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This article documents how an MSW student in an introductory community practice course took her class assignment and over the course of two years revitalized, democratized, and transformed a sclerotic, corporate-run Home Owners Association (HOA). While the community analysis assignment required the student to interview six of her neighbors, the resulting increase in social capital in the neighborhood led, over the next two years, to the student being elected President of the HOA and organizing the community to win streetlights, clean up a polluted retention pond, create positive relations with city officials, and increase the social capital and collective efficacy of the neighborhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'tiny house' (TH) movement has gained increasing popularity around the world, and recent research has investigated the main motivators and challenges of living in THs. However, most research has been conducted in the Global North, such as the US and European countries. This research has identified that increased financial security and mobility, having a simplified and sustainable lifestyle, and developing significant relationships are the main motivators for TH owners. However, less is known about the experiences of TH owners in the Global South, such as Latin American countries. These regions are characterized by a lower purchasing power and less access to credit of citizens, with a high degree of concentration in large metropolitan areas, which may affect the motivators and experiences of TH owners. Drawing on theories of the commons, the aim of this study is to explore the experiences and well-being outcomes of TH owners living in two Latin American countries. We draw on data from 19 interviews conducted in Chile and Argentina with TH owners. The data analysis identified six dimensions of psychological and hedonic well-being that were improved for TH owners in these countries: autonomy, mastery, purpose in life, personal growth, relatedness, and happiness. The findings contribute to the TH literature and are useful for TH businesses, governments, and housing public policymakers in Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to Javier Moreno Zacarés’ paper, I argue for a more empirically engaged and policy-relevant political economy of housing. This is necessary given the global transformation of housing from a home into an asset. Understanding housing’s place in the contemporary financialized economy requires scholars to adopt a do-it-yourself (DIY) approach to studying housing. Such a perspective starts by recognizing the neoclassical economic theories that limit much of housing studies while recalling the rich tradition of housing in political economy. Between these two poles, I encourage operationalizing a framework that (i) treats single-family and multifamily housing as two different residential markets and (ii) focuses on each market’s logics, dynamics, and points of intersection. Integrating grounded empirics into political economic perspectives is essential for housing research and policy agendas in the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the multifaceted influence of homeownership on charitable giving through several channels: tax deductibility, household wealth, and mobility. We find that homeowners donate substantially more than renters, and tax deductibility, wealth, and mobility are important predictors of the owner-renter gap in donations. We also show that the owner-renter difference in donations cannot be fully explained by these three channels. After controlling for an extensive list of household characteristics and the three channels, homeowners still donate approximately 20% more than renters. Our results are robust to a variety of modeling and identification strategies as well as different measures of donations. Our study further reveals that the likelihood of donating correlates inversely with mobility but is insensitive to tax deductibility and wealth. In contrast, tax deductibility and wealth are important predictors of the size of contributions. Furthermore, we show the owner-renter difference in donations varies substantially by generational cohorts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing attainment among rural migrants has received wide attention. However, studies on the homeownership gap between ethnic minority and Han majority rural migrants in China remain unexplored. Using data from National Migrants Population Dynamic Monitoring Survey (NMPDMS), present study applies the logit regression and Blinder–Oaxaca–Fairlie decomposition method to address this. The results suggest that ethnic minority rural migrants are less likely to become homeowners than the Han majority, and that this homeownership gap may differ across various ethnic groups. Compared with the Han majority, the Manchu have a higher probability of owning a home, whereas other ethnic groups are often associated with a lower homeownership rate. Observable socio-economic characteristics play a minor role in this ethnic homeownership gap, whereas most of them are attributable to unobserved factors, such as discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars consistently find that renters have poorer health outcomes when compared with homeowners. Health disparities between renters and homeowners likely widen over the life course, yet few studies have examined this link among older adults, and the connection is not fully understood. Homeowners' relative socio-economic advantage may explain their better health; renters also more commonly experience adverse housing conditions and financial challenges, both of which can harm health. In this paper, we analyse the extent to which socio-economic advantage, housing conditions, and financial strain explain the relationship between homeownership and health among adults over age 50, using Health and Retirement Study 2010/2012 data to assess cardiometabolic risk (CMR) levels using biomarkers for inflammation, cardiovascular health, and metabolic function. We find that people living with poor housing conditions and financial strain have higher CMR levels, even taking socio-economic advantage into account. This analysis sheds light on the housing-related health challenges of older adults, especially older renters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though elsewhere in the Western world and the gulf regions, many studies explore the effect of extreme weather conditions on the construction of houses, little is known in sub-Saharan Africa. This study therefore engages homeowners and various construction workers in a qualitative study to analyze how rainfall affects the building of houses. A total of 75 participants, comprising 20 homeowners and 55 construction workers were purposively selected to share their experiences about the impact of rainfall on the construction of houses using in-depth interviews. The narratives of the participants made several revelations to deepen knowledge on the effect of climatic conditions such as rainfall on housing construction. The study revealed that rainfall causes financial losses to homeowners and creates hazardous work environments for construction workers. Financial losses are encountered through the destruction of building materials, increases in the cost of building materials in the wet season and extra labour costs incurred in carrying out reworks. This challenge posed by extreme rainfall has implications of hindering many prospective homeowners in achieving their aspiration of becoming homeowners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing evidence that physical climate hazards—such as floods and wildfires—affect property prices. Climate change scenarios suggest more frequent and severe physical climate hazards in the future, coinciding with greater exposure of populations to such threats. This raises concern because changes in property prices pose risks to homeowners' financial status, as well as to the insurance and mortgage industries, bank portfolios, and thereby financial systems. We begin with a new definition of climate gentrification (CG) that captures links between physical climate hazards, perceptions of risk and resilience, and capital flows in property markets. This is followed by a structured assessment of the key drivers of CG, and an empirical case study of property data for a flood-prone UK city to demonstrate how CG depressed house price growth over the period from 2005 to 2018 by up to 50 percent in flood-exposed (relative to unexposed) locations. We then provide a discussion of ethical concerns around CG research, with suggested ways forward. Such price signals have potential ramifications for the long-term stability of real estate markets and raise policy implications for private and public sectors. We conclude with some priorities for further research into CG, recognizing key information and data gaps, and noting how existing knowledge and tools could contribute toward improved resilience to climate change. Key Words: climate gentrification, climate hazards, flood, hedonic model, property prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing quality impacts on occupant well-being. Flammable cladding is a housing quality defect that has been identified on thousands of buildings in Australia. Little is known about the impact of flammable cladding upon homeowners and the implications for policy. The well-being of homeowners in residential apartment buildings with flammable cladding (from low to extreme risk) was explored through sixteen one-hour semi-structured interviews. Those residing in higher-risk apartments felt unsafe and all had financial concerns. Some homeowners displayed long-term negative emotions and others spent significant time dealing with the cladding issues without accomplishment. Their liveability suffered with changes including: making cost-saving decisions on entertainment and holidays, delaying retirement and emerging social tensions with other residents. These lived experience insights highlight the need for improved government support and housing quality policy which considers occupant health and well-being both in dealing with the current flammable cladding crisis but also in preparation for future housing quality issues which may emerge in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the effects of trust and perceived value on the intentions to engage in hosting Airbnb, this study builds a multivariate model to explore the difference exists between Airbnb hosts and potential hosts. The empirical results reveal that perceived value is a major motivation for homeowners, while trust becomes the primary driving force for hosts continuing to use Airbnb. Perceived usefulness, ease of use, risks of Airbnb, and familiarity and personal innovativeness of users are furtherly examined as secondary variables. This study provides practical implications for the accommodation sharing platforms to improve the e-service quality and formulate marketing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dutch policy-making has been framed by simultaneous efforts aimed at reforming the social care system and initiating an ambitious sustainable retrofitting programme of housing. In these processes, the willingness and ability of older people, living in owner-occupied housing, to adapt and improve their home or move to a suitable dwelling are crucial. However, our understanding of how and why older people undertake home improvements, and how these practices intersect with policy agendas is still limited. In this paper we draw on a qualitative study with 33 older Dutch homeowner households, to understand how older people conceive home improvements and investments, and their motivations for pursuing them (or not). We find that home improvement as well as moves through and into homeownership are usually deeply connected with ideas of a good life. That may involve adapting to decreasing mobility and cognitive functions, closer relations with children and grandchildren, traveling and hobbies, comfort, and even luxury. However, these practices often lack the coherence implied by policymakers and include intricate considerations of physical, mental, social, and financial well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study complemented the debate for a better outdoor residential experience but gave a perspective from a developing country, using Ewet housing estate in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, as a case study. Combining field observation with a questionnaire, data obtained from 150 houses was analysed using descriptive statistics complemented with regression analysis. The results showed that over 60% of the houses were of high quality, however, they were overshadowed by the surrounding lacklustre open space areas. The visual quality of the organisation of the landscape elements had a very strong positive relationship with contribution to amenity value of the neighbourhood. Preference for outdoor activities with recreation, motivation to beautify the premises, and to have a good setting for the house all appeared as positive factors of poor quality development of a residential site. Non-availability of good site design/lack of specification by the housing authority for site development, and inadequate space and site problems, were found to be the major constraints affecting residential site development. The awareness factor had a strong positive relationship with the quality of site development. The study concluded by suggesting a conceptual foundation for improving the process and quality of residential site development in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) are once again a hot topic, as communities across the United States face housing shortages and rising housing costs. For planners and policymakers attempting to facilitate ADU development, it is important to understand the homeowners who do not yet have one. Yet there is remarkably limited research