Browsing by Subject "Housing"

Now showing 1 - 10 of 14
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    A Brief Report on Living Arrangements Following Gray Divorce
    (Oxford University Press, 2023) Brown, Susan L.; Lin, I-Fen; Mellencamp, Kagan A.; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Objectives: We offer new insights on how older adults in the United States navigate the aftermath of gray divorce (i.e., divorce that occurs among adults aged 50+) by describing their living arrangements upon divorce and tracking the stability of these configurations over time. Living arrangements are important to decipher because they are linked to health, well-being, and longevity. Methods: Using data from the 1998-2014 Health and Retirement Study, we uncovered patterns of U.S. older adult living arrangements upon divorce (N = 1,057), distinguishing among those who lived alone, lived with others, and lived with a new partner. Multinomial logistic regression models were estimated to assess how individual characteristics (demographics, marital biography, economic resources, health, and social ties) were associated with these configurations. Cumulative survival probabilities gauged the relative stability of these 3 living arrangements. Results: About half of U.S. adults lived alone upon gray divorce, another one-third lived with others, and the remaining 14% lived with a new partner. Adults living with a new partner tended to exhibit the most advantaged sociodemographic profiles, whereas those living solo or with others were largely comparable. More than 70% of adults experienced a subsequent living arrangement transition if they lived with others upon divorce, versus just 50% of those living alone and only 30% of those with a new partner. Discussion: After divorce, older adults reside in a range of living arrangements, some of which are more stable than others. Future work should address whether and how these arrangements and their durability are related to postdivorce adjustment.
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    The Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association and the Fight Against Residential Segregation in Indianapolis
    (2021-07) Prebish, Lydia Anne; Morgan, Anita; Mullins, Paul; Robertson, Nancy
    The Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association (BTNA) is a community group organized in 1956 by a few concerned couples living in the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood on the north side of Indianapolis. These couples, both Black and white, witnessed a demographic change in their community as their white neighbors fled for the suburbs as the black population expanded. The BTNA, inspired to create an organization that would promote residential integration rather than continued segregation, worked to educate neighbors on the realities of integration, promote neighborhood conversation and comradery, and worked to influence the local and state governments on the impact of segregation that harmed their community. One of the first neighborhood organizations of its kind in the country, the BTNA still exists today, but little is known about their early history. This paper looks at the BTNA’s efforts to promote residential segregation in their community through activism, conversation, and legislative change. Additionally, this paper analyzes the BTNA success in its efforts to integrate the community during their first decade of existence.
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    Economic, sociological, and neighbor dimensions of energy efficiency adoption behaviors: Evidence from the U.S. residential heating and air conditioning market
    (Elsevier, 2015-11) Noonan, Douglas S.; Hsieh, Lin-Han Chiang; Matisoff, Daniel C.; School of Public and Environmental Affairs, IUPUI
    This study identifies factors that affect the adoption behavior for residential Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, including a spatial and temporal contagion effect, house characteristics, and other economic and contextual factors. The study draws on a dataset of house sale records in the greater Chicago area, spanning 1992–2004. First-differenced models and restricting the sample to new construction allow separate identification of adoption determinants for homeowners and for developers, respectively. We show that attributes of the building stock and demographics influence adoption decisions of both homeowners and developers. This includes a strong influence of square footage, a modest spatial clustering effect for existing homes, a consistent deterrent effect of higher property tax rates, and a positive influence of neighborhood education levels. Adoption decisions for existing homeowners appear to be driven by different factors than sellers of newly constructed homes. Adoption coincided with multi-story homes for developers, and neighbor adoption rates predicted adoption by existing homeowners but not developers. The results highlight the need for more research into the social context of energy efficiency investment.
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    The effect of adverse housing and neighborhood conditions on the development of diabetes mellitus among middle-aged African Americans
    (Oxford University Press, 2007-08-15) Schootman, Mario; Andresen, Elena M.; Wolinsky, Fredric D.; Malmstrom, Theodore K.; Miller, J. Philip; Yan, Yan; Miller, Douglas K.; Department of Medicine, IU School of Medicine
    The authors examined the associations of observed neighborhood (block face) and housing conditions with the incidence of diabetes by using data from 644 subjects in the African-American Health Study (St. Louis area, Missouri). They also investigated five mediating pathways (health behavior, psychosocial, health status, access to medical care, and sociodemographic characteristics) if significant associations were identified. The external appearance of the block the subjects lived on and housing conditions were rated as excellent, good, fair, or poor. Subjects reported about neighborhood desirability. Self-reported diabetes was obtained at baseline and 3 years later. Of 644 subjects without self-reported diabetes, 10.3% reported having diabetes at the 3-year follow-up. Every housing condition rated as fair-poor was associated with an increased risk of diabetes, with odds ratios ranging from 2.53 (95% confidence interval: 1.47, 4.34 for physical condition inside the building) to 1.78 (95% confidence interval: 1.03, 3.07 for cleanliness inside the building) in unadjusted analyses. No association was found between any of the block face conditions or perceived neighborhood conditions and incident diabetes. The odds ratios for the five housing conditions were unaffected when adjusted for the mediating pathways. Poor housing conditions appear to be an independent contributor to the risk of incident diabetes in urban, middle-aged African Americans.
