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
Acolin, Arthur; Wachter, Susan. (2017). Opportunity and Housing Access. Cityscape, 19(1), 135 – 150.
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Abstract
This article examines the relationship between employment opportunity and housing affordability. Access to locations with high-productivity jobs is increasingly limited by regional housing affordability barriers. Recent articles demonstrate a new regional divergence in access to high-productivity regions accompanied by declines in worker mobility associated with affordability barriers. We update these findings and discuss their long-term implications for economic opportunity and intergenerational welfare. We show that areas, from which lower-income households are increasingly priced out, are also more likely to have higher levels of intergenerational mobility. Access to opportunity also continues to be challenged within metropolitan areas as the gentrification of downtown neighborhoods is accompanied by an increase in concentrated poverty in outlying city neighborhoods and inner ring suburbs. These trends on regional and local scales derive from the increased importance of place in the knowledge-based economy and interact to reinforce growing spatial inequality. We conclude with a discussion of the importance of identifying place-based solutions to counter growing spatial inequality of opportunity.]
Acolin, Arthur; Bricker, Jesse; Calem, Paul; Wachter, Susan. (2016). Borrowing Constraints and Homeownership. The American Economic Review, 106(5), 625 – 629.
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Keywords
Borrowing Constraints, Homeownership, Credit Supply
Acolin, Arthur; Goodman, Laurie S.; Wachter, Susan M. (2016). A Renter or Homeowner Nation? Cityscape, 18(1), 145 – 158.
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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
Ruoniu (Vince) Wang is an Assistant Professor in the Runstad Department of Real Estate in the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington. He studies spatial justice and inclusive communities, including their impacts reflected in the built environment, human behaviors, and policy interventions. Vince joined the University of Washington after serving six years as the research manager and director in a national non-profit organization Grounded Solutions Network. He has designed and conducted a U.S. Census of inclusionary housing policies, a U.S. census of community land trusts, and a national performance evaluation of shared equity homeownership programs. His research expands to policy evaluation for the two largest federal assisted housing rental programs in the U.S.: the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program and the Housing Choice Voucher program. Vince grounds his research with applied tools to democratize data for low-income communities.
Hoofnagle, Chris Jay; Whittington, Jan. (2014). Free: Accounting for the Costs of the Internet’s Most Popular Price. UCLA Law Review, 61(3), 606 – 670.
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Abstract
Offers of free services abound on the Internet. But the focus on the price rather than on the cost of free services has led consumers into a position of vulnerability. For example, even though internet users typically exchange personal information for the opportunity to use these purportedly free services, one court has found that users of free services are not consumers for purposes of California consumer protection law. This holding reflects the common misconception that the costs of free online transactions are negligible when in fact true costs may be quite significant. To elucidate the true costs of these allegedly free services, we apply a transaction cost economics (TCE) approach. Unlike orthodox economic theory, TCE provides a framework for analyzing exchanges in which the price of the product seems to be zero. Under a TCE analysis, we argue that information-intensive companies misuse the term free to promote products and services that involve numerous nonpecuniary costs. In so doing, firms generate contractual hazards for consumers, ignore consumer preferences for privacy, and mislead consumers by creating the impression that a given transaction will be free. While psychological research and behavioral economics may support an outright ban of free offers because of their biasing effects, TCE suggests reforming governance structures to place the business risks associated with free transactions more firmly in the hands of businesses. We suggest alterations to governance structures such as the Federal Trade Commission's Guide Concerning Use of the Word Free (FTC Guide) to curb the incentives of firms to raise transaction costs for consumers. The FTC Guide provides support for two of the consumer protection measures we propose: first, a requirement that free service providers clearly disclose that such providers seek users' personal information in exchange for those services, and, second, the establishment of a regular price before providers can market a service as free. We further argue that the recognition of users of free services as consumers for purposes of consumer protection law would better align incentives and ensure users access to legal redress against some of the most popular services on the Internet. Lastly, we suggest the adoption of alternative governance structures designed to reduce the cost of transacting by curbing the collection of personal information from consumers of free services and by enhancing the rights of consumers to govern the dispersal of personal information from free online services to third parties.
Keywords
Free Internet Service Providers; Internet Usage Monitoring; Transaction Cost Theory Of The Firm; Internet Privacy -- Law & Legislation; Law; United States. Federal Trade Commission; Vertical Integration; Privacy
Acolin, Arthur; Goodman, Laurie; Wachter, Susan M. (2019). Accessing Homeownership with Credit Constraints. Housing Policy Debate, 29(1), 108 – 125.
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Abstract
The tightening of mortgage credit in the aftermath of the global financial crisis has been identified as a factor in the decline of homeownership in the United States to 50-year lows. In this article, we review findings about the role of borrowing constraints and tightened credit in lowering access to homeownership. We also discuss how institutional changes could hinder or support this access going forward.
Keywords
Borrowing Constraints; Home Ownership; Mortgage; Model; Race; Homeownership; Credit Access; International Finance; Economic Crisis; Property; Aftermath; Access; Credit; Access To Credit; Economic Models; United States--us