Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1984.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1984. / Also available in print.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State Agricultural College, 1939. / "Reproduced ... through Works Projects Administration O.P. 665-94-3-51, sponsored by the Division of Information of the Oregon State System of Higher Education"--2d prelim. leaf. Bibliography: 2 leaves at end.

Thesis (M. Hous. M.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-105).

Thesis (M.Hous.M.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-105). Also available in print.

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 72-77)

published_or_final_version / Urban Studies / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 58-66)

Americans perceive renters as less interested and less vested in their residences than owner-occupants. These perceptions stem in part from historical and current day promotion of the homeownership tenure norm. Although this has achieved its main goal, that of reinforcing owner occupancy as the societal tenure norm, it has also encouraged bias against renters and non-owner occupied dwellings. Maintenance of rental units is ultimately the responsibility of the owner. One might expect landlords to exert approximately the same amount of upkeep effort towards their rental property investments as they would towards their own residence. Maintaining the homes in good condition would protect their investment from devaluation. The first objective was to determine what pre-established perception, if any, Corvallis residents have of non-owner occupied residences. The second was to identify relationships between the selected characteristics and the exterior condition of single-family residences. The characteristics analyzed were: 1) Tenure (of the residents), 2) Age of the structure, 3) Condition of neighboring residences (Neighborhood Condition), 4) A Maintenance Management Factor and, 5) Proximity of Owner (to the residence). The final objective was to ascertain if renter occupied homes were more likely than owner occupied to possess those predisposing characteristics that make a dwelling more susceptible to decline. Three residential dwelling characteristics were identified as having an influence on the exterior condition of single-family homes in Corvallis. These were Tenure, Age of Structure and Neighborhood Condition. Non-owner occupied residences, older dwellings, and units in poor condition neighborhoods tended to have poor quality exterior conditions themselves. Of the three the only characteristic predisposed to decline linked to rental residences was Tenure. Although the chi-square and ANOVA test results relate neighborhood condition and age to exterior conditions of dwellings, the results also suggest that a rental home is not more likely than an owner occupied home to be older or to be located in a poor condition neighborhood Identification of residential characteristics that predispose a dwelling to decline could benefit renters and owners of rental properties. The outcomes could assist in the development of policies that provide financial support and/or education to owners of homes that possess those characteristics. Renters would benefit if the policies would encourage improved quality of rental dwellings. / Graduation date: 2002

There is widespread agreement among housing policy analysts that there are serious problems with Canada's urban rental housing sector. The specific problems include declining and persistently low vacancy rates, declining private sector starts, and the unaffordability of private stock for a considerable portion of low- and moderate-income renters. Given the importance of rental accommodation, particularly for those lower-income households unable to enter or remain in the ownership sector, this situation has prompted a discussion as to whether the past and current approach to rental housing policy is appropriate to the solution of rental housing problems, or whether new or different strategies for addressing rental problems are warranted. Within the context of both this discussion and of an ongoing debate as to the appropriate role of the state in housing markets, this thesis investigates what measures the Canadian government has taken over the past eighty-five years to address rental housing problems. Dividing this period into four eras - 1900-1940, 1940-1949, 1949-1964, and 1964-1985 - the thesis examines the existence and extent of rental housing problems; documents how rental problems have been defined and analyzed by housing experts and what their policy recommendations have been; and reviews the response of the federal government to rental problems. The primary assumption underlying the research is that government intervention in the rental market has been minimal, ad hoc, and largely market-supportive, and that this approach to rental problems has had an enormous impact on problem resolution. Government response to rental problems is reviewed and the research assumption is tested by examining major government and private housing studies, contemporary academic articles and media reports, statistical analyses, the debates in the House of Commons, and housing-related legislation in its original and amended forms. The evidence suggests that government intervention in the rental sector has indeed been minimal, piecemeal and reactive, largely market-supportive, and carried out within the framework of housing as a market commodity. It suggests further that intervention in the rental sector has been shaped largely by two interrelated factors: the federal government's terms of reference for intervention in the housing market, and its failure to adequately define the rental housing problem. The federal government's terms of reference for intervention in the housing market define housing provision as a private sector responsibility, home ownership as the desirable tenure option, housing problems as temporary conditions, and housing policy as a provincial responsibility. These terms of reference have severely constrained rental policy and program options and have prevented the implementation of potentially more effective rental programs. Moreover, they have resulted in either the neglect of Canada's rental problems or the adoption of a variety of short-term, ad hoc programs in response to crisis situations. The federal government's failure to see the relationship between the quality, supply and affordability elements of the rental problem and thus to adequately define the problem is the second factor which has shaped intervention in the rental sector. Intervention has tended to focus on the three problem elements separately and in a clearly sequential manner, with the result that opportunities for developing a long-term, comprehensive rental housing policy aimed at simultaneous treatment, of all three aspects of the problem have been missed. The thesis concludes that only by questioning the conventional assumptions underlying Canadian rental policy and by acknowledging the interrelatedness of the three problem areas will we make progress on resolving rental housing problems. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate