Conserving Rental Housing A Policy Analysis

Strategic, Geographic Targeting of Housing and Community Development Resources

“…Rykert, Thompson, and Thomson (2003) found no evidence of a multiplier effect in Detroit's minor home repair program. Consistent with the findings of Mayer (1984) and McConney (1983McConney ( , 1985, Rykert, Thompson, and Thomson (2003) suggested that this was due to the dispersed pattern of repairs made under the program. Further examination of the data suggests that the relatively low incomes in many neighborhoods where repairs occurred may have also significantly limited the multiplier effect.…”

“…Public improvements in basic infrastructure-streets, gutters, and sidewalks-were especially useful for encouraging improvements by landlords. The conclusions of the Bleakly et al (1983), Idstrom (1985), and Mayer (1984) studies conflict with those of Galster (1987), who found that public infrastructure investments had a negligible or even negative effect on housing investment.…”

“…This was true even when no public rehabilitation programs were funded in the communities and no explicit effort was made to use public improvements as a stimulus for home repair. Mayer (1984) found that improving neighborhood conditions can significantly impact the level of investment in building repairs by private landlords because the landlords expect that the added rents they can receive as a result of the improvements will exceed the cost of the improvements. Public improvements in basic infrastructure-streets, gutters, and sidewalks-were especially useful for encouraging improvements by landlords.…”

Land Rent and Housing Policy: A Case Study of the San Francisco Bay Area Rental Housing Market

“…In the Bay Area and other parts of coastal California, however, tenants in substandard units are often paying rent that is higher than the median rent in many other American cities 9 . This rent is quite sufficient to maintain the property, but when landlords that serve low‐income tenants can earn nearly as much money for poorly maintained units as they would for well‐maintained units there is little economic incentive to invest in maintenance (Mayer 1984: 320–321). The Bay Area's constrained rental housing market generates a high level of land rent that exacerbates housing affordability by increasing the cost of housing far beyond what is necessary to produce and maintain it, and it exacerbates housing maintenance problems by weakening the bargaining power of lower‐income tenants.…”

“…For example, rent control is widely disapproved of by economists on the grounds that price regulations will reduce the quality and quantity of the controlled housing stock. However, Friedman (2002:537) has demonstrated that in the presence of substantial land rent, the economic models of the effects of rent controls become indeterminate, and “perfect rent control could, in theory, affect only economic rents and cause no supply inefficiency even in the long run.”Olsen (1988) and Mayer (1984) have argued that well‐designed rent controls could improve maintenance.…”