Housing & Homelessness Midterm

Some facts about housing in the U.S.: 

Tenure: Most housing units are blank

Type: Most housing units are blank

Most housing units are owned and single family

The homevoter hypothesis suggests that homeowners will be [more/less] likely to vote in local elections than renters

more

According to the McCabe reading and materials from lecture, do you think homeowners are better citizens than renters? Why/why not? (Write a couple sentences)

Homeowners do some civic actions more than renters, like vote or participate in neighborhood groups, but often they are only concerned with their own well-being, which may not be very civic-minded. Renters who have lived in a neighborhood for a long time are also active citizens, so tenure (length of time spent in a place) might matter as much as homeownership.

How is housing linked to racial/ethnic wealth gaps? (write a couple of sentences)

Through homeownership, housing is a large part of most households' assets. However, there are racial/ethnic inequalities in homeownership rates, housing values, and housing’s share of total assets. White households, for example, are more likely to own homes and their homes have higher home values than Black or Hispanic households, so this already contributes to a racial/ethnic wealth gap. However, White households are also more likely to have other assets like retirement or investments accounts, so homeownership is less consequential for their wealth - on average, Black and Hispanic households who own homes derive a larger share of their assets from their homes, but those homes are worth less. 

In Los Angeles County, White and Asian mortgage applicants have higher /lower approval rates than Latino or Black applicants.

higher

True/False Creditworthiness explains racial disparities in mortgage loan denials. 

False- Creditworthiness does NOT explain racial disparities in mortgage loan denials. Comparing only applicants with excellent credit, Black and Latino households are denied twice as often as White or Asian applicants. 

In many big cities, it is legal to build apartments ...

in fewer than half of neighborhoods

Name one way zoning is connected to housing affordability

Zoning is connected to housing affordability because it can be used to block new housing, force housing to be larger and higher cost, and add review and time to permitting

Do you think apartment buildings should be allowed everywhere? Why/why not?

Arguments against might include concerns about congestion, traffic, neighborhood character. Arguments for might include concerns about affordability, density, and climate. 

Homeowners tend to be [blank1] likely to be neighborhood defenders and [blank2] likely to support housing developments

more, less

Briefly, what are neighborhood defenders, according to Einstein et al.?

Neighborhood defenders are motivated (but unrepresentative) residents who use regulatory tools to slow down, alter, or stop the development. They participate in local meetings and provide comments or file lawsuits to impede housing. 

Describe (in one sentence) one way redlining led to racial inequality

Redlining denied residents of Black neighborhoods a chance to get loans and own homes, which would have helped them build wealth

Redlining kept neighborhoods segregated by downgrading neighborhoods where racial mixing occurred - discouraging banks from loaning to members of the non-dominant racial group.

In the Lens reading, we learned about zoning in terms of land-use regulation (Rothstein calls it “economic zoning”). Rothstein writes about about racial zoning or segregation ordinances. How would you compare the two?

Land-use regulations are not explicitly racial in intent

Refer to the attachment that includes excerpts from Home Owners' Loan Corporation Area Descriptions from the 1930s.

The UCLA area was rated “high green” and the USC area was rated “low red.” What factor likely most influenced the difference in these grades?

The USC area included foreign and non-White families

What do people of various racial/ethnic identities say is their "ideal neighborhood" in surveys? 

They tend to describe their ideal neighborhood as containing substantial levels of integration

Housing discrimination like not showing units to Black renters or racial/ethnic steering is related to which of the main explanations for racial segregation? 

The place stratification perspective, which focuses on actors like real estate agents, landlords, or mortgage brokers acting as "residential gatekeepers"

According to the SSSP, how do social networks influence housing searches?

They provide direct and indirect information about housing options and neighborhoods

In the studies we read and learned about this week, what are some components of measuring "neighborhood opportunity"? What do you think is the most important feature? 

