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Decision Modeling For Housing And Community Development: A Methodology For Evidence-Based Urban And Regional Planning, Michael P. Johnson Jr. Aug 2017

Decision Modeling For Housing And Community Development: A Methodology For Evidence-Based Urban And Regional Planning, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Urban community development corporations and other local institutions routinely face challenging problems in housing and economic development that require substantial expertise in data analytics and decision modeling. Recent research, inspired by local responses to the housing foreclosure crisis, and developed in cooperation with Boston-area CDCs, has resulted in a collection of applications that can assist CDCs and similar organizations to design local interventions for acquisition and redevelopment of housing. This paper describes these applications. The first of these is values and objective design, i.e. the process of identifying decision opportunities. The second of these is data analytics, or …


Decision Modeling For Housing And Community Development: #11;A Methodology For Evidence-Based Urban And Regional Planning, Michael P. Johnson Jr. Nov 2016

Decision Modeling For Housing And Community Development: #11;A Methodology For Evidence-Based Urban And Regional Planning, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Urban community development corporations and other local institutions routinely face challenging problems in housing and economic development that require substantial expertise in data analytics and decision modeling. While CDC employees have significant experience in diverse application areas, they often face limitations in acquiring, analyzing and sharing data, and using these data to solve decision problems whose solutions can generate novel strategies to address localized needs. Recent research, inspired by local responses to
the housing foreclosure crisis, and developed in cooperation with Boston‐area CDCs, has resulted in a collection of analytic methods and applications that can assist CDCs and similar organizations …


Property Value Impacts Of Foreclosed Housing Acquisitions Under Uncertainty, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Senay Solak, Rachel B. Drew, Jeffrey Keisler Aug 2013

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 …


What Is A Strategic Acquisition? Decision Modeling In Support Of Foreclosed Housing Redevelopment, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Rachel B. Drew, Jeffrey Keisler, David Turcotte Aug 2012

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 …


Values, Objectives, And Decisions: Using Community-Based Operations Research For Neighborhood Redevelopment, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Rachel B. Drew, Jeffrey Keisler, David Turcotte May 2012

Values, Objectives, And Decisions: Using Community-Based Operations Research For Neighborhood Redevelopment, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Rachel B. Drew, Jeffrey Keisler, David Turcotte

Jeffrey Keisler

In this presentation we describe an application of value-focused thinking and decision analysis to the design and evaluation of strategies for housing development especially in urban communities affected by the ongoing foreclosure crisis. This is part of a multi-campus, multi-disciplinary effort to study decision processes of community development corporations (CDCs) acquiring and redeveloping foreclosed properties for neighborhood stabilization.


Values, Objectives, And Decisions: Using Community-Based Operations Research For Neighborhood Redevelopment, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Rachel B. Drew, Jeffrey Keisler, David Turcotte May 2012

Values, Objectives, And Decisions: Using Community-Based Operations Research For Neighborhood Redevelopment, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Rachel B. Drew, Jeffrey Keisler, David Turcotte

Michael P. Johnson

In this presentation we describe an application of value-focused thinking and decision analysis to the design and evaluation of strategies for housing development especially in urban communities affected by the ongoing foreclosure crisis. This is part of a multi-campus, multi-disciplinary effort to study decision processes of community development corporations (CDCs) acquiring and redeveloping foreclosed properties for neighborhood stabilization.


Community-Engaged Decision Support For Foreclosed Housing Acquisition And Redevelopment In Boston, Michael P. Johnson Jr. Mar 2012

Community-Engaged Decision Support For Foreclosed Housing Acquisition And Redevelopment In Boston, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

This project develops decision tools and analytical methods to help non‐profit community development corporations (CDCs) acquire and redevelop foreclosed housing for neighborhood stabilization and revitalization. Interviews and direct observations at partner CDCs have helped us identify current practices, data and requirements for our decision models. Problem‐structuring methods through CDC focus groups have generated core operational and organizational objectives. Spreadsheet‐ and optimization based decision models generate policy and operational alternatives that address multiple resident and community outcomes. Our research will support efficient responses to the recent foreclosure crisis, especially in distressed neighborhoods, and suggest policy implications at local and national levels.


Decision Models For Foreclosed Housing Acquisition And Redevelopment: A University Of Massachusetts Multi-Campus Collaborative Project - Processes And Findings To Date, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Jeffrey Keisler, Senay Solak, David Turcotte, Rachel B. Drew, Armagan Bayram, Emily Vidrine Dec 2011

Decision Models For Foreclosed Housing Acquisition And Redevelopment: A University Of Massachusetts Multi-Campus Collaborative Project - Processes And Findings To Date, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Jeffrey Keisler, Senay Solak, David Turcotte, Rachel B. Drew, Armagan Bayram, Emily Vidrine

Jeffrey Keisler

The recent housing foreclosure crisis has had devastating impacts on individuals, communities, organizations and government. In response, several community development corporations (CDCs) have sought new ways to assist neighborhoods suffering from the myriad effects of high foreclosures, including neighborhood instability, increased vandalism and crime, lower property values, and economic disinvestment. This research project focuses on activities of community-based organizations that acquire and redevelop foreclosed properties to support neighborhood stabilization and revitalization. However, the costs of pursuing this strategy far exceed the resources available to typical CDCs. Thus, our project seeks to solve the following decision problem: What subset of a …


Decision Models For Foreclosed Housing Acquisition And Redevelopment: A University Of Massachusetts Multi-Campus Collaborative Project - Processes And Findings To Date, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Jeffrey Keisler, Senay Solak, David Turcotte, Rachel B. Drew, Armagan Bayram, Emily Vidrine Nov 2010

Decision Models For Foreclosed Housing Acquisition And Redevelopment: A University Of Massachusetts Multi-Campus Collaborative Project - Processes And Findings To Date, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Jeffrey Keisler, Senay Solak, David Turcotte, Rachel B. Drew, Armagan Bayram, Emily Vidrine

Michael P. Johnson

The recent housing foreclosure crisis has had devastating impacts on individuals, communities, organizations and government. In response, several community development corporations (CDCs) have sought new ways to assist neighborhoods suffering from the myriad effects of high foreclosures, including neighborhood instability, increased vandalism and crime, lower property values, and economic disinvestment. This research project focuses on activities of community-based organizations that acquire and redevelop foreclosed properties to support neighborhood stabilization and revitalization. However, the costs of pursuing this strategy far exceed the resources available to typical CDCs. Thus, our project seeks to solve the following decision problem: What subset of a …


National Science Foundation Funded Project: "Collaborative Proposal: Decision Models For Foreclosed Housing Acquisition And Redevelopment", Michael Johnson, Jeffrey Keisler, Senay Solak, David Turcotte Dec 2009

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 …