Research
Does your data hide a story in it? Are there insights to be gained that can help in public policy discussion?...
Effectiveness of Foreclosure
Prevention Counseling Programs
There are a few studies that examine the effectiveness of foreclosure prevention counseling in reducing housing stress and foreclosure rates. One of the major problems in assessing the effects of
counseling programs right now is the depressed job market. In this paper, we present findings from an analysis of a foreclosure prevention counseling program that began and ended just before the Great Recession.
The findings in some ways depict a best case scenario for foreclosure prevention counseling - because these are from a time when unemployment rates were lower and homeowners still had jobs, and the number of foreclosures was much lower (so agencies and counselors could devote more time and attention to each case than now).This important caveat aside, we used a research design that is a significant.
improvement over past studies. We believe these findings would inform and improve foreclosure prevention counseling programs as well as help craft better policy responses to the ongoing crisis.
Software
Complementing our research service offering is our software services group. ATG's humble origins started with software ser...
Management Act on Housing Affordability
Several states have growth management laws, and many more are considering them. Multiple studies have confirmed that such laws may increase housing prices. However, higher housing prices do not automatically lower housing affordability. The research presented in this article examines the effect of Florida's Growth Management Act on housing affordability. Using two indices of housing
affordability, with data from all 67 counties over a 16- year period, and after controlling for alternate hypotheses, this study finds that the Act had a statistically significant effect in decreasing the affordability of single-family homes. To help mitigate this negative effect, some policy interventions are suggested.
Education
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Family Self - Sufficiency Programs:
Since the mid-1980s, family self-sufficiency programs have been set up in over 1,000 cities and counties across the United States. These programs are aimed at helping public-housing residents and Section 8 tenants, who often have very little or no wage income, become economically self-sufficient and move into private housing. Though much has been written about the potential of such programs, research examining their benefits is virtually nonexistent. This article seeks to partly fill this void.
The research reported here examined data on 135 participants of the City of Rockford, Illinois's Family Self-Sufficiency program. Using logistic regression techniques, the effects of several factors on program completion were explored. The author reports that Rockford's Family Self-Sufficiency program graduates derived significant economic and housing benefits, and that race did not seem to affect graduation while other factors, such as age and the number of skills acquired in the program, seemed to.