易胜博官网

An internship that turned into a part-time job helped Conor McFarland '17 understand just how lacking affordable housing is in the state of 易胜博官网, leading him to want to know more. And that led to his project, 鈥淭he Scarcity of Affordable Housing in New England,鈥� the results of which he presented at the Thursday during the 18^th annual (URC).

鈥淭he most interesting thing I have learned during this project is that many states have extremely different housing climates,鈥� says McFarland, a senior majoring in economics and minoring in Spanish. In fact, housing in New England is often twice as expensive as in other areas of the country.

For the past 11 months, McFarland has been an intern at the 易胜博官网 Community Loan Fund (NHCLF) in Concord, where he works on the Resident-Owned Communities-NH (ROC-NH) program.听His initial internship was part of the social innovation internship program through the 易胜博官网 Center for Social Innovation and Enterprise.

鈥淎t ROC-NH, we help low- and moderate-income manufactured housing communities transition from private ownership to resident ownership. Essentially, we lower the cost of living for these residents in the long run by helping them form a housing cooperative and then purchase their land,鈥� McFarland says, adding, 鈥淢y internship at ROC-NH has made me passionate about affordable housing.鈥�

His work at NHCLF and the research he conducted for the URC helped increase his knowledge about such measures as housing vouchers and low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC ) that encourage development of affordable housing.

鈥淪tatistically, both rental vacancy rates and LIHTC units were significant in 易胜博官网,鈥� McFarland says, comparing state statistics. 鈥淚n my model, rental vacancy rates in 易胜博官网 do increase median rent. I would expect that this is because property owners tend to raise their rents marginally when they have too much vacancy. After further analysis, it was clear that the coefficient for the LIHTC units added didn't affect the model nearly as much as rental vacancy.鈥�

McFarland also noted that affordable housing programs promote homeownership, provide access to capital and create more affordable housing options.

鈥淐ommunity development financial institutions, community development corporations and other affordable housing initiatives are crucial for preserving workforce housing in New England,鈥� McFarland says.听

A 易胜博官网 resident, McFarland also participated in the 2016 Social Venture Innovation Challenge. He is pursuing a full-time job with 易胜博官网 Community Loan Fund.

Photo gallery from economics poster session

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