Housing
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Behind NYC’s Tightening Restrictions on Airbnb and Short-Term Rentals
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On September 5th, 2023, New York City implemented a municipal policy mandating that all hosts offering rentals for less than 30 days register with the city. The policy, known as Local Law 18, or the Short-Term Rental Registration Law, reinforces existing laws that prohibit individuals from renting out their residences…
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Decarbonize Housing: Centering Equity While Phasing Out Natural Gas
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As federal climate action falters, America’s mayors have a new plan to stop global warming: ban the use of natural gas in homes. While roughly 58% of American households use gas-powered stoves or heaters, research suggests that doing so is bad for our health and the environment. In use, gas stoves release nitrogen oxide, a…
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Does Homeownership Make Workers More Resilient After Economic Shocks?
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During the Great Recession, workers around the globe unexpectedly lost their jobs due to large-scale layoffs and firm bankruptcies. The factors that led to their loss of employment were often unrelated to the individual. However, what happened afterward — whether they found new employment, what wage they accepted if they…
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Housing and Opportunity: Impacts of Chicago’s Public Housing Demolition
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Chicago’s history of low-income housing policy is complex. The Chicago Housing Authority used to manage 17 large housing projects for low-income residents, but during the 1990s, due to high crime, poverty, drug use, and corruption and mismanagement in the projects, plans were made to demolish them. By 2011, all of…
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Does Rent Control Work? Evidence from San Francisco
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Housing affordability has become a hot-button issue in many communities in the United States, particularly in urban neighborhoods, due to rapidly rising rents. In response, some housing activists have advocated for imposing rent control policies in order to protect community members from financial hardship and displacement. For example, in November…
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The New Housing Discrimination: Realtor Minority Steering
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2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act—an important victory for activists in the Civil Rights era—but this historic legislation did not eradicate discrimination in the housing market. Evidence shows that real estate agents today still steer buyers into same-race neighborhoods—a phenomenon where realtors show only selected neighborhoods…
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The Hidden Relationship Between Housing, Migration, and Inequality
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In the November issue of the Journal of Urban Economics, Peter Ganong of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy and Daniel Shoag of the Harvard Kennedy School investigate a troubling question: “Why has regional income convergence in the U.S. declined?” In economics, convergence—or the “catch-up effect”—is the hypothesis that per…
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Enduring Damage: The Effects of Childhood Poverty on Adult Health
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This piece, first published on November 27, 2013, is being republished as part of the Chicago Policy Review‘s 20th Anniversary Series. Please visit us here to learn more about the series from our Executive Editors. Many of the costs of poverty are self-evident. Lack of reliable access to basic needs such as food, housing, and medicine…
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Demolition, Displacement, and the Effect on Children in Chicago Public Housing
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Housing is the foundation of a family’s life. This basic need determines the surrounding environment, the schools children attend, access to amenities, and even economic opportunities. Due to the essential service that housing provides, the US federal government spends about $50 billion annually on housing assistance for low-income families. However,…
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All Growth Is Local: Housing Supply and the Economics of Mobility
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Economists argue that more reasonable zoning regulations could boost social mobility, increase incomes, and expand economic growth.
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How Does Consumption Spending Respond to Housing Prices?
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New research explores the complex relationship between housing prices and consumer spending. The magnitude of this relationship can vary considerably over time and across households.