The effects of unplanned moves on post-crisis housing situations

ABSTRACT Currently, there is not much research on subsequent housing decisions for households that are displaced due to a crisis event. Crisis events include disasters, but can also include unplanned moves related to eviction and foreclosure as well. The American Housing Survey provides the research community the opportunity to examine such situations through a special module related to recent movers introduced in 2013. Using measures of well-being related to residential satisfaction and housing cost burden, we analyze the differences in these measures for both regular movers and those who have moved due to circumstances of crisis. Initial analysis shows that there are highly significant differences between the two populations, with regular movers having higher housing unit satisfaction and neighborhood satisfaction, and lower housing cost ratios, when compared against households which moved under crisis situations. Similar findings are made when comparing against households’ previous housing situations as well. After controlling for demographic and other independent variables, however, the effect of crisis events is nullified for residential satisfaction. Housing cost ratios take divergent paths according to tenure, with renters having heavy cost burdens upon relocation and homebuyers actually reducing their ratios significantly.