基于收入差别的农村公共服务需求偏好与满意度研究

本文以收入差别为逻辑起点,对当前我国农村公共服务需求偏好进行研究发现:现阶段我国农村养老、子女教育和医疗保障服务的需求愿望较为强烈,且生活类公共服务需求愿望强于生产类公共服务需求;随着收入的增加,保障型公共服务需求递减,发展型公共服务需求递增;在农村公共服务满意度方面,高收入群体对公共服务的满意度总体上高于低收入群体。这一研究发现蕴涵三方面的公共政策取向:一是当前完善农村公共服务体系的重点是公众需求强烈的子女教育、医疗保障、养老等基本民生领域;二是在对农村公共服务供给结构组合中,优先保证公众生活类公共服务需求,同时尽力满足公众发展型公共服务需求;三是在农村公共服务供给项目选择上,优先保证低收入群体的公共服务需求。     

Parliamentary deadlock and the removal of the prime minister: Incumbency and termination theory in Trinidad and Tobago

In December 2001, the result of the general election in Trinidad and Tobago was an 18–18 tie for the 36 seats in the House of Representatives. The party led by the then incumbent prime minister, Basdeo Panday (the United National Congress – UNC) and the party led by the then leader of the opposition, Patrick Manning (the People's National Movement – PNM) found themselves in a situation in which the President of the Republic, Arthur N.R. Robinson, had to decide on which one of them to appoint as prime minister. The incumbency theory has been an established principle in most parliamentary democracies in the Commonwealth in situations where there is a ‘hung’ parliament insofar as offering the incumbent prime minister the opportunity to form a government is concerned. The decision of President Robinson to revoke the appointment of Prime Minister Panday and to appoint the leader of the opposition, Patrick Manning, as prime minister opened a new debate about the powers of the Head of State to terminate the appointment of an incumbent prime minister in spite of the fact that both aspirants for the office commanded the support of an equal number of elected MPs.     

Local housing plans: Learning from Great Britain

Abstract

As the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development refines the new Consolidated Plans, which replace the Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategies, it should examine Britain's experience with local housing plans. Case studies of four best‐practice cities—Glasgow, Dundee, Birmingham, and York—highlight the value of these plans in assessing the success of cities in their new “enabler” role.

Five key lessons for American cities emerge from this article. First, these plans can serve multiple roles beyond bids to central government. Second, local housing plans should address market‐rate as well as below‐market‐rate housing issues. Third, American housing plans should use a wider range of data sources than census information alone and should incorporate housing market analyses dealing with specific areas and population groups. Fourth, the stress on implementation and strategy in British plans should be emulated. Finally, aspects of Britain's competitive bidding system should be considered for implementation.     

Loan delinquency in community lending organizations: Case studies of neighborworks organizations

Abstract

This article reports on qualitative data gathered through interviews conducted in 1996 with key leadership and staff from 13 community lending organizations. Loan servicing and collection procedures within the organizations were examined. Findings suggest that several organizational factors of nonprofit lenders are related to their loan delinquency rates: social networks, business culture, funding sources, composition of the board and loan committees, staff structure, loan intake, and collection tools.

The study also finds that the nonprofit sector's institutional environment and its partnership with the private sector in a mutually beneficial process influence the loan delinquency rate. More specifically, active participation of local bankers in NeighborWorks¹ loan committees, diverse funding sources (from both the public and private sectors), and a diffusion of business practices through dense social networks are related to NeighborWorks’ loan servicing and collection policy and procedures. These factors in turn influence NeighborWorks’ rehabilitation loan delinquency rates.     

Social rehousing policy in britain: Needs,rights, and choices

Abstract

When selecting among competing applicants for rehousing in social rented property, the perceived wisdom in Britain since the 1940s has been to award priority to households in the greatest housing need. “Need” is often defined in highly complex ways. However, a shift has occurred in local authority and housing association rehousing policies away from allocations made solely on the basis of need. This shift comes in response to the changing context in which social rented housing has operated in the past 15 years and to perceived weaknesses in needs‐based systems. Present policies are designed to address wider objectives, including developing stable communities and minimizing housing management problems.

This article examines these policy changes and the extent to which local housing allocations are used to address not only individual household needs, but also the concerns of local communities and wider housing management issues.     

