Acolin, Arthur; Calem, Paul; Jagtiani, Julapa; Wachter, Susan. (2018). First-Time Homebuyers: Toward a New Measure. Cityscape, 20(1), 193 – 204.
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Abstract
Existing data sources show divergent estimates of the number of homes purchased by first-time homebuyers as a share of all home purchases. In this article, we use a new dataset to construct a time series of the share of first-time homebuyers. This series, based on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Equifax Consumer Credit Panel, shows a significant decline in the share of first-time homebuyers, particularly among young households, consistent with the decline in homeownership in this age cohort since the early 2000s.
Hess, Christian; Walter, Rebecca J.; Acolin, Arthur; Chasins, Sarah. (2019). Comparing Small Area Fair Market Rents with Other Rental Measures across Diverse Housing Markets. Cityscape, 21(3), 159 – 186.
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Abstract
Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMRs) are calculated at the 40th percentile of the U.S. postal ZIP Code instead of the metropolitan area in an effort to capture localized rents to expand choice for voucher holders to access housing in higher-opportunity neighborhoods. Existing studies on the potential and actual outcomes of SAFMRs demonstrate that findings vary for different types of housing markets. Furthermore, the decisions public housing authorities (PHAs) make in the implementation process affect PHAs' program budget and the rent burden and locational outcomes for voucher households. This study aims to address how these implementation factors are affected by local rental market conditions for three PHAs-Housing Authority of the City of Fort Lauderdale, San Antonio Housing Authority, and Seattle Housing Authority-in diverse housing markets. By comparing different sources of market rent estimates with SAFMRs in each location, we contribute new information about how this rule is likely to produce different residential outcomes in terms of increased access to low-poverty neighborhoods and adjustments to payment standards in low-rent neighborhoods. The findings reveal differences across rent measures in terms of estimated levels and relative differences across ZIP Codes. These findings suggest that housing authorities may face challenges in meeting the objectives of the SAFMR final rule without some form of local adjustments.]
Acolin, Arthur; Vitiello, Domenic. (2018). Who Owns Chinatown: Neighbourhood Preservation and Change in Boston and Philadelphia. Urban Studies, 55(8), 1690 – 1710.
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Abstract
The survival of Chinatowns and other ethnic enclaves in cities is largely determined by who owns property. Ethnic enclaves such as Chinatowns have traditionally played important economic, social and cultural functions as places for recent immigrants to live and work, though Chinatowns have long faced redevelopment pressures. In North America, as Chinese immigrants and their descendants settle in the suburbs, and as historic Chinatowns’ locations close to revitalising downtowns attract increasing investment, the future of these historic enclaves is shaped by various, often intense and divergent, forces. This article describes changes in the patterns of property ownership in Boston and Philadelphia’s downtown Chinatowns over the last decade (2003–2013) and relates them to changes and continuities in these neighbourhoods’ population, commercial activities and building stock. The trends we observe simultaneously reinforce and complicate debates about gentrification and longstanding efforts to preserve these Chinatowns as ethnic Chinese residential, commercial, and cultural centres.]
Keywords
Chinatown, Ethnic Enclave, Neighbourhood Change, Ownership
Acolin, Arthur; Reina, Vincent. (2022). Housing Cost Burden and Life Satisfaction. Journal Of Housing & The Built Environment, 37(4), 1789-1815.
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Abstract
The share of income that households spent on their housing has been increasing over time in a wide range of countries, particularly among lower income households. In theory, the share of income spent on housing can reflect variations in household preferences for housing consumption but for low-income household, high burdens are likely more reflective of constraints and force these households to face tradeoffs between housing and non-housing consumption that negatively affect their overall life satisfaction. This paper uses data from the 2018 European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) for 14 countries. We find that, controlling for household sociodemographic characteristics, households spending more than 30 percent of their income and those spending more than 50 percent of their income on housing report significantly lower levels of life satisfaction. The estimated relationship is largest for this latter heavily cost burdened group. The negative relationship between housing cost burden and reported life satisfaction is found across countries but varies in magnitude, suggesting that stronger welfare systems may mediate the negative impacts of housing cost burdens, although further research is needed to confirm both this relationship and the precise mechanisms driving it.