Components covered in the lecture that were used to measure neighborhood opportunity include tracking housing outcomes; childhood and adult health outcomes; childhood and adult educational outcomes; and childhood and adult social outcomes.  I think the most important measure is educational outcomes, as access to higher education is similar to higher resource values. When a neighborhood provides the facilities, safety, and resources needed to access quality education, young students grow up to have higher incomes and gain more opportunities for themselves. If a neighborhood fulfills this requirement, it is setting up the children who live there for success in the future.

True/False: Children in lower opportunity neighborhoods have worse educational outcomes

True

In metro areas with opportunity hoarding, children from different racial groups live in BLANK neighborhoods; in metro areas with opportunity sharing, children from different racial groups live in BLANK neighborhoods. 

In metro areas with opportunity hoarding, children from different racial groups live in [different] neighborhoods; in metro areas with opportunity sharing, children from different racial groups live in [similar] neighborhoods. 

Technically we have more housing units than people in LA county so why do we have homelessness?

• There will always be some vacancies because people are moving and their does need to be some slack in the market for you to move

Are ther more single or multi famiily homes nation wide?

Single Family homes 67.5% by a large margin of close to two thirds

Are there more single family or multi family homes in LA?

Single family but its close to 50 50 at 53.9%

Do more people rent or own houses in LA?

Rent 54%

What are some factors to consider when Housing Units fail?

• Multiple Factors To Consider When Housing Fails: Housing Units vs Households, Single Family Housing vs Multifamily housing, Owner vs. Renter.

What Is Housing & Home Ownership For?

#1 Its A Place to Live

• Shelter: basic physical safety from weather and danger

• Symbol: of identity success and belonging as a sign i made it or even the american dream

• Neighborhood: affects their access to school jobs transportation community

#2 It Functions As A Market Commodity:

• A way to build wealth, it is an investment housing is tied to financial well being

Rent Burden

if you spend more than 30% of your income on housing costs

Extreme Rent Burden

if you spend more than 50% of your income on rent

About what fraction of households are rent burdened

• About 1/3rd of Households are rent burdened and it has been rising for the last decade 

Are most homeless sheltered or unsheltered

• Nationally most homeless people are sheltered (about more than half)

• In LA this is not the case, a little less than 10% of the national homeless population is in the LA County about 1/3rd are sheltered and 2/3rd are unsheltered

What is a right to housing? Pros & Cons

• This is being advocated for to address some of our housing problems in the united states

• In The UN they put everyone has the right to adequate standard of living but the US doesn't have that

• If housing was a right it would be taken out of the market, less associated with wealth, more government owner, and potentially solve some of the  housing units

• Others say it is just ethical and a  key to a functional democracy, in order to participate in civic life you need your basic needs met 

What does Rachel G. Bratt argue?

affordable housing should be treated as a fundamental right, not simply as a commodity that people must be able to purchase in the private market.

What does a right to housing mean

Housing is important and a right for everyone and this right must be backed by institutional changes and policies that make the promise real

What are some housing problems?

Housing problems

• Affordability

• Homelessness

• Unit quality

• Inequality in access to housing and neighborhoods

Who is more likely as a renter to live in inadequate housing?

Renters with Lower Incomes and Those of Color

Housing as a right includes:

Security of tenure, Availability of services, Affordability, Habitability, Accessibility, Location, & Cultural Adequacy

1949 U.S. Housing Act

National housing goal

Emphasizes the goal of a decent home and suitable living environment for every American family, connecting housing to public welfare and health.

California ACA 10 (2023)

Explicitly describes adequate housing as a fundamental human right and outlines shared government responsibilities, equity, and progressive realization.

What is the homeowner rate?

2/3rds Nationally

What were the homeownership campaigns?

they advertised homeowners as better citizens saying that through homeownership you can be a better american/citizen (started by a realtor)

Were Federal Homeownership Policies Successful? 

• No because they did not address the issue of poverty and that people cannot afford a home

Home Voter Hypothesis:

• Homeowners are more involved because they are worried about their property values

• Governments are more responsive to homeowners because they are also worried and want the neighborhood to stay positive

What is the difference between home ownership and residential stability?

While homeownership promotes civic engagement resedential stability drives community engagement, socializing and volunteering

How was homeownership a strategy against social problems?

