One perceived deficiency in the tax system is its unfairness (inequity). One area in which unfairness has been alleged is the favoritism shown toward homeowners. The focus of this study was on the effects of homeowner preferences on the Federal tax system. The overall impact of homeowner preferences can be said to produce three major results—loss of revenue, reduction in horizontal equity, and reduction in vertical equity.

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

Historically in the United States people have sought perfection in society. In the 1700 and 1800s America's immigrants attempted to create utopian communities. In the 1960s and 1970s people formed cults in which, like this country's first Utopian communities, they have been unable to isolate themselves from reality and create a society without problems.During the 1980s and 1990s emerging militias signaled a dissatisfaction with the political and moral structure of the country. At the same time a second group of people began to escape to gated communities. Gated communities are often promoted as a means of escaping from the problems plaguing many communities today, especially crime.The results of the gated community escape movement are that America has a large portion of its population removing itself from taking any responsibility for America's social ills. This isolation is going to affect not only the "gated escapists", but local governments and society overall. If municipalities address the reasons driving people to live behind walls the walls will no longer be needed. / Department of Urban Planning

Hurricane Ivan struck the Gulf Coast in September 2004. Ivan was classified as a category five storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale of Hurricane Intensity before it made landfall in the U.S. with winds around 165 miles per hour. Its intensity dropped to a category three as it approached the Gulf Coast. Ivan damaged not only properties and businesses along the coast but inland as well. Heavy rains caused rivers and lakes to overflow their banks and tornadoes spawned by the storm struck Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Georgia.The purpose of this research is to examine if hurricane insurance or separate endorsements adequately protects and reimburses owners for their losses and to access public and private responses to natural hazards and disaster mitigation using Gulf Shores, Alabama as a case study. Since fall 2004, many homeowners and business owners have been negotiating with their insurance companies. Owners received some help from the organizations like FEMA and the American Red Cross but these efforts were not enough to recuperate all the damages and losses. This study seeks to place the issues of insurance costs, claims and coverage in Gulf Shores, Alabama within the overall context of natural hazards research using archival sources, observation, questionnaires, and formal and informal interviews as data sources. In light of continuing migration to hurricane prone coastal areas, ever-increasing property values and insurance premiums, and the added risk of increasing hurricane frequency, this research contributes to a better understanding of the role of insurance on natural hazard mitigation and preparedness. / Department of Geography

Thesis (M. Hous. M.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-85).

Thesis (M.Hous.M.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-85). Also available in print.

Background: Engaging in sharing economy practices has in recent years increased in popularity. Hence, renting a private home instead of traditional accommodation options are becoming more common among travellers. Previous research has focused on the demand side of renting accommodations. The suppliers' perspective has also been developed and researched regarding their intentions to continue renting out their properties. However, non-experienced hosts have previously been neglected in academic research. Therefore, this thesis focuses on non-experienced hosts and their thoughts regarding opening their home and their intention to engage in sharing economy practices.  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how the different factors guide Swedish ‘småhus’ owners' intention to rent out their primary residence.  Method: To explore the purpose of this thesis, a qualitative research design was chosen. The empirical data was gathered through fifteen semi-structured interviews sampled through non-probability judgemental sampling. An abductive research approach was chosen to analyse and interpret the data using thematic analysis.  Conclusion: This study found that participants' intentions to act as hosts were guided by attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control presented through the theory of planned behaviour. Participants further showed that trust, concerns, control, privacy, economics, environment, security, and people were themes that affected some- or all ‘småhus’ owners' intentions in this research. Furthermore, this study found that economic benefit acts as the largest motivator to act as hosts, especially where an economic need exists. However, trust was deemed necessary to enable most participants to consider the idea of opening up their private homes.

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management