Keywords
Life Satisfaction; Income; Housing; Poor Communities; Subjective Well-being (psychology); Living Conditions; European Countries; Housing Cost; Subjective Wellbeing; Economic Hardship; Homeownership; Affordability; Determinants; Cost Analysis; Housing Costs; Households; Consumption; Low Income Groups; Expenditures; Welfare; Sociodemographics
Acolin, Arthur;hoek-smit, Marja;green, Richard K. (2022). Measuring the Housing Sector’s Contribution to GDP in Emerging Market Countries. International Journal Of Housing Markets And Analysis, 15(5), 977-994.
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Abstract
Purpose > This paper aims to document the economic importance of the housing sector, as measured by its contribution to gross domestic product (GDP), which is not fully recognized. In response to the joint economic and health crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an opportunity for emerging market countries to develop and implement inclusive housing strategies that stimulate the economy and improve community health outcomes. However, so far housing does not feature prominently in the recovery plans of many emerging market countries. Design/methodology/approach > This paper uses national account data and informal housing estimates for 11 emerging market economies to estimate the contribution of housing investments and housing services to the GDP of these countries. Findings > This paper finds that the combined contribution of housing investments and housing services represents between 6.9% and 18.5% of GDP, averaging 13.1% in the countries with information about both. This puts the housing sector roughly on par with other key sectors such as manufacturing. In addition, if the informal housing sector is undercounted in the official national account figures used in this analysis by 50% or 100%, for example, then the true averages of housing investments and housing services’ contribution to GDP would increase to 14.3% or 16.1% of GDP, respectively. Research limitations/implications > Further efforts to improve data collection about housing investments and consumption, particularly imputed rent for owner occupiers and informal activity require national government to conduct regular household and housing surveys. Researcher can help make these surveys more robust and leverage new data sources such as scraped housing price and rent data to complement traditional surveys. Better data are needed in order to capture housing contribution to the economy. Practical implications > The size of the housing sector and its impact in terms of employment and community resilience indicate the potential of inclusive housing investments to both serve short-term economic stimulus and increase long-term community resilience. Originality/value > The role of housing in the economy is often limited to housing investment, despite the importance of housing services and well-documented methodologies to include them. This analysis highlights the importance of housing to the economy of emerging market countries (in addition to all the non-GDP related impact of housing on welfare) and indicate data limitation that need to be addressed to further strengthen the case for focusing on housing as part of economic recovery plans.
Keywords
Pandemics; Economic Importance; Investments; Housing; Sanitation; Recovery; International Organizations; Covid-19; Economic Growth; Data Collection; Economic Indicators; Economics; Housing Conditions; Economic Policy; Economic Conditions; Market Economies; Resilience; Low Income Groups; Economic Activity; Consumption; Emerging Markets; Earthquakes; Surveys; Gross Domestic Product--gdp; Coronaviruses; Affordable Housing; Economic Development; Informal Economy; Households; Recovery Plans; Disease Transmission; Africa; South Africa; India
Ramiller, Alex; Acolin, Arthur; Walter, Rebecca J.; Wang, Ruoniu. (2022). Moving to Shared Equity: Locational Outcomes for Households in Shared Equity Homeownership Programs. Housing Studies, 44586.
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Abstract
Abstract The impact of U.S. housing policy on household locational outcomes has primarily been studied in the context of rental housing assistance programs, but the impact of alternative homeownership models is less fully explored. In this study, we assess residential trajectories for households that have participated in shared-equity homeownership (SEH) programs such as Community Land Trusts and Limited Equity Housing Cooperatives. We examine changes in neighborhood characteristics that occur when households enter and exit SEH units, and compare those outcomes with similar households that entered traditional homeownership or continued to rent. We find that while entering SEH is associated with decreases in neighborhood opportunity measures, exiting SEH is associated with improvements in key measures including lower concentrations of poverty. We conclude that while entering SEH may entail moving to lower-opportunity neighborhoods, participation in SEH programs increases the long-term economic and socio-spatial mobility of participating households by enabling them to access a broader array of neighborhood contexts in their subsequent move. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of Housing Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Keywords
Community Land Trusts; Geographies Of Opportunity; Locational Outcomes; Residential Mobility; Shared-equity Homeownership
Tillyer, Marie Skubak; Acolin, Arthur; Walter, Rebecca J. (2022). Place-based Improvements for Public Safety: Private Investment, Public Code Enforcement, and Changes in Crime at Microplaces across Six U.S. Cities. Justice Quarterly, 44592.