The reasoning was that people who owned homes might feel more invested in their neighborhoods and have a greater stake in maintaining community stability.

What was Jacob Riis How the other half lives?

a photoshoot showing the conditions of low income housing

What was the own your own campaign?

it made buying a home patriotic

What federal policies support homeownership?

• Expanded availability of mortgages

• Reduced costs for (some) homeowners

Has the homeownership rate increased or decrease over time?

decreased

If homeownership helps people build wealth, why have Black and Latino households historically faced greater barriers to becoming homeowners?

Income

In simple terms: Buying a home requires money, and differences in household income can affect who is able to buy one.

Mortgage discrimination

In simple terms: Mortgage discrimination occurs when lenders treat people unfairly because of their race or another protected characteristic when they apply for a home loan.

What is redlining?

Redlining historically involved denying or restricting mortgage lending in neighborhoods based on racial composition, particularly Black neighborhoods.

LA County Report – Miguel & Loya Findings

Black and Latino applicants less likely to be approved for conventional loan, even those with excellent income-to-debt ratio

How do historical discrimination and inheritance perpetuate racial homeownership gaps?

Historic policies (e.g., redlining) blocked many communities of color from homeownership and wealth-building. Less accumulated wealth means less inheritance and fewer resources for future generations to buy homes, perpetuating racial homeownership gaps.

What three factors connect homeownership to racial wealth gaps?

Homeownership rates — who owns homes.

Home value’s share of wealth — how much wealth comes from homes.

Home values — how much those homes are worth.

Zoning?

when a local government divides land into districts and establishes what people can build or do on each piece of land.

1. What was racial zoning?

Racial zoning meant using laws to determine where people could live or buy property based explicitly on race.

Which statement best describes the significance of Buchanan v. Warley (1917)?

A. It outlawed every form of racial discrimination in housing.

B. It ruled that racial zoning ordinances violated the Fourteenth Amendment.

C. It required cities to build public housing in every neighborhood.

D. It established single-family zoning as unconstitutional.

B. It ruled that racial zoning ordinances violated the Fourteenth Amendment.

How can zoning block new housing?

By prohibiting certain housing types or limiting how many units can be built, restricting supply.

How can zoning force housing to be higher cost?

Rules such as large minimum lot sizes and parking mandates increase land or construction costs.

How can permitting reviews affect housing affordability?

Reviews and delays increase financing and administrative costs and may discourage housing projects.

What is the overall connection between restrictive zoning and affordability?

It can limit housing supply, increase development costs, and delay construction, contributing to higher housing costs.

Rodríguez-Pose and Storper:

Argument: Housing prices are driven importantly by the structure of jobs and incomes, not simply by how much housing is built

What is localism according to Manville and Monkkonen (2021)?

The belief that people already in a community have special moral authority.

Who are the neighborhood defenders?

• Men

• White

• Older (>50)

• Homeowners

Those more likely to be opponents of development are

• Homeowners

• Women

• White

• Not Democrats

What are some solutions to zonings negative effects?

• End single-family zoning

• Abolish parking mandates

• Eliminate minimum lot size and floor area

• Allow SROs and manufactured housing

• Regional and national zoning, instead of local

What are ADUs

ADUs add housing units to existing residential properties

What does California SB 79 do?

It allows qualifying transit-oriented housing developments near specified transit stops, with density and height depending on the location and applicable rules.

How do we measure segregation in a neighborhood?

• Exposure: the average neighborhood composition a person from a

particular [race, income] group is “exposed to”

• Evenness: how (un)evenly people are spread across neighborhoods by

[race, income]

Theories of segregation

• Spatial assimilation (economic)

• Preferences

• Place stratification

• Social structural sorting perspective (SSSP)

What is place stratification?

The unequal distribution of resources, opportunities, and advantages across different places or neighborhoods.

What are the two main sources of place stratification on the slide?

Policies and private actions.

Policies

Government rules and regulations under place stratification including zoning and sundown towns

Private Actions

Individual example of place stratification in which people cause racial segregation through restrictive covenants, block-busting, and by racial steering by real estate agents

Restrictive covenants(PS)

Agreements written into property deeds that prohibited homes from being sold or occupied by people of certain racial or ethnic groups.