“… And a suitable living environment”: The failure of housing programs to deliver on neighborhood quality

Abstract

This article evaluates the relative performance of housing programs in terms of neighborhood quality. We profile neighborhood characteristics surrounding assisted housing units and assess the direction of assisted housing policy in light of this information. The analysis relies on a housing census database we developed that identifies the type and census tract location of assisted housing units—that is, public housing, developments assisted under the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Section 515 Rural Rental Housing Direct Loan Program, the low‐income housing tax credit, certificates and vouchers, and state rental assistance programs.

We conclude that project‐based assistance programs do little to improve the quality of recipients’ neighborhoods relative to those of welfare households and, in the case of public housing, appear to make things significantly worse. The certificate and voucher programs, however, appear to reduce the probability that families will live in the most economically and socially distressed areas.     

The low‐income housing tax credit as an aid to housing finance: How well has it worked?

Abstract

The Low‐Income Housing Tax Credit program has been operating for over 10 years and has helped finance thousands of developments with units set aside for low‐ or moderate‐income households. However, the program has been criticized for requiring additional layers of subsidy to leverage investment and for providing benefits to developers in excess of the amount necessary to induce them to invest.

An analysis of a sample of developments from Missouri finds that the tax credits are syndicated, with virtually all of the syndication proceeds (about 33 percent of the financing) used to pay for development costs. Conventional lending provides another 44 percent of the financing. Unfortunately, because these sources do not cover all of the costs, developers enter into a complex, costly process of layering additional subsidies, one on top of another, to fully finance the development.     

The impact of assisted housing developments on concentrated poverty

Abstract

The common wisdom is that assisted housing developments have both a direct and an indirect impact on concentrated poverty. The indirect effects are based on the notion that the negative stereotypes associated with such developments spill over into the surrounding neighborhoods, causing people who can leave to do so or avoid the neighborhood and leaving behind only the more disadvantaged segments of society. An increase in concentrated poverty in the neighborhood surrounding the development results. Prior studies, relying on aggregated data, are consistent with this thesis. The overwhelming majority of the statistical models in my study, however, found these relationships to be spurious. Once individual and macrolevel characteristics were controlled for, the relationships disappeared.

These findings imply that assisted housing developments will not typically contribute to concentration of poverty in surrounding neighborhoods and suggest that much of the negative reaction to assisted housing developments is unwarranted.     

House poor in Los Angeles: examining patterns of housing-induced poverty by race,nativity, and legal status

Housing affordability in the United States is generally operationalized using the ratio approach, with those allocating more than thirty percent of income to shelter costs considered to have housing affordability challenges. Alternative standards have been developed that focus on residual income, whether income remaining after housing expenditures is sufficient to meet non-housing needs. This study employs Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey data to consider racial/ethnic, nativity and legal status differences in one residual income standard. Logistic regression analyses of housing-induced poverty focus on whether there are differences among five distinct groups: US born Latinos, Non-Hispanic Whites, and African Americans, authorized Latino immigrants, and unauthorized Latino immigrants. Results suggest that: (1) Latino natives are significantly more likely to be in housing-induced poverty than African Americans and Latino immigrants, and (2) unauthorized Latino immigrants are not more likely to experience the outcome than other groups. The present work extends previous research. First, the results provide additional evidence of the value of operationalizing housing affordability using a residual income standard. Alternatives to the ratio approach deserve more empirical attention from a wider range of scholars and policymakers interested in housing affordability. Second, housing scholarship to date generally differentiates among Latinos by ethnicity, nativity, and citizenship. The present study contributes to emerging research investigating heterogeneity among Latinos by nativity and legal status.     

Comment on Michael A. Stegman,Walter R. Davis,and Roberto Quercia's “The Earned Income Tax Credit as an instrument of housing policy”

Abstract

The article by Stegman, Davis, and Quercia is a careful, comprehensive analysis of the current impact of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on the housing cost burdens of working families. Its major proposal, a graduated supplement to the EITC to reflect housing costs, is compared with my broader concept of addressing severe cost burdens through supplements to major income support programs. Criticisms of my concept, chiefly administrative difficulties and incompatibility with the EITC benefit structure, are discussed.

My primary concerns are that Stegman, Davis, and Quercia's proposal does not sufficiently target families with severe housing costs and that the formula for calculating the additional benefit does not reflect diverse housing costs throughout the country and provides the smallest increases to the recipients with the lowest incomes. However, it is more important to generate discussion of the reality that “income policy IS housing policy” than to argue about details.