Sustainable housing applications and policies for low-income self-build and housing rehab

Recent years have seen an increased focus on the role of house construction and retrofitting within the broader agenda of sustainable development and climate change. To date this focus has largely targeted middle- and upper-income residential neighborhoods in urban areas. However, in the United States, and in middle developing countries such as Brazil and Mexico, there is growing recognition that urban sustainability will only gain traction if widespread applications are also incorporated into self-help and do-it-yourself housing construction and home improvements, especially those that address lower-income housing markets. Here we explore some of the potential ways in which contemporary sustainable housing applications may be integrated into the existing housing stock in low-income and informal settlements in the United States and in Latin America. We document the range of sustainable housing applications that are increasingly available in the U.S. as a baseline for discussion and evaluation of the potential application to lower-income segments of the housing market in both developed and developing countries. A heuristic model is presented to assess the extent to which policy makers, NGOs and low-income owner households may realistically participate in sustainable home building. Beyond physical development applications we close by emphasizing that sustainable housing agendas must adopt a holistic approach: one that embraces community and social organizational development, as well as fiscal and juridical policy dimensions.     

Movement patterns and the medium-sized city. Tenants on the move in Gweru,Zimbabwe

During 1965-79, urban growth rates accelerated and continued after Zimbabwe's independence in 1980. For 1960-80, the estimated urban growth rate was 5.6% as compared with the natural growth rate of 3.5% and urban growth rate of 5.0% to 8.1% for the period 1982-92. Gweru, Zimbabwe, had a population of 110,000 in 1990, and as the provincial capital it is an important destination for rural and interurban migrants. Between 1982 and 1990 there was a 4.9% growth rate, resulting in the municipal waiting list for housing to exceed 14,000 in mid-1990. In a large study on migration and rental shelter, 188 tenants were interviewed in high, low-medium density, and periurban areas of the city with the intent of tracing respondents and the nature of migration streams. Regarding origins and connections, only one-fifth of the migrants were born in Gweru, more than half were born in rural areas, and the rest in other urban areas. More than 90% still had rural homes. Two-thirds made rural home visits six times or less a year and one-fourth visited seven times a year to once a month. 40% of the migrants to Gweru originated in larger cities, 24% in smaller urban areas, and 36% in rural areas. 58% moved to high density areas, 34% to low-medium, and 8% to peri-urban areas. The dominant motive was the search for employment and direct transfers, thus economic factors dominated over social factors. Three groups were distinguished according to length of stay: 1) 5 years or less who lived mainly in high and low-medium density housing; 2) 6-15 years; and 3) more than 15 years who lived in low density and high density areas. Regarding the previous two migrations, two-thirds stayed at the previous place for 5 years of less. The reasons for migration were overcrowding, family, and employment. Within Gweru high mobility was typical: one-third initiated one step, 43% initiated two steps, and 27% initiated three steps. Lodgers were the most mobile since one-third were moving three times.     

Residential Mobility Among the Rural Poor1

Abstract This article explores frequent, short-distance residential movement, an underrecognized and little studied aspect of rural poverty. In recent field research in high-poverty communities of upstate New York, residential movement was studied through institutional records and staff interviews as well as unstructured interviews and residential histories in low-income families. Overall, residential mobility is driven by the shortfall between household income and housing costs, and by changes in personal situations and partnering relationships. Higher frequency movement is associated with younger age, fewer children, and weaker social support networks but most moves were not job-related. Utilizing an abbreviated version of the same methodology, scoping research was conducted in high-poverty areas of nine other states; some differences and also some similarities span diverse regional, economic, and ethnic settings. For developing policy and programs to reduce mobility and minimize its negative consequences, more research on this phenomenon is needed.     

A multi-scalar critical analysis of return migration policies in Mexico

Services and resources for migrants returning to Mexico are necessary to ease their transition and “re-integration” into home communities. Policies that do not have a holistic approach can result in serious implications for the social, political, cultural, and health of returnees, receiving families, and communities. This research critically analyses return migration policies in Mexico drawing from the intersectionality-based policy analysis framework and a multi-scalar approach to critically study return migration policies in Mexico. We analysed 20 return migration policies using the principles of the intersectionality-based policy analysis framework. In 2021, we interviewed those impacted by return migration policies in Veracruz, Mexico to gain deeper insights into return migration policies. Women who stayed behind, return migrants, community leaders, and health-care providers were interviewed via phone or face-to-face in Spanish. Information was transcribed verbatim and analysed with the aid of computer-assisted data analysis software and quotes were translated into English. They shed light on two major inequities in policies: (1) the lack of acknowledgement of diversity or return migrants and (2) the exclusion of receiving families and communities from the “re-integration” process of return migrants. Based on the multi-scalar critical policy analysis, return migration policies in Mexico would benefit from a more comprehensive and inclusive approach where the needs of return migrants and community members are protected based on their diversity.     

