Housing Issue Analysis Paper

Cowan D & Marsh. 2001. A Two Steps Forward: Housing Policy into the New Millennium. Policy Press

Today, I am going to speak about the affordable housing in Pittsburgh .First let me tell about why the affordable housing is preferred. People who live in affordable housing today want safe, decent housing for the same reasons that we all do. The reasons are mainly to provide a nurturing environment to raise their children. Another reason is to remain in the community where they were raised or to become part of a community in which they want to settle. Finally, to live in an attractive, safe environment that they can afford. People who need affordable housing are ones that are employed as secretaries, school teachers, local government employees, restaurant workers and sales clerks. These workers need affordable housing because of the wide gap

When the recession happened, and the housing market crashed in Los Angeles a few years back many people lost their homes. The foreclosure crisis displaced many homeowners, drove up demand, and rental prices increased. Now, it is almost two years later, and the dramatic rent increases continue to soar. There would be no issue with cost of living increase except; the increases in income have yet to make the same shifts. “In many cities, rent is rising out reach of

The secondary economic effects of affordable housing opportunities are felt primarily by those who receive the housing. In 2006, over 50% of Massachusetts renters were housing-cost burdened, paying more

We looked at a variety of ways to help alleviate this cost. Since one of the main issues causing high living costs in the Bay Area is shortage of housing one of the possible solutions could be building more housing. Possible problems here are that San Francisco itself is not too big of a city and in most cities of this type in the world the population density is increased by building tall buildings –

A report prepared by the Economic Roundtable, Rental Housing 2011; The State of Rental Housing in the City of Los Angeles, noted that the city’s rental property had increased due to foreclosures that had started during the 2008 recession and been converted to rental property. Although this increased the options for renters, the incomes of family households had been decreasing since 1990. In this report, Daniel Flaming and Patrick Burns state, “Over the past decade, rent as a share of income has shifted from being barely affordable to predominantly unaffordable for renters (2012). They also note that the majority of renters in this area pay 30% to 50% of their income on rent. This is compounded by the problem of the increase of

Shortage of housing supply, especially in the coastal areas, is the critical issue that drives housing affordability crisis in California. California’s major coastal metros (such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego), where about two-thirds of Californian live, is lacking in sufficient housing to accommodate all the people who want to live there . For example, in 2015, there were 133,000 jobs created in the Bay Area while only 16,000 units of housing added there . In addition, the construction of new housings in California’s coastal metros, from 1980 to 2010, was low from both national and historical standpoints. During the past three decades, the number of housing units in the typical U.S. urban center grew by 54%, compared with 32%

Texas has for many years been acknowledged for maintaining significantly affordable housing rates despite various economic changes experienced across America. Majority of the people living in Texas fall under the categories of low and middle-income earners. In Texas if ou are making minimum wage, you won’t be able to make rent. In this study it tells us that if “ The average Texan household will need 2.4 minimum wage earners or 97 hours of minimum wage work per week, in order to make rent.”(o’neil). Which is super difficult for two adults living in one household, which makes it even more challenging for single parents, elderly, and people with disability. However, change is possible, and recent

As the bay area technology boom continues, so has one of residents’ basic needs: the cost of housing. According to U.S. Census data five of the top seven fastest growing counties in California are in the bay area, with the fastest growing county being Alameda (2010). Since the 2010 census, it was estimated Alameda would add a little over 100,000 residents by August of 2014. With the increased population the cost of living has also increased, especially housing costs. From January 2014 to January 2015, the average rent in Oakland increased by approximately 20 percent in a city struggling to deal with housing demands (Zillow, 2015).

As gentrification of housing stress continues, Local Government Areas (LGA) will lose lower income groups and assimilate into a predominance of higher income groups, effectively homogenizing the population and decreasing diversity. This trend will drive the housing market price up, decrease housing affordability and deter outsiders into joining the community. The existing housing units will experience financial hardships, housing stress, and a gradual deprivation of a means to cope with increasing basic living costs. In order to combat this ongoing issue, speculative approaches by the City have been in consideration.¬¬¬¬

Public opinion polling shows that the ballot initiative for an affordable housing bond currently has the support of a slight majority of voters. This memo describes how the coalition in support of the measure can shift public opinion to create a greater and stronger level of support. It describes potential target audiences and messages in light of the current political context surrounding the bond measure. The memo also identifies potential message vulnerabilities.

In this area there was gangs and trap houses but now there were small businesses and higher income people who were moving in and changing the neighborhood. Gentrification has happened, is happening or will happen in the United States and it is inevitable due to the government supporting it and the power that money has in these regions. Although gentrification does have some pros, it also has some important cons; the first con is the hidden cost that comes with gentrification, the second con is the rents being raised which leads people to becoming homeless. This paper will show the history, effects, benefits, and solutions like putting limits to when and by how much the rent can be raised so that people don’t become homeless. This is not the right time for gentrification because levels of poverty are high and the amount of people in debt is too much for gentrification to occur at this

Lack of housing supply is the major issue that leads to the crisis of housing affordability. As a group, we will be researching solutions of providing greater housing supply in California. Our first step is to identify the issue and the multiple causes that contribute to the problem. In addition to memos provide by team members that focus on components of housing supply shortage in California generally, this memo will focus on the supply shortage in coastal metros of California, including a comprehensive view of the consequences and causes of the issue.

Meanwhile, yearly house price inflation rates in the top 20 cities are running in line with the national trend. The cities with the highest rates of increase are Seattle (+12%), Portland (+10%) and Dallas (+9%). Lower tier property prices appear to be more volatile than their high end counterparts in both Seattle and Portland. Meanwhile, the three cities with the lowest rates of house price inflation are New York (+3%), Washington (+4%) and Cleveland (+5%). Furthermore, rising house prices appear to be having an adverse impact on affordability. According to the National Association of Realtors, rising prices are offsetting higher disposable incomes and stable mortgage rates, and affordability has consequently been declining since January 2015. Partly driving the increase in prices is a lack of available supply of existing single family homes for sale. The number of months’ of unsold inventory was just below 4 in March and availability has been gradually falling since 2014. Additionally, there is a relatively tight supply situation for new single family homes for sale, which is also helping to support prices.

Originally a movement started by artists who moved into these neighborhoods for their affordability, real estate developers and urban planners take advantage of this increased demand for residence as an opportunity to convert once dilapidated buildings into luxury housing units. These once lifeless neighborhoods are given business, increased jobs, and a “safer” atmosphere. However, complying with the basic rules of supply and demand, as demand for housing in these neighborhoods increases, housing prices also go up. As once affordable housing prices hit astronomical rates, lower-income families that once lived in these neighborhoods are eventually forced out when they simply cannot afford to pay rent