#18

Rental housing assistance is seen as a primary measure to reduce residential mobility of poor families. Rental housing assistance bridges the gap between the cost of housing and what the family can afford. On an average the length of tenancy for households receiving rental housing assistance is six years according to HUD. However in New York City the median length is 16 years for young tenants and 23 years for middle aged tenants.
The issue lies in the fact that fewer than 13 million lowest income households who are eligible for rental housing assistance actually receive it due to insufficient funds. Also new investment in rental housing has been sparse. Changes in Federal policy too have reduced the potential for rental housing assistance.

#17

Section 502 rural homeownership program represents the largest homeownership program oriented to construction for low-income houses. In addition the HOME program may provide greater support for construction of units for first time, low-income home buyers. The HOME program was created in 1990 and all funds in this program targeted for rental assistance are aimed at households with incomes under 60 percent of the median income.
HUD also has incorporated various urban homestead programs under which properties which have defaulted on their HUD insurance were recycled to low-income families. One of many such programs is HOPE 3 (Home Ownership for People Everywhere). This program requires that recycled properties be made available to families with incomes no more than 80 percent of the median income.

#16

In National Survey of Americas families on welfare recipients show that:
Families who abandon welfare tend to retain housing assistance benefits, while current and former recipients with housing assistance tend to be more disadvantaged. Families with housing assistance have less immediate family support and more impediments to work. While housing assistance reduced housing costs and crowding, families still report a high level of hardship.
Housing assistance can make a positive difference in moving families from welfare to work. However housing assistance does not make a difference in families’ perspectives about their economic wellbeing.

#15

There is sufficient evidence that lack of affordable housing has direct impacts on health of individuals and adds to healthcare costs. More than half of the homeless people suffer from psychiatric or substance abuse disorders. There is a high level of services use amongst this group. They might also use additional and more costly services like emergency rooms compared to those who have stable residences.
Instances where veterans have not only suffered physically but also mentally due to chronic homelessness have shown to increase costs of health services. In a study conducted by the Veteran Affairs (VA), 9,108 veterans were identified as being acutely psychiatric and had a history of substance abuse. Out of this 34.9% were identified as homeless, and 50.9 % had lived in a rental apartment or a room. The rest were either living in an institution or had unknown residence. Most of them suffered from schizophrenia and post traumatic stress disorder. The healthcare cost for homeless veterans was also significantly greater than veterans who had a permanent address, in some cases as much as 42% higher.
Economic factor such as lack of affordable housing is one of the primary reasons for homelessness. Due to urban renewal efforts there has been a decline in affordable housing. Most homeless individuals suffer from alcohol and drug abuse, they tend to be transient and clearly have no way to afford insurance.

#14

According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) affordable housing is defined as housing where costs do not exceed 30% of the gross monthly income of a low income household. Green housing refers to resource conservation during design and construction and operation and protection of occupants’ health and productivity. Commercial and rental buildings are massive consumers of energy. According to the U.S. Green building council, buildings account for 70 percent of electricity, 39 percent of energy usage, 12 percent of water consumption etc. Residential buildings accounted for 22 percent of total energy consumption and 18 percent of all carbon emissions.
In a study by Enterprise Community Partners, increasing energy efficiency in a multifamily building would cost approximately $2,500 per unit and would increase efficiency by 25 to 40 percent. The costs would be slightly higher for single family homes at $3,000 but the costs would be justified since they would be recovered within 5-10 years. Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design study notes that 80 percent of the HUD housing is 15-30 years old and over 65 percent of the public housing available was build before 1970. Applying green technologies to this infrastructure would reduce emissions significantly.

#13

Residential mobility has repercussions for a student’s academic standing. Housing instability can result in frequent moves for families which can impact education. Children moving from one address to another might also move from one school to another. Low income families are the one that seem most affected by this issue since they have higher rates of mobility than middle or upper income families. Housing that is overcrowded, needs repairs or presents hazards puts the residents in danger and makes lives stressful.
Mobility in terms of better housing, neighborhood, and schooling district can provide a boost to the family and community life. However frequent moves that are not resulting in improvements can prove detrimental to children.
Frequent moves have adverse results on academic standing of children. Controlling for other factors and events, children with lower residential mobility perform better than those with higher mobility. Schools in lower income zones see mobility rates amongst their students as high as 70 percent per year. These children are also likely to receive poor assessments and are likely to have incomplete records. They are also more likely to repeat grades, and less likely to do well on standardized test jeopardizing their chances for future education.

#12

Foreclosures impact neighborhoods and communities in other ways such as crime. Vacant and abandoned buildings are signs of negligence and decay. Abandoned houses and buildings reduce house values of the neighborhood. They also pose threat in terms of decay by sewage and stray animals and are a haven for criminals and drug peddlers. They are a public safety hazard as they could become a target of theft and increase vandalism within the community. There is a strong correlation between high levels of foreclosures and violent crime, such that every 2.8 foreclosures out of a hundred increase violent crime by 6.7 percent.

#11

Weatherization programs have been on the rise, since energy is now being considered premium and efforts to reduce its consumption and optimize efficiency are popular. Buildings and homes in the United States contribute to air quality problems since they are major consumers of energy. While insulation may prevent some reduction in usage it is not considered a weatherization effort.
These programs typically include sealing cracks, gaps and holes. Sealing air ducts and protecting pipes from corrosion and freeze. Installing storm doors and windows and replacing drafty openings with fitting fixtures. The United States weatherization programs aims at reducing housing energy bills and assist low income families struggling with costs of their energy bills.

#10

http://www.azcentral.com/community/tempe/articles/2010/06/11/20100611tempe-homeless-outreach-united-way.html

Another interesting article that I came across and is local as well, taken from the Arizona Republic, dated June 11. However I am interested in knowing the backgrounds of the homeless. Why did they become homeless? Are they working? Interestingly the program does not mention the basis on which homeless qualify for the program.

#9

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20100623/FREE/100629928

According to this article something’s are just common sense, affordable housing means everything else becomes easy on the pocket. Families pay lower rents and have more money to pay for other necessities like food and healthcare, also this is a good stepping stone for reducing debt. Businesses in these areas in turn develop since people have money to spend, adjacent property value too increase. Good article.

#8

So my research continues on affordable housing and its benefits. First source is NLIHC (National Low Income Housing Coalition). A good resource for first timers like me, the site lists all the affordable housing advocacy groups’ through out the country and their contact information. I have looked into some of these for sample advocacy programs for further examination. I plan on looking at the local AZ department of housing as well for additional information on local issues and programs that might be underway.
When there is a ton of literature out there that describes the benefits of having affordable housing I don’t understand why then should it even be an issue, my guess is we shall soon find out.

#7

Affordable housing and its advocacy is an interesting topic, especially working with someone who is a lobbyist for affordable housing. I thought this was really interesting since how many time do you hear or meet someone who is lobbying for a real worthwhile cause. All work with out the glamour and politics of D.C.
So what is affordable housing? Well housing costs that do not exceed 30 percent of households’ gross income can be regarded as affordable. Subsidies are provided by the government for affordable housing for homeowners. This is done by mortgage interest tax deductions and subsidy programs. These subsidies are classified into:
Tenant based subsidies known as section 8 program
Project based subsidies, which include section 8, section 236, section 202 (for elders) and section 221(d).

There is a map that shows median home values in the United States in 2005 and the home value growth from 2002-2005. Note that in only one state did the home values declined in these three years. Since this was prior to the housing market crash it would be interesting to compare and contrast the data from the crash.

#6

Alright, week two and I am still staggering around collecting evidence to make up some juicy research. I have a meeting scheduled on Friday where I will be presenting my findings and hopefully we will take in on from there. This path has taken an interesting turn as I have been looking at research from National Housing Conference, National Governors Association, and National Low Income Housing Coalition etc. It’s a lot of relevant and irrelevant research to go through and I haven’t even started yet. How would this program look and what expectations would it address? In my recent conversations I have been advised to address issues pertaining to the area under focus. However I am not sure what the developers want to look at. Do they want to address affordable housing and homelessness while looking at health benefits or address an entirely different variable? Problem is, affordable housing programs from different states address different issues and are designed differently even if they address the same issue. Some have set up bonds as a financing mechanism while some use trust funds. Things are a bit hazy at the moment.

#5

Montreal is such a cultural diverse city; there is the Italian part, Irish section and the Latin Quarter. But the best part of the city is Old Montreal, with cobble stone streets, fancy restaurants and of-course the Norte Dame basilica. The whole city can be seen from Mount Royal, after which it was named, some people refer it to as being half way to Europe because of the cultural proximity and lifestyle. The best time to visit is after April till about end of September and close to October. It’s hard to find places to stay during the Grand Prix, the jazz festival, and the comedy festival but prices are pretty stable during rest of the year. Worst time to visit; winters of course. Snow, sunshine, and blizzard often occur with the same day, winter are really intense for I have experienced them first hand. I still remember the temperature being -7 degrees Fahrenheit, which is -21.6 degrees Celsius.

#4

Its hard to imagine only a 6 hour drive from Boston there exists a completely different city with a culture that in entirely un-North American. I am referring to Montreal, Quebec. For me it’s magical since I refuse to believe it existence when driving thru the lush green mountain of Vermont. Cross the border and you still keep driving into quaint old villages that look like something on the outskirts of any French city. The roads have pot holes, accounting for slower speeds and you realize houses look way different, construction and layout. Driving an hour from the border there it shines, the most French city outside of France, in terms of size and population.

#3

I will be coordinating my efforts at LISC with the Arizona Housing Alliance; we will be working on a fact sheet booklet that details advocacy of affordable housing. How is affordable housing related to health, its benefits to business, education etc? We will be classifying median sale prices of homes and the income, which would be classified into low, very low etc. My research would include finding literature that establishes a relationship between the above mentioned variables.
First task is to look at some sample affordable housing programs from some other states and see how they are doing it. In defense of affordable housing, a catchy title could be task number two. I am looking at the brochure for the California campaign for affordable housing; they have attributed homelessness to various behavioral problems and risks that it poses to the society. Another major State to look at for example is Texas; the Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation operates affordable housing programs for first time home buyers and assists in developing affordable multifamily housing.
Let me look at some more samples and see what I can find.

#2

Alright, my first day and it turns out my work is flexible, I can work from anywhere. Only if I had this opportunity when I had a job maybe I would have lasted longer. Any way the first day was productive and I feel like I contributed something at the meeting. Thanks to my GIS Analysis class I had inputs. To see if there was a way to map all the affordable housing along the light rail was an idea put forward during this meeting; this would just give viewers an idea if developers had stuck to the original plan to provide affordable housing along the light rail. This would be a tremendous project to work on; unfortunately it would take more than just the summer to complete it. Imagine geo-coding all address into the database, which reminds me I have to get up-to-data with access.

# 1

Ok not exactly but I feel non-profits work at par with public agencies. I start my internship at LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation) on the 9th of June. Right now this is more of a mystery to me; I am absolutely unaware of the work environment and what my intern duties will entail. Four year of working in financial services with custodian bank have left me with a bad taste and I hope I never find my self in that situation again.

LISC tries to improve neighborhoods and improve lives of people living in these neighborhoods. Their goal is to transform distressed neighborhoods into sustainable communities with ample opportunities for work and improved quality of life. Which bring me to a common issue, foreclosures; business and houses, I was in Boston prior to my move. My neighborhood was one of the most user friendly communities; one could find almost everything within a five minute walking distance. Bookstores, groceries, doctors, MRI you name it. As expected many of the family owned business shut down leaving only chain stores around, but even some chain stores like Barnes & Noble shut their location next to my apartment. These spaces have remained empty for months now. Why? Unlike cities like Detroit or Cleveland where empty plots were cleared and planted with vegetable gardens Boston and towns around the City of Boston have experienced foreclosures but rents still remain high. I would say these are some of the most stable housing markets in the country.