Differential Recovery Migration across the Rural–Urban Gradient: Minimal and Short-Term Population Gains for Rural Disaster-Affected Gulf Coast Counties

Places affected or threatened by extreme environmental disturbances confront a number of significant issues, including whether their populations will stay the same or change through migration. Research on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita shows some displaced residents returned to their disaster-affected communities once the built environment was restored, new migrants settled in affected places as part of the rebuilding effort, and the regional migration system grew more urbanized and spatially concentrated during post-disaster years. Research also shows that not all disaster-affected places recovered their populations. Our study examines whether differential recovery is systematically patterned along the rural–urban gradient. Using U.S. Census Bureau estimates and IRS county-to-county migration data, we investigate whether the 2005 hurricane season differentially exacerbated or altered previous migration trends across a rural–urban gradient that incorporates proximity to metropolitan areas and disaster-related housing loss. We find a rural–urban differential in Gulf Coast recovery migration: The disaster boosted migration among non-metropolitan counties, yet these increases were smaller and short-lived compared to the patterns found for metropolitan counties, most especially high loss metropolitan counties. Our findings encourage theories of environmental migration to incorporate spatial differentiation and scenarios of environmental changes to account for differential impacts on settlement patterns across the rural–urban continuum.     

Migrant adjustment in Seoul,Korea: employment and housing

To examine the role of the migrants in the job and housing markets, a sample survey of 1000 households in Seoul, Korea was conducted. For each sample household chosen, in an area probability sample based on the city registration lists, 1 household member, aged 15-45, was interviewed about employment, housing, migration and family histories, and the social and psychological adjustment in Seoul City of the respondent and his family members. Interveiws were completed for 978 cases in 2 rounds in 1974-75. An important feature of the sample was the inclusion of the control group of lifetime urban residents who were used as the standard by which migrants' adjustment was examined. This group comprised 27% of the sample. Additionally, the migrant group was subdivided according to length of residence in Seoul City. Those who resided there for fewer than 5 years were classified as recent migrants and comprised 20% of the sample. Longterm migrants, those with residence greater than 5 years, comprised 53% of the sample. Recent migrants were concentrated in the blue collar occupations, but there was virtually no difference between the occupational distributions of longterm migrants and lifetime urban residents. Lifetime urban residents showed higher unemployment rates and higher educational enrollment rates than either the recent or longterm migrants groups. There was a 10% differential favoring employment in modern industries (secondary and tertiary) among the lifetime urban residents; fewer than 40% of the recent migrants fell into the modern categories compared to 44% for longterm migrants, and over 50% for lifetime urban residents. Lifetime urban residents were significantly less likely to be employed in traditional service occupations than were recent migrants. Longer term migrants were intermediate for the tertiary traditional sector, but they were significantly less likely to be employed in the manufacturing or secondary sector, especially the modern secondary sector, possibly reflecting the job market upon their arrival in Seoul. Younger respondents were concentrated in blue collar occupations, but for those 25 years old and older more than half were employed in white collar occupations. The quality of dwellings for migrants and natives was measured in 3 areas: housing quality; neighborhood quality, and tenure status. To a certain extent migrants were in lower quality housing compared to urban natives, but this appeared to be due not to recency of migration itself but to other characteristics of the migrants. The relative position of recent, versus longterm migrants, was opposite to the expected pattern. The quality of the neighborhood of residence differed somewhat more for migrants and nonmigrants. The relative positions were as hypothesized: neighborhood quality increased with duration of residence. The range of differences was narrowed considerably when the effects of age, education, and income were removed. Owning or not owning one's house seemed related much more closely to the formation of attachments in the urban area, that is, commitment. Migrants through time do come to approximate the economic and housing patterns of lifetime urban residents.     

Sundown Town to “Little Mexico”: Old‐timers and Newcomers in an American Small Town*

Abstract For more than a century, communities across the United States legally employed strategies to create and maintain racial divides. One particularly widespread and effective practice was that of “sundown towns,” which signaled to African Americans and others that they were not welcome within the city limits after dark. Though nearly 1,000 small towns, larger communities, and suburbs across the country may have engaged in these practices, until recently there has been little scholarship on the topic. Drawing from qualitative and quantitative sources, this article presents a case study of a midwestern rural community with a sundown history. Since 1990 large numbers of Mexican migrants have arrived there to work at the local meat‐processing plant, earning the town the nickname “Little Mexico.” The study identifies a substantial decline in Hispanic‐white residential segregation in the community between 1990 and 2000. We consider possible explanations for the increased spatial integration of Latino and white residents, including local housing characteristics and the weak enforcement of preexisting housing policies. We also describe the racialized history of this former sundown town and whether, paradoxically, its history of excluding nonwhites may have played a role in the spatial configurations of Latinos and non‐Hispanic whites in 2000. Scholars investigating the contemporary processes of Latino population growth in “new” destinations, both in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas, may want to explore the importance of sociohistorical considerations, particularly localities' racialized historical contexts before the arrival of Mexican and other Latino immigrants.     

