Why Low-Income Households Become Unstably Housed: Evidence From the Panel Study of Income Dynamics

ABSTRACT

Because of a severe shortage of affordable housing in the United States, an increasing number of low-income households suffer from housing instability. However, little evidence exists as to why they experienced housing instability, although they were stably housed at other times. By applying hybrid models to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics data, this study estimates the effects of potential household-level predictors on the likelihood of experiencing housing instability. The results show that changes in family employment structure, job insecurity, automobile ownership, and the number of adult family members within a household correlate with housing instability after controlling for changes in household income and housing costs. Moreover, I find that households with children are particularly vulnerable to housing instability. These results contribute to identifying valid household-level predictors of housing instability and developing preventive policy interventions that help unsubsidized low-income households achieve housing stability.     

Community＇s Benefits From the Tourism Growth and Tourism Site Development in Vang Vieng District of Vientiane Province,Lao PDR

This study attempts to measure benefits of the local residents of Vang Vieng from tourism growth and tourism site development. Here, community benefits involve not only economic benefits but include also social, cultural, and environmental benefits. The data used in this analysis are primary data provided through a questionnaire by the residents of Vang Vieng district, a famous tourist spot in Lao PDR. The results are mixed results. On the negative side, the community faces some risks as a result of tourism development. On the positive side, tourism growth and tourism site development bring about improvements in living conditions and conservations of residents＇ attitudes toward tourism improvement development.     

Knowledge production and the construction of ‘Africa(ns)’ in the Caribbean

Abstract

There is a considerable lack of awareness of the interrelated nature of human activities due to insufficient information. A community without relevant information or public sensitivity to participation, in fostering a sense of personal environmental responsibility and greater motivation towards achieving personal goals, becomes problematic. Using the poststructuralist theory, this article takes a qualitative approach to analyse discourses and people's reaction to an ‘insecure’ environment within South African communities. It examines organisations which provide support to empower communities through education in Cape Town. One assumption here is that people gain knowledge about themselves, their environment and others around them, if they are empowered. The focus thus is on educational schemes and activities that communities and organisations undertake to challenge, accept and negotiate their ideological positions. The inventiveness and responses of the organisations considered, through the local communities and pupils, are therefore significant as they enable an understanding of the challenges encountered in democratic South Africa, including the causes of xenophobia. Ultimately, the consequences of ignorance about one's environment are detrimental to both neighbouring communities and people at large. The local communities considered expressed this sentiment while implicating the government's role in depriving its people of vital socio-cultural and politico-economic information.     

Measuring Progress: Community Indicators and the Quality of Life

Abstract

As communities and local governments increasingly have become concerned about quality‐of‐life issues, community indicators have become a widely used tool to measure the status of the quality of life and progress being made toward improving it. Indicators provide a vehicle for understanding and addressing community issues from a holistic and outcomes‐oriented perspective. They are useful, within the context of an overall community‐improvement process, both as a planning tool, based on a community's vision, and as an evaluation tool to measure progress on steps taken toward improvement. Their usefulness is maximized when they are both directly tied to public‐policy and budget decision making and when the community feels a sense of ownership of the indicators through direct citizen involvement with them. This article briefly describes four major approaches to community‐indicators work, and then in more detail, illustrates one of the approaches called “quality of life.” This approach is illustrated with experiences of the Jacksonville (Florida) Community Council Inc. (JCCI), a pioneer and leader in the community‐indicators movement.     

Indigenous Peoples in Southern Africa

Abstract

This article considers the complex cases of indigenous peoples in three Commonwealth countries in southern Africa: Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. In terms of national-level policy, the governments of these countries do not differentiate indigenous peoples from the rest of their populations. They do, however, have programmes aimed at assisting ‘marginalised’ or ‘disadvantaged’ communities. In this article, three main dimensions related to indigenous peoples’ rights in southern Africa are discussed: national policies, indigenous peoples’ rights, and rights to representation; land and resource rights, including rights to water; and language and gender rights. The paper concludes with an assessment of where indigenous peoples stand today in southern Africa.     

Regions with regionalism? The rescaling of interest groups in six European states

In many European countries a regional or meso level of government has emerged, with significant policy responsibilities. It has been suggested that the representation of social and economic interests has not followed, so that policy communities remain state‐wide, giving ‘regions without regionalism’. This study of interest groups in six European states examines their adaptation to devolution, focusing on organisation, cognitive change and relationships. It finds there has been a regionalisation of interest representation, but it is uneven, depending on the strength of regional government, territorial identities and the interests of social actors. Business, trades unions, farmer organisations and environmental groups are all cross‐pressured on the regional question. The region is emerging in some cases as a site of interest intermediation. Territorial policy communities are emerging in some regions, but in most cases these supplement, rather than replace, state‐wide policy communities.     

国际金融危机背景下俄罗斯低收入群体的生活水平

国际金融危机背景下,俄罗斯居民购买力下降,需求受到一定程度的抑制。低收入群体的生活水平低下,他们中多数人饮食质量变差、生活耐用品占有相对缺乏、基本的医疗救助不足、社会心理沉重。其生活水平是可被民众接受的最低标准。加强社会保障和就业安置并加大对社会低收入阶层等弱势群体的扶助力度,不断完善社会福利与救济制度,是俄政府当前面临的最大任务之一,同时也给我们一定的借鉴和启发。     

运动模式下的基层标准化治理困局与突破--基于三维制度逻辑的多案例研究

带有运动模式特质的标准化治理在提升管理效率的同时,也遭遇了基层实践困境,表现为痕迹主义与有效监督并行、形式主义与标准管理共生。把握基层标准化的尺度,将实现基层行政的系统性平衡作为改革探索的重点,研究建立“科层控制、专业化管理和社会协同”三维制度平衡的分析框架,并以此作为解局与破局的理论模型。研究发现,运动模式下的标准化治理困局缘于科层控制逻辑下基层产生的邀功与避责的心态,标准化治理在运动模式下的实践中经常呈现为“悬浮”状态;而专业化管理逻辑打破了原有的制度平衡,使天平一端倾向于科层逻辑,最终导致基层标准化治理的困境;社会协同逻辑作用发挥需要相关主体及时参与到反馈机制中,但实际与前两者脱离。当前需要从制度逻辑平衡的角度出发,自下而上地构建起基层标准化框架,真正解决基层标准化治理困境。