Cityscape Examines Affordable, Accessible, Efficient Communities

October 5, 2015  

Cityscape Examines Affordable, Accessible, Efficient Communities

The latest issue of Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research features a research symposium on the relationship between affordable housing – particularly HUD-subsidized housing – and neighborhood qualities such as walkability and access to amenities. Guest Editor Regina Gray frames the issue with a brief history of federal activities aimed at encouraging sustainable development, a summary of lessons learned from research conducted through the Sustainable Communities Research Grant Program, and a preview of forthcoming research on the effectiveness of federal affordable housing policies, transportation and infrastructure planning, and green building programs. 

The symposium articles present research findings and several discuss policy implications:

Julia Koschinsky and Emily Talen find that only 14 percent of neighborhoods and 13 percent of houses have walkable access to important amenities. Among HUD-subsidized households, 37 percent of public housing tenants, 30 percent of project-based tenants, 23 percent of tenants in low-income tax credit properties, and 23 percent of housing choice voucher tenants have walkable access. That accessibility, however, is disproportionately compromised for HUD-assisted tenants by other factors such as crime or the poor quality of amenities.

Two articles report that access to an automobile is an important factor in neighborhood choice for households using tenant-based rental vouchers. Rolf Pendall, Christopher Hayes, Arthur George, Casey Dawkins, Jae Sik Jeon, Elijah Knaap, Evelyn Blumenberg, Gregory Pierce, and Michael Smart find that car access increases the likelihood of living in and remaining in an opportunity-rich neighborhood. Evelyn Blumenberg, Gregory Pierce, and Michael Smart suggest that access to automobiles is especially important for voucher recipients in suburbs where transit is often limited. Both studies argue that cars and transit must be considered together in developing mobility programs.

Todd Nedwick and Kimberly Burnett draw from interviews with housing agency staff, developers, and housing and transit policy experts to identify two major challenges to developing and preserving affordable housing near transit. These include the high costs associated with developing housing in transit-accessible sites and conflicting state priorities in awarding tax credits. The authors suggest changing land use policies such as parking requirements, prioritizing gap financing, and separating tax credit allocations into geographic pools among several other recommendations to address these challenges.

James Svara, Tanya Watt, and Katherine Takai investigate survey data from local governments to reveal that few localities are pursuing equity in their planning and that wide differences exist in the goals identified by governments that are incorporating equity and those that are not.

Andrew McCoy, C. Theodore Koebel, Andrew Sanderford, Christopher Franck, and Matthew Keefe introduce a research project analyzing home builders’ decisions to adopt innovative, environmentally beneficial technologies. Although the industry traditionally has been slow to change, they find indications that home builders are increasingly deploying high-performance technologies in new construction.

Harriet Tregoning reviews the history of HUD in facilitating innovation and sustainability, culminating in the Sustainable Communities Initiative, and discusses the implications of the symposium research on future policies to support sustainable and resilient communities. She devotes special attention to the link between equity and sustainability.

In addition to the symposium, the issue features five refereed papers: Jonathan Spader’s analysis of rebuilding outcomes for properties damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita; C.J. Gabbe’s examination of regulatory barriers to micro-apartments; Lauren Lambie-Hanson, Christopher E. Herbert, Irene Lew, and Rocio Sanchez-Moyano's case study of investors’ purchases of foreclosed properties in the strong market city of Boston; Joshua Bamberger and Sarah Dobbins’s investigation of the cost-effectiveness of permanent supportive housing for homeless seniors; and Jenny Schuetz, Jonathan Spader, Jennifer Lewis Buell, Kimberley Burnett, Larry Buron, Alvaro Cortes, Michael DiDomenico, Anna Jefferson, Christian Redfearn, and Stephen Whitlow's look at outcomes of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.  

Articles in this issue’s regularly appearing departments include “Gauging Confidence in the U.S. Housing Market,” by Terry Loebs in Data Shop; “Rainscreens: An Established Technique for Advanced Wall Construction,” by Brian Wolfgang and Ehsan Kamel in Industrial Revolution; “Proposed Rule on Section 3,” by Yves Sopngwi Djoko and Alastair McFarlane in Impact; and “Improving Program Evaluation: Using Direct Time Measurement for Estimating Administrative Costs,” by Kevin Hathaway and Jennifer Turnham in Evaluation Tradecraft.

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