Tenant Households Research Articles

Housing production in Brussels: the neighbourhood city to stand the test of urban densification

In recent years, housing densification in the Brussels-Capital Region has become an urban development issue and tool to cope with demographic expansion and the widening gap between supply and demand as regards social and middle income housing. The choice of location is crucial in order to meet these challenges, identified in particular in the Sustainable Regional Development Plan project. Yet, with a social housing stock of 39 000 dwellings and more than 45 000 prospective tenant households, public real estate developers do not seem to consider location as a priority criterion to decide on new housing operations in the regional territory. The present article is intended to be an updated summary of research which began approximately ten years ago and whose objective was to analyse public and private housing production since 1989 with regard to the evolution of the city project [Ananian, 2010]. A second objective has been added to this initial one, namely to compare these results to the Regional Housing Plan (2005) production and the financial framework of Alliance Habitat (2015). This synopsis highlights the necessity to direct the efforts of the public authorities towards an integrated strategy of urban planning and public housing production which takes into account the proximity of the facilities, services and amenities of daily life.

Social housing tenants, Climate Change and sustainable living: A study of awareness, behaviours and willingness to adapt

Despite a focus in the UK on providing sustainable housing in recent years, it is unlikely that targets set to reduce resource consumption in housing will be achieved without a greater focus on human behaviour. It is necessary to understand the actions of people occupying dwellings, as it is invariably the occupants rather than the buildings that decided whether or not to consume resources.In this paper the authors present a pilot study where 53 social housing tenant households in Northern Ireland were interviewed to ascertain their perceptions of Climate Change, their current behaviours and their willingness to reduce energy and water consumption in the home. The intention was to explore links between perceptions and reported behaviour as well as perceptions and willingness to reduce resource consumption.Results show that 77% of tenants believed Climate Change to be an important issue; 57% accepted that it is up to the individual to take responsibility for tackling Climate Change; and demonstrated a strong desire to make a difference to reduce their impact. The researchers identified both passive (devices) and active (behaviours) resource savings currently in place and established where further resource reduction was feasible based on tenants’ willingness to alter their behaviours.

An agent-based evaluation of impacts of transport developments on the modal shift in Tehran, Iran

Changes in travel modes used by people, particularly reduction of the private car use, is an important determinant of effectiveness of transportation plans. Because of dependencies between the choices of residential location and travel mode, integrated modelling of these choices has been proposed by some researchers. In this paper, an agent-based microsimulation model has been developed to evaluate impacts of different transport development plans on choices of residential location and commuting mode of tenant households in Tehran, the capital of Iran. In the proposed model, households are considered as agents who select their desired residential location using a constrained NSGA-II algorithm and in a competition with other households. In addition, they choose their commuting mode by applying a multicriteria decision-making method. Afterwards, effects of development of a new highway, subway and bus rapid transit (BRT) line on their residential location and commuting mode choices are evaluated. Results show that despite the residential self-selection effects, these plans result in considerable changes in the commuting mode of different socio-economic categories of households. Development of the new subway line shows promising results by reducing the private car use among the all socio-economic categories of households. But the new highway development unsatisfactorily results in increase in the private car use. In addition, development of the new BRT line does not show significant effects on the commuting mode change, particularly on decrease in the private car use.

Agrarian stress and climate change in the Eastern Gangetic Plains: Gendered vulnerability in a stratified social formation

This paper reviews the complex impact of climate change on gender relations and associated vulnerability on the Eastern Gangetic Plains of Nepal and India. Field research has identified that gendered vulnerability to climate change is intricately connected to local and macro level political economic processes. Rather than being a single driver of change, climate is one among several stresses on agriculture, alongside a broader set of non-climatic processes. While these pressures are linked to large scale political–economic processes, the response on the ground is mediated by the local level relations of class and caste, creating stratified patterns of vulnerability. The primary form of gendered vulnerability in the context of agrarian stress emerges from male out-migration, which has affected the distribution of labour and resources. While migration occurs amongst all socio-economic groups, women from marginal farmer and tenant households are most vulnerable. While the causes of migration are only indirectly associated with climate change, migration itself is rendering women who are left behind from marginal households, more vulnerable to ecological shocks such as droughts due to the sporadic flow of income and their reduced capacity for investment in off-farm activities. It is clear that policies and initiatives to address climate change in stratified social formations such as the Eastern Gangetic Plains, will be ineffective without addressing the deeper structural intersections between class, caste and gender.

The influence of deprivation on suicide mortality in urban and rural Queensland: an ecological analysis

A trend of higher suicide rates in rural and remote areas as well as areas with low socioeconomic status has been shown in previous research. Little is known whether the influence of social deprivation on suicide differs between urban and rural areas. This investigation aims to examine how social deprivation influences suicide mortality and to identify which related factors of deprivation have a higher potential to reduce suicide risk in urban and rural Queensland, Australia. Suicide data from 2004 to 2008 were obtained from the Queensland Suicide Register. Age-standardized suicide rates (15+ years) and rate ratios, with a 95% confidence interval, for 38 Statistical Subdivisions (SSDs) in Queensland were calculated. The influence of deprivation-related variables on suicide and their rural-urban difference were modelled by log-linear regression analyses through backward elimination. Among the 38 SSDs in Queensland, eight had a higher suicide risk while eleven had a lower rate. Working-age males (15-59 years) had the most pronounced geographic variation in suicide rate. In urban areas, suicide rates were positively associated with tenant households in public housing, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the unemployment rate and median individual income, but inversely correlated with younger age and households with no internet access. In rural areas, only tenant households in public housing and households with no internet access heightened the risk of suicide, while a negative association was found for younger and older persons, low-skilled workers or labourers, and families with low income and no cars. The extent to which social deprivation contributes to suicide mortality varies considerably between rural and urban areas.

The role of post-disaster public policy responses in housing recovery of tenants

This paper examines the post-earthquake public policy responses for housing recovery of tenants in cities of Bhuj in India and Bam in Iran that were affected by earthquakes in 2001 and 2003 respectively. The analysis of these two public policy responses is followed by an investigation of their implications for housing recovery of tenant households. It is argued that both recovery programmes favoured homeowners in their policy provisions while engaging in a trial and error policy development for housing recovery of non-landowners. The implications of the policies were a lack of affordable rental units in these cities and late recovery and displacement of tenants. In particular public policy responses for housing recovery in these two cities failed to adequately address the housing needs of lower-income tenants.

Rebound Effects in German Residential Heating: Do Ownership and Income Matter?

In this paper, by using panel data and a fixed effects model, we estimate the direct rebound effect related to space heating in German residential households. The data used are from a representative repeated survey among some 11,000 households in Germany provided by the German Institute of Economic Research (DIW Berlin). We find that for the size of the direct rebound effect, i.e. the amount of energy consumption “taken back” when energy efficiency rises, income and ownership matter significantly. The estimated rebound effects for the different household groups range between 12% for owners (income class “all”) and 49% for tenants (income class “low”). Tenants are found to have much higher rebound effects. Higherincome owner households have a slightly higher rebound than lower income households (14% vs. 13%), whereas for tenant households the outcome is reversed (31% vs. 49%). We conclude that energy rebound effects in the residential sector should be tackled in energy policy making in a differentiated way, and certainly not ignored in energy efficiency policies.

Household Food Insecurity in Ontario

To identify socio-demographic factors associated with household food insecurity in the Ontario population. Using data from the Ontario Share File of the 2004 Canadian Community Health Survey, Cycle 2.2, multivariate logistic regression was applied to identify the socio-demographic characteristics of households most likely to report food insecurity. Of the estimated 379,100 food-insecure households in Ontario in 2004, 55% were reliant on salaries or wages, 23% on social assistance, and 13% on pensions or seniors' benefits. The prevalence of food insecurity increased markedly as income adequacy declined, rising to 47% in the lowest category of income adequacy. Food insecurity was also more prevalent among tenant households and single-person and single-parent households. When all socio-demographic factors were taken into account, three potent socio-demographic correlates of household food insecurity in Ontario were identified: low income adequacy, social assistance as the main source of income, and not owning one's dwelling. Compared to households whose main source of income was salary or wages, the adjusted odds of experiencing food insecurity was 3.69 (95% CI: 2.33, 5.84) for households reliant on social assistance, but 0.44 (95% CI: 0.29, 0.67) for those reliant on pensions or seniors' benefits. Our findings highlight the need for more adequate social assistance benefit levels, but also point to the need for better income supports for low-waged workers in Ontario so that they have sufficient financial resources to purchase the food they need.

Adequacy of food spending is related to housing expenditures among lower-income Canadian households

A number of studies have pointed to the pressure that housing costs can exert on the resources available for food. The objectives of the present study were to characterise the relationship between the proportion of income absorbed by housing and the adequacy of household food expenditures across the Canadian population and within income quintiles; and to elucidate the impact of receipt of a housing subsidy on adequacy of food expenditures among low-income tenant households. The 2001 Survey of Household Spending, conducted by Statistics Canada, was a national cross-sectional survey that collected detailed information on expenditures on goods and services. The adequacy of food spending was assessed in relation to the cost of a basic nutritious diet. Canada. The person with primary responsibility for financial maintenance from 15 535 households from all provinces and territories. As the proportion of income allocated to housing increased, food spending adequacy declined significantly among households in the three lowest income quintiles. After accounting for household income and composition, receipt of a housing subsidy was associated with an improvement in adequacy of food spending among low-income tenant households, but still mean food spending fell below the cost of a basic nutritious diet even among subsidised households. This study indicates that housing costs compromise the food access of some low-income households and speaks to the need to re-examine policies related to housing affordability and income adequacy.

Operation Barga, ‘Efficiency’ and (De)interlinkage in a Differentiated Structure of Tenancy in Rural West Bengal

Operation Barga in West Bengal caused a decline in the institution of tenancy over a period of two decades. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the field-level data shows that the tenant households are placed in a highly heterogeneous and differentiated manner in society, which is similar to that of the pattern of distribution of general (tenant plus non-tenant) households. We find that tenant households are less productive than the general category of households and, therefore, less efficient. The yield level of recorded tenant households is also distinctly higher than unrecorded tenant households. Recorded tenants are enjoying lower rental rate than unrecorded tenants. The possibility of interlinked transactions has been remote among tenant households.

Duration of Residence in the Rental Housing Market

This paper estimates a proportional hazard model of duration of residence in rental housing. The study employs unique data from the BLS-CPI housing sample to construct the duration of rental occupancy for metropolitan areas over the 1987-1998 period. American Housing Survey and other metropolitan economic data are used to proxy time-varying covariates of duration of residence. The paper employs an innovative semi-parametric estimation approach for group duration analysis of the proportional hazard model, as originally proposed by Ryu (1994) and then modified by Deng [(1995), (1997)]. Results of the analysis indicate that the duration of residence in rental housing varies significantly across individual units and market segments. In fact, the duration of residence is highly time dependent, given significant intertemporal variation in many of the housing and market covariates. The paper provides evidence of high tenant turnover rates at about 3 years of residence. However, the turnover hazard curve depends as well on market conditions and housing policy. For example, imposition of rent control can shift the peak of the tenant turnover hazard curve to the left. Research findings further indicate that median housing costs, public housing share of the rental stock, poverty rate, and African-American and Hispanic share of tenant households are among those factors that positively affect tenant turnover hazard rates and hence are negatively related to tenant residence duration. Elevator buildings, unemployment rate, population growth and central city share of the rental stock negatively affect tenant turnover hazard rates and hence are positively related with tenant residence duration. Further, the estimated pattern of duration of residence was shown to vary substantially across 33 large metropolitan markets. Simulation results further indicate the sensitivity of duration of residence to housing locational and structural characteristics. For example, findings for New York City indicate that increased geographic dispersion of rental housing, as reflected in a reduction in the share of rental stock in the central city to national average levels, would serve to boost cumulative tenant turnover rates by 12 percent by the end of year three of the rental lease. Similarly, simulated reduction in the density of rental housing, as reflected in downward adjustment in the share of NYC buildings with seven or more stories to that of the national average level, would serve to increase cumulative tenant turnover rates by 13 percent. The research provides new evidence as regards tenant and market characteristics that determine the duration of residency. Clearly, an improved understanding thereof offers new insights as regards fluctuations in tenant turnover, building occupancy, and rent flows, as well as new confidence in pro forma assumptions critical to rental housing development.