Migration,urbanization, and fertility in the Philippines

3 groups of women are compared in this study of the effect of migration on fertility in a less developed country: 1) rural sedentary; 2) rural to rural migrants; and 3) rural to urban migrants. The data are from a 1970 household interview study conducted by the Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado in Magsayay and Matanao, Davao Province, Mindanao, the Philippines. Social, economic, and mortality data were gathered from the household head and/or spouse for each household member and each child living elsewhere. Reproductive histories were obtained only from women for all women 15 years of age and older living in the 2 rural communities and living elsewhere. Age specific fertility rates and child woman ratios showed a declining gradient of fertility with social distance from the rural home communities. Age at marriage and education were positively associated with distance from the home communities and negatively associated with fertility. The data provide support for the hypothesis that recent migration is innovative, engaged in by more modernized persons who are motivated by aspiration to new goals, thus migration has a negative effect on fertility. Urbanization had its major impact after peak fertility years, 20-29, influencing urban migrants to bring their fertility under voluntary control. No such curtailment appeared in the late reproductive behavior of rural sedentary or migrant women. Urbanization seems to have a negative effect on fertility independent of migration. Young migrant women, in their teens, particularly those migrating to urban areas, did not fit the social mobility model; they tended to complete fewer years of school and married at an earlier age. These young urban migrants also had higher fertility than both rural sedentary and rural migrant females while in their teen years.     

Spatial Redistribution of Poverty through Migration of Poor People to Depressed Rural Communities1

Recent demographic studies document movement of poor people from both urban and rural places to depressed rural communities. Such migration redistributes poverty to rural areas and further concentrates it within them. This article presents a case study of one depressed community in New York that became a migration destination for urban poor people, causing dramatic increases in poverty rate, welfare rolls, and service needs. On-site research showed that the community's attraction was inexpensive rental housing that had become available after loss of manufacturing jobs prompted a middle-class exodus. The lack of jobs was not a deterrent for low-income inmigrants, though, because many of them had limited job skills and other employment barriers and would have had difficulty getting or holding a job anyway. Similar processes of economic decline, population loss, and poverty inmigration appear to be occurring elsewhere also. The article identifies community-level impacts and policy implications; it concludes with suggestions for further research needs.     

Lay discourses of the rural and stated and revealed preferences for rural living. Some evidence of the existence of a rural idyll in the Netherlands

Dutch rural areas have changed into a post-modern countryside and have become marketable commodities. The demand for rural space and rural amenities has increased, with concomitant tensions on the rural housing market, tensions which are enhanced by the restrictive spatial policy in Dutch rural areas. The demand for rural residential environments appears to be large. This paper reports the results of our research into the preferences of urban households for living in a rural residential environment. These preferences will be linked with images and representations of the countryside. It is assumed that individual images of the countryside (whether idyllic or not) affect residential preferences and these preferences have, in turn, their effect on migration behaviour. Empirical evidence suggests that perceptions, preferences and behaviour pertaining to rural residential environments are indeed interrelated. The Dutch countryside commands a very positive image and the demand for residential environments with rural characteristics is considerable. Consequently, a rural idyll can be identified in The Netherlands.     

Social housing estates and sustainable community development in South Korea

The purpose of this paper is to examine the characteristics and problems of social housing estates in South Korea, and to explore sustainable community development issues. In order to examine the social housing situation, a survey of the three social housing communities in Seoul was conducted. The survey evidence demonstrates that there is a growing stigma against the poor and social exclusion. This kind of social bias is likely to escalate the construction of social housing estates, which the poor concentrates in. Residents recognized that mixing public and private housing would be an issue and problematic. Public housing was thought to have a negative impact on the neighborhood. It is important to examine why these kinds of social problems arise. Applying the concept of social sustainability to low-income communities in urban Korea requires mobilizing residents and their governments to strengthen all forms of community capital.     

Leaving Chicago for Iowa's "Fields of Opportunity": Community Dispossession, Rootlessness, and the Quest for Somewhere to "Be OK"

In recent years, urban development and public housing demolition have posed challenges to the social and geographic rootedness of low-income African Americans in urban areas. In particular, in Chicago, widespread public housing demolition, occurring in the context of rapid gentrification, has contributed to increasing shortages of affordable low-income housing. This study uses in-depth interviews and participant observation to examine the migration experiences of men and women who have left urban neighborhoods and public housing developments in Chicago searching for affordable housing and economic opportunity in eastern Iowa. This particular analysis focuses on experiences of social and geographic "rootlessness" that emerged as a major theme in these interviews. Participants describe community dispossession in Chicago that has threatened not only the ties between individuals and their social support networks, but also connections and claims to the places in which these ties are rooted. Narratives that describe leaving Chicago in this context and then trying to get by as a stigmatized outsider in "someone else's city" speak to a process of dislocation that may disrupt critical social-support resources that are known to mitigate the consequences of structural disadvantage.     