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    Homelessness in Indiana (2024)
    (Center for Research on Inclusion and Social Policy, 2024-10-04) Mullin, Hannah; Gomez, Cecilia; Rapolu, Sreemayi; Arun, Nidhi; Bow, Brendan; Schultz, Kristi; Van Allen, Elizabeth J.; Menard, Claire; Thakur, Medhavi
    Over the past six years, rising eviction rates, stagnant state minimum wage, and a statewide shortage of affordable housing have impacted Hoosiers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, federal funding alleviated some effects of housing instability and homelessness. Without meaningful intervention and prevention, Indiana is at risk of worsening racial discrimination in the housing market, increasing the homeless population, and neglecting those affected by chronic homelessness. Housing instability and homelessness may also lead to new problems, including increases in continuously unhoused youth and incarceration stemming from discriminatory policies related to panhandling, loitering, and vagrancy. Research shows that targeting tenant rights, legal representation, minimum wage, and affordable housing effectively addresses housing problems and homelessness statewide.
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    Housing Condition Differentially Impacts Escalation of Alcohol Intake, Relapse-Like Drinking, Anxiety-Like Behavior, and Stress History Effects by Sex
    (Wiley, 2021) Moench, Kelly M.; Logrip, Marian L.; Psychology, School of Science
    Background: Stress triggers alcohol use and relapse to drinking, with different effects by sex. Women are more susceptible to stress-related alcohol misuse, and most stressors in rodents produce sexually divergent effects. Female rodents are particularly sensitive to the stress produced by solitary housing, yet the impact of housing conditions on the establishment, escalation, and post-abstinence potentiation of intermittent access alcohol drinking in male and female rats, and the interaction of these factors with stress history are not well described. Methods: Male (n = 62) and female (n = 64) Wistar rats were housed individually or in pairs separated by a perforated divider. Rats were exposed to light-cued footshock stress (stress history), or cues alone (control), once daily for 3 days, followed by 8 weeks' drinking under intermittent access to a 2-bottle choice (IA2BC), with 20% alcohol (v/v in water) available in addition to water for 24 hours on alternate days. After a 2-week forced abstinence, anxiety-like behavior was assessed via defensive withdrawal testing; then, IA2BC alcohol access was renewed for 2 weeks to model relapse-like behavior. Results: Pair-housed female rats did not increase their alcohol intake across the 8-week drinking period, unlike all other groups, and stress history did not significantly change alcohol consumption. After abstinence, anxiety-like behavior was greatest in pair-housed stress history males, whereas alcohol intake was significantly elevated only in female rats, particularly those in solitary housing. Conclusions: Together, these findings suggest that paired housing differentially contributes to behavior in male and female rats, blunting alcohol intake in females, and unmasking stress history effects on anxiety-like behavior in males.
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    Housing First and harm reduction: a rapid review and document analysis of the US and Canadian open-access literature
    (BioMed Central, 2017-05-23) Watson, Dennis P.; Shuman, Valery; Kowalsky, James; Golembiewski, Elizabeth; Brown, Molly; Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health
    BACKGROUND: Housing First is an evidence-based practice intended to serve chronically homeless individuals with co-occurring serious mental illness and substance use disorders. Despite housing active substance users, harm reduction is an often-overlooked element during the Housing First implementation process in real-world settings. In this paper, we explore the representation of the Housing First model within the open-access scholarly literature as a potential contributing factor for this oversight. METHODS: We conducted a rapid review of the US and Canadian open-access Housing First literature. We followed a document analysis approach, to form an interpretation of the articles' content related to our primary research questions. RESULTS: A total of 55 articles on Housing First were included in the final analysis. Only 21 of these articles (38.1%) included explicit mention of harm reduction. Of the 34 articles that did not discuss harm reduction, 22 provided a description of the Housing First model indicating it does not require abstinence from substance use; however, descriptions did not all clearly indicate abstinence was not required beyond program entry. Additional Housing First descriptions focused on the low-barrier entry criteria and/or the intervention's client-centeredness. CONCLUSIONS: Our review demonstrated a lack of both explicit mention and informed discussion of harm reduction in the Housing First literature, which is likely contributing to the Housing First research-practice gap to some degree. Future Housing First literature should accurately explain the role of harm reduction when discussing it in the context of Housing First programming, and public agencies promoting Housing First uptake should provide resources for proper implementation and monitor program fidelity to prevent model drift.
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    In the Crosshairs: How Systemic Racism Compelled Interstate Development Through Black Neighborhoods
    (2020-12) Townsend, Andrew L.; Scarpino, Phillip V.; Wokeck, Marianne S.; Mullins, Paul R.
    I present this thesis in two parts. The first is composed of a 35:41-minute documentary film entitled In the Crosshairs: how systemic racism compelled interstate development through Black neighborhoods. Accompanying it is this written essay that outlines my position and provides citations linking evidence to argument. Each component serves a different master. While the essay is intended for an academic reader, the film is intended for a general audience. Each component advances the argument. As a result of systemic racism, minority neighborhoods in Indianapolis have been devalued over time and, therefore, their residents have been left disproportionally vulnerable to displacement from federal interstate highway construction. They were vulnerable because their property was assessed as less valuable than surrounding land. Also, they lacked the political clout to resist “urban development”. Furthermore, their vulnerability was socially constructed. It never occurred to me that my place in society was arranged to my advantage. I didn’t feel advantaged in any way. Everybody I knew was like me or better than me, it seemed. As I matured, I learned that history is subjective and my world is only a small slice of history. I had never considered my whiteness an advantage. In truth, my situation has been shaped by a myriad of forces that were socially constructed. I discovered that the definition of “white” is fluid but, throughout history, has had an enormous impact on how people are treated. The following is a deep dive into what I discovered when I examined only one aspect of how race impacted the advantages I enjoyed simply because my parents were deemed sufficiently “white.”
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    Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority: Policy Evaluation of Aging in Place
    (2014-08-28) Norwood, Connor W.; Omenka, Isaac O.
    Aging in place refers to making the living environment safe and adaptable for everyone to remain independent and thrive in their homes and community even as circumstances change. The primary target populations for aging in place strategies are seniors and persons with disabilities. The effort involves construction of buildings and communities that are accessible, and livable. Creation of these housing opportunities means Hoosiers can choose how and where they live: rent or own, urban or rural, close to school or close to work. The Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA) has been working on developing a working definition of “Aging in Place” (AiP) in order to enhance the aging in place strategic initiative to support seniors and persons with disabilities in Indiana. As a result an evaluation of the current initiative was completed to determine the needs of the target population and to enhance the strategic priority. The goal of the program evaluation is to determine if the working definition of AiP fully encompasses the needs of the community and target population. The evaluation design involves learning and improvement of the IHCDA AiP priority and intends to improve the process. The evaluation team conducted one focus group to collect more in-depth information on perceptions, insights, attitudes, experiences, and beliefs regarding AiP. Five major themes from the focus group were identified including family, accessibility, independence, community integration, and finances. The evaluation was also able to identify a unique perspective of the definition of “home” shared by the aging in place community. To establish a home a physical and psychological component must be met. Furthermore, independent senior living communities were identified as being in high demand. Based on the findings of the evaluation, three recommendations were developed to enhance the AiP priority at IHCDA. It is recommended that IHCDA amend the working definition to explicitly characterize the meaning of home based on the findings of this evaluation. IHCDA should also increase allocation of funds to independent senior living communities and should perform ongoing evaluations to ensure that current needs of the AiP community are being identified and met. Ongoing evaluation with the data collection tool developed in this evaluation will ensure that the AiP strategic priority at IHCDA is on the right path moving forward.
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    Law, structural racism, and the COVID-19 pandemic
    (Oxford University Press, 2020-06-29) Yearby, Ruqaiijah; Mohapatra, Seema; Robert H. McKinney School of Law
    In this article, we focus on historical and current practices of structural racism that cause disparities in exposure, susceptibility, and treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. More specifically, we discuss how structural racism in employment causes disparities in exposure; structural racism in housing causes disparities in susceptibility; and structural racism in healthcare causes disparities in treatment.