Spatiotemporal Change in Housing Affordability for Single Parent Households in Davis, CA

Abstract

Single-income single-parent households are particularly vulnerable to decreases in housing affordability. For this research, the landscape of housing purchase affordability for single parent households in Davis, CA is assessed and mapped at the neighborhood scale for years 2010 and 2020, for each of single family homes, single family attaches homes, and condominiums. Home sale data is obtained through the Yolo County Assessor’s office. After estimating monthly housing cost particular to each home sold, a variation on the Housing Opportunity Index method is used to calculate the percent of homes affordable based on the median income for single mothers, the median income for single fathers, and based on a range of incomes, for each neighborhood. The landscape of housing affordability is further assessed by calculating the income required to afford at least 50% of sold homes in each neighborhood in 2010 and 2020. The results show that all neighborhoods and all sold homes are completely unaffordable in 2010 and 2020 to single mothers earning median income. In drastic comparison, single fathers earning median income are able to buy a home in the majority of neighborhoods in Davis in 2010, however, by 2020 there is a significant reduction in housing affordability. The results also reveal a consistent pattern of most and least affordable neighborhoods for single family homes from 2010 to 2020. Solutions are proposed to improve housing affordability for single parents in Davis, CA. Data clean up, analysis, and mapping of results is done with Python libraries Pandas and GeoPandas in a Jupyter Notebook.