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In light of global challenges such as the war in Ukraine and the depletion of fossil fuel resources, it is essential to explore sustainable energy solutions. Hybrid energy systems represent a potential solution, offering energy independence to urban housing estates and reducing CO2 emissions. This article aims to explore the feasibility of integrating photovoltaic systems (utilizing vacuum collectors) and combined utilities (system heat and electricity) in a hybrid setup, leveraging existing technical infrastructure with necessary modifications. A key aspect is to perform calculations on the amount of heat and electricity generated from these systems. The study analyzes the demand for heat and electricity among consumers compared to the estimated production from renewable sources. Calculations also include the potential energy savings and CO2 emission reductions achievable through the proposed solutions. The findings indicate that hybrid photovoltaic systems with heat storage could effectively address energy issues in urban housing estates, given adequate support and community involvement. The innovative methodology employed in this study encompasses both analytical and experimental research approaches. The analysis employs advanced statistical techniques and data integration to enhance understanding of the phenomena studied, while the experimental research provides robust results through controlled variable manipulation and precise measurement tools, thereby verifying the study's objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge generated by and with radical housing movements is necessary to achieve a more just housing system. This article analyses a militant research project involving collective investigation of the history of rent strikes in Ireland undertaken within the Community Action Tenants Union Ireland. Drawing on the tradition of workers' inquiry, it explores the relationships between militant research, class composition, and radical history, and how collective investigation of housing movement history might contribute to contemporary organising. The article is based on both oral history and archival research as well as reflections on the research process. The analysis focuses on how the project has or might contribute to current organising efforts through lessons drawn from historical analysis and connections developed through the research process, while also identifying tensions between research and organising. Overall, it highlights the value of radical history research as a form of organising and strategy for political recomposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Semi-subterranean house occupation in the southern Columbia Plateau of Western North America was episodic over the latter half of the Holocene. Several analyses of radiocarbon chronologies for house features have emphasized environmental change as a primary catalyst of shifts in subsistence strategies and house settlement. Our analysis incorporates summed probability distributions of radiocarbon dates for house occupations, climatic conditions, and evidence of conflict to assess the relationship among the three variables. Climate change is outlined using previously published proxy data. Results of our analysis indicate that climate had a strong influence on the settlement systems of the southern Columbia Plateau. Along with the direct influence of climate on resource availability, conflict became more frequent when house communities became larger. Developing a greater understanding of the cause and effect, and timing of environmental and social changes will ultimately require more robust datasets for house occupations, simulations of demographic trajectories, and higher resolution temporal and spatial models of climate change on the Columbia Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines facilitators and barriers to attain housing among adults who identify as 2SLGBTQ+ (Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) and who have experiences of homelessness. Twenty 2SLGBTQ+adults who were currently or formerly homeless participated in one qualitative interview. The interview protocol included questions on the participants' experiences with exiting homelessness and searching for housing. Data was analyzed using an iterative coding process. The results show that participants engaged in various paths to access housing, including goal setting related to one's gender identity and health, and accessing formal and informal supports. Barriers largely focused on discrimination from landlords, a lack of safety in one's housing or neighborhood, a lack of awareness of services, and challenges with accepting one's 2SLGBTQ+identity and related fear of unequal treatment from service providers. The results are discussed in terms of policy and programming strategies to support 2SLGBTQ+adults to attain permanent housing in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent decades have seen the re-discovery or emergence of a diverse range of housing models such as cohousing, co-operatives, community land trusts, and other forms that seek to address various persistent issues of social, environmental, and economic justice. This has generated commensurate growth in research on the objectives and outcomes of such models, including the creation of relevant typologies of conceptual approaches and schemas of organisational objectives to build understanding of the field's theoretical and practical implications. Despite the growth of relevant models, their