case study affordable housing

About Stanford GSB

• The Leadership
• Dean’s Updates
• School News & History
• Commencement
• Business, Government & Society
• Centers & Institutes
• Center for Entrepreneurial Studies
• Center for Social Innovation
• Stanford Seed

About the Experience

• Learning at Stanford GSB
• Experiential Learning
• Guest Speakers
• Entrepreneurship
• Social Innovation
• Communication
• Life at Stanford GSB
• Collaborative Environment
• Activities & Organizations
• Student Services
• Housing Options
• International Students

Full-Time Degree Programs

• Why Stanford MBA
• Academic Experience
• Financial Aid
• Why Stanford MSx
• Research Fellows Program
• See All Programs

Non-Degree & Certificate Programs

• Executive Education
• Stanford Executive Program
• Programs for Organizations
• The Difference
• Online Programs
• Stanford LEAD
• Seed Transformation Program
• Aspire Program
• Seed Spark Program
• Faculty Profiles
• Academic Areas
• Awards & Honors
• Conferences

Faculty Research

• Publications
• Working Papers
• Case Studies

Research Hub

• Research Labs & Initiatives
• Business Library
• Data, Analytics & Research Computing
• Behavioral Lab

Research Labs

• Cities, Housing & Society Lab
• Golub Capital Social Impact Lab

Research Initiatives

• Corporate Governance Research Initiative
• Corporations and Society Initiative
• Policy and Innovation Initiative
• Rapid Decarbonization Initiative
• Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative
• Value Chain Innovation Initiative
• Venture Capital Initiative
• Career & Success
• Climate & Sustainability
• Corporate Governance
• Culture & Society
• Finance & Investing
• Government & Politics
• Leadership & Management
• Markets and Trade
• Operations & Logistics
• Opportunity & Access
• Technology & AI
• Opinion & Analysis
• Email Newsletter

Welcome, Alumni

• Communities
• Digital Communities & Tools
• Regional Chapters
• Women’s Programs
• Identity Chapters
• Find Your Reunion
• Career Resources
• Job Search Resources
• Career & Life Transitions
• Programs & Services
• Career Video Library
• Alumni Education
• Research Resources
• Volunteering
• Alumni News
• Class Notes
• Alumni Voices
• Contact Alumni Relations
• Upcoming Events

Admission Events & Information Sessions

• MBA Program
• MSx Program
• PhD Program
• Alumni Events
• All Other Events

Is Affordable Housing Good for the Neighborhood?

Research shows these buildings impact home prices and diversity.

September 15, 2015

Photo illustration showing low-income housing options in a neighborhood by Tricia Seibold. Photo by iStock/David Sucsy

In a lawsuit filed in 2008 and elevated to the U.S. Supreme Court this year, nonprofit Inclusive Communities Project sued the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, arguing it supported racial segregation by allocating too many housing credits to develop affordable housing in poorer, predominantly black neighborhoods. The high court sided with the nonprofit in June, returning the case to the lower court.

But new research shows that the housing department may have been on to something. A study by Stanford GSB professors Rebecca Diamond and Tim McQuade shows that affordable housing development could be an effective policy to help revitalize and integrate low-income areas, Diamond says.

The two studied affordable housing projects’ impact on the surrounding neighborhoods over a 10-year span, and found that new projects in poorer neighborhoods increased surrounding home prices and reduced crime, while new projects in wealthier neighborhoods drove down home prices and decreased racial diversity.

“Perhaps counterintuitively, if you build in high-minority areas, it will actually attract higher-income homebuyers as well as non-minority homebuyers to the area,” McQuade says. “It can actually achieve to some extent a goal of integration.”

The Research

Analyzing the effects of affordable housing holds merit, considering what Americans spend on these programs. Each year, U.S. federal, state, and local governments drop more than $97 billion on housing assistance. One such program, the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (or LIHTC) provides developer incentives to build affordable housing. Launched in 1986, the program has funded about a fifth of multifamily developments. Diamond and McQuade analyzed the impact these LIHTC projects had on surrounding areas by pulling data on housing transactions, as well as homebuyer race and income information. They were able to study about 16 million transactions from 15 states around 7,098 LIHTC sites.

Quote The study revealed that an affordable housing project in a low-income region was worth about $116 million to the immediate surrounding neighborhood.

In low-income neighborhoods, where median incomes fell below $26,000, the researchers saw home values appreciate 6.5% within a tenth of a mile of an LIHTC project. Crime rates also fell, and more non-minorities moved into the area, increasing diversity. In higher-income neighborhoods, those with median incomes above $54,000, housing prices declined approximately 2.5% within a tenth of a mile of a project, and segregation increased (the researchers noticed no crime impact).

Why the difference? In many cases, a new building in a poorer neighborhood created a “sort of revitalization effect,” Diamond says. “These areas don’t tend to have a lot of investment in them. It makes the neighborhood appear more desirable.” That, in turn, drew more homebuyers, particularly non-minorities.

On the flip side, wealthier neighborhoods didn’t see affordable housing as an attractive amenity. And that impact rippled through the area years after construction started.

“In the high-income areas, you saw a strong housing price drop very locally, and then it radiated outward over time,” McQuade says. The price effects remain even after 10 years, Diamond adds.

Furthermore, by aggregating the housing price changes in transactions following a new development, Diamond and McQuade were able to determine how much a project was worth to the surrounding neighborhood — in other words, how much more people were willing to pay to live close to the site, or conversely, how much they’d be willing to lose to move away from it. Their analysis revealed that an LIHTC project in a low-income region was worth about $116 million to the immediate surrounding neighborhood. In higher-income areas, the new building led to a loss of approximