Analysis of Low Level Living in Japan Using Audit Study

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The fair housing audits is a method which attempts to detect discrimination in the housing market by training a pair of individuals, who differ from each other only as to the attributes to be observed, such as race or age, so that they can deal with the questions from and answers to a real estate agent same, causing the pair to visit a real estate agent in close, succession and recording the treatment they receive, and then processing the recorded data statistically.At first, this paper reports the results of a pilot investigation of age discrimination of elderly living alone in the rental housing market the author conducted in 2001 (the 2001 Osaka Audits).The conclusions reached are as follows :* In the rental housing market in Japan, the volume of information on housing provided to elderly home-seekers is less than that provided to young home-seekers by about 30%.* The hypotheses about reasons for age discrimination that were supported by the data collected were: the hypothesis that … More those with less ability to pay rents in the future are discriminated against (future income hypothesis) ; the one that in the situation where the landlord's right to cancel arental agreement and to raise rents is restricted by the Japanese Tenant Protection Law, tenants expected to stay for a long time are discriminated against (tenancy period hypothesis) ; and the one that the elderly are discriminated against in a neighborhood of young inhabitants (community preference hypothesis). However, the data did not support the hypothesis that the behavior of real estate agents anticipating the elderly's preference for rental houses results in age discrimination (elderly preference hypothesis).* In Japan, moderate residential segregation, where elderly inhabitants are concentrated in a particular neighborhood, is observed. The young people's preference for a neighborhood of young inhabitants (that is consistent with the community preference hypothesis)and inflexibility of rents in the housing market for the elderly are probable reasons for this.Next, this paper reports the outcome of new fair housing audits (the 2002 Osaka Audits), in which improvements were added for some problems in the 2001 Osaka Audits, and analyzes the existence of discrimination against th elderly as a whole and a variety of causes of age discrimination, using a broader range of tests of hypotheses.The results obtained can be summarized as follows : housing discrimination against elderly home-seekers was observed on a significant level. It was also suggested that the risk of the elderly's future income changing, the risk of fire caused by their negligence, the risk of their tenancy period becoming too long, and their preference for location of housing, as well as young people' s preference for neighborhoods of young inhabitants, affected housing discrimination against elderly home-seekers. Finally, it was found that the patterns of restrictions on renting houses to the elderly differed according to their family structure and age. Less