Becoming widowed: Rural widows in lower Austria, 1788–1848

This article discusses the characteristics of widowhood in early 19th-century Austria, focusing on the sources of economic support. Higher proportions of the widowed population were found in inmate than in tenant households, and more women than men were widowed. Widows were more likely to live on their own than adults in general were, indicating that many widows could support their households from their own resources. For 40% of the widows, however, familial support was available in the form of a coresident extended household. Tenant households with greater resources at their disposal were better able to offer this form of support than inmate households. Less than 1% of tenant widows lived alone. Longitudinal data were analyzed to determine the relative frequency with which tenant and inmate widows succeeded their late husbands as household heads, remarried, or retired to become the mothers or mothers-in-law of the new household heads.

Inner-city Rental Housing in Lima

Since the second half of the 1980s, practitioners and researchers have been paying attention to what may be labelled the oldest type of housing for low-income groups in modern Latin America, namely inner-city rental housing. An important conclusion that can be drawn from a review of the studies executed over the last 15 years is the fact that there appear to exist significant differences between Latin American cities regarding the quantitative importance of this segment of the urban housing market and the explanations for its current “state-of-the-art”. In this paper I discuss the often poor physical conditions of these dwellings, the lack of sufficient and good services, the tight accommodations and the socio-economic characteristics of owners and tenant households, as well as the factors contributing to this situation. I do this by elaborating upon the case of the Peruvian capital Lima, where the so-called tugurios comprise an important alternative for poor households who prefer to live in the inner city.

Urban housing and the role of 'underclass' processes: the case of Ireland

Rising levels of urban deprivation and a perception that poverty has become more concentrated in such areas and has taken on a qualitatively different character have provoked a variety of popular and academic responses. The potentially most fruitful set of hypotheses focuses on the unintended consequences of social change. A combination of weak labour force attachment and social isolation is perceived to lead to behaviour and orientations that contribute to a vicious circle of deprivation. In examining the value of this conceptual framework in the Irish case we proceed by measuring directly the social-psychological factors which are hypothesized to mediate the 'underclass' process. A significantly higher level of poverty is found in urban public-sector tenant households. This finding cannot be accounted for entirely by socio-demographic differences. It is the assessment of this net or residual effect that is crucial to an evaluation of vicious circle explanations. Controlling for the critical social-psychological factors we found that net effect was reduced by less than a quarter and concluded that the remaining effect is more plausibly attributed to the role of selection than to underclass processes. Analysis of the changing relationship between urban public-sector tenancy and poverty provides support for this interpretation. For the main part the distinctiveness of social housing tenants is a consequence of the disadvantages they suffer in relation to employment opportunities and living standards. Ultimately it is these problems that policy interventions, whatever the level at which they take place, must address.

Safeguarding the Rational Allocation of Public Housing Resources in Hong Kong

This paper is an attempt to analyze the Hong Kong government's housing policy in safeguarding the rational allocation of public housing resources. An asset-test policy has been introduced recently to supplement the income-test on tenant households. This paper examines the objectives, value premises, principles and strategies adopted and the impact of the policy on housing the needy. It also contributes to the debate on residualization in the social rented sector and housing affordability of public housing tenants, and deals with the issues of resource allocation and equity.

