Essay Sample: Homes Are the New Gold

Homes are the new gold

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Renters are the individuals who will be at the center of the crisis of affordable housing in the next generation. The individuals who will be highly impacted are the low-income people of color who will be living in urban areas. People of color living in urban areas have disproportionately been the victims of foreclosure and foreclosure-related evictions in the last decade. This is because they have also been overrepresented household communities among the renters in the last decade. It is also imperative to note that historically, the people of color are also the same populations that have had their communities torn apart and uprooted from their homes- by urban renewals in the post-World War II era and also by federal poverty de-concentrations and gentrifications more recently.

Assumptions in the Think-tank

One of the key assumptions in the think-tank is that there would be an increase in renters. Based on trends of homeownership, the success that had been achieved between 2006 and 2012 was completely wiped off the map after the financial crisis of 2008. The second assumption in this paper is that the majority of the net increase in the number of renters would be people of color in the next generation.

The third assumption is that rents would continue rising as income falls. Rent prices increased by about 4% in 2012 and another 4.6% in 2013. The general expectation in that the rent prices would increase by 4 % per year in the coming few years. At the same time, the real median renter incomes fell over much during this period.

The fourth assumption is that the housing policy would continue to favor private ownership. The housing policy would continue to provide financial relief for owners in the bid to stabilize the home ownership market, and this would be achieved through continuous tax breaks for property tax deductions and mortgage interests.

The report was sponsored by The Right to the city Alliance as part of Homes for All campaign. The Right to the City Alliance is an organization that seeks to create regional and national impacts in human rights, urban land, housing and community development, civil engagement, community development and environmentalists. Home for All is a campaign that seeks to broaden the conversation about the housing crisis beyond instances of foreclosure and to put forth a comprehensive housing agenda that is geared towards speaking issues that affect public housing residents and the growing number of renters. Both primary and secondary data was harnessed in the report.

Recommendations

The recommendations in the report are mostly public and government driven. The report recommends that affordability should be redefined, the supply of affordable rental housing should be expanded and preserved, and address rental speculation.

Redefining affordability

The area median should be replaced with neighborhood median income. The new more fine-grained measures such as the neighborhood median income would offer more accurate measures of affordability in addition to a better inform policy. Although these measures would not eliminate all the distortions in how the measurement of affordability would be measured, it would move color to a more realistic assessment and a new basis for defining housing affordability.

Addressing rental speculation

It is up to the government to desist from encouraging speculators or support them to enter into the rental housing market. Moreover, it is the responsibility of the market to develop a proactive regulation that promotes the common good. The government should also provide funding for research on the impacts of the investor activity on the housing market. Moreover, the government should promote information sharing by the industries involved in the housing market.

The journal articles confirm the major findings in the report. According to Kremer (2010), “the historical identity of a “close-knit neighborhood” of homeowners is currently being challenged.” Most of the homeowners point out that it is the rental housing and the rental households that are increasingly changing neighborhoods. Additionally, the individuals in the renting households are not highly interested in home ownership. Kremer (2010), adds that in a study conducted, of the interested individuals, seven individuals out of ten indicated a financial reason or a past foreclosure as a key reason to why they are not homeowners.

Green (2013), argues that the financial stability of homeowners is the key reason that they have stability. The individuals who have a crisis in owning their own homes thus becoming renters include millennial who have just completed schools and people of color who are not financially stable. The majority of homeowners have infinite leases of homes. This may be explained through their financial stability thus the assurance to remain in a stable environment. Green also notes that residential stability is good for children.in the United States, it is through ownership that parents can assure the stability of their children. With good stability for children, then the production of good outcomes for children can be achieved.

Colten and Maras (1982), note that “home-ownership has become less financially possible for many young families and for an increasing number of single parent household causing a greater demand among families with children for rental housing.” This can be further expounded by the fact that as the demand for housing continues to increase, the landlords of such houses can continually afford to cater for the interest of the persons willing and able to pay certain prices. The people willing and able to pay certain prices are in a particular group, and hence some groups would be excluded. The families with children especially people of color are likely to be the target group for exclusion in the housing market.

In conclusion, renters are the individuals who will be at the center of the crisis of affordable housing in the next generation. The individuals who will be highly impacted are the low-income people of color who will be living in urban areas.it is the families with children especially people of color are likely to be the target group for exclusion in the housing market. The report was sponsored by The Right to the city Alliance as part of Homes for All campaign. The Right to the City Alliance is an organization that seeks to create regional and national impacts in human rights, urban land, housing and community development, civil engagement, community development and environmentalists. The journal articles confirm the major findings in the report. The people of color are also the same populations that have had their communities torn apart and uprooted from their homes- by urban renewals in the post-World War II era and also by federal poverty de-concentrations and gentrifications more recently. The information from the think-tank report is confirmed by the agreements and data in the journals provided.

References

Green, R. (2013). Do Kids of Homeowners Do Better Than Kids of Renters? Cityscape, 15(2), 223-225. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41959123

Kremer, K. (2010). HOMEOWNERS, RENTERS, AND NEIGHBORS: PERCEPTIONS OF IDENTITY IN A CHANGING NEIGHBORHOOD. Michigan Sociological Review, 24, 130-156. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40969156

Colten, M., & Marans, R. (1982). Restrictive Rental Practices and Their Impact on Families. Population Research and Policy Review, 1(1), 43-58. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40229588

The reporting in the reporting is impartial.