Municipal strategies for affordable housing : incenting an exacting public goods from private developers

This thesis studies the next generation of municipal housing policy by asking, "How can cities effectively use the private-sector to promote affordable housing development?" In response, it looks at an array of public-sector municipal policy tools ranging from incentives to exactions. In particular, it focuses on tools that are able to leverage hot real estate markets, such as inclusionary zoning, linkages, and tax abatements. A framework for understanding the constraints and opportunities of past and future policies is established by looking at the economic, legal, and political implications of these exactions and incentives. The interplay of the three forces has affected and will continue to shape the policies that cities are able to implement. Two cities, Boston and New York, each with hot real estate markets, large shortfalls of affordable housing, and sophisticated public policy makers are studied in detail within the overarching framework. Generally, it is argued that effective policy implementation depends on strong market values for residential and commercial real estate, specific legal authority or a grant of broader municipal autonomy from the state, and active political coalitions of affordable housing advocates and developers with a receptive political administration.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Goldstein, Ari Alowan

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Langley Keyes.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/40120

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/40120