Decomposing Housing Unaffordability
A US household is considered ‘rent burdened’ when its rent exceeds 30% of its income. This simple ratio can be decomposed to better understand the sources of unaffordability across space. To demonstrate this new approach, I rewrite the equation for rent burden as a sum of four factors: rent...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences
2021-06-01
|
| Series: | Critical Housing Analysis |
| Online Access: | http://www.housing-critical.com/home-page-1/decomposing-housing-unaffordability |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850276727321788416 |
|---|---|
| author | Salim Furth |
| author_facet | Salim Furth |
| author_sort | Salim Furth |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A US household is considered ‘rent burdened’ when its rent exceeds 30% of its income. This simple ratio can be decomposed to better understand the sources of unaffordability across space. To demonstrate this new approach, I rewrite the equation for rent burden as a sum of four factors: rent gap, income gap, excess size cost, and demographic baseline, and show that US rental unaffordability is mostly the result of low incomes. Focusing on the New England region, however, I show that high rent is the primary cause of unaffordability in high-cost, high-wage metro areas. This decomposition can help affordability advocates prioritise strategies appropriately across space. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9c96008e55a44ecb8e54b08b2ac120ec |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2336-2839 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-06-01 |
| publisher | Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Critical Housing Analysis |
| spelling | doaj-art-9c96008e55a44ecb8e54b08b2ac120ec2025-08-20T01:50:10ZengInstitute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of SciencesCritical Housing Analysis2336-28392021-06-0181627110.13060/23362839.2021.8.1.523Decomposing Housing UnaffordabilitySalim Furth A US household is considered ‘rent burdened’ when its rent exceeds 30% of its income. This simple ratio can be decomposed to better understand the sources of unaffordability across space. To demonstrate this new approach, I rewrite the equation for rent burden as a sum of four factors: rent gap, income gap, excess size cost, and demographic baseline, and show that US rental unaffordability is mostly the result of low incomes. Focusing on the New England region, however, I show that high rent is the primary cause of unaffordability in high-cost, high-wage metro areas. This decomposition can help affordability advocates prioritise strategies appropriately across space.http://www.housing-critical.com/home-page-1/decomposing-housing-unaffordability |
| spellingShingle | Salim Furth Decomposing Housing Unaffordability Critical Housing Analysis |
| title | Decomposing Housing Unaffordability |
| title_full | Decomposing Housing Unaffordability |
| title_fullStr | Decomposing Housing Unaffordability |
| title_full_unstemmed | Decomposing Housing Unaffordability |
| title_short | Decomposing Housing Unaffordability |
| title_sort | decomposing housing unaffordability |
| url | http://www.housing-critical.com/home-page-1/decomposing-housing-unaffordability |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT salimfurth decomposinghousingunaffordability |