Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1981. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Juan A. Patterson. / M.C.P.

In the first chapter, I study the effects of innovations in information technology on the housing market. Specifically, I focus on the improved ability of lenders to assess the credit risk of home buyers, which has become possible with the emergence of automated underwriting systems in the United States in the mid-1990s. I develop a standard life-cycle model with incomplete markets and idiosyncratic income uncertainty. I explicitly model the housing tenure choice of the households: rent/purchase decision for renters and stay/sell/default decision for homeowners. Risk-free lenders offer mortgage contracts to prospective home buyers and the terms of these contracts depend on the observable characteristics of households. Households are born as either good credit risk types--having a high time discount factor--or bad types--having a low time discount factor. The type of the household is the only source of asymmetric information between households and lenders. I find that as lenders have better information about the type of households, the average down payment fraction decreases together with an increase in the average mortgage premium, the foreclosure rate, and the dispersions of mortgage interest rates and down payment fractions, which are consistent with the trends in the housing market in the last 15 years. From a welfare perspective, I find that better information, on average, makes households better off. In the second chapter, I focus on the labor market behavior of couples. Search theory routinely assumes that decisions about the acceptance/rejection of job offers (and, hence, about labor market movements between jobs or across employment states) are made by individuals acting in isolation. In reality, the vast majority of workers are somewhat tied to their partners--in couples and families--and decisions are made jointly. This chapter studies, from a theoretical viewpoint, the joint job-search and location problem of a household formed by a couple (e.g., husband and wife) who perfectly pool income. The objective of the exercise, very much in the spirit of standard search theory, is to characterize the reservation wage behavior of the couple and compare it to the single-agent search model in order to understand the ramifications of partnerships for individual labor market outcomes and wage dynamics. We focus on two main cases. First, when couples are risk averse and pool income, joint-search yields new opportunities--similar to on-the job search--relative to the single-agent search. Second, when couples face offers from multiple locations and a cost of living apart, joint-search features new frictions and can lead to significantly worse outcomes than single-agent search. Finally, in the third chapter, I focus on the relation between house prices and interest rates. Although interest rates and housing prices seem mostly to have a negative relation in the data, the relation does not seem to be stable. For example, the recent run up in the global housing prices is generally explained by globally low interest rates. On the other hand, there have been periods where housing prices and interest rates moved together. Motivated by these observations, I formulate a two period OLG model to find out the form of the relationship between interest rates and housing prices. It appears that the distribution of homeownership is also important for housing price dynamics. I show that housing prices in the equilibrium do not always have a negative relation with interest rates. / text

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The purpose of this project was to create a document which would inform readers involved with urban community development of the benefits of integrating historic preservation into their affordable housing programs. Preservation's roots in community activism are explored and compared to the community development movement. The goals of the historic preservation movement are explained as they apply to an urban context. The document also describes the achievements of preservation in ending the damage caused by urban renewal and creating a broad public appreciation of historic buildings. Development tools related to preservation are shown to be useful for urban revitalization. Readers are informed of the elements of architectural and community character which preservationists seek to save. The definition and appropriateness of several levels of preservation are discussed in terms of when they are pragmatically useful. Neighborhoods in Savannah, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Baltimore which have used preservation to revitalize for the poor are profiled. Several single family projects performed by an Indianapolis CDC are analyzed to determine the added cost of integrating preservation into their rehab, with the result showing that added costs are low or non existent. Three multi-unit housing rehabs in Indianapolis are analyzed to determine the cost of preservation work, and these also revealed that although preservation added less than 10% to the cost of the project, it brought valuable tax credits which raised equity exceeding these costs. The effect of preservation on low-income urban neighborhoods was broken down into benefits and costs, with benefits such as increasing property values and attracting investment to the neighborhood seeming to outweigh potential costs such as increases in taxes and rents. This advantage was particularly true if a non-profit community organization targeted their development at meeting the needs of those most likely to suffer from the costs of preservation. The document closes with guidelines on how a CDC can analyze the utility and compatibility of preservation with its existing purpose and programs. The general thrust of the conclusion is that preservation is a valuable tool for upgrading low-income communities for their existing residents, as long as it is teamed with other mechanisms to meet the needs of the disadvantaged. / Department of Architecture

This thesis explored the various elements of the Section 235 program as designated by the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968. Section 235 is a means whereby low and moderate income families can purchase a new home with governmental aid. The purpose of the study was two-fold: First, to determine if the procurrers of the 235 program were adherring to the legal guidelines established by the Federal Government, and secondly, to objectively ascertain if there was a significant difference between 235 new homeowners residing in the city and those residents in the suburban areas.The subsequent survey analysis did prove that the procurrers of the program were following the legally established guidelines, and, that there was a significant difference between the city and suburban 235 residents.

No description available.