on whether those homeowners are open to building an ADU, what motivations and obstacles they perceive regarding adding one, and why some homeowners do not want to build one at all. We surveyed 502 single-family homeowners in the Sacramento (CA) metropolitan area to investigate those three questions. Our findings suggest that up to 47% of single-family detached homeowners in the city of Sacramento could be open to building an ADU. Homeowners' top-ranked motivation for adding one was housing themselves, family, or friends in the future. Cost-related concerns ranked as the biggest perceived obstacles. Homeowners who did not want an ADU cited a mixture of logistical challenges and potentially more immutable personal preferences. Our findings suggest five lessons for planners. First, permissive regulation is an essential, but not sufficient, step toward addressing homeowners' perceptions of regulatory obstacles. Second, local government regulations are not the only source of ADU restrictions. Third, even where ADUs are technically allowed, it can still be an arduous process to get one permitted. Fourth, cost remains a big obstacle to building ADUs. Fifth, homeowners—especially low-income households—need better financing options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research is an examination of the role of the urban elite in an earthquake risk-driven urban transformation process in Istanbul, Turkey. By displaying the mechanisms through which urban transformation in Istanbul's privileged areas is invited and implemented by the urban elite that I locate on the fringes of the growth machine, this research contributes to the literature on urban growth, and specifically the role of the urban elite in this growth coalition. This article displays the urban elite's ambivalent approach, which I describe as selective opposition: simultaneously occurring growth-controlling discourses and growth-engaging activities by affluent residents, who are neither fully members nor opponents of the growth coalition and who critique growth politics from which they accumulate wealth. This research displays the mechanisms through which the urban elite reproduce their power, privilege, and wealth, and hence sheds light on the processes of inequality reproduction and affluence maintenance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than 3400 residential apartment buildings around Australia have flammable cladding. The costs to rectify this defect fall onto homeowners. However, there is limited information about what the costs and implications are for homeowners. This paper identifies through interviews of 16 affected homeowners from Australia the different financial costs involved in rectifying flammable cladding. A range of financial implications were revealed including: increasing levies, body corporation fees, insurance rates, council rates, legal fees, material testing, inspections, other fire strategy defects and extra fire engines responding to alarms. Future costs included fines for non-compliance, loss of property value and the rectification work. The quoted costs of rectification work ranged from A$30,000 to A$12,000,000, depending on the scope of works required but this does not factor in those broader costs identified. The costs associated with cladding rectification have created significant financial burdens for households and influenced life decisions related to finances. The identification of the different types of costs could be used as a framework to quantify the costs to homeowners in further research. This would measure the costs as cladding rectification works are undertaken, in order to provide improved support to these households, not only in Australia but other impacted locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Credit expansion is the trend of households gaining access to more credit. It is correlated with increasing socio-economic heterogeneity of indebted homeowners. Increasing heterogeneity implies that a more diverse span of homeowners is put at risk of foreclosure. This empirical study explores socio-economic heterogeneity in the case of Swedish debtors in foreclosure between 2000 and 2014. Employing individual-level data, the study observes variability over time for socio-economic variables within and between three groups of debtors with mortgage, consumer, and tax debt, respectively. The results indicate that there were trends towards increasing socio-economic heterogeneity within these three groups and that these trends were particularly strong among the group with mortgage debt. For the mortgage debt group, a greater number of socio-economically weak debtors entering foreclosure over time drives increasing heterogeneity. The discussion focuses on the role of increasing scope—access to credit for previously excluded households—and increasing scale—more access to credit generally—in explaining these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities face increasing housing needs, particularly in Southern European countries, as well as tightening constraints on public expenditure. The mismatch between income levels and housing costs has come to concern a larger and more diversified share of the population so that housing needs strike beyond the poorest and most underprivileged profiles. This article discusses the outcomes of fieldwork conducted in San Donato Milanese, a medium-sized, affluent town in the Milan metropolitan area, to explore the changing facets of housing issues and the margins for action that can innovate local public action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is an ownership society, but with a paradox – many homeowners do not live in the apartments/houses they own, and instead live in rental housing. This is different from the pattern in Western economies where households own multiple properties but still live in an owned unit. The paper is situated within the literature on the financialization of housing and the changing meaning of homeownership. We examine the paradox by studying its patterns and dynamics using 2017 China Household Finance Survey data. We find that the owner-renting in China is a result of spatial, temporal and functional mismatches between housing needs. The intrinsic investment strategy and services linked to homeownership have made it imperative to own homes, regardless a household's housing needs. Young, single, better-off and split households, and those in large, expensive cities are more likely to be owners-renting. In addition, institutional barriers in the housing market such as migrant status, housing purchase limit policy, and subsidized housing encourage owner-renting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a representative survey of the Czech population, we demonstrate that intergenerational within-family financial (wealth) transfers represent the main mechanism in the reproduction of homeownership in Czech post-socialist society. The provision of a transfer or the lack of one largely determines the housing tenure of