Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Decision Science For Housing And Community Development: Localized And Evidence‐Based Responses To Distressed Housing And Blighted Communities: Wiley Interview, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Jeffrey Keisler, Senay Solak, David A. Turcotte, Armagan Bayram, Rachel B. Drew

Michael P. Johnson

This is an interview with staff at John Wiley & Sons regarding my book "Decision Science for Housing and Community Development: Localized and Evidence‐Based Responses to Distressed Housing and Blighted Communities" that was published by Wiley in 2015. It describes the motivation for the book, essential knowledge my co-authors and I would like each reader to take away from the book, and our assessment of the book's contribution to research and practice.

Decision Science For Housing And Community Development: Localized And Evidence‐Based Responses To Distressed Housing And Blighted Communities, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Jeffrey Keisler, Senay Solak, David Turcotte, Armagan Bayram, Rachel B. Drew

Michael P. Johnson

Reconstructing Neighborhoods: Case Studies In Foreclosed Housing Acquisition And Redevelopment By Community Development Corporations, David A. Turcotte, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Emily Vidrine, Rachel B. Drew, Felicia M. Sullivan

Michael P. Johnson

Community development corporations (CDCs) play a central role in addressing the foreclosed housing crisis in America’s urban neighborhoods. The success of CDCs, however, is closely tied to market forces, neighborhood characteristics, and policies at multiple levels, as well as factors internal to CDCs. What factors support or impede the success of CDCs that operate in such complex environments? We examine the experiences of two CDCs serving two small, ethnically diverse cities in Massachusetts regarding resources, policy, practices and local markets related to neighborhood revitalization. We derive lessons about the factors internal and external to these CDCs that affect their ability …

Value Focused Thinking For Community-Based Organizations: Objectives And Acceptance In Local Development, Jeffrey Keisler, David A. Turcotte, Rachel B. Drew, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

A multi-site case study applies value-focused thinking methods in a community engaged research framework within three organizations. All three organizations are community development corporations (CDCs), a type of community based organization (CBO) who direct assets and efforts toward housing stock and neighborhood improvement. Objectives hierarchies were developed for the three sites. A set of common aspects of these structures suggest ways to operationalize the generic mission of CDCs. Other aspects which vary across sites can be related to specific characteristics of the organizations and the communities in which they operate. The process of applying value-focused thinking is also compared across …

Electronic Supplement: Value Focused Thinking For Community-Based Organizations: Objectives And Acceptance In Local Development, Jeffrey Keisler, David A. Turcotte, Rachel B. Drew, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

This is an electronic supplement to the manuscript "Value Focused Thinking for Community-Based Organizations: Objectives and Acceptance in Local Development", published by the EURO Journal on Decision Processes.

Stochastic Models For Strategic Resource Allocation In Nonprofit Foreclosed Housing Acquisitions, Armagan Bayram, Senay Solak, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Increased rates of mortgage foreclosures in the U.S. have had devastating social and economic impacts during and after the 2008 financial crisis. As part of the response to this problem, non-profit organizations such as community development corporations (CDCs) have been trying to mitigate the negative impacts of mortgage foreclosures by acquiring and redeveloping foreclosed properties. We consider the strategic resource allocation decisions for these organizations which involve budget allocations to different neighborhoods under cost and return uncertainty. Based on interactions with a CDC, we develop stochastic integer programming based frame- works for this decision problem, and assess the practical value …

Property Value Impacts Of Foreclosed Housing Acquisitions Under Uncertainty, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Senay Solak, Rachel B. Drew, Jeffrey Keisler

Michael P. Johnson

Community development corporations seek to stabilize neighborhoods affected by the recent foreclosure crisis through acquisition and redevelopment of distressed properties. One rationale for this work is the alleviation or avoidance of negative foreclosure impacts. We estimate the lost value to proximate properties associated with a single foreclosure through a Markov chain representing probabilistic transitions between foreclosure stages. We apply our model to a case study of foreclosure properties in Chelsea, MA. A rank ordering by estimated property value impacts indicates significant potential gains in social value as compared to current community development practice. We extend our basic model to address …

Maintain, Demolish, Re-Purpose: Policy Design For Vacant Land Management Using Decision Models, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Justin Hollander, Alma Hallulli

Michael P. Johnson

Decline, measured in population growth rates, population levels, housing stock and economic activity, and associated increases in vacant land in urban areas, is a reality for cities and regions within the United States. However, planners increasingly see ‘decline’ as a development state to anticipate and a development strategy to consider. For example, a place may lose population while continuing to provide a high quality of life and social value. Vacant land is central to planning issues related to decline: some currently-occupied housing may likely become abandoned and demolished, yielding vacant lots, while some currently vacant lots may be inputs to …

Planning For Meals-On-Wheels: Algorithms And Application, Hakan Yildiz, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Stephen Roehrig

Michael P. Johnson

Home-Delivered Meals provision, also known as Meals-on-Wheels, is a volunteer-staffed activity for which little strategic planning is performed. We develop a Memetic Algorithm to solve the Home Delivered Meals Location Routing Problem. This planning model addresses facility location, allocation of demand to facilities, and design of delivery routes, while balancing efficiency and effectiveness considerations. The case study presented on a large data set shows how trade-off curves, which are very useful for decision making, can be obtained by the method developed.

