Housing regulation and bubbles

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the challenges hindering the adoption of diverse housing models for household access to housing in Nairobi County, Kenya. Utilizing the Public Interest Economic Regulation Theory (PIERT), the Q Theory of Housing Investment, and the Theory of Distributive Justice, the research explores the interplay between government regulations, market forces, and social equity in the context of affordable housing.
 Methodology: Employing a descriptive research design, the study investigates the impact of housing regulations on housing access through mortgage and cooperative models. The research sample comprises 385 households, CEOs of housing financing organizations, and government officers. By analyzing the usage prevalence of housing models, the study delves into challenges such as high-interest rates, limited mortgage financing access, and insufficient awareness about housing options. The research employs a nuanced approach, considering the competitive dynamics within the housing sector and the need for equitable resource distribution.
 Findings: The study reveals that the mortgage model is most prevalent (41.4%), followed by the incremental model (28.0%) and cooperative model (23.7%). High-interest rates, restricted mortgage financing access, and inadequate awareness about housing options emerge as significant challenges hampering housing model adoption. Additionally, housing regulations, vital for safety, impact affordability, with 39.2% of respondents acknowledging this influence. 
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: This study contributes valuable insights to the existing body of knowledge by synthesizing the PIER, Q Theory of Housing Investment, and Theory of Distributive Justice. The study therefore validates these theories by offering a comprehensive understanding of the intricate interplay between regulations, market dynamics, and social equity in the adoption of affordable housing models. The recommendations, including lowering mortgage interest rates, enhancing financing access, promoting awareness about housing models, and fostering collaborative efforts among stakeholders, provide actionable strategies for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers to improve housing access in Nairobi County.

This chapter focuses on housing regulation in Scotland. Regulation, in the form of limitations on what may be done by property owners, has a long history in relation to property. The old limitations were principally restrictive and did not require property owners to do anything other than abstain from unlawful action. Modern forms of regulation now require owners and landlords to play an active role in meeting certain standards and tests. The chapter first considers the common law basis of tenancy before turning to relevant provisions of the Anti-social Behaviour etc (Scotland) Act 2004 concerning the registration of private landlords on a register of approved landlords as well as exemptions from this requirement; criteria for a ‘fit and proper person’; criminal offences; antisocial behaviour notices; rent income suspension; and management control order. It then examines the regulation of social renting, with particular emphasis on performance assessment of social landlords and the Scottish Social Housing Charter.

Education Programmes for Home Buyers and Tenants

Income inequality in America has been on the rise for decades, but policy and legal thought has yet to catch up. Both parties in the United States have been hesitant to intervene in the market to address this problem, while the income tax system has been touted as a better and more efficient way to tackle income inequality. However, the tax system itself has failed to keep pace with the widening gaps in income. Ending Income Inequality challenges arguments made by legal scholars in the field of law and economics, who have supported the tax system over redistributive legal rules. By examining specific areas of the law such as minimum wage, collective bargaining, antitrust law, intellectual property, and housing regulation, the book argues that using legal rules, in addition to income taxes, is a promising path to reverse rising inequality.

How does housing wealth affect household consumption? Evidence from macro-data with special implications for China

Achieving the Basic Sustainable Qualities in New Housing in Post-socialist Serbia: Regulation vs. Case-studies

Problem, research strategy, and findings: There has been a dramatic resurgence of bed bug infestations in the United States since the early 2000s. Bed bugs pose significant public health and economic concerns, but cities have been hampered in their response by the ambiguity of current public health and housing regulations toward bed bugs. In this study, I analyze municipal ordinances for more than 8,000 local governments, describe the responses of cities to the bed bug crisis, and examine the different approaches that cities have taken and the political–ecological processes underpinning these varying approaches. Few municipalities have addressed bed bugs in their codes. Most cities that have addressed bed bugs have sought to clarify that bed bugs are to be treated like other pests but, rather than crafting policies specific to bed bugs, have relied on existing code enforcement procedures. Only a handful of U.S. cities have taken a comprehensive approach to addressing the bed bug epidemic. Interests representing apartment owners have pushed back strongly against municipal and state action, complicating the response. It is still too early, and monitoring data are insufficient, to conclusively evaluate the success of municipal ordinances, but I describe potentially successful approaches based on considerations of public health response to infectious disease. Takeaway for practice: Because human dwellings are the habitat of bed bugs, infestations are intimately tied to issues of housing affordability, insecurity and quality, eviction, and mobility. Cities should consider passing ordinances that specifically recognize bed bugs in the sections of their code that address public health, property maintenance, and landlord–tenant rights and responsibilities. Ordinances should be tailored to the specific challenges in addressing bed bug infestations and should include provisions for tenant protection, enforcement, and monitoring.