Czech young adults. Without transfers, the children of homeowners are significantly less likely to also become homeowners. We also show that the probability of an adult child receiving a transfer and the size of the transfer are closely linked (a) to the adult child's within-family socialisation and (b) to the fact of whether the parents had also received a transfer from their parents in the past and how large that transfer was. These findings have important implications for how housing markets operate and for social inequalities. For example, if an established history of within-family transfers is a predictor of homeownership in future cohorts, this may mean that an important part of society will be systemically and predictably excluded from access to homeownership and a fixed axis of reproduced housing wealth inequality may form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-help housing has been widely studied across the developing world. Little is known, however, about the contemporary use of self-help housing in the U.S. In this study we examine self-help housing in the U.S. and its potential links to two related concepts: incremental development and informal housing. We use data from the American Housing Survey from 1997 to 2011 to examine the prevalence, location, and the development process of self-help housing in comparison with that of conventional housing. Our analysis shows that self-help housing is common in the United States, comprising approximately 10% of new owner-occupied single-family housing units nationwide and more than double that in rural areas across the country. We analyse home improvement activity for self-help and conventional homeowners, illustrating the incremental process by which self-builders improve their homes, widespread reliance on do-it-yourself (DIY) methods, and the impact of these methods on housing affordability. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for housing research and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dissent from white ethnic hostility to blacks, as well as American segregation, was expressed in the pages of left-wing newspapers. Slovak Rovnosť ľudu and Polish Głos Ludowy ("People's Voice") demanded "nothing less than full freedom" for blacks, urging readers to embrace anti-lynching campaigns and the FEPC. Anti-integration housing riots were, to Głos Ludowy, manifestations of American fascism. The paper argued anti-black rioters were given "a skull-dugging support from certain sections of the Polish press." The Communist Slovak paper, Rovnosť ľudu ("People's Equality") likewise condemned white mobs attacking black war workers seeking to enter Detroit's Sojourner Truth Housing Project, and as early as 1937 letter writers to the paper "Condemned Prejudice Against Black Workers." The same year the paper denounced discriminatory lending practices at the Home Owners Loan Corporation, a prescient exposé of the racially skewed provision of social benefits. After the war both papers declared lynching of black veterans and racial segregation were American-style Hitlerism. Both papers' commitment to the wartime interracial Popular Front dissented from the more dominant embrace of whiteness. Głos Ludowy long continued its advocacy of racial equality. Extensive coverage was granted to civil-rights campaigns, while every white terrorist attack on activists was unequivocally denounced. The paper called the murder of Florida's NAACP leader "a shame and blot upon America" that had "the earmarks of genocide." "A burning concept of equality for the colored races" was articulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban communities in China have undergone fundamental transformations with increasing awareness of property rights among homeowners. This study investigates homeowner right protection in urban China by examining the link between rights recognition and conflict escalation. Based on questionnaire surveys conducted in Shanghai, Xiamen, and Shenzhen, this study identifies escalated conflicts associated with rising awareness of property rights in Chinese cities. Homeowners have become increasingly aware of—and started to adopt aggressive means for—their right protection. A high level of community mobilization can have significant impact on conflict escalation: in the short run, community mobilization increases the likelihood of conflict escalation, but in the long run, better-mobilized communities tend to engage in less confrontational ways of rights protection. Socially and technically well-mobilized communities can serve as a key to protecting housing rights while mitigating conflicts in the fledging urban society in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese urbanites' housing differentiation is a subject that attracts increasing scholarly attention. Previously, housing differentiation was measured by access to homeownership and housing tenure. Given high Chinese homeownership rates, however, heterogeneity among urban Chinese homeowners should be further decomposed. Many studies identified links between housing differentiation and social stratification, but few have examined residents' responses to their homes. Based on the China Labour-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS), this study decomposes homeowners' housing differentiation along three dimensions: housing conditions, housing wealth, and neighbourhood environment. We also examine the impacts of these dimensions on homeowners' subjective social status (SSS). Significant differentiation is found among homeowners in housing conditions, neighbourhood environment, and housing loans. Furthermore, housing wealth and neighbourhood environment affect homeowners' perceived social status. These findings advance housing differentiation studies and have important implications for policies aimed at reducing social inequality and housing poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although housing crises are rooted in both demand-side pressures and supply-side blockages, perceived regulatory impediments to building new homes are the softest target for policy reform. Critics argue that the English planning system's case-by-case consideration of development applications hands excessive power to existing homeowners, who regularly veto those applications, thereby generating uncertainty for the development sector, impeding supply, and amplifying wealth inequalities. Drawing on interviews with planning and development actors, this paper explores the potential of rules-based zoning, in which consultation is restricted to plan-making and compliant applications proceed 'automatically', to address the supply sub-component of the housing crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Installation of essential infrastructure can challenge not only its specialized supply professionals but also property developers and homeowners. This article investigates these stakeholders' appraisal of high voltage overhead transmission lines (HVOTLs) in Queensland, Australia. It