Block-busting (PS)

A real estate practice in which agents used racial fears to persuade homeowners to sell their properties, often at lower prices, by suggesting that racial integration would reduce property values.

Racial steering (PS)

When real estate agents guide prospective homebuyers toward or away from neighborhoods based on their race.

What is spatial assimilation?

When people come from different racial or ethnic groups they are liekly to have different incomes affecting whether they can get housing

What is spatial assimilation in hispanic neighborhoods look like?

Whites are underrepresented and hispanics are overrepresented

Preferences

some people tend to live in neighborhoods of their own groups

SSSP Social network composition

people are more familiar with neighborhoods of their race, people stay

close to where they grew up

What is zonings affect on racial segragation

Stricter zoning leads to higher racial/ethnic and economic segregation

Consequences of segregation

• Education

• Income

• Health

• Environment

ETC!!!

What is gentrification

When Central urban neighborhoods that have undergone disinvestment and displacement experience a reversal and the immigration of a relatively well off middle class population

Stages of gentrification (Moskowitz)

• Disinvestment

1

• Individuals move into affordable homes (“pioneers”, “Creative

Class”)

2

• Second-wave in-movers

• Speculators buy property

• Displacement begins

3

• Institution-led gentrification (developers, banks)

• Newcomers take neighborhood roles

4

• Neighborhood has gentrified

• Widespread displacement

5

• Neighborhood becomes luxury commodity and place for global

capital

What are the two types of causes for gentrification?

Supply side explanations and demand side explanations

Two ways the federal government encouraged homeownership:

Mortgage assistance and guarantees that made it easier for households to obtain home loans with lower down payments or more favorable terms.

Federal tax benefits for homeowners, such as allowing deductions for mortgage interest

Whjat are the supply side explanations for gentrification?

• City as a growth machine: cities are attractive to investors who seek to invet in a city and make a profit from it

• Rent Gap:

  • A propert may have a value on its own but it may have a greater potential value this gap between its current value and its exchange value is called the rent gap

What are the demand side explanations for gentrification

• affordable housing ( it allows people to move into new areas other than downtown that are more afforadble and less pricey)

• Cultural amenities of life in the city (charming historic walkable and bikeable)

Supply skepticism

A skepticism that more housing does not solve gentrification bc it causes more people to move to an area but most evidence shows that low supply increases housing prices

Direct displacement:

a long time resident who gets kicked out bc you cant afford to live in a gentrified area anymore

Indirect Displacement:

• when rents get higher its removes people who had interest in living in that area or considers living there

Cultural Displacement:

• this place is not for me my ethnicity

Political Displacement:

• new comers come to represent the neighborhood even if they aren't in the majority

Does Gentrification Cause Direct Displacement?

Quantitative research generally concludes no

Low income residents of gentrifying neighborhoods are not more likely to move than residents of non gentrifying neighborhoods

Residents leaving gentrifying neighborhoods do not move to lower SES or further away tracts compared to residents leaving non gentrifying neighborhoods

Qualitative Accounts document some displacement

Indirect Displacement: lower income resident are less likely than higher-income residents to move to gentrifying areas; more likely to move to non gentrifying areas

Cultural displacement

Change in the identiy or character of a neighborhood/ white space making

Gentrification and Race

Black, Latino, and Asian neighborhoods less likely to gentrify than similarly low-income White neighborhoods

Negative impacts of gentrification

Children’s anxiety (Dragan, Ellen, Giled 2019)

• Adult depression among renters, low-income renters, and long-term residents

–no impacts on higher-income, homeowners or recent residents (

Positive impacts of gentrification

Increased home values, reduced crime, racial integration

What is one policy response to gentrification?

Preserving existing affordable housing so lower-income residents are not priced out as neighborhoods change.

How can policys be used to fix gentrification

• Preservation of affordable housing

• Building permanent affordable housing in all areas

• Property tax relief for long-time residents

• Promote community integration