HOMELESSNESS LINKED TO HIGH HOME VALUES
The U.S. has a homelessness problem — and it might be more closely related to affluence than to poverty.
That’s one of the surprising conclusions from a new study by real estate company Home Bay that uncovered a strong correlation between homelessness and elevated home values.
Experts at Home Bay analyzed data from Zillow and the Department of Housing and Urban Development and found that, among the 50 largest U.S. metro areas, cities with greater-than-average home values also had rates of homelessness 2.5x higher than metro areas with lower-than-average home values.
The poster child for this pattern is San Jose, California, which has both the highest average home values in the nation ($1.39 million) and the highest rate of homelessness. This link proved durable both statewide and nationwide.
According to the Home Bay study, California’s six biggest cities have homeless rates that are 2.3 times higher than the national average, and home values that are almost 3 times the national average.
A difficult problem
There were nearly 600,000 homeless Americans in 2022 — roughly equivalent to the entire
population of Wyoming.
And while the U.S. is one of the most affluent countries in the world, some countries with much less money seem to have done a much better job at handling their unhoused population.
For example, Portugal, which has a GDP equal to about 1 percent of the U.S. GDP, has a homeless rate that’s half the U.S. rate.
One possibility is that countries like Portugal are simply doing a better job at identifying and targeting the root causes of homelessness.
The Home Bay study found a few U.S. cities that defied the pattern of high homelessness and high home values.
Boston, for example, has the sixth-highest average home values, but the 27th-highest rate of homelessness.
There are also outliers in the opposite direction — cities where home values are low enough that the American dream of homeownership is still very much within reach for the average American, but which also have surprisingly high rates of homelessness.
One example is Hartford, Connecticut, which has the 32nd-highest home values in the U.S. but the 11th-highest rate of homelessness.
However, in the vast majority of the metro areas studied, home values and the rate of homelessness were tightly linked.
U.S. 30-year mortgage rate climbs to 6.96 percent this week
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate rose this week to just under 7 percent, the latest setback for would-be homebuyers already facing affordability challenges due to a housing market limited by a shortage of homes for sale.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year home loan rose to 6.96 percent from 6.90 percent last week. A year ago, the rate averaged 5.22 percent.
It’s the third consecutive weekly increase for the average rate, which now matches its high for the year set on July 13. High rates can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, limiting how much they can afford in a market already unaffordable to many Americans.
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage remains more than double what it was two years ago, when it was just 2.87 percent. Those ultra-low rates spurred a wave of home sales and refinancing. The sharply higher rates now are contributing to a dearth of available homes, as homeowners who locked in those lower borrowing costs two years ago are now reluctant to sell and jump into a higher rate on a new property.
The lack of housing supply is also a big reason home sales are down 23 percent through the first half of this year.
The latest increase in rates follows an uptick in the 10-year Treasury yield, which climbed to 4.19 percent last week, it’s highest level since early November.
Struggling cities
After San Jose, the city with the second-highest average home value is San Francisco, where homes are worth an average of $1.11 million. San Francisco also has the second-highest rate of homelessness in the U.S.
Next on the list is Los Angeles, which has the third-highest home values and the third-highest rate of homelessness. Sacramento has the fourth-highest rate of homelessness and the eighth-highest home values, while Seattle ranks fifth in both categories.
Rising home values also put pressure on landlords to raise rents in order to meet their mortgage obligations and other escalating expenses. That explains why higher rents, like high home values, are associated with higher-than-average rates of homelessness.
Looking at the 12 metros with the highest rates of homelessness, average rents there come in at
$2,274 a month. In cities with lower-than-average rates of homelessness, rents are nearly $700 less, averaging only $1,596. The four cities with the highest average rents are San Jose, San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles. These cities rank first, second, sixth, and third in rates of homelessness, respectively.
Root causes
It may seem intuitive — from a strictly economic viewpoint — that the cities with the least affordable housing would have the most people who can’t afford a place to live. But the conventional wisdom is that homelessness is a consequence of poverty, not affluence. If that conventional wisdom is false, it could explain why some U.S. policies aimed at curbing homelessness have failed.
“Currently, nearly all our government programs that seek to address homelessness focus on maintaining
shelters and providing a limited number of housing vouchers,” said Dan Kerr, director of the Public History Program at American University. “The shelters seek to keep the public display of homelessness from getting out of hand, while the vouchers are ultimately a form of subsidy for landlords.”
In this view, certain government policies aimed at homelessness aren’t so much about solving homelessness as hiding it from the public. Meanwhile, there’s been very little effort put toward the actual cause of homelessness — e.g., high home values and the resulting lack of affordable housing.
“The government moved away from public housing in the 1970s,” Kerr said. “And since then has not addressed any real ways to keep market-based housing affordable.”
Poverty
The complexity of this problem is revealed by an analysis of poverty rates and their relation to homelessness. Although it may seem intuitive that cities with less poverty would also have less homelessness, the opposite is actually true. The Home Bay study found that cities with low poverty rates tend to have higher rates of homelessness than cities with high poverty rates.
Specifically, metros in which less than 10 percent
of city residents live in poverty actually have rates of homelessness that are 2x higher than metros where more than 10 percent of residents are in poverty. In other words, the two strongest predictors of homelessness are inflated home values and high average incomes.
Clearly, some portion of the population is being left behind when home values and incomes rise.
“Since 1979, the bottom 20 percent of income earners have seen an actual decrease in family income,” Kerr said. “Stagnating and decreasing incomes, coupled with greater costs to secure housing, leave more and more people vulnerable to homelessness.”
Essentially, when home values and wages have boomed, the benefits have accrued to the top fourfifths of the population, while the bottom fifth has seen their purchasing power dwindle — to the point that more of them become homeless.
The real solution to homelessness, then, would be to increase that bottom quintile’s wages. Kerr said that the people facing the issue on a day-to-day basis mostly agree with this diagnosis.
“When asked what they think needs to be done, the large majority of people experiencing homelessness argue that we need to address the issue of low wages,” Kerr said.
N.A. FIFTH CIRCUIT COURT NOTICE
P. NO. 5CLP-23-0000079
THE ESTATE OF KURT ALLAN HANSON, ALSO KNOWN AS KURT ALAN HANSON, DECEASED. FILED,PetitionforAppointmentofSpecial AdministratorofWELLSFARGOBANK,N.A.,showing propertywithinthejurisdictionofthisCourtandasking thatRandallM.L.Yee,Esq.,whoseaddressis1000 BishopStreet,Suite908,Honolulu,Hawaii96813,be appointed Special Administrator for said estate. That, TUESDAY,AUGUST29,2023at1:00p.m. beforepresidingJudgeatPu-uhonuaKaulikeBuilding, 3970Ka’anaStreet,Lihue,HI96766istheappointed date,timeandplaceofhearingonthePetitionandall interested person.
PursuanttoRule10(c)oftheHawaiiProbate Rules,anypartywishingtoobjectorrespondtothe PetitionshallfilesuchobjectionwiththeCourtorserve itonallinterestedpersonswithinthirty(30)daysof the date of this Notice.
DATED: Lihue, Hawaii, 7/20/2023.
/s/Doreena Olivas Brun CLERK OF THE ABOVE-ENTITLED COURT (TGI1424824 8/4, 8/11, 8/18/23)
OWNER’S NOTICE OF COMPLETION OF CONTRACT
NOTICEISHEREBY GIVENthatpursuantto theProvisionsofSection 507-43,oftheHawaii RevisedStatutes,the constructionbyJM PACIFICCONSTRUCTION, LLCofthat certain 2 STORYRESIDENCE situatedat 969NIULANI RD.,KAPAA,Hawaii,TMK: (4)4-3-009-006-0000, has been completed.
VINCENT ORTOLANO & NADINE CLAPP Owner(s) (TGI1426186 08/11, 08/18/23)
FIFTH CIRCUIT COURT NOTICE AND NOTICE TO CREDITORS
P. NO. 5CLP-23-0000037
ESTATE OF JOHN DAVICHICK, DECEASED FILED,StatementofIntestateInformal AppointmentofPersonalRepresentativefiled 4/11/23,showingtheIntestacyofthesaiddecedent, showingpropertywithinthejurisdictionofthisCourt, andthatLORIPIPITONE,whoseaddressis2447 LexingtonPl,Livermore,CA94550,isappointedas Personal Representative of said estate. Allcreditorsoftheabove-namedestatearehereby notifiedtopresenttheirclaimswithpropervouchersor dulyauthenticatedcopiesthereof,eveniftheclaimis securedbymortgageuponrealestate,tosaid appointee,attheaddressshownabove,withinfour(4) monthsfromthedateofthefirstpublicationofthis notice, or they will be forever barred.
DATED: Honolulu, Hawaii, August 9, 2023
DAVID K. AHUNA 9540 Attorney for Personal Representative (TGI1426349 8/11, 8/18, 8/25/23)
NOTICEOFINTENTTOFORECLOSEINTERVALOWNERSHIPINTERESTSANDOF SALEBYPUBLICAUCTION.NOTICEISHEREBYGIVENpursuanttothetermsof theTimeshareDeclarationthatthefollowingtimeshareinterestsmore particularlydescribedinthelien(s)referredtoin Schedule“1” willbe forecloseduponbytheforeclosingagent,FirstAmericanTitleCompanyon behalfof Marriott’sKauaiBeachClubOwnersAssociation,aHawaii nonprofitcorporation bysaleofpropertysecuredtherebyatpublicauction on 08/25/2023 at 1:00PM at VidinhaStadium,HoolakoSt,Lihue, HI96766,underthetrees,atentrancetothestadium. Eachofthe propertiestobesoldisaTimeshareInterestat KauaiResortandBeach Club establishedbycertainDeclarationrecordedas Doc.No.95-088888 intheofficeofBureauofConveyancesorAssistantRegistraroftheLand Court,StateofHawaiiandasamendedandwhichpropertyislocatedat 3610RiceStreet,KalapakiBeach,Lihue,Kauai,HI,96766. The TimeshareInterestasnotedontheNoticeofLien,whichhasbeenfiled againsttherecordownerasconsistsofdelinquentmaintenancefees,(plus interest,latecharges,andcollectionandenforcementcosts).Termsofthe saleare:(1)Noupsetprice.(2)Propertysoldwithoutcovenantorwarranty, expressorimplied,astothetitlepossessionorencumbrances;(3)Atthe closeoftheauction,Purchasershallpay100%ofthehighestsuccessfulbid price(“Bid”)bycertified,orcashier’schecktoFIRSTAMERICANTITLE COMPANY;providedthattheAssociationmaysubmitacreditbiduptothe amountofthesecuredindebtedness;(4)Purchasershallpayallclosingcosts including,butnotlimitedto:costsofdocumentdrafting,notaryfees,consent fees,escrowfees,conveyancetax,recordationfeesandothercharges, togetherwithanyspecialassessmentswhichmayariseunderHRS514B146(g)(h)(i);(5)IftitleisnotconveyedtoPurchaserforanyreason,other thanPurchaser’sfailuretoperformasspecifiedherein,theAssociation’ssole responsibilityshallbethereturnoftheBidfundstenderedbyPurchaser.The PurchasershallhavenofurtherrecourseagainsttheAssociationoritsagents, attorneys,servicersandauctioneers;(6)Thesalemaybepostponedfromtime totimebypublicannouncementbytheAssociationorsomeoneactingonits behalf;(7)BysubmittingtheBid,Purchaseracknowledgesreadingtheterms andconditionssetforthinthisnoticeandagreestobeboundtherebyand signawrittenacceptanceofalltermsherein.Forfurtherinformationregarding thissale,youmustcontact FirstAmericanTitleInsuranceCompany,a Nebraskacorporation at (702)304-7509. Conductorofthepublicsale inthestateofHawaii:AQUALEGALLLConbehalfof,FirstAmericanTitle, agentforClaimant;Phone:(808)539-7504;Address:1099AlakeaStreet, suite2430,Honolulu,Hawaii96813.BatchNo: ForeclosureHOA131542KA107-HOA.Schedule“1”: LienRecordingDateandReference,Timeshare Interest(ContractNo.),Owner(s);05/27/2022Inst:A-81820805, KA*0101*40*X,CHARLIEBUFORDBULLOCKSandMAGGIERUTHBULLOCKS; 05/27/2022Inst:A-81820805,KA*0105*28*E,WILLIAMJOSEPHLEVYand RUTHELLENLEVY,TrusteesoftheLEVYFAMILYTRUST,DATEDAPRIL21, 1986;05/27/2022Inst:A-81820805,KA*0338*14*E,DREXELB. SHEAHANandNOREENB.SHEAHAN,TrusteesoftheSHEAHANFAMILYTRUST DATEDFEBRUARY1,1999;05/27/2022Inst:A-81820805, KA*0338*29*B,JANINEMARIESHAGOURYKRUZEandANNEMARIE VERONICASHAGOURY;05/27/2022Inst:A-81820805,KA*0446*45*B, THOMASAMBROSEJONESandRUTHANNEJONES;02/07/2023Inst: 84380281,KA*0451*48*B,JEANETTLAUKUNZE;05/27/2022Inst:A81820805,KA*0520*09*B,RAYDONALDHALSELLandMARILYNANN HALSELL;01/26/2023Inst:84260332,KA*0679*19*B,RICHARDEDWARD OTOSKI,M.D.andEMILYCHRISTINAOTOSKI;05/27/2022Inst:A-81820805, KA*0828*34*B,JAMESWATSONMINTEER;05/27/2022Inst:A-81820805, KA*1016*30*X,PAMELAJ.WALLACEandGINAGITISZCZENKO;05/27/2022 Inst:A-81820805,KA*1121*32*B,TRAVISG.WYCKOFFandROSALINDS. CARELLA-WYCKOFF. (TGI1424045
