I will fill this research gap by undertaking analytical case studies, focusing on the demographic and market value impacts which have resulted from recent light rail system development in Baltimore, Buffalo, Portland and Toronto. (More)

The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program provides low-income families with a subsidy that pays a portion of the rent of a housing unit that the family chooses from the private housing stock. This dissertation develops a structural model of household consumption decisions over housing, leisure, and non-housing goods that is used to evaluate how the Section 8 program affects the consumption and labor supply decisions of participating families. A major contribution of this work is that it develops a methodology whereby sophisticated models of how social programs affect behavior can be estimated using a combination of administrative and other data. (More)

In the 21st century, with the number of immigrant households predicted to increase to an all-time high in the United States, housing provision, which takes advantage of cultural characteristics of immigrant groups, may provide extremely useful models to overcome social and economic constraints in the housing market. (More)

This study examines the California Redevelopment Housing Set-Aside program, which requires that all redevelopment agencies set aside and use 20 percent of their revenues to build or improve the supply of affordable housing in the city in which the agency is located. While some cities have used their funds appropriately, others have not. This research asks the question: "What explains the variation in city use of housing set-aside funds in Southern California?" (More)

Despite the vast literature on poverty, social scientists have all but ignored the significance of eviction in the lives of the urban poor. Eviction is perhaps the most understudied process affecting the lives of the urban poor today. Yet it is a major cause of residential mobility, material hardship, and homelessness; also, as I document below, it is a common occurrence in inner-city neighborhoods. (More)

This dissertation investigates the markets served and the production of "goods" (for example, rental housing services) by subsidized for-profit and nonprofit developers. Do the sectors work in different neighborhoods; and what characterizes the communities in which they work? And, looking deeper into sector distinctions - Do community-based nonprofit developers employ distinct planning and construction management techniques in their (re)development of projects? And to what extent are these distinctions tied to their community-based orientation or more generally to their nonprofit status? I investigate the provision of subsidized affordable housing funded under New York City's $5.3 billion Ten Year Plan over the period from 1987 to 2000, with a focus on the production of rental housing through the rehabilitation of city-owned properties. (More)

This research aims to specify the relationship of residential space to social and community outcomes such as crime and social interaction via the investigation of the mano dura policies. The study will use a series of quantitative and qualitative methodologies to evaluate the impact of the mano dura interventions on crime and social and community behavior. The study calls into question theories and practices that manage social behavior of housing residents via interventions to their built environment. (More)

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine homeowner associations politically – how these subgovernmental organizations function and how they interact with and impact local public institutions, and socially – what kind of communities homeowner associations create and promote. (More)

People of Latin American origin or descent are the fastest growing and poorest population in the United States. As the second generation of immigrants comes of age, many scholars have expressed concern about the prospects for social mobility of those who are living in poverty. This dissertation research, therefore, focuses on the life experiences and opportunities of first- and second-generation Latin-American immigrant women residing in public housing. (More)

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of race as a factor in the perpetuation of inadequate housing in the United States. (More)