Changing Water and Sewer Finance: Distributional Impacts and Effects on the Viability of Affordable Housing

In this article, we focus on the distributional impact of a shift to charging for water and sewer service based entirely on actual water use measured by meters. In particular, we examined what the impact of universal metering in New York City would be on low- and moderate- income housing. We found that, despite its possible positive effects on conservation, universal water metering would have a substantial and regressive impact on both the providers and consumers of the city's low-income housing.