The effects of occupant and neighborhood factors on housing modifications and repairs: Implications for the planning and evaluation of urban redevelopment programs

Community development practitioners in the United States may target federal resources such as the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) based on occupant characteristics, on geographic concentrations of need (place based), or even the severity of conditions in a neighborhood (triage). CDBG and other federal planning requirements mandate that state and local governments administering CDBG programs assess housing needs and identify specific goals for program outputs and community outcomes.; This dissertation investigates the relationship of HUD-defined occupant characteristics and major neighborhood categories to specific housing conditions, housing needs, housing behavior for owner-occupied units as well as related non-housing community development needs and conditions. In addition to an examination of specific housing needs and outcomes, it also explores whether the housing needs, conditions and behavior of homeowners eligible for CDBG assistance, lower income households under Section 8 income guidelines, are influenced by specific occupant, dwelling unit and neighborhood characteristics in the same manner as their upper income counterparts that are not eligible for CDBG assistance.; Using analysis of variance and regression analyses, this study found significant differences in housing conditions, needs and behavior for upper and lower income homeowners. Many occupant and neighborhood categories were highly related to each other and experienced similar influences from specific occupant, dwelling unit and neighborhood characteristics. Elderly, large family and minority homeowners were more often in homes and neighborhoods in worse physical condition, experienced more problems, had less choice in housing and neighborhood selection options, and were more likely to explain the reason needed repairs were not made as due to affordability and lack of finance. Conversely, upper income, non-minority homeowners were generally in homes and neighborhoods in better condition, experienced fewer problems, had more choice in housing and neighborhood selection options, and were more likely to explain the reason needed repairs were not made as due to repairs not being worth the expense or plans to move. In addition to differences in the influence of specific independent variables on regression results across income levels, results were highly influenced by the types of independent variables included and the specification of housing related dependent variables.