New Updates on The Edge

Message from PD&R Leadership:
COVID-19 and Water Sanitation Issues in Kibera
In the leadership message, director of PD&R's International and Philanthropic Affairs division Cynthia Campbell discusses the problems faced by communities who lack access to clean water and sufficient sanitation during the global COVID-19 outbreak. Campbell specifically examines the situation of Kiberia, a large, densely populated settlement in Nairobi, Kenya, which does not have traditional plumbing. The urban response arm of the United Nations, UN-Habitat, is working with nonprofit partners to address sanitation in Kiberia and in similarly affected places.

In Practice:
New Affordable Housing for Year-Round Residents of Martha's Vineyard
The island of Martha's Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts, is known primarily as a tourist destination and a community where wealthy people keep second homes. This creates a simultaneous demand for low-wage service workers and a high local cost of living. Local nonprofit developer Island Housing Trust took steps to address this affordability issue in 2018, when it completed its nine-unit Scott's Grove development in the town of West Tisbury.

Research:
Examining the Effects of the Rental Assistance Demonstration on Children Living in Public Housing in Fresno, California
A recently released research report explores the outcomes and well-being of children living in affordable housing developments that have undergone rehabilitation and conversion under the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program at the Fresno Housing Authority. Authorized by Congress in 2012, RAD allows for the conversion of public housing properties to project-based Section 8 contracts. From 2012 to 2015, the Fresno Housing Authority used low-income housing tax credits to convert and rehabilitate 447 public housing units.

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