Nutrition in agricultural development: land settlement in Coast Province, Kenya.

Coast Province is the third area of population concentration in Kenya with more than 1.8 million people at the time of the census in 1989. The region is economically underdeveloped relative to central and western Kenya. In response to a great demand for land, the government of Kenya has since 1963 parcelled out tracts of land in Coast Province among smallholder tenants. This paper reviews the settlement of land in the province during 1960-70 and the effects upon later household income, food production, and nutrition. Findings are based upon information gathered from 300 tenant households surveyed between August 1985 and September 1986 in the Ukunda, Mtwapa, and Roka-East schemes respectively established in 1962, 1968, and 1969, and 150 households in rural comparison locations visited during the same period. In all aspects studied, including living conditions, household resources and income, food self-sufficiency and consumption, and nutritional status of children, the settlement tenants were better off than the rural population. Further analysis determined that the relatively better nutritional status of tenant households is only partly due to increases in food production and agricultural income. Income from employment was also higher than that of the rural comparison population. Households with large farms generally realized larger incomes, but they also had much larger families and food consumption, and the nutritional status of young children was lower among those households.

Wage-Homestead Tenancies: Technological Dualism and Tenant Household Size

A widespread but little-studied tenancy in the developing world entails the exchange of labor for access to a homestead and a wage. This paper models two distinguishing features of this tenancy: technological dualism between the landlord's and tenants' plot, and landlord preferences over tenant household size. When wages are time denominated, moral hazard may provide incentive for landlords to resist innovation on the homestead. Landlords are shown to prefer larger tenant households under a time wage than under piece-rate. I argue that landlord preferences over tenant household size may have important effects that are ignored in the literature.

Share tenancy, external risk and labour use: A note on Pakistani data

This article outlines a labour market based explanation of the institution of sharecropping. It is argued that two distinct rationales for sharecropping within the non‐tradable labour based explanation pertain to the supervisory labour endowments of land owners on the one hand and non‐supervisory family labour endowments of tenant households on the other. The validity of these rationales is tested at a macro level based on data computed for each district of the Punjab and Sind provinces in Pakistan. It is found that a labour market based explanation of sharecropping is important in the Pakistan context. The analysis has some regional and dynamic implications as well.

The Mexican Landlord: Rental Housing in Guadalajara and Puebla

In Mexican cities, somewhere between one-third and one-half of all households rent or share accommodation. Over the years, even though rental housing has been in relative decline, the absolute numbers of tenant households have been increasing. Recently, because home ownership has become increasingly expensive, the Mexican state has been anxious to expand the stock of rental housing. However, its policies do not seem to be directed towards the majority of landlords, in part, at least, because the nature of the landlordism is not well understood. This paper examines the main features of landlords and landlordism in two major cities of Mexico, Guadalajara and Puebla. Based on surveys with tenants and landlords, it examines how landlords obtained their property, why they began to rent it, their socio-economic characteristics, their perceptions of the business of renting, and the mechanics of setting rent levels and selecting tenants.

A Subjective Equilibrium Approach to the Value of Children in the Agricultural Household

A Philippine sample of agricultural households is studied by I subjective equilibrium model which also accounts for the household's demographic structure. The model becomes a potent tool for integrating the economic and demographic behaviour of the household, since issues such as the value of children can be approached in a reality maximization framework and furthermore, such values call be causally rellted to the variance in measured fertility among different households (or Socioeconomic groups). For example, the low marginal productivity contribution of children in tenant (and small farm-size) households, along with the low fertility control that prevails there, has been combined In conforming the inverse fertility-endowments hypothesis, which in this instance is based on labour market failure in periods of peak agricultural labour demand. On the consumption side, on the other hand, the demand for leisure and for other commodities is consistent with the higher valuation of children, and thus higher fertility, in tenant (and small farm-size) households, as compared to owner (and large farm-size) households. The policy implications of such findings from a household equilibrium model are rich.