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Abstract
Abstract Research demonstrates that crime concentrates at relatively few microplaces, and changes at a small proportion of locations can have a considerable influence on a city’s overall crime level. Yet there is little research examining what accounts for change in crime at microplaces. This study examines the relationship between two mechanisms for place-based improvements – private investment in the form of building permits and public regulation in the form of municipal code enforcement – and yearly changes in crime at street segments. We use longitudinal data from six cities to estimate Spatial Durbin Models with block group and census tract by year fixed effects. Building permits and code enforcement are significantly associated with reductions in crime on street segments across all cities, with spatial diffusion of benefits to nearby segments. These findings suggest public safety planning should include efforts that incentivize and compel physical improvements to high crime microplaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of JQ: Justice Quarterly is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Keywords
Code Enforcement; Crime And Place; Hot Spots; Investment; Place-based Improvements
Walter, Rebecca J.; Tillyer, Marie Skubak; Acolin, Arthur. (2022). Spatiotemporal Crime Patterns across Six US Cities: Analyzing Stability and Change in Clusters and Outliers. Journal Of Quantitative Criminology.
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Abstract
ObjectivesExamine the degree of crime concentration at micro-places across six large cities, the spatial clustering of high and low crime micro-places within cities, the presence of outliers within those clusters, and extent to which there is stability and change in micro-place classification over time. MethodsUsing crime incident data gathered from six U.S. municipal police departments (Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, San Antonio, and Seattle) and aggregated to the street segment, Local Moran’s I is calculated to identify statistically significant high and low crime clusters across each city and outliers within those clusters that differ significantly from their local spatial neighbors.ResultsWithin cities, the proportion of segments that are like their neighbors and fall within a statistically significant high or low crime cluster are relatively stable over time. For all cities, the largest proportion of street segments fell into the same classification over time (47.5% to 69.3%); changing segments were less common (4.7% to 20.5%). Changing clusters (i.e., segments that fell into both low and high clusters during the study) were rare. Outliers in each city reveal statistically significant street-to-street variability. ConclusionsThe findings revealed similarities across cities, including considerable stability over time in segment classification. There were also cross-city differences that warrant further investigation, such as varying levels of spatial clustering. Understanding stable and changing clusters and outliers offers an opportunity for future research to explore the mechanisms that shape a city's spatiotemporal crime patterns to inform strategic resource allocation at smaller spatial scales. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
Keywords
Micro-places; Spatiotemporal Crime Patterns; Spatial Clusters; Spatial Outliers; No Terms Assigned
The College of Built Environments launched a funding opportunity for those whose research has been affected by the ongoing pandemic. The Research Restart Fund, with awards up to $5,000, has awarded 4 grants in its first of two cycles. A grant was awarded to Real Estate faculty member Arthur Acolin, who is partnering with the City of Seattle’s Office of Planning and Community Development to understand barriers that homeowners, particularly those with lower incomes, face to building Accessory Dwelling Units…
Costa, Ana; Sass, Victoria; Kennedy, Ian; Roy, Roshni; Walter, Rebecca J.; Acolin, Arthur; Crowder, Kyle; Hess, Chris; Ramiller, Alex; Chasins, Sarah. (2021). Toward a Cross-Platform Framework: Assessing the Comprehensiveness of Online Rental Listings. Cityscape, 23(2), 327 – 339.
Abstract
Research on rental housing markets in the United States has traditionally relied on national or local housing surveys. Those sources lack temporal and spatial specificity, limiting their use for tracking short-term changes in local markets. As rental housing ads have transitioned to digital spaces, a growing body of literature has utilized web scraping to analyze listing practices and variations in rental market dynamics. Those studies have primarily relied on one platform, Craigslist, as a source of data. Despite Craigslist's popularity, the authors contend that rental listings from various websites, rather than from individual ones, provide a more comprehensive picture. Using a mixed-methods approach to study listings across various platforms in five metropolitan areas, this article demonstrates considerable variation in both the types of rental units advertised and the features provided across those platforms. The article begins with an account of the birth and consolidation of online rental platforms and emergent characteristics of several selected websites, including the criteria for posting, search parameters, search results priority, and first-page search results. Visualizations are used to compare features such as the 40th percentile of rent, rent distribution, and bedroom size based on scraped data from six online platforms (Padmapper, Forrent.com , Trulia, Zillow, Craigslist, and GoSection8), 2020 Fair Market Rents, and 2019 American Community Survey data. The analyses indicate that online listing platforms target different audiences and offer distinct information on units within those market segments, resulting in markedly different estimates of local rental costs and unit size distribution depending on the platform.