This paper presents the results from a study of the housing needs of disabled people in Shropshire. The study involved interviews with disabled people, representatives of a county-wide disabled people's organization, and staff from social services, housing and health agencies. A questionnaire was sent to a sample of disabled people in the county, and quantitative data were examined. The study highlighted: the high level of unmet housing need amongst disabled people, in relation to both adaptations and more appropriate housing; the need for more involvement by disabled people in the planning and provision of services; the need for greater flexibility within the housing regulations, so that services are more responsive to people's individual needs; and the inadequacy of the resources currently available to meet those needs.

In building construction, the use of heavy equipment is essential for excavation work.Using an excavator for excavation volume is very effective and efficient, but the productivity of the equipment must be calculated to ensure optimal performance.Therefore, calculating the productivity of the excavator is necessary.The objective is to determine the effective and efficient productivity time of the excavator that matches the actual field conditions.This research method involves discussing the productivity of the Caterpillar 320 excavator using field observation and calculations based on the formula from the Minister of Public Works and Housing Regulation No. 8 of 2023.The research results show that the productivity of the Caterpillar 320 excavator is 126.7 m/hour, which allows the excavation work to be completed in 335 hours.

Krueng Baro Irrigation Area is one of the irrigation areas which is focused on increasing food crop productivity in Pidie District. To support the existence of the irrigation, of course, it must be supported by a well-organized irrigation system, so an effective irrigation network management system is needed through the O and M program. O and M activities require a truly real value or cost figure which is the result of the search for irrigation networks known as the real operation and maintenance demand value. The physical condition of the Krueng Baro Irrigation Network if viewed from the results of the irrigation network inventory still has many obstacles that hamper the fulfillment of rice water needs, including physical damage to buildings and irrigation channels. The evaluation of irrigation network performance is the first step in the preparation of the real operation and maintenance demand value, the rate of performance of the Krueng Baro Irrigation Area network is 68.06% (BWSSI, 2017) which falls into the less category and needs attention. This study aims to identify Irrigation Network O and M activities and the real operation and maintenance demand value Krueng Baro irrigation. The research method is in the form of observations / field observations and documentation to obtain the existing conditions of irrigation networks which subsequently identify O and M plans and preparation of the real operation and maintenance demand value. After the preparation of the real operation and maintenance demand value was obtained the output of the value of the real cost requirement in carrying out routine operations was only 0.53% (IDR 529,180,000.00), Routine Maintenance 6.52% (IDR 6,510,464,300.00), while for Periodic Maintenance is very large, namely 92.95% (IDR. 92,764,196,192.00) compared to the overall total cost (IDR. 99,803,840,492.00). In order to achieve the full O and M Plan and the real operation and maintenance demand value Krueng Baro Irrigation Network due to the limited budgetary budget so is divided into a 5-year priority program plan reference to Minister of Public Works and Housing Regulation No. 12 / PRT / M / 2015 with the first year priority carried out on the main building which greatly influences performance and function of the irrigation system such as turnover of intake doors, olak ponds and upstream weir sediment excavation and some buildings and channels that have been destroyed and not functioning on the carrier channel.

In this essay, we review the basic economics of housing supply and the functioning of US housing markets to better understand the distribution of home prices, household wealth, and the spatial distribution of people across markets. We employ a cost-based approach to gauge whether a housing market is delivering appropriately priced units. Specifically, we investigate whether market prices (roughly) equal the costs of producing the housing unit. If so, the market is well-functioning in the sense that it efficiently delivers housing units at their production cost. The gap between price and production cost can be understood as a regulatory tax. The available evidence suggests, but does not definitively prove, that the implicit tax on development created by housing regulations is higher in many areas than any reasonable negative externalities associated with new construction. We discuss two main effects of developments in housing prices: on patterns of household wealth and on the incentives for relocation to high-wage, high-productivity areas. Finally, we turn to policy implications.

