The Rent Is Too Damn High:the Spatial and Longitudinal Dimensions of Housing Affordability

As the housing affordability crisis intensifies, I content that the spatial and longitudinal aspects of housing affordability are important dimensions of affordability. While much has been written about the sources and drivers of this new housing crisis, I investigate the impact of space, gentrification, and the life course on affordability patterns. I specifically address questions about the (1) role of space in shaping affordability patterns, the (2) impact of gentrification on neighborhood and household affordability, and (3) the trajectory of affordability over the life course. Broadly, I find that neighborhoods that are gentrifying in 2013 see increased affordability in 2019, which can likely be attributed to higher income residents displacing lower incomes. Yet, I also find that after correcting for the effect of displacement and non-random treatment assignment bias, households living in gentrifying neighborhoods experience less affordability than would be expected. Finally, in tracing affordability trajectories over the life course, I find that although housing affordability increases as households age, income class moderates those effects: low and low-middle income households experience much less affordability, even across tenure status and ethnoracial identity