Previous estimates of childhood lead poisoning prevention benefits have quantified the present value of some health benefits, but not the costs of lead paint hazard control or the benefits associated with housing and energy markets. Because older housing with lead paint constitutes the main exposure source today in the US, we quantify health benefits, costs, market value benefits, energy saving...

CONTEXT Chronically homeless individuals with severe alcohol problems often have multiple medical and psychiatric problems and use costly health and criminal justice services at high rates. OBJECTIVE To evaluate association of a "Housing First" intervention for chronically homeless individuals with severe alcohol problems with health care use and costs. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Qua...

We present the first nationwide index of directly-measured land values by metropolitan area and investigate their relationship with housing prices. Construction prices and geographic and regulatory constraints are shown to increase the cost of housing relative to land. On average, approximately one-third of housing costs are due to land, with an increasing share in higher-value areas, implying ...

Sustainability literature highlights the potential of the residential sector to contribute to significant greenhouse gas emissions reductions. In this context, recent housing policies, not only in Australia but internationally, have addressed the implementation of minimum energy efficient housing standards. Recent UK, European and USA policy articulates a goal of zero emission housing by 2020. ...

BACKGROUND Tobacco smoking in multiunit housing can lead to secondhand-smoke (SHS) exposure among nonsmokers, increased maintenance costs for units where smoking is permitted, and fire risks. During 2009-2010, approximately 7.1 million individuals lived in subsidized housing in the U.S., a large proportion of which were children, elderly, or disabled. PURPOSE This study calculated the annual ...

The rise in housing costs in California has far exceeded the national inflation rate. During the past three years, housing prices in five coastal counties increased by more than 60 percent. For the highest quintile of cities, prices increased by an average of more than 30 percent per year. Evidently California housing markets differ qualitatively from those in the rest of the country. One strik...

Due to moving and transactions costs, most housing buyers do not routinely move in response to small changes in income or housing price. In this paper, the ‘‘own–rent,’’ ‘‘move– stay,’’ and length-of-stay decisions are modeled as multi-period optimization in the presence of transactions costs. The empirical section uses the American Housing Survey to provide a unique 12-year panel of household ...

The sustained increase in house prices, mortgage interest rates, and other costs of owning a home during the 1970's put housing affordability into the forefront of public policy concerns. But while inflation was driving up homeownership costs, people's willingness to purchase bigger and better homes seemed stronger than ever. This dissertation is an indepth look at the housing cost issue over t...