Estimating Natural Environmental Characteristics of Subsidized Households: A Case Study of Austin, Texas

Young-Jae Kim and Ayoung Woo
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Young-Jae Kim: Department of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, North Dakota State University, 711 2nd Avenue North, Office #308, Fargo, ND 58102, USA
Ayoung Woo: Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M University, A307 Langford Architecture Center, 3137 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843, USA

Sustainability, 2015, vol. 7, issue 10, 1-21

Abstract: Compared to the traditional public housing program, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program has been regarded as a better tool to ensure the quality of housing structure for subsidized households and the mixing of incomes in neighborhoods. Previous studies related to LIHTC developments have solely focused on the relationships between subsidized households and socioeconomic environments, such as income, race, poverty, etc. Beyond the socioeconomic environments where subsidized households are located, there is a limited understanding about whether subsidized households experience healthier natural environments in their neighborhoods. This study aims to investigate whether LIHTC-subsidized housing neighborhoods provide adequate natural environments to the subsidized households in Austin, Texas, compared to the public housing households. We employ comparison t -tests and binomial logistic regression models. The results show that LIHTC households are significantly exposed to unhealthy natural environmental settings such as a lack of green vegetation and steep slopes while no statistical evidence is reported for public housing neighborhoods. Findings from this study may help policymakers and planners improve their understanding of whether subsidized housing developments offer better natural environments for disadvantaged populations and help them develop effective environmental intervention strategies to improve the quality of life of subsidized households.

Keywords: natural environmental characteristics; low-income housing tax credit households (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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