The current literature on gated communities has a "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" bias to it. The common assumption, in the United States, is that most gated communities were occupied by non-minority and affluent homeowners. It came as a shock to researchers that many gated community residents live in rental units. In fact, Sanchez, Lang, and Dhavale (2005) find that "Contrary to the notion that primarily affluent homeowners lives in gated communities, the results of the AHS survey shows that renters are nearly 2.5 times more likely to live in walled or fenced communities." These renters are also much less affluent and are more likely to be Black or Latino than homeowner gated communities.(More)

This article, based on 3 years of participant, observational, interview, and historical research about the Venice neighborhood, explains how and why neighborhood transformation produces and maintains social exclusion.(More)

This research project will address the effects of new state-level construction wage regulation on the production of affordable housing units. The California state legislature recently passed SB 975, which expands application of state prevailing wage law to a variety of development projects previously not covered, including affordable housing. While a number of studies have examined the impacts of prevailing wage legislation on project costs (particularly the impact of Davis-Bacon on government costs), research on the impacts of these wage requirements on residential construction costs, particularly in regards to affordable housing, is presently lacking. Much of the prevailing wage research has shown that these wages are typically set higher than the average market labor rate, which would indicate an increase in construction cost, keeping all else constant. This research will first estimate the magnitude of the expected change in cost, and then project the impacts of such a change on affordable housing production.(More)