Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1985.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 103-104).

Design has played a complicated role in affordable housing in both the U.S. and the UK. These two countries have had fairly different approaches towards their affordable housing policy in the past, but now have both converged to using mixed income housing as a primary method of delivering affordable housing. This report will investigate the role that design plays in the ways that each of these countries administers its mixed income housing programs. Specifically, it will look at how design is used to achieve the goals behind mixed income housing, as well as specific decisions regarding exterior treatment and siting of the units in a mixed income housing development. I will use a case study approach in my research process, focusing on two case studies in the UK, and two case studies in the U.S. In order to obtain my findings, I used key informant interviews, key policy and program documents, and on-site observations. Ultimately, I found that design factors need to be carefully balanced between social equity goals and financial feasibility, and it is important to recognize the limitations of what mixed income housing can achieve for social goals. / text

Low- and moderate-income Americans rely on affordable housing. It is clear that affordable rental housing is needed, but much of what is getting built, especially in the high-growth West and South, gives rise to negative externalities based on the large number of units in the projects. This report looks at objections to large apartment complexes and makes the case for smaller-scale multifamily developments, studies how housing policy in the US has disadvantaged multifamily development, and investigates barriers to small-scale developments relating to mortgage markets, the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, and the models of nonprofit affordable housing providers. / text

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

The concepts and definitions of housing affordability vary depending on the economic and social contexts of specific countries. However, irrespective of the context, housing affordability is not only influenced by the market conditions, but also by the prevailing policy environment, among other social and economic factors. The impact of the supply-side instruments of the policy environment, such as the regulatory regime, on the provision of affordable housing and housing affordability has been widely studied mainly in the context of developed or richer developing countries where strong regulatory and institutional frameworks exist. Little has been done in the context of developing countries with weak regulatory and institutional frameworks. This dissertation pioneers a study of this kind in the context of Bangladesh. It aims to investigate the housing affordability problems of the middle-income groups in Dhaka and to identify the underlying supply-side causes of the policy environment. A qualitative approach is adopted for this research. The social constructivist paradigm combined with the interpretive type of narration has been engaged as the research strategy. Both the ratio and residual-income based approaches of measuring housing affordability are used. Working definitions of housing affordability and income groups are also developed. Primary and secondary data were collected using various approaches such as document analysis, questionnaire survey and interviews. This study reveals that the formal housing market in Dhaka failed to provide affordable housing for the middle-income groups. The price-to-income ratio in Dhaka is one of the highest among the major South Asian cities. The middle-income groups struggle to maintain a minimum standard of living and largely rely on rental housing. However, rents are also unaffordable to them and Dhaka has the highest rent-to-income ratio in Asia. The housing units in the informal settlements could be affordable to them, but their social status inhibits them from living in these settlements. The regulatory and infrastructure development regimes are found to be non-enabling. Existing land-use regulations encourage land hoarding and land value speculation. Despite the weak urban growth control, the land price is very high and the land-supply fails to meet the demand. Further, the planning permission processes for residential development are significant time and cost inflators. Investment on infrastructure is not targeted to facilitate residential land supply. Serviced residential land is expensive due to the short supply of residential infrastructures. Institutionally, the non-participatory mode of governance, absence of a clear line of authority, and poor human resources capacities of the related government organizations are the main underlying causes of the non-enabling performance of supply-side regimes. This study recommends pro-active government initiatives to strengthen the enabling functions of the regulatory regimes. Utilization of planning tools such as planning incentives and mandatory contributions of affordable housing in private housing projects are recommended. Infrastructure investment targeting at facilitating residential land supply is suggested. Institutional restructuring and the establishment of a housing data bank are also recommended. This study enriches the literature related to the impact of the policy environment on housing by widening the debate to cover the developing countries. / published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

M. Tech. Economics and Finance / The main aim with the current study was to explore the complexity and mobility of rural-urban migration, as well as its relation to the housing crisis and many other rural-urban socio-economic implications in Namibia. The features of rural-urban migration were analysed, alongside the migration processes and socio-economic complications. The rationale with the present study was to identify the factors responsible for the rural-urban migration in Namibia and to investigate migration mobility patterns. In addition, policy implications were explored with the aim of formulating a possible new migration policy, as well as to offer recommendations to protect urban migrants' socio-economic status. Furthermore, the current rural-urban migration patterns and imbalances in housing - which has led to the illegal erection of informal settlements around towns and cities - were uncovered.

Since the mid-1970s, subsidized housing policy in the U.S. has shifted from providing aid through public housing projects to providing aid through vouchers to be used in the private market and through smaller-scale, often mixed-income developments. These policy shifts are guided by a deconcentration ideology drawn from social science research on the deleterious effects of the concentration of poverty on individuals and neighborhoods. These changes in subsidized housing policy have led to a major geographic redistribution of the urban poor, which has implications for neighborhoods and cities that are not yet fully understood. This dissertation investigates the extent to which the changing location of subsidized housing units accounts for changes in neighborhood poverty and metropolitan poverty concentration. My findings show that while the subsidized housing policies adopted since the 1970s successfully deconcentrated subsidized housing units, they did not deconcentrate poverty in neighborhoods or metropolitan areas. I find that neighborhood poverty rates increase when neighborhoods either gain or lose subsidized housing units. Neighborhoods that gain more subsidized units see larger increases in poverty rates, and because these neighborhoods already have many poor residents, there is a risk of creating new neighborhoods of concentrated poverty. Surprisingly, neighborhoods that lose subsidized units also become poorer, suggesting an enduring legacy of subsidized housing for neighborhood poverty. At the metropolitan level, reducing the concentration of subsidized housing in high subsidy neighborhoods leads to only very small declines in the concentration of poor residents in high poverty neighborhoods. My results suggest that subsidized housing policy may maintain, rather than break, the cycle of neighborhood inequality. Subsidized housing policy is implemented in a context of neighborhood inequality, and as the policies increasingly rely on the private rental market, higher-SES neighborhoods’ interests in keeping low-income subsidized renters out may shape how the policy is implemented, leaving lower-SES neighborhoods to receive more subsidized low-income tenants and thus experience larger increases in poverty rates.