What Is A Strategic Acquisition? Decision Modeling In Support Of Foreclosed Housing Redevelopment, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Rachel B. Drew, Jeffrey Keisler, David Turcotte

Michael P. Johnson

This paper describes and develops a model for calculating location-based strategic values of foreclosed properties considered for acquisition and redevelopment by community development corporations (CDCs). A property’s strategic value refers to its proximity to site-specific neighborhood amenities and disamenities (e.g. schools, public transit, distressed properties), given the relative importance of that proximity to CDC organizational and community objectives. We operationalize the concept of strategic value, and apply this concept to a salient public sector decision problem. Using data and value assessments from a CDC engaged in foreclosed housing redevelopment, we compute measures of strategic value for a set of acquisition …

Project Website: Decision Models For Foreclosed Housing Acquisition And Redevelopment, Michael Johnson, Senay Solak, David Turcotte, Jeffrey Keisler, Rachel Drew, Armagan Bayram, Emily Vidrine

Michael P. Johnson

No abstract provided.

Community-Based Operations Research: Decision Modeling For Local Impact And Diverse Populations, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Community-Based Operations Research: Introduction, Theory And Applications, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Handling Anticipated Exceptions In Clinical Care: Investigating The Benefits And Consequences Of Providing “Exit Strategies” In Computerized Clinical Information Systems, Kai Zheng, David Hanauer, Rema Padman, Michael Johnson, Anwar Hussain, Wen Ye, Xiaomu Zhou, Herbert Diamond

Michael P. Johnson

Unpredictable yet frequently occurring exception situations pervade clinical care. Handling them properly often requires aberrant actions temporarily departing from normal practice. In this study, the authors investigated several exception-handling procedures provided in an electronic health records system for facilitating clinical documentation, which the authors refer to as ‘data entry exit strategies.’ Through a longitudinal analysis of computer-recorded usage data, the authors found that (1) utilization of the exit strategies was not affected by postimplementation system maturity or patient visit volume, suggesting clinicians' needs to ‘exit’ unwanted situations are persistent; and (2) clinician type and gender are strong predictors of exit-strategy …

Robust Placement Of Sensors In Dynamic Water Distribution Systems, Jianhua Xu, Michael Johnson, Paul Fischbeck, Mitchell Small, Jeanne Vanbriesen

Michael P. Johnson

Designing a robust sensor network to detect accidental contaminants in water distribution systems is a challenge given the uncertain nature of the contamination events (what, how much, when, where and for how long) and the dynamic nature of water distribution systems (driven by the random consumption of consumers). We formulate a set of scenario-based minimax and minimax regret models in order to provide robust sensor-placement schemes that perform well under all realizable contamination scenarios, and thus protect water consumers. Single-and multi objective versions of these models are then applied to a real water distribution system. A heuristic solution method is …

Social Networks And Physician Adoption Of Electronic Health Records: Insights From An Empirical Study, Kai Zheng, Rema Padman, David Krackhart, Michael Johnson, Herbert Diamond

Michael P. Johnson

Objective: To study how social interactions influence physician adoption of an electronic health records (EHR) system. Design: A social network survey was used to delineate the structure of social interactions among 40 residents and 15 attending physicians in an ambulatory primary care practice. Social network analysis was then applied to relate the interaction structures to individual physicians’ utilization rates of an EHR system. Measurements: The social network survey assessed three distinct types of interaction structures: professional network based on consultation on patient care-related matters; friendship network based on personal intimacy; and perceived influence network based on a person’s perception of …

National Science Foundation Funded Project: "Collaborative Proposal: Decision Models For Foreclosed Housing Acquisition And Redevelopment", Michael Johnson, Jeffrey Keisler, Senay Solak, David Turcotte

Michael P. Johnson

The recent housing foreclosure crisis has had devastating impacts on individuals and their communities. To mitigate some of these impacts a number of community-based organizations are acquiring foreclosed properties in efforts to support neighborhood stabilization and revitalization. Examples of actions taken on these foreclosed properties include: land-banking, rehabilitation, demolition and re-sale or/re-rental. These actions have the potential to minimize blight, reduce unanticipated housing mobility, and provide affordable housing opportunities. However, the cost of pursuing any or all of these strategies to their fullest extent far exceeds the resources available to typical community-based organizations. In this research project, the PIs will …

What Foreclosed Homes Should A Municipality Purchase To Stabilize Vulnerable Neighborhoods?, Michael Johnson

Michael P. Johnson

Over the past 3 years, increased rates of mortgage foreclosures in the U.S. have resulted in widespread bankruptcies of financial institutions and massive losses of consumer wealth. The effects have been especially pronounced in economically vulnerable regions. In response, municipalities and community-based organizations provide a variety of services to mitigate the effects of foreclosures. Purchases of foreclosed properties represent a particularly attractive strategy because they have the potential to minimize blight, reduce unanticipated housing mobility, and to provide affordable homeownership opportunities. Since the cost of such purchases far exceeds the resources available in most urban centers, not-for-profit managers must solve …

Using Facility-Location Models To Optimally Locate Hierarchical Community-Based Health Facilities In Davao City, Myra Silva, Michael Johnson

Michael P. Johnson

Alternative hierarchical location-allocation models are used to locate two types of community-based health facilities in Davao City relative to population locations. Accounting for factors such as politics and resource availability, different optimization approaches were implemented to locate a mix of health centers and nutrition posts across the rural and urban areas of the city. The results were evaluated based on operating costs, average travel distance and population coverage. Computational results revealed that, by optimally locating barangay health centers and health posts, the current level of public investment in the health delivery infrastructure can be sufficient to cover a significant proportion …

An Interface-Driven Analysis Of User Behavior Of An Electronic Health Records System, Kai Zheng, Rema Padman, Michael Johnson, Herbert Diamond

Michael P. Johnson

Objectives: This study sought to investigate user interactions with an electronic health records (EHR) system by uncovering hidden navigational patterns in the EHR usage data automatically recorded as clinicians navigated through the system’s software user interface (UI) to perform different clinical tasks. Design: A homegrown EHR was adapted to allow real-time capture of comprehensive UI interaction events. These events, constituting time-stamped event sequences, were used to replay how the EHR was used in actual patient care settings. The study site is an ambulatory primary care clinic at an urban teaching hospital. Internal medicine residents were the primary EHR users. Measurements: …

Tutorials In Operations Research: Models, Methods And Applications For Innovative Decisionmaking, Michael Johnson, Bryan Norman, Nicola Secomandi

Michael P. Johnson

No abstract provided.

Planning Models For Affordable Housing Development, Michael Johnson

Michael P. Johnson

This paper presents new mathematical programming-based planning models for the provision of affordable housing to low-income and moderate-income families by government and nongovernmental entities. These models address two key policy concerns of housing providers: setting priorities for investments among a variety of affordable housing programs, and choosing locations and configurations for particular affordable housing initiatives. This paper also incorporates elements of location-design models to address various programmatic and physical attributes associated with affordable housing. Computational results based on a case study demonstrate the potential of these models to generate affordable housing strategies that are flexible, meet affordable housing `gaps', and …

Community-Based Operations Research, Michael Johnson, Karen Smilowitz

Michael P. Johnson

Community-based operations research is defined as the collection of analytical methods applied to problem domains in which interests of underrepresented, underserved, or vulnerable populations in localized jurisdictions, formal or informal, receive special emphasis, and for which solutions to problems of core concern for daily living must be identified and implemented so as to jointly optimize economic efficiency, social equity, and administrative burdens.As such, it represents a specific domain within public-sector OR.Comm unity-based operations research (OR) problems tend to be “messy” and highly dependent on political and social considerations. Nevertheless, solution of these problems is essential to the continued health and …

Single-Period Location Models For Subsidized Housing: Project-Based Subsidies, Michael Johnson

Michael P. Johnson

Large urban public housing authorities (PHAs) in the US have abandoned the traditional model of highrise public housing developments and increasingly use lower-density project-based subsidized housing as well as tenant-based housing subsidies to provide affordable shelter. PHAs generally apply practitioner expertise to locate subsidized housing and do not identify housing alternatives using prescriptive planning models that optimize policy criteria and incorporate well-defined stakeholder impacts. Using policy characteristics and estimated economic impacts of subsidized housing, a new single-period multi-objective integer programming model for location of project-based subsidized housing is developed. Data requirements, relationships with standard planning models, solution characteristics and sensitivity …

Decision Models For Location Of Community Corrections Centers, Michael Johnson

Michael P. Johnson

Community corrections centers (CCCs, or `halfway houses') represent a community-based justice strategy intended to reintegrate offenders into civil society. Site selection for these facilities is complicated by negative perceptions of CCC impacts on the part of potential host communities. I solve the CCC-location problem through the use of a framework based on value-focused thinking and quantitative decision models. The first of two mathematical models for CCC location is a novel integer programming formulation that incorporates neighborhood characteristics and equity considerations; the second is a straightforward application of the analytic hierarchy process. These models are applied to a case study in …