PUBLIC AND SUBSIDIZED HOUSING AS A PLATFORM FOR BECOMING A UNITED STATES CITIZEN*

ABSTRACT Each year, hundreds of thousands of people immigrate to the United States seeking a better way of life, and still hundreds of thousands more become citizens. Some spend time living in public and subsidized housing, sponsored by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and, each year, thousands of these individuals attain citizenship. This paper presents an econometric analysis of the propensity of noncitizens living in HUD‐sponsored housing to naturalize. Providing housing and other forms of public assistance to noncitizens is controversial but the fact of the matter is that, under current rules, many qualify for aid so, facing that fact, an important contribution of this research is to identify the type of program that works best in the context of broader national objectives. The key finding is that the market‐based approach of the housing choice voucher program—and the spatial mobility it facilitates—significantly and substantively contribute to naturalization.     

RESEARCH STRATEGIES FOR EVALUATING THE ADOPTION POTENTIAL OF ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES*

The completely novel nature of some energy technology innovations sometimes makes prospective economic analysis of adoption potential neither desirable nor feasible. Three noneconomic models evaluating adoption potential are examined for technological innovations whose diffusion potential is not yet known. Applications of the general models are suggested with specific references to development of solar total energy systems.     

EXCLUDING THE POOR FROM LOW INCOME HOUSING PROGRAMS: THE ROLES OF STATE AGENCIES AND USAID IN JAMAICA*

This paper investigates why low-income housing agencies in Jamaica do not accomplish their self-imposed progressive mandates to assist large numbers of poor people. To expose what produces gaps between policy and practice, the analysis focuses on how housing programs are organized, both in Jamaica's two largest state agencies and in USAID. The crucial organizational features include the housing agencies' sources of funding, reliance on the private sector, and associated motives and interests. Among the three agencies, a set of inter-related forces block low income access to housing assistance: (1) most of the policy influences of international development agencies such as USAID, (2) the pervasiveness and increased penetration of market logic into low-income housing programs, (3) state agency bureaucratization and careerism, and (4) an elitist neglect of the housing needs of the poor. Prejudices against the poor based on the belief that they do not repay housing loans are not justified by empirical evidence, much less by the fact that the programs were explicitly created to improve their housing conditions.     

A NEOCLASSICAL MODEL OF HOUSING QUALITY GROWTH AN INTERPRETATION*

The paper interprets a neoclassical model of quality growth in relation to housing technology, reinvestment choice, growth of the stock of shelter, growth with and without architectural design progress, and analyses of the golden rule of quality accumulation in the housing sector.     

HOUSING SUBSIDIES AND URBAN HOUSEHOLD BEHAVIOR*

ABSTRACT. This paper examines how housing subsidies affect housing and location demands in a monocentric market, identifying the extent to which policies prompt targeted populations to congregate more or less intensely in the central city. Various subsidies are studied: rents based on ability to pay, lump-sum housing aid, housing vouchers, and subsidies based on percentage of rent. The demand effects are seen to hinge critically upon whether or not subsidies are tied to binding consumption restrictions. Policy impacts are shown to be identical for both CBD employed and locally employed consumers targeted for the housing policies.     

ESTIMATING THE BENEFITS OF PUBLIC-HOUSING PROGRAMS: A CHARACTERISTICS APPROACH*

ABSTRACT. In this paper we specify a Stone-Geary utility function defined on housing attributes and other goods, empirically estimate the derived system of demand equations, and use the structural parameters to evaluate the benefits and consumption effects of a Belgian public rental housing program. By taking the composition of the bundle of housing attributes provided under the program into account, this study improves upon previous research which–with few exceptions–relies on a composite good, housing services.