first assesses risk surrounding developers' operations and then relays the chief perceptual models applying to the public at large. Investigated next are the two subject groups' outlook on HVOTLs, their orientation to several categories of infrastructure, and developers' tolerances when prospecting for sites near electricity facilities. Planning pointers permeate the analysis and discussion of results, leading to the summary and conclusions to the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The housing agenda shifted its paradigm from housing as basic needs to housing as rights. It became widely contested when 'affordable housing' entered the discourse. Contextualising it for Penang island within the 'Right to the City' principle, the element of place-making emerged which questions a person's right to construct one's own habitat, or is it constrained to decisions by powerful elites. This study attempts to make sense of place-making in Penang island's affordable housing schemes by dissecting voices from key stakeholders. The qualitative techniques used revealed that home owners are voiceless in the place-making process. A clearer affordable housing definition and a needs-based approach are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phenomenon of the middle neighborhood, those urban working-class neighborhoods that are, in Paul Brophy's words, "not in deep distress but not thriving either," has not been widely studied, particularly African-American middle neighborhoods. This article calls attention to the large number of such neighborhoods that emerged in the 1970s in the wake of White flight and examines the trajectory of those neighborhoods in St. Louis since 2000, showing how the great majority of these neighborhoods, after decades of relative stability, have seen devastating social, economic, and housing market decline since 2000. The article examines the roles of subprime lending and the foreclosure crisis, as well as accelerated suburbanization of Black middle-class families since 2000, as central factors in the decline; explores the effect of the decline on Black homeowners' equity as well as the larger social and political configuration of the city; and suggests policy directions to address the decline of these neighborhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evictions cause substantial harm to lower-income families and neighborhoods. We find that eviction filings include many 'serial filings', in which landlords file repeatedly on the same tenant. We analyze serial and nonserial filing rates at the property level, and the share of a property's filings that are serial filings. Regressions on building, location, and neighborhood characteristics reveal factors associated with higher serial and nonserial filing rates and serial share. We find that the largest owners and larger buildings tend to have high serial shares. When looking at nonserial filings, which are more likely to result in tenant displacement, neighborhood race is a strong independent predictor; properties in Black neighborhoods have substantially higher nonserial filing rates, other things equal. Another key result is that sales in the prior three years have a significant, nontrivial positive effect on the nonserial filing rate, so that property turnover is a significant predictor of rising evictions. We discuss implications for policy and further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In humans, personality is relatively stable across the adult life- span and various situations. Can the same be said of the personality of cats? Primary caregivers of cats thought about their cats in four situations: 1) home alone with the cat, 2) an unknown plumber arrives, 3) during a thunderstorm, and 4) when they had had the cat for six months. In each imagined situation, the 65 female and 28 male caregivers (mean age 38.2 years) rated one of their cats (48 female, 44 male, one unknown, mean age 8.0 years) on 29 adjectives that were collapsed into six dimensions of the behavioral style of the cat: amiability, demandingness, dominance, gullibility, nervousness, and play- fulness. Results indicate that owners' perceptions of the behavioral style of their cat (except gullibility) were not stable across situations. When home alone with the owner, cats were perceived as more amiable (M = 3.82), demanding (M = 3.33), dominant (M = 3.10), and playful (M = 3.55) and less nervous (M = 2.39) than with a plumber (Mamiable = 2.92, Mdemandingness = 2.36, Mdominance = 2.71, Mplayfulness = 2.77, and Mnervous = 3.60) or during a thunder-storm (Mamiable = 2.98, Mdemandingness = 2.72, Mdominance = 2.56, Mplayfulness = 2.43, and Mnervous = 3.47). These differences are not explained by an overall increase or decrease in cat behavior. The lack of situational stability in per- ceived behavioral styles may limit the applicability of some theories of human personality to cats. Researchers who rely on owners' ratings of the personal- ity or behavior style of cats should specify the situation during which the owner should rate their cat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local planning in the United States is unique in the amount of land it reserves for detached single-family homes. This privileging of single-family homes, normally called R1 zoning, exacerbates inequality and undermines efficiency. R1's origins are unpleasant: Stained by explicitly classist and implicitly racist motivations, R1 today continues to promote exclusion. It makes it harder for people to access high-opportunity places, and in expensive regions it contributes to shortages of housing, thereby benefiting homeowners at the expense of renters and forcing many housing consumers to spend more on housing. Stacked against these drawbacks, moreover, are a series of only weak arguments in R1's favor about preferences, aesthetics, and a single-family way of life. We demonstrate that these pro-R1 concerns are either specious, or can be addressed in ways less socially harmful than R1. Given the strong arguments against R1 and the weak arguments for it, we contend planners should work to abolish R1 single-family zoning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we show that areas affected by major flood disasters attract less affluent and less creditworthy homebuyers. House prices drop after a flood disaster. The households that purchased homes after a major flood disaster had 2–7% lower annual income and were 8.5% more likely to be seriously delinquent on their mortgages. We find the effects are stronger after repeated flooding incidents. Demand by minority homebuyers does not increase after the disasters. Lenders charge a higher interest rate and are more likely to securitize post-flood mortgages, which is consistent with the idea that lenders infer that the post-flood loans they originate are of lower credit quality ex-ante. Overall our results imply that more affordable house prices in flood-prone areas attract less affluent and more economically vulnerable households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The creation of a neoliberal housing regime triggered extensive housing activism during the last decade by middle class homeowners who were protecting their rights to their neighbourhood. Yet such actions also signify the quest for autonomy from the ubiquitous control of the local state as the vanguard of political power hegemony at the grassroots level. Yet there is evidence of an escalation in "non-peaceful" actions in the richest cities in China despite the tight control of the authoritarian state. With data taken from official documents and interviews as well as from news reports about neighbourhood disputes in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, this article gives an analytic account of the disputes and actions of homeowners in residential neighbourhoods while making their claims as well as on the strategies used by the local state in controlling the homeowners' associations. The article is able to enrich our understanding of housing activism in a non-democratic regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals turn increasingly to informal and family welfare to secure housing as housing and household pressures mount in advanced homeownership societies. This article sheds light on the role of less visible, less considered relations (beyond intergenerational assistance) that are currently being marshalled by low and middle-income households in Melbourne (Australia) and showcases the under-explored breadth of dependencies that exist between co-resident non-spousal adults. Drawing on in-depth interviews, it drills within the "giver/receiver" model to reveal diverse (inter)dependencies within families (e.g. filial, intergenerational, sibling), and between non-related, non-spousal adults (e.g. platonic, professional, e.g. AirBnB). It shows how these bidirectional transactions involve often ambiguous, asymmetrical (i.e. not-like-for-like) exchanges of material and emotional support, which are often postponed. Associated uneven power dynamics are shown to script the domestic space of these cohabiters, variously structuring householders' use, their (perception of) control and sense of home, and also to introduce tension, including threats to household stability. Others have identified a contemporary paradox: at a time when much policy and economic practice assumes subjects liberated from the obligations of social ties, individuals rely more than ever on intimate relations. This article builds on this curiosity identifying a broad range of social ties, including beyond the family, that are essential to helping city residents stay housed. It argues that as individuals grapple with welfare shifts, financial insecurity, and housing pressures, these ties take on heightened significance but they can also be tested: the pressures that housing-related dependencies place on coresident individuals have the potential to be highly gendered and, promises and expectations of reciprocity in particular, may become untenable for some individuals to uphold in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article asks: What becomes of the idealized asset-accumulating investor subject rallied in asset-based welfare policy and discourse in the context of mounting social risks facing families? It brings into dialogue two disconnected literatures: one on financialized subjectivities, drawing on post-structuralist and Foucauldian analysis, the other on welfare states drawing more heavily on comparative political economy. Drawing on homeowner interviews in Melbourne (Australia), it identifies how parent homeowners' devise housing strategies to manage their children's housing welfare risks. Their housing investment and landlordism strategies align with financialized subjectivities, but other strategies subvert or reject these subject positions. Its first contribution is to specify how an Australian refamilization of welfare responsibilities, including for housing, is unfolding as processes of financialization erode the efficacy of growing state social spending. Its second contribution is to challenge the individual subject of asset-based welfare (ABW) and introduce intergenerational assistance as an under-explored contingency for ABW projects, and further driver for welfare inequalities between and within generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although previous research shows that family dynamics and parental socioeconomic status influence the timing of young adults' first entry into homeownership, much less is known about how the role of family factors may vary across countries with different housing systems. In this article, we use panel survey data from Britain and Germany to compare how family life course careers and parental socioeconomic background influence young adults' initial entry into homeownership in these two divergent national contexts. The results show that in Britain, first-time homeownership transitions are tightly synchronized with partnership formation. By contrast, in Germany first moves into homeownership typically occur later around or after the arrival of children. Parental owner-occupation accelerates entry into homeownership in both contexts, while the effects of other parental characteristics are relatively muted. Furthermore, the results highlight how individual socioeconomic factors are critical determinants of entering owner-occupation. This is particularly true in Britain where there is a strong socioeconomic gradient in first-time homeownership transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the influence of state-led urban redevelopment on the place attachment of deprived and old homeowners living in danwei communities that are facing demolition in Shenyang, China. It investigates lived experiences through in-depth interviews with homeowners in the context of the pre-demolition phase, i.e. an inevitable prospect of having to move out. The article reveals how these homeowners cleverly mobilize local resources, such as strong social bonds, low living costs, flexibility on space use and good neighbourhood location to cope with their life constraints, which is translated into their strong neighbourhood attachment. However, various forms of neighbourhood decline have decreased their quality of life. Meanwhile, they soon have to move due to the impending demolition of their neighbourhood. State-led urban redevelopment, therefore, confronts those deprived residents with a dilemma concerning their strong neighbourhood dependence and their desire for better living conditions. The impending neighbourhood demolition uncovers accumulated social issues in danwei communities in the context of market reforms and institutional changes in current China, such as the emergence of deprived social groups and their struggles for better housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses mover flows in Glasgow and the role of ethnic homophily, the tendency for movers to be drawn to areas with similar ethnicities to their own. We look at how homophily affects the spatial relocation patterns of homeowners in Glasgow from Scottish, Indian, Pakistani and Chinese descent, and focus on the extent to which homophily extends beyond the immediate locality to surrounding neighbourhoods. Our interest is in estimating the "homophily horizon" – how far the gaze of homophily reaches in mover location decisions. Using a simple Schelling-type theoretical model, we argue that homophily horizons are potentially important in shaping the long-term social structure of cities as they may profoundly affect how potent the overall sorting tendencies of the housing market are in driving segregation. In principle, the more distant the homophily horizon, the more quickly the housing market will tend towards segregation, other things being equal. We adopt Folch and Rey's use of the local centralization index to capture the influence of surrounding neighbourhoods in shaping mover flows and neighbourhood dynamics. Our estimation combines ethnic mover flows derived from surname analysis of house buyers from the house transactions recorded in Registers of Scotland data. Our results show that the presence of the own ethnic group in the local surroundings is important for explaining mover flows, and that homophily is a local phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inequalities relating to ownership of housing have become a major issue de jour in many Western societies. This article examines how the distribution of homeownership in Sweden relates to two factors widely seen as significant to such inequalities, namely parental tenure status and place of birth. We use longitudinal registry data to examine the bearing of these two factors on individual-level tenure progression since the beginning of the 1990s for persons at different stages of their housing careers. We extend existing understandings of Swedish homeownership patterns by demonstrating that inequalities relating to place of birth and parental tenure intersect with one another in ways that substantially advantage certain subgroups while disadvantaging others, and by demonstrating that experiences of entry into homeownership have in recent years been changing in markedly different ways for these different subgroups. Overall, Swedish homeownership inequalities, far from dissipating, appear to be hardening along existing lines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the development and evaluation of a theory-based Carbon Monoxide Blitz Model to help prevent carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. It states that the program was implemented in five communities in South Carolina with local firefighters installing carbon CO monitors while volunteers provided education for homeowners. It states in a follow up after four to six months, all of the homes had functioning CO alarms and most recipients knew what to do if alarms sounded.

Although flood risk management is traditionally regarded as a governmental responsibility, homeowners in Flanders (Belgium) have a crucial role in flood risk reduction. With this in mind, the Flanders Environment Agency executed a pilot study in which homeowners were offered free tailor-made advice on floodproofing. To evaluate the advice, we conducted interviews and a survey of the participating homeowners. On this basis we conclude that, to improve the homeowner's contribution towards more effective flood-resilient (peri-)urban areas, there is a need for a more relational approach with other stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of housing markets, mediated by estate agents, is changing. The 'information age' has witnessed widespread changes to personal intermediation across many business sectors (e.g. holiday sales and insurance brokerage), yet estate agents continue to be extensively involved. This paper asks whether the intermediation process has changed and why this is the case. Through a cultural economy investigation of the everyday practices of estate agents in New Zealand and England we identify how they have adapted, directed and responded to technological and social changes. In England, three service levels of agency arose with varying roles for technological information dissemination, the matching process and the formulization of prices. In New Zealand the hegemony of high quality service has resisted other mediation forms; retaining socially negotiated housing outcomes. Despite these differences, the unique facets of housing, its complex sale procedure and emotional transaction nature have hitherto enabled the adaptive capacity of estate agents to continue influencing housing market processes and rationalize their ongoing construction of housing transaction processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The housing market crash in the mid-2000s was characterized by unusually high rates of mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures. Thus, many householders and their families faced the prospect of losing their homes. This paper employs a unique data-set linking the 2008 Survey of Income and Program Participation with individual foreclosure event records from Realty Trac to examine the effects of foreclosure on changes in household well-being. Results from random effects models suggest that foreclosure was positively associated with hardship and food insecurity. Further, households at risk of foreclosure had greater odds of accessing government assistance programs but lower odds of receiving support from private safety nets. Results from lagged dependent variable models suggest that changes in foreclosure status are associated with increased hardship and reduced economic well-being. The lack of access to private safety nets suggests the need for comprehensive public programs to identify and assist homeowners at risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the ongoing transformation of Herat Old City (also referred to as the Old City), the former capital of the Timurid Empire on the Silk Roads, regarding the transformation of residential quarters. The data for this study is provided by a literature review, field surveys, and interviews with city officials and citizens. The study analyses the changes to residential quarters occurring in the Old City with a particular focus on their relation to a) the post-war reconstruction process, b) lack of management by the municipal government, and c) inadequate involvement of citizens/residents. The study shows how changes in private housing have occurred across the Old City. They began around 2004 and accelerated with the reconstruction process, which included projects funded by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC). Redevelopment of traditional houses has been continuing in the Old City even after AKTC completed their mission in 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on interview data with second homeowners, this article identifies and explains diverging modes of second homeowner engagement in Boston, Massachusetts. Though recent scholarship suggests that second homeowners' primary form of engagement is through financial transactions in real estate, this analysis uncovers 2 kinds of second homeowners—whom I call city speculators and city specters—who engage with the city in other, yet consequential ways. City speculators engage in city-building projects through direct civic and political participation and place-entrepreneurial activities and are motivated to do so by the pursuit and promise of economic capital. City specters more inconspicuously shape the contours of urban life through donations to and participation in elite, high cultural institutions. Specters suggest that they are not motivated by economic capital but by the high cultural value that their second home engagements afford. Documenting these differences sheds light on a growing group of urban dwellers, demonstrates and explains the heterogeneity of affluent in-migrants' practices and variable place-making projects, and underscores the complex set of challenges that cities face today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We replicate the analysis of Sebastian Galiani and Ernesto Shargrodsky's (GS) influential 2010 article 'Property rights for the poor: effects of land titling'. GS use a natural experiment in a poor urban area of Buenos Aires to find that land titling increases housing investment, reduces household size, and increases child education, but does not do so through increased use of credit. The original questionnaires and raw data are not available and the existing variables provided by GS allow only a limited replication analysis. Despite these limitations, we successfully reproduce the original findings published by GS, and find these results are robust to alternative specifications. We also find heterogeneous effects regarding gender and education level of the original squatter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article connects homeowner subjectivities and state practice to specify how the post-war homeownership-welfare dynamic has radically transformed since the 1980s. Specifically, this article revisits, 35 years on and against the onset of financialized capitalism, Jim Kemeny's seminal thesis on the relationship between homeownership and welfare. Focusing on Australia, as a less considered case in the liberal Anglophone cluster, it traces how the state actively overhauled the local post-war homeownership-welfare dynamic from the late 1970s. The analysis establishes how this refurbishment outdates Kemeny's thesis by rendering features of the post-war homeownership model ineffective and, more significantly, by fashioning new homeowner subjectivities—namely, the investor subject. By bringing together Foucauldian perspectives (mortgage biopolitics) with Marxian political economy, this state-sensitive account both responds to Kemeny's unexpected silence on the active hand of the Australian state in structuring its homeownership-welfare dynamic, and contributes to the asset-based welfare critique by emphasizing its post-1980s features and the structural drivers that explain its persistence, despite its unequal wealth and welfare outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the cultural and economic importance of do-it-yourself (DIY) home improvement, questions about its role in the production and consumption of home have been traversed in only a limited way in the housing studies literature. We consider New Zealanders' DIY house improvement intentions and what these ideas for house modification reveal about the idealized relationships they have with their dwellings. We focus on homeowners' thinking and dreaming about the ways the material and symbolic "potential" of home can be achieved by engaging in DIY projects. We theorize our work using the literatures on house and home, self-provisioning activities, leisure work and cultural intermediation, particularly the important roles played by family, friends and print and electronic media in advancing ideas for DIY projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1998 housing reforms in Chinese cities have played a substantial role in setting social transition in motion. Not only has it produced an urban middle class of homeowners but it has also powerfully patternized collective mobilization. Fieldwork conducted in Shanghai reveals that homeowner communities living in 'commercialized apartments' (CAs) versus 'government-sold apartments' (GSAs) undertake distinct types of collective action. CA owners contentiously defend their rights and interests, whereas GSA owners remain compliant and lobby for welfare subsidies. This distinction in collective mobilizations between homeowners seems to originate in the distinct sources of homeownership. The logic of state capitalism underlies CAs and that of socialist patriarchy underlies GSAs. Analyzing a couple of mobilization episodes, the authors, by theory of contentious politics, focus on exploring the crucial mechanisms in the process of mobilization to explain why in the different settings the similar mechanisms have produced different outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amenity-rich rural communities attract tourists, retirees, second-home owners, and others whose values are often assumed to conflict with those of longtime residents. While prior research has examined attitudinal differences across types of residents, questions about the effects of community growth on residents' attitudes remain unanswered. This study examines whether and how seasonal and permanent residents differ within and across towns experiencing different rates of growth, and the implications of differences for attitudes toward community development and preservation. Results showed that permanent residents (both short- and long-term) perceived community development initiatives as more important to maintaining future quality of life than did seasonal homeowners. Further, community growth rates had statistically significant effects: residents of slower-growth towns attributed higher importance to both development and preservation initiatives than did residents of faster-growing towns. Growth rate was thus a stronger predictor of attitudes toward both development and preservation than resident type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the new rent seeking strategies in housing implemented during Spain's financial crisis. The Spanish Model presents a paradigmatic case of the need for capital to reinvent itself through the articulation of new mechanisms for the production and appropriation of urban rent, as the crisis revealed the limits of strategies that were implemented during the bubble period. Amongst these new strategies, the paper analyses the rescue of financial entities, the creation of a 'bad bank' and the establishment of Spanish REITs. These mechanisms are leading to financialisation of rental housing and the emergence of vulture funds as new transnational owners of housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]