Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) is known as a mixed-use development near and oriented to public transport facilities. While TOD has become a predominant model of urban planning based on the idea that there will be both social and economic benefits of implementation, the recent popularity of TOD in many cities has provided a new focus for the gentrification–displacement debate as well as affordability paradox. Furthermore, whereas transportation access is often seen as a pivotal strategy to mitigate neighborhood segregation, equity advocates argue that TOD is a place-based strategy which often neglects low-income resident’s need and thus fails to reduce socio-economic segregation. In this study, the author tries to shed light on these issues by bringing together previously disparate literature on mentioned contradictions and discuss the critic’s concern regarding the newly started TOD project in Rosengård, a low-income neighborhood in Malmö, Sweden, using mixed-method research. The research illustrates how the area has gradually entered into the gentrification process due to the establishment of the new train station, the transformation of the public housing system to the market-led housing stock, and using the ‘Starchitecture’ strategy in designing a spectacular signature architecture. More importantly, in contrast to the media acclamation and vast technical adherence of the planned TOD, the study demonstrates that there is a growing concern of gentrification-induced displacement and shows even at this early stage, how living condition in the area is more inconvenient for original dwellers due to the gradually cutting off parts of necessities.

Both Namibia and South Africa have had mixed success in their housing policies since the advent of democracy in both countries in the 1990s. This paper proceeds from the hypothesis that each country can learn useful lessons from each other in respect of housing policy. The primary purpose of this research was to describe and systematically compare the housing policies of Namibia and South Africa. The historical backgrounds of the countries, existing policies and the manner in which the policies are implemented were investigated. The research examined the housing policies of Namibia and South Africa in terms of their similarities and differences and to consider the impact and implications. Namibia and South Africa vary in their expenditure commitments to provide affordable homes. Their housing policy strategies also differ. Differences reflect different levels of prosperity and differences in governance and institutional arrangements. The study concluded that the policies of Namibia and South Africa are, in the main, similar in that both Namibia and South Africa have enacted legislation that govern matters related to housing – either as housing relates to financing and affordability or as a function of ownership. South Africa stands out, however, in that the right to adequate housing is a prescript of the constitution. In both the investigated countries, there is evidence that their policies are committed to a housing process built on the foundations of people’s participation and partnerships. But there are also differences with regard to implementation. In this study, it is brought to bear on both countries that the provision of housing was not all that successful. But good policies are a good start to a successful outcome of a process.

Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed and implemented to expand insurance coverage, reduce health care cost, and improve the quality of care. The purpose of this dissertation study was to investigate whether the ACA insurance expansion correlates with the number of visits made to emergency departments (EDs). The quasi-experimental design interrupted time series was utilized in the analysis. The ED visits were compared using MANOVA to determine the relationship between ED visits and ACA and canonical correlation analysis to assess the strength of the relationship and the extent to which independent variables could predict the dependent variable. The hypothesis was that the ACA will reduce the uninsured, increase the insured, and reduce the ED visits. The relationship between number of ED visits and the ACA will present whether the uninsured patients contributed significantly to the ED overcrowding. Analysis of secondary data from four EDs (H1, H2, H3, and H4) in the Chicago area showed that 484,742 visits were made, and 2,801 were excluded due to unknown payer type. Medicaid patients recorded the largest number of visits (181,226) while the uninsured patients recorded the least number of visits (56,572). The ED visits decreased by 6% from 2012 to 2013 (pre-ACA) and increased by 4% from 2013 to 2105 (post-ACA). The ACA implementation increased the people with insurance who visited the EDs by 11%. The results demonstrated a strong relationship between ACA and ED visits. The correlation of the variables (hospital and year) and ED visits demonstrated that the hospital could explain 97% of the Medicaid visits and 87% of uninsured while the year could predict 82.6% of the uninsured visits and 52.5% of Medicaid visits.

No description available.

No description available.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has declared the misuse of opioid prescription drugs as a public health emergency. The Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion expanded the number of people with insurance and increased the demand for services related to substance abuse treatment. In the first part of this study, the researcher examines whether the Medicaid expansion reduced the likelihood of treatment delay. The second part of this study explores whether the length of stay for opioid use disorder treatment is significantly different in states that adopted Medicaid expansion versus states that did not. In both studies, the researcher analyzes administrative data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to discover any treatment delays associated with the opioid treatments for the states that adopted the expansion versus the states that did not, and to determine whether there was a difference in the length of stay in the states that adopted the Medicaid versus the states that did not. A difference-in-difference approach is used in both studies to compare the states which adopted an optional Medicaid expansion to those non-adoption states. The evidence suggests that demand for opioid treatment services increased in expansion states as there is a decreased probability of obtaining treatment on the first day for initial requests for outpatient treatment. In addition, evidence suggests that Medicaid expansion increased the likelihood of staying longer in outpatient facilities, but not inpatient facilities. / Business Administration/Risk Management and Insurance

The global urban population is projected to grow rapidly in the coming years, leading to an increase in housing demand that is not always met with adequate supply of quality housing. In the low-and middle-income context of Kenya, this gap has led to the proliferation of sub-standard housing implementations, with significant social and environmental impacts. However, attention is rarely paid to sustainable housing design practices in Kenya, understood here as climate responsive and socially integrated adaptations, despite their proven capacity in other developing countries for reducing environmental impacts while making housing more affordable. The city of Nairobi presents potential for alternative trajectories of development in the construction industry as one of the fastest growing urban areas in the region with unique climatic conditions that are underutilised and understudied in the building sector. This thesis explores, through the perspectives of local actors, the potentials and challenges of implementing affordable housing in Nairobi by using sustainable, locally based strategies. This was achieved through desktop research, semi-structured interviews with key actors from across government, academia, and industry backgrounds, as well as a field visit to a development site. The collected data was then analysed qualitatively through a thematic content analysis and triangulated to extract relevant learnings. The key findings of this research are that there is a lot of potential in Nairobi for locally adapted housing strategies to respond to affordable housing issues and provide low-cost and high-quality alternatives due to its climatic conditions and socio-cultural traditions. Yet there are some structural challenges in terms of policy framing and local perceptions of sustainability that limit the implementation of such practices in the Nairobi housing sector. This thesis adds to the critical discussion of adequate affordable housing by providing a holistic view of the differing or overlapping perspectives in the field, deriving potentials of the local context, and providing an understanding that could help guide the housing industry in the direction of resilient and inclusive housing opportunities. The study suggests the need for further research into the implementation of sustainable and affordable housing in the context of Nairobi, as well as the wider regional context. / Den globala stadsbefolkningen förväntas växa snabbt under de kommande åren, vilket leder till en ökad efterfrågan på bostäder som inte alltid möts av ett tillräckligt utbud av kvalitetsbostäder. Bland Kenyas låg- och medelinkomsttagare, har denna klyfta mellan efterfrågan och utbud av bostäder lett till att informella bosättningar och bostäder av undermålig kvalitet har blivit allt vanligare. Detta har en betydande inverkan på miljön, men ändå ägnas sällan uppmärksamhet åt hållbara bostadsmetoder i Kenya, trots att de har visat sig kunna minska miljöpåverkan i andra utvecklingsländer samtidigt som de löser problem med överkomliga priser. Staden Nairobi har potential för alternativ utveckling inom byggbranschen, eftersom denär ett av de snabbast växande stadsområdena i regionen, en viktig knutpunkt för handel, transport, kommunikation och innovation, och har unika klimatförhållanden som är underutnyttjade och understuderade inom byggsektorn. Mer lokalt anpassade bioklimatiska och klimatsmarta byggnadsstrategier kan spela en grundläggande roll när det gäller att tillgodose efterfrågan på lämpliga bostäder till överkomliga priser i Kenya, bland annat genom att anpassa de byggda formerna till det lokala sammanhanget. I den här artikeln undersöks möjligheterna och utmaningarna med att skapa överkomliga priser i Nairobi med hjälp av hållbara, lokalt förankrade strategier, från perspektivet av lokala nyckelaktörer inom byggbranschen. Detta uppnåddes genom skrivbordsforskning, semistrukturerade intervjuer och ett fältbesök på en byggarbetsplats, vars uppgifter sedan triangulerades för att få fram relevanta uppgifter. De viktigaste resultaten av denna forskning är att det finns en stor potential i Nairobi för lokalt anpassade bostadsstrategier att lösa problemen med bostäder till överkomliga priser och tillhandahålla billiga och högkvalitativa alternativ givet klimatförhållandena och de sociokulturella traditionerna. Det finns dock vissa strukturella utmaningar som begränsar genomförandet av sådana lösningar och som måste åtgärdas för att de ska bli relevanta och motståndskraftiga inom bostadssektorn i Nairobi. Denna avhandling bidrar till litteraturen genom att ge en helhetsbild av de olika eller överlappande perspektiven på området, genom att härleda potentialer från den lokala kontexten och genom att ge en förståelse som förhoppningsvis kommer att hjälpa vägleda bostadsbranschen i riktning mot motståndskraftiga och inkluderande bostadsmöjligheter. Den ämnar även att bjuda in till ytterligare forskning om genomförandet av hållbara och prisvärda bostäder i Nairobi och i ett bredare regionalt sammanhang, samt uppmanar till ett nytt sätt att betrakta stadsutvecklingen, trots de problem som finns när det gäller att genomföra den på ett hållbart sätt.

This thesis addresses innovation in affordable housing. Many people face homelessness or suffer from the burden of renting a house that they cannot afford. In Boston, Massachusetts only 35% of the population are homeowners, resulting in more people renting in the city if they manage to find housing there at all. The increasing cost of housing in the United States presents a significant obstacle for immigrant families, many of whom are already struggling to make a living due to language barriers and limited access to employment opportunities. As housing prices continue to rise across the country, immigrant families face mounting challenges in securing safe and affordable housing, which can result in overcrowding, homelessness, and other adverse outcomes that exacerbate existing social and economic inequalities. To address the housing problem this research engages the solution of high-quality affordable housing for immigrant families in Chelsea, MA (a suburban neighborhood of Boston) by analyzing density and methods of prefabrication. Along with the solution of affordability, the intellectual node of the thesis also discusses the importance of suburbia and its advantage vi of providing a nurturing community. This thesis intends to develop certain functional parameters of design using a Prefabricated Panelized Approach. The prefabricated design for affordability approach provides a technique which can save time and money using off-site manufacturing of products and on-site assembly. This kind of development offers an opportunity to optimize the construction process and an efficient way to build affordable housing. Through this approach, the thesis intends to provide opportunities for home ownership, promote a sense of community among immigrant families, and offer language support to facilitate their growth.

No description available.

No description available.