relative unfamiliarity and diversity of forms and objectives means practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and others associated with the field may not understand the forms and objectives of models under examination and development, leading to delays, project failures, and confusion. This paper therefore presents a glossary of community-led housing as a base on which to continue to foster understanding and growth of relevant models, and enable collaborative and comparative work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is now widely recognized that bees are among the most important pollinators worldwide, yet the bee faunas of many regions and habitats remain inadequately documented. The Great Basin Desert in North America is thought to host some of the richest bee communities in the world, as indicated by several studies documenting diverse bee faunas in the region's natural habitats. However, limited attention has been given to the bee communities present on agricultural lands within the Great Basin Desert. Here, we describe a rich bee community housed at the Young Living Lavender Farm in Juab County, Utah, near the eastern edge of the Great Basin Desert. Our survey of bees on this farm identified 68 bee species across 22 genera. This represents 34% of the bee species known from the county, including 34 new county records. Among the numerous flower species cultivated at the farm, we found that lavender supported the richest bee community, with 32 species collected from cultivated lavender fields. While lavender is frequently recommended for homeowners to plant in support of pollinators, our study is among the first to provide a list of bee species that visit lavender in western North America. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that agricultural lands, particularly those implementing pollinator-friendly farming practices, can support rich bee communities in the Great Basin Desert. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Older adults living in subsidized senior housing tend to be at risk for poor psychological well-being related to their advanced age and low income. This study aims to explore multilevel factors affecting perceived quality of life (QoL) among non-urban subsidized senior housing residents and to compare these factors between rural and suburban communities. Community/residential-level data were collected from the interviews with residential service coordinators (RSC) of five subsidized senior housing communities in the New England region: two rural and three suburban communities. Individual- and interpersonal-level data came from the survey with 82 residents. A mixed-methods approach was utilized. We used thematic content analyses for the interview data and multivariate ordered logit regression for the survey data. Our results showed that rural residence was positively associated with QoL (OR = 4.913, p<.01) even after controlling for all the individual-, interpersonal-, and community/residential-level factors. From RSCs' perspectives, four main themes emerged, which could potentially contribute to better QoL among senior housing residents: access to services, social spaces for residents, inequitable connections to community resources, and social engagements among senior housing residents and with RSCs. Our findings contribute to the development of strategies to improve QoL among older adults living in rural/non-metropolitan subsidized senior housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the kinds of boundaries laid by residents of mixed-tenure housing communities and how distinctions are rationalized. Based on interview data on a densely mixed community (both owner-occupied and social housing apartments mixed with stairwells) in Helsinki, Finland, I observe how residents outline their neighbourhood. Based on the analysis, urban anonymity was the most significant repertoire defining communal life, followed by others such as sense of home and fiscal prudence. In densely mixed settings, residents are forced to witness each other’s domestic life; thus, dense social mixing can prevent prejudices between tenure groups. The study results contribute to the understanding of cultural repertoires in hierarchical relationships vis-à-vis each other, creating varying contexts and defining the lived realities in communities. Empirically, the results question prevailing images of troublesome tenants and well-behaved owners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incorporation of renewable energy systems in the world energy system has been steadily increasing during the last few years. In terms of the building sector, the usual consumers are becoming increasingly prosumers, and the trend is that communities of energy, whose households share produced electricity, will increase in number in the future. Another observed tendency is that the aggregator (the entity that manages the community) trades the net community energy in public energy markets. To accomplish economically good transactions, accurate and reliable forecasts of the day-ahead net energy community must be available. These can be obtained using an ensemble of multi-step shallow artificial neural networks, with prediction intervals obtained by the covariance algorithm. Using real data obtained from a small energy community of four houses located in the southern region of Portugal, one can verify that the deterministic and probabilistic performance of the proposed approach is at least similar, typically better than using complex, deep models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractMany housing organizations are using social media to engage with a range of stakeholders including tenants. Tenant participation is being reworked in social media spaces as different (previously more separable) audiences are brought together in a digitalized ‘context collapse’. This multi-method study examines the emerging social media practices of housing organizations in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Datasets generated in 2015 and 2021 include two digital audits of housing providers’ social media use, and in-depth qualitative interviews and focus groups with 26 social housing representatives. Participants reported that three intersecting agendas shape their social media use: 1) tenant participation and engagement, 2) advocacy for social housing, and 3) marketing and promotion, which create challenges that housing organizations must navigate in digital spaces. As critical tenant perspectives can present a threat to organizational brand identity and reputation, organizational social media use/s can seek to weaken or hide tenant voices at a time when tenant rights are more important than ever. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the Peter Mott House, tracing its significance through three main parts: Peter Mott's involvement in the Underground Railroad, the community's efforts to preserve the house, and ongoing educational initiatives. It discusses Peter Mott's role as an Underground Railroad agent, the community's struggle to save the house from demolition, and the importance of preserving Black history and educating future generations.

Objectives were (a) to understand a community‐informed narrative, as told by community members (CMs) and community partners (CPs), about the strengths, experiences, and perspectives of public housing communities; and (b) to analyze similarities and differences between CMs' and CPs' experiences and perspectives. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 22 CMs of public housing (ages 26–58, 100% female caregivers, 96% Black, 4% multiethnic) and 43 CPs (ages 28–78, 67.4% female, 81.4% Black and African American). Four themes were derived from the CM and CP interviews: (1) counters to public narratives, (2) disinvestment begets disinvestment, (3) community conditions should be better, and (4) community cohesion and connection. Findings from this study present community‐centered narratives and experiences that were counter to stereotyped public narratives and could influence public perceptions and behavior to inform policy changes related to improving living conditions and supporting CMs in public and low‐income housing communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This systematic integrative review provides a unique pioneering perspective on community support practices in social, community, and cooperative housing, improving our understanding of the practice and its outcomes. Two research questions guided this work: 1) What are the community support practices in social and community housing serving individuals in the context of socioeconomic deprivation in permanent housing structures? And 2) What are the outcomes of the community support practices in social and community housing? Studies describing and/or reporting on outcomes of community support practices in social and community housing (psychosocial, economic, and health/mental health) were included from the journals' inception to September 2022. A total of 42 studies were included in the systematic review, of which 20 were qualitative, 14 quantitative, and eight mixed-method studies. Of them all, 34 studies reported on public housing, four on community housing, and four on cooperative housing. Results inform practitioners and decisionmakers on issues related to community practices in permanent supportive housing and their outcomes in relation to tenure orientations and potential impact. Community practice workers are pillars in housing settings who provide bridging, bonding, and linking that builds social capital in adverse conditions. This review provides insight into innovative research avenues in this domain, while bringing to the forefront the fundamental challenges of individual support pathways to collective empowerment, increased health needs, and unequalled peer-tenant support engagement, as well as their precarious conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2022 adoption of a new policy framework on community support in social housing in Québec speaks to a convergence of a multitude of community, government, and municipal actors around this practice. This qualitative study delves into the process by which this approach was institutionalized to demonstrate how community support became a central norm of the social housing field in the province. Drawing from literature on the welfare mix, we situate this phenomenon in the broader context of the transformation of the welfare state, in which nonprofit organizations played an increasing role in providing social housing to vulnerable populations (e.g., people at risk of home-lessness). This article demonstrates how power dynamics and negotiations between the state and the third sector were, in this case, a major source of institutional change over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oscar Oeser was a polymath import to the Antipodes, primarily known as a social psychologist and as the founding Professor of Psychology at the University of Melbourne. But he was also a very effective network builder, and an important conduit for overseas ideas – not least with respect to urban and rural planning. With interest in urban planning surging in the immediate post-Second World War period, Oeser undertook a joint project with the Head of Architecture at Melbourne, Brian Lewis, along with a number of other notable figures. The project involved surveying and re-imagining the down-at-heel suburb of Prahran. It was ambitious in its empirical scope, and it showcased Oeser's sensitivity to the 'human elements' in planning that prefigured current participatory models. Nonetheless, the Prahran project's impact was muted and ambiguous, its data selectively co-opted by local politicians and public servants to serve a pragmatic modernist agenda. Oeser's subsequent planning work featured innovative approaches to designing remote rural communities and indigenous housing. Oeser's overall legacy in planning was thus a historically contingent one: it tells us something about what might have been as much as what was. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Little is known about whether digital competence is related to psychological wellbeing, with most previous research focusing on students and elderly people. There is also limited evidence on seasonal changes in psychological wellbeing, particularly in specific groups. Social housing residents are an underserved and under-researched population. The objectives of this study were to explore associations between digital competence (assessed by general technology self-efficacy) and psychological wellbeing (assessed by mental wellbeing and life satisfaction), and to explore seasonal effects, in social housing residents. Methods: A repeated survey design was used. The Happiness Pulse questionnaire with a bespoke digital module was sent via post or e-mail at four timepoints between July 2021 and July 2022 to 167 social housing residents in West Cornwall, England. There were 110 respondents in total; thirty completed all four questionnaires and 59 completed an autumn/winter and summer questionnaire. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential methods including regression, repeated measures analysis of variance and panel analysis. Results: Significant positive associations were found between digital self-efficacy and mental wellbeing, and between digital self-efficacy and life satisfaction. However, there were no significant seasonal changes in psychological wellbeing. Conclusions: The findings extend the existing literature beyond student and elderly populations and suggest that improving digital competence is a potential pathway to improving psychological wellbeing. Surveys with larger samples and qualitative studies are needed to elucidate the mechanisms involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rates of asthma-related emergency department visits have been shown to vary significantly by place (i.e. neighborhood) and race/ethnicity. The moderating factors of asthmatic events among Hispanic/Latino-specific populations are known to a much lesser degree. To assess the extent to which housing moderates the effect of poverty on Hispanic/Latino-specific asthma-related emergency department (ED) visits at an ecological level. Using data from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) and the 2016–2017 U.S. Census, a cross-sectional ecological analysis at the census tract-level was conducted. Crosswalk files from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development were used to associate zip codes to census tracts. Negative binomial regression was used to estimate rate ratios. The effect of poverty on asthma-related ED visits was significantly moderated by the median year of housing structures built. The effect of mid-level poverty (RR = 1.57, 95% CI 1.27, 1.95) and high-level poverty (RR = 1.47, 95% CI 1.22, 1.78) in comparison to low-level poverty, was significantly greater among census tracts with housing built prior to 1965 in comparison to census tract with housing built between 1965 and 2020. Communities with older housing structures tend to be associated with increased Hispanic/Latino ED visits apart from affluent communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prevailing theories of poverty governance emphasize how political and economic constraints associated with urban neoliberalism have led to the retraction of protective welfare commitments and an increased criminalization of poverty. While research on this "disciplinary turn" has been generative, it tells us little about countervailing trends or how institutional responses to poverty change over time. Addressing these gaps, this article offers a case study of the emergence and acceptance by the business community of a supportive Housing First and harm reduction initiative called JustCARE—a distinct technique of poverty governance not readily explicable within existing theoretical frameworks. By situating JustCARE within a wider strategic action field of poverty governance, we reveal the macro-, meso-, and micro-level dynamics that together facilitated its inception, growth, and eventual embrace by members of the formerly hostile business establishment. Specifically, we underscore how two exogenous shocks (COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter [BLM] uprisings) enabled a well-positioned advocacy organization to articulate and implement a non-punitive homelessness response alternative. We conclude that field-based scholarship centering "theoretically deviant" cases can reveal how the contradictions and failures of neoliberal poverty management can generate unique opportunities for