Limits and challenges for the participation of migrants' associations in state development policies in Morocco and Mexico

In many developing countries, migrants play an important role by supporting their local communities in their places of origin. An extensive literature has made visible their contribution to local development, thus revealing their involvement in the provision of social services or the construction of infrastructures. In this paper we illustrate the extent and scope of this task and the types of actions that migrants have started up in different countries of the world in general, and the cases of Morocco and Mexico in particular, to examine the achievements and limitations of both states' policies and migrants' associations in regard to their involvement in local development initiatives.     

Migration,employment and the urban labour market: a study in the Indian Punjab

"Fears are often expressed that migration to the towns is a cause of surplus labour, increased unemployment, and the general decline in the quality of life in urban areas. In a detailed study of the interaction between migration and the urban labour market in an Indian city, the authors investigate these questions and show how the migrants fare as compared with the urban natives. They find no evidence that migrants are confined to marginal employment or contribute disproportionately to urban underemployment. Policy-makers are cautioned against adopting measures to curb migration, which is part of the process of economic growth and social advance, without first making a detailed assessment of its effects."     

Exotic plant invasions in forested wetlands: effects of adjacent urban land use type

There are a variety of land use types in urbanized areas that may have different effects on the ecological characteristics of patches of natural vegetation. In particular, residential housing and industrial land-use may have different effects on adjacent forest communities. We tested this hypothesis by examining the vegetation of forested wetlands in a densely urban region, northeastern New Jersey. Wetlands embedded in industrial areas were much less invaded by exotic plant species than were wetlands embedded in residential areas, as reflected in the number of exotic species, the fraction of the total flora that was exotic, and their frequencies of occurrence. Few other structural characteristics of the vegetation differed between the two types of urban areas. We suggest that the management of land adjacent to forest edges may explain this surprising result. The low rate of invasion of wetlands within industrial areas suggests they could have high conservation value in urban ecosystems.     

Problems in providing low-income urban housing in Bangladesh

Bangladesh, which is one of the poorest countries in the world, is faced with a critical housing crisis of long standing. It has been estimated that as many as three-quarters of the urban population are unable to contribute anything toward their housing due to their low incomes. The government, because of its lack of resources, does not control the finance to even begin to solve this problem. To complicate matters, the rural-to-urban migration process has only just begun and at present, only about 18% of the nation's population live in urban areas.Since Independence in 1971, the Government of Bangladesh has explored a number of different methods of solving these urban housing problems. Among the approaches considered have been resettlement projects for urban squatters, infilling within suburban residential areas and up-grading in established parts of the capital city Dhaka. The major problem encountered with such proposals has been a financial one. Although the economic returns of such projects are very high in discounted terms, it has been difficult to make proposals which are financially feasible.This paper examines this situation and reaches certain conclusions which must be acknowledged before real progress on Bangladesh's housing problems can be made.     

Low-Income Homeownership Policy as a Community Development Strategy

Summary

Homeownership for the poor increasingly is on the political agenda in the United States. This is due largely to the assumptions made by policy makers and citizens about the benefits of homeownership. Despite this emphasis in recent administrations, little theoretical literature has been developed that specifies the impact of homeownership on community development. This essay reviews relevant theoretical and empirical literature and suggests that homeownership affects communities through the promotion of increased wealth accumulation, improved property upkeep, decreased residential mobility, and increased community participation. This article addresses the special needs of poor communities and households, and the implications for low-income housing policy. Overall it is suggested that community economic development and low-income homeownership be pursued in tandem.     

Economic integration and labor flows: stage migration in farm labor markets in Mexico and the United States

"This article examines the probable effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on migration from Mexico to the United States, disputing the view that expansion of jobs in Mexico could rapidly reduce undocumented migration. To the extent that NAFTA causes Mexican export agriculture to expand, migration to the United States will increase rather than decrease in the short run. Data collected in both California and the Mexican State of Baja California show that indigenous migrants from southern Mexico typically first undertake internal migration, which lowers the costs and risks of U.S. migration. Two features of employment in export agriculture were found to be specially significant in lowering the costs of U.S. migration: first, working in export agriculture exposes migrants to more diverse social networks and information about U.S. migration; second, agro-export employment in northern Mexico provides stable employment, albeit low-wage employment, for some members of the family close to the border (especially women and children) while allowing other members of the family to assume the risks of U.S. migration."