Aiming to offer persons with disabilities more opportunities to live independently and more inclusive, the Flemish government radically revised its subsidies for care and care infrastructure for persons with disabilities. Since 2016, subsidies for care are no longer allocated to care providers, but directly to the person with disabilities. In 2018, brick-and-mortar subsidies for care infrastructure were replaced with subject-specific investment subsidies. In this oral paper, we present the results of a study carried out in 2019 aiming to evaluate the impact of this more demand-driven subsidisation on the housing situation of persons with a disability. The evaluation was carried out by academic researchers, but set up in co-design with the Housing Agency Flanders, the Flemish Department responsible for care, care organisations, social housing providers, municipalities and organisations supporting persons with a disability. Persons with a disability receiving a care budget were invited to respond to a survey about their living conditions and how these changed after receiving the care budget. Another survey was send to care organisations and social housing providers and contained questions on the impact of the policy change on their investment decisions. After analysing the data, discussions with stakeholders were held to deepen the understanding of the results. Persons with disabilities reported in their answers to the survey changes in housing choices, housing quality and housing costs and linked these to the policy changes. Housing and care providers reported how their investment strategies were affected. The results of the study reveal how even after a few years the effects of a more demand driven subsidization are visible. Moreover, the study provides an example of how policy outcomes in one policy field (housing) can be affected by policy initiatives in another policy field (care). As such, the study stresses the need for more transversal research in studying housing policy outcomes and the need for an integrated policy approach. The presentation of the study will be followed by a presentation of one of the initiatives of the Housing Agency Flanders aiming at a better integration of these two distinct policy fields. The Agency is currently the driver of diverse incentives and experimental innovations for a more sustainable housing policy and initiatives. The Agency launched a call in 2017 for the development of experimental and innovative housing forms, focusing on building ‘common housing’ or ‘leasehold’ models. For a period of 6 years, 28 initiatives can develop an innovative practice exempt from housing regulation. In several initiatives, the aspect of care is intrinsically related to the experiment and innovation. We will present initiatives that provide an inclusive co-housing solution for people who need intensive and long-term care. Goal is to develop new housing initiatives, detect difficulties and gaps in legislation and explore possibilities to enroll these practices in Flanders.

Domestic violence has risen up the political agenda, as women's action has inspired changes in police, social work and legal practice. At the same time, one of the oldest pieces of legislation that protected women from violence - the Homeless Persons Act of 1977 - has been transmuted into the Housing Act of 1996. This legislation was introduced by a Conservative government, which was anxious to reduce the rights of homeless people to secure permanent accommodation, on the grounds that these rights gave incentives to pregnancy, lone parenthood and economic migrants. New Labour have softened the Housing Act to give more scope to local authorities to respond to homelessness. This article asks: What are the implications of changing homelessness rights under this legislation and subsequent regulations for women's ability to escape violent relationships and find long term solutions to the housing needs which domestic violence creates? How new is New Labour policy as expressed in housing regulations and its policy Green Paper?

Urban economics and branches of mainstream economics – what we call the ‘housing as opportunity’ school of thought – have been arguing that shortages of affordable housing in dense agglomerations represent a fundamental barrier to economic development. Housing shortages are considered to limit migration into thriving cities, curtailing their expansion potential, generating rising social and spatial inequalities and inhibiting national growth. According to this dominant view, relaxing zoning and other planning regulations in the most prosperous cities is crucial to unleash the economic potential of cities and nations and to facilitate within-country migration. In this article, we contend that the bulk of the claims of the housing as opportunity approach are fundamentally flawed and lead to simplistic and misguided policy recommendations. We posit that there is no clear and uncontroversial evidence that housing regulation is a principal source of differences in home availability or prices across cities. Blanket changes in zoning are unlikely to increase domestic migration or to improve affordability for lower-income households in prosperous areas. They would, however, increase gentrification within metropolitan areas and would not appreciably decrease income inequality. In contrast to the housing models, we argue that the basic motors of all these features of the economy are the current geography of employment, wages and skills.

The German voting advice application “Wahl-Kompass” allows the positioning of political parties in a political landscape with the two dimensions “conservative-traditional versus progressive ecological” and “redistribution versus personal responsibility” . Political parties are positioned based on party self-positioning and an analysis of the party manifestos . Around 500,000 citizens used Wahl-Kompass, and around 15,000 participated in an additional voluntary survey . The analysis showed that in the policy areas of income taxation, housing regulations, and stricter climate change regulation, which were polarizing among the parties, party responsiveness (consensus between voters and party position) was relatively high among all parties . Reforms for a unitary pension system and unitary health insurance are supported by a majority of voters of all parties . CDU/CSU and FDP party leaders, however, reject these proposals .