This study investigates black-white status inequality as an explication of central city residential segregation interregionally in 1960 and 1970. Using the popular index of dissimilarity (delta) to quantify educational, occupational and income inequality, it was found that the South was more unequal than the North, but much less so in 1970. Moreover, the level of Southern inequality was more the product of white advantage and the level of Northern inequality results more from significant black disadvantage than is commonly thought. While inequality in both the North and South varies greatly among cities, the sources of inequality were not stable over time nor across regions, as status dissimilarity was more a high status event in the North and in 1970. Since delta, as a nominal measure, is insensitive to such divergent sources of inequality, it was discounted for comparative research. Gini, an ordinal statistic, was also found inadequate in detecting these changes in what status inequality means. Therefore, a interval/ratio index, tridelta, was constructed for accurate interregional and cross time contrasts of status inequality. Furthermore, it was shown that delta measures racial differences as inequality, gini detects degrees of absolute deprivation and tridelta is a quantification of relative deprivation. Using status to explain residential segregation since 1940, showed that status is a weak, but increasingly important, determinant of the nation's cities' levels of segregation. Surprisingly, the North showed less status influence on segregation and closer congruence to 1940 and 1950 levels of segregation than did the South in 1960 and 1970, despite index employed. Occupational dissimilarity, not deprivation, was important in explaining segregation. In contrast, educational and to a lesser extent, income deprivation (relative in the South and absolute in the North) was important, although in the North, education's effect was unexplainedly inverse. Since the South was found to have a more egalitarian housing market, it was suggested that perhaps black status gains have been more visible in the South and that "the American dilemma" may be more salient there. Whatever, the South approaches parity with the North.

Residential racial segregation has been perennially viewed as a major urban problem in the United States. Meanwhile, the single-family mortgage market has been an influential factor in determining segregation since at least the 1930s. Although many prior studies rightly have focused on the very real individual and social costs of subprime loans and related loan features, the greater leverage they afford also may have allowed some, especially minority, homebuyers to purchase properties they otherwise would not have been able to afford. Limited loan-to-value and payment-to-income ratio requirements have constrained borrowers from prime, conventional lenders, and relaxing these standards might allow some borrowers to purchase more expensive homes, possibly in higher quality neighborhoods. Additionally, if minority borrowers disproportionately obtained high-leverage loans, the effect of these loans on neighborhood choice may be greater for minorities than non-Hispanic whites. Since higher-quality neighborhoods are disproportionately non-Hispanic white or racially diverse, the increase in high-leverage mortgages might mitigate the neighborhood quality gap between minorities and non-Hispanic whites and reduce levels of racial/ethnic segregation. Accordingly, this dissertation focuses on two research questions: 1) whether high-leverage home purchase loans enabled borrowers to purchase more expensive homes and homes in higher-quality neighborhoods; and 2) whether these loans affected the racial/ethnic segregation of homebuyers at the metropolitan level. Since blacks and Hispanics comprise significant minorities in many metropolitan areas in the 2000s, I examine the questions for three racial/ethnic groups: non-Hispanics whites, blacks, and Hispanics. To answer the first question, household housing demand and neighborhood quality models are estimated using the American Housing Survey data. To answer the second question, metropolitan area segregation models are estimated primarily using the American Community Survey and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. Both cross-sectional and fixed-effect panel segregation models are estimated using a two-stage least squares approach with chosen instruments. I find that the use of high-leverage loans increases housing demand and neighborhood quality, holding other household characteristics constant. I also find that high-leverage loans have a substantial, negative effect on black segregation, while the effect on Hispanic segregation is somewhat ambiguous. The findings suggest that policymakers should consider the impact of regulations affecting allowable loan-to-value and payment-to-income ratios on borrowers' residential choice and urban form, as well as on default risk.

This study examined organizational member and housing staff perceptions of organizational culture and effectiveness of residence hall associations. Two instruments, the Residence Hall Government (RHA) Effectiveness Instrument designed by Tucker (2001) and the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) designed by Cameron and Quinn (1999, 2006) were utilized to gather quantitative data, while individual interviews and focus groups were conducted utilizing selected questions from the Interview Questions for Doing a Competing Values Organizational Analysis (Quinn 1988) to collect qualitative data. A mixed methodology was utilized to collect and analyze data from three sites yielding 217 assessments, 27 interviews, and 6 student focus groups with members of residence hall associations during the spring 2008 semester. The study indicated that there is a positive relationship between all ideal culture type scores identified by the OCAI and effectiveness constructs identified by the RHA Effectiveness Instrument. Additionally, there is a difference in the perceptions of Clan and Hierarchy ideal culture type scores and Housing Relationship and RHA Effects effectiveness construct scores based upon housing staff membership or RHA Legislative Body membership. Furthermore, the research indicated that level of student involvement, emphasis on leadership development and training, patterns of communication and teamwork, financial resources, implementation of rules and procedures, roles in program planning, student voice, member evaluation, collaborative partnerships with host housing departments, and relationships with university Student Government were constructs for the development of organizational culture and influenced the organizational effectiveness of RHAs. Recommendations are provided for the organizational development and evaluation of residence hall associations. / by Lawrence B. Faerman. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

This study looks to the social trends, needs, and definition of home for the single-mother household. People need strong families to provide them with the identity, belonging, discipline, and values that are essential for full individual development ("The American Family Crisis" 16). This requires the examination of the role that the physical home environment plays in the life of the single-parent household. Personal histories, a literary search, and research of existing examples of built facilities serve to produce a series of patterns formalized in a design matrix, investigating how architecture can foster a healthy and supportive environment for the single-parent household.The intent of this research is to define a process by which the singleparent household, headed by a single mother, may be able to become self-sufficient and empowered by their housing situation. The aim is to create More than Housing (Joan Forrester Sprague), while utilizing the architecture to foster relationships and encourage growth.A resulting programmatic guide and design development tool for supportive housing, adapted to the needs of the single-parent household, creates a framework of design ideas derived from this research. This compilation is used to define design strategies and recommendations for the form and program of support systems used to illustrate the definition, application and resolution of "home" for the single-mother household. / Department of Architecture