meaningful institutional change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor‐quality and overcrowded housing in remote communities in Australia is widely seen to negatively impact Indigenous children's health and development. Despite widespread reports of, in some instances, quite appalling housing conditions, recent analyses of data from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC) found little evidence of adverse housing effects for Indigenous children living in very remote Australia. Given the apparent inconsistency in evidence coming from representative survey data and other accounts, a small‐scale case study was conducted in the Kimberley's Fitzroy Valley to gain greater insights into housing in very remote communities for families with school‐aged children. The LSIC very remote sample is confirmed to offer a good representation of housing conditions in these communities, based on replication of key housing data items in a small survey of Fitzroy Valley parents. While not apparent in those parent surveys, problems of severe overcrowding were highlighted in interviews with community leaders. Other issues raised included delays in maintenance and repairs and a lack of local input into housing management and associated employment, which was seen to disempower communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing struggles are key to disrupting gentrification capital flows and dispossessions. Based on life histories, key informant interviews, and six years of engaged ethnography with slum activists in the Philippine capital, this paper explicates political geographies of insurgent housing practices, including community barricades and housing occupations, and marks a history of militant subaltern struggles for the right to the city. I contend that these highly‐organised insurgent practices disrupt real estate capital pathways and nurture political subjectification where emancipatory spaces and socialities of care can be founded. Moreover, I intervene in the lack of attendance to the co‐constitution of barricades and occupations to less visible forms of insurgent housing practices. As these are emplaced to other subaltern times and spaces, political knowledges and subjectivities developed against forced evictions and demolitions enhance anti‐gentrification struggles. In tracing this militant urban history, I mark the incremental advance of subaltern housing struggles in a Southern economy highly reliant on real estate capital investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In March 1944 seventy-six Allied prisoners of war escaped from Stalag Luft III. Nearly all were recaptured; fifty were later shot. This article examines what happened in the period between recapture and the interment of the dead prisoners' cremated remains at Stalag Luft III. It positions what came to be known as 'the Great Escape' as an event of deep emotional resonance for those who grieved and reveals the dual narrative they constructed to make sense of their comrades' deaths. In discussing the iconography of the vault constructed by the camp community to house the dead POWs' ashes, this article also suggests a dissonance in meaning between that arising from personal, familial grief and the Imperial War Graves Commission's standardised memorial practice. Focusing on the Great Escape's immediate aftermath from the perspective of the POWs themselves provides a more nuanced understanding of the emotional impact of this infamous event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growth of community partnerships with housing providers to address social determinants of health, it may be time to rethink the term "landlord." The term, landlord, may be antiquated as it originated from medieval Europe in the 9th century, denotes rank, is male, and may create further divisions between tenants and landlords. In the US, many average Americans rent their property; as data from the Internal Revenue Service and the Rental Housing Finance Survey indicate nearly 10 million Americans reported rental income in 2020 and most of them own only 1–2 rental units. This commentary argues that the term "landlord" is no longer relevant, may be counterproductive to building a culture of health across stakeholder groups, and should be replaced. Some alternative terms are suggested, including "lessor" or "rental host." Accurate and neutral terms may be useful in engaging renters and property owners in addressing housing and homelessness issues in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research article aimed to analyze qualitative research on religion psychology with in-depth interviews to examine the quality of life improvement approaches based on the Diṭṭhadhammikattha principle. The study used cluster sampling within the group the last among samplings were 15 key informants most living in the Cooperative Salaya Communities Stable House. The research tool was a semi-structured interview, content validity index (CVI) was rated by three experts. The data were analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis techniques (IPA) and examined the saturation of the data was by using thematic data salutation techniques to find the degree of saturation (DS) and the frequency of the data. The results of the research revealed that the concept of quality of life development theory, quality of life development is the creation of progress until a change for the better. A model for improving the quality of life with the principle of Diṭṭhadhammikattha for the practitioner to have 4 living factors such as shelter, food, clothing, and medicine, will improve mental health. Therefore, it is a principle used as a tool to bind the minds of many people to live happily together. The synthesis of improving approaches is presented in four dimensions e.g., diligence, decent reserve, dear friends, deserve living. It is called the "4Ds Model of QOL based on Diṭṭhadhammikattha Principle" consisting of D1: Diligence, D2: Decent Reserve, D3: Dear Friends, and D4: Deserve Living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tuhinga whakarāpopoto (Abstract) Poor, unaffordable and overcrowded housing among Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand is one of the converging societal trends to impact significantly on older Māori ageing in place and in age-friendly environments. Some kaupapa Māori (Māori approach) organisations have sought to develop kaumātua (elders) villages to address these challenges. From the study of one such village, a toolkit of successful practices was developed. The purpose of this article is to describe the research design and methods for a project that will use this toolkit to develop community determined villages in three additional communities. The research approach involves process evaluation using photovoice, interviews, wānanga (consultation meetings) seminars and meeting's notes, along with summative evaluation using surveys. The research process is grounded in a culture-centred and co-design approach with a vision underpinned by tikanga Māori (Māori custom) and te ao Māori (Māori world) that will be shared with others through a revised toolkit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Older adults needing assistance with activities of daily living can receive support in various settings. Senior housing communities, such as independent living, assisted living, and continuing care retirement communities, are an increasingly popular option for adults not requiring nursing home–level care. However, limited research exists due to a dearth of data on these types of communities. We use a proprietary data set to describe the market of private pay senior housing and community-level characteristics in 140 metropolitan statistical areas, from 2015 to 2019. Although the number of senior housing communities increased substantially, the supply of senior housing options supporting the continuum of care has not necessarily kept up with population growth. Describing the supply of senior housing communities across the spectrum of levels of care provides a more complete description of the formal noninstitutional long-term care supply among the 140 most populated metropolitan statistical areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article call for researchers to attend to the working conditions and experiences of those working in the community housing sector, highlighting how they, like tenants and applicants in social housing, are experiencing precarity. It mentions neoliberalism and vulnerability in social housing and housing sector itself was undergoing a process of devolution, where control and responsibility of social housing was passed down to lower levels of government.

The establishment of grid-connected prosumer communities to bridge the demand-supply gap in developing nations, especially in rural areas will assist to minimize the use of carbon enriched fossil fuels and the resulting economic pressure. In the promoted study, an economic and ecosystem-friendly hybrid energy model is proposed for grid-connected prosumer community of 147 houses in district Kotli, AJK. The grid search algorithm-based HOMER software is used to simulate and analyze the load demand and biomass sources-based onsite collected data through a survey for an optimal proposed design. The research objectives are to minimize the net present cost (USD) of design, the per unit cost of energy (USD/kWh), and the carbon emissions (kgs/year). A sensitivity analysis based on photovoltaic module lifetime is also performed. The simulations show that the per unit cost of energy is reduced from 0.1 USD/kWh to 0.001 USD/kWh for the annual energy demand (kWh/year) of the community. The number of carbon emissions is also minimized from 122056 kgs/year to 1628 kgs/year through the proposed optimal energy model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More Americans live in manufactured housing than in public and federally subsidized rental housing combined. Of the nearly 40,000 U.S. manufactured housing communities (MHCs), more than 1,000 are resident-owned communities (ROCs), a form of cooperative ownership. Yet planning research continues to neglect MHCs and ROCs, raising questions of classism and cultural bias. We address five common biases against MHCs and argue ROCs in particular deserve greater attention because they enable low-income people to improve their housing security in the face of financial and environmental vulnerabilities. Lessons from these efforts can help other alternative and collective housing providers do the same. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite the scale-up of insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying, the bulk of malaria transmission in western Kenya still occurs indoors, late at night. House improvement is a potential long-term solution to further reduce malaria transmission in the region. Methods: The impact of eave screening on mosquito densities was evaluated in two rural villages in western Kenya. One-hundred-and-twenty pairs of structurally similar, neighbouring houses were used in the study. In each pair, one house was randomly selected to receive eave screening at the beginning of the study while the other remained unscreened until the end of the sampling period. Mosquito sampling was performed monthly by motorized aspiration method for 4 months. The collected mosquitoes were analysed for species identification. Results: Compared to unscreened houses, significantly fewer female Anopheles funestus (RR = 0.40, 95% CI 0.29–0.55), Anopheles gambiae Complex (RR = 0.46, 95% CI 0.34–0.62) and Culex species (RR = 0.53, 95% CI 0.45–0.61) were collected in screened houses. No significant differences in the densities of the mosquitoes were detected in outdoor collections. Significantly fewer Anopheles funestus were collected indoors from houses with painted walls (RR = 0.05, 95% CI 0.01–0.38) while cooking in the house was associated with significantly lower numbers of Anopheles gambiae Complex indoors (RR = 0.60, 95% CI 0.45–0.79). Nearly all house owners (99.6%) wanted their houses permanently screened, including 97.7% that indicated a willingness to use their own resources. However, 99.2% required training on house screening. The cost of screening a single house was estimated at KES6,162.38 (US$61.62). Conclusion: Simple house modification by eave screening has the potential to reduce the indoor occurrence of both Anopheles and Culex mosquito species. Community acceptance was very high although education and mobilization may be needed for community uptake of house modification for vector control. Intersectoral collaboration and favourable government policies on housing are important links towards the adoption of house improvements for malaria control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The answer to covering the energy demand of society by increasing the share of renewables must come from the conjunction of several technologies. A preliminary study on the feasibility of anaerobic digestion in residential housing and buildings was carried out, considering a mix of novel and traditional technologies. Different scenarios were evaluated for developed and developing countries, considering small communities and single housing configurations. Anaerobic digestion produces biogas to be used for cooking or heat production, thus aiding in covering the energy demand of residents. There are several aspects still pending a solution regarding medium and small-scale digestion applications under a decentralized waste configuration. The increase in reactor productivity is essential, but social aspects must be considered as well to prevent nuisance caused by offensive odors and legal responsibilities when community digesters create inconvenience to neighbors. Results indicated that using anaerobic digestion to treat residential food and garden waste under a decentralized configuration could scarcely cover 5.8% of the domestic heating demand for highly populated residential urban areas. This value may be increased if assumptions of maximum methane yields are considered, reaching up to 17%. Biological processes may be integrated into a mixed energy production approach, but higher yields are needed to make it realistic. Factors regarding levelized energy production costs are to be carefully considered. Large-scale systems are intrinsically more efficient than small-scale devices, thus making it crucial to establish a critical equilibrium between public acceptance and the scale of technology application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and a seven-category neighborhood typology, this analysis examines the relationship between urban form and household spending. Results suggest that poor households living in urban areas have lower transportation expenditures than their counterparts in sprawling suburbs. Lower transportation costs, however, do not offset high housing prices, with poor households paying particularly high premiums for housing in the densest, most transit-rich neighborhoods. Households above the poverty threshold also benefit from reductions in transportation costs, especially in intensely urban areas. Nevertheless, these low transportation costs are not associated with lower overall expenditures; instead, they countervail high housing premiums, meaning that the most transit-rich neighborhoods do not offer cost savings relative to other neighborhood types. Findings highlight the need to expand the supply of both transit and housing in communities where poor households can leverage affordable transportation options to reduce their combined expenditure burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence suggests that inclusionary zoning (IZ) correlates with affordable housing and mixed-income communities; however, what effect the policy design has on affordable housing productivity remains unclear. In this study we investigated the relationship between policy features and average annual affordable unit production under IZ by using the IZ data set, which includes adoption year, standardized characteristics, and outcomes in terms of affordable unit counts for 27 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Although the data set does not fully capture affordable unit production for all IZ policies or those produced from in-lieu payments, this study is by far the largest scale empirical examination of IZ outcomes. Findings indicated that jurisdictions with policies that were mandatory, older, covered the entire jurisdiction, or had more complex income requirements designed to reach lower income levels had significantly higher production of affordable units. The top 15% of high-producing policies disproportionately consisted of policies that created affordable rental units, covered the entire jurisdiction, and had more complex income requirements. In addition, longer affordability terms were not associated with lower affordable unit productivity in our regression models. Our analysis identified common traits in IZ policies that produced at least one affordable unit as well as high-producing policies. These commonalities generally support enacting more stringent IZ policies with some flexibility in terms of the income levels served for greater affordable unit productivity. Limitations revealed in the data set suggested that local jurisdictions should better track affordable units to gain more information about what works. Considering that IZ policy design varies greatly, planners and policymakers must consider local housing market conditions relative to findings in this study as well as state and local regulatory environments when designing IZ policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing several important gaps in the digital inequality literature, this study examines digital inequalities in public housing communities. Using a door-to-door survey of a hard-to-access population, it demonstrates how three distinct yet interrelated layers of digital inequalities – access, skills, and expectations for digital inclusion programs – are shaped by social inequalities and reinforce one another. First, it develops a multimodal view of access inequalities from the disconnected to the hyper-connected. Second, it highlights the expectation gaps on expected changes that digital inclusion efforts would bring. Results show deep, layered gaps by access, skills, and expectations for digital inclusion programs within disadvantaged communities. The access inequalities contribute to the skill inequalities, which in turn amplify the inequalities in expectations for digital inclusion programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a theoretical and empirical intervention into housing research by applying the geospatial lens of the rural-urban space (RUS) to the social problem of homelessness, a conceptual linkage absent in the Canadian context. Drawing on original data from 80 surveys, four focus groups, and a community feedback session, we identify and interrogate key local impacts of systemic shifts in the housing market and associated policy responses in Dufferin County, Ontario, a RUS community located 80km northwest of Toronto. We find that for people experiencing homelessness within RUS communities, the intersecting consequences of multiple forms of structural marginalization, such as low wages and social assistance rates and discrimination, can quickly destabilize housing. We emphasize the importance of attending to housing in RUS communities and developing housing policy strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perceived tenure security is recognised to affect the socioeconomic behaviours and wellbeing of informal settlement dwellers. The provision of perceived tenure security is centred on the developmental agenda as a key policy alternative of tenure legalisation. Despite the consensus about its importance, the reason perceived tenure security is different amongst dwellers remains unclear. To fill this gap, we introduce social capital theory to understand the formation of and disparity in perceived tenure security. The hypotheses are that dwellers living in informal settlements with higher collective social capital and having higher individual social capital tend to feel more secure on their tenure because of higher backing power attained to deter the threats of eviction. We examine the hypotheses using a structural equation model approach to a dataset collected from three small property rights housing communities, which are emerging informal settlements in urban China. Modelling results support our hypotheses and suggest that female, low-income and migrant dwellers tend to feel less secure on their tenure because of the lack of social capital to deter the threats to their tenure. This study contributes to a new sociological explanation for the disparity in perceived tenure security other than the established psychological explanation. Empirically, this study contributes to the understanding of the rapid development of small property rights housing developments in China from the perspective of how dwellers develop security on informal tenure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by feminist literature on the notion of 'dwelling', this paper asks: how does the personal dimension of dwelling relate to the political discourses of housing activism. The aim of this paper is to (re-)consider the political dimensions of housing activism and research through focussing on the intimate and private experiences of 'being at home', thereby extending and pluralising housing activism as 'dwelling activism'. Methodologically, this paper 'throws together' two data sets. The first is an arts-based study on the intimate experiences of feeling at home that was conducted with 18 mental health service users in the UK. The second study interviewed 14 urban community land trust activists in England about community engagement and housing activism. A plural, disintegrative analysis offers a symbiotic reading of the close entanglement between the inward-facing personal practices of dwelling like building shelter and security, and the outward-facing more public practices of dwelling, like building relations and togetherness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]