Well-Being: What Builds Resiliency in Lower-Income Households?

Households in the U.S. regularly experience unexpected negative income or expense shocks, and low- and moderate-income households experience these shocks at disproportionately high rates. Relatively little is known about the impact these shocks have on households’ subjective sense of financial well-being, and how access to different types of liquidity (e.g., liquid assets, credit cards, social resources, and income flows) can mitigate the impact of these shocks on subjective financial well-being. To address these gaps in the literature, this paper uses data from a two-wave survey administered to 3,911 low- and moderate-income tax filers in 2018. Applying a difference-in-difference analysis, we find that the experience of an income shock between survey waves was associated with a large decline in subjective financial well-being, while the experience of an expense shock was associated with a more modest decline. Relatively liquidity-constrained households tended to be more negatively impacted by shocks than their counterparts, though not all sources of liquidity were equally as effective in buffering households against shocks. The findings of this paper point to the need for policymakers and program administrators to develop tools that can facilitate access to different types of liquidity to offset different financial risks for households.

Income-targeted marketing as a supply-side barrier to low-income solar adoption

SummaryLow- and moderate-income (LMI) households remain less likely to adopt rooftop solar photovoltaics (PV) than higher-income households. A transient period of inequitable adoption is common among emerging technologies but stakeholders are calling for an accelerated transition to equitable rooftop PV adoption. To date, researchers have focused on demand-side drivers of PV adoption inequity, but supply-side factors could also play a role. Here, we use quote data to explore whether PV installers implement income-targeted marketing and the extent to which such strategies drive adoption inequity. We find that installers submit fewer quotes to households in low-income areas and those households that receive fewer quotes are less likely to adopt. The data suggest that income-targeted marketing explains about one-quarter of the difference in PV adoption rates between LMI and higher-income households. Policymakers could explore a broader suite of interventions to address demand- and supply-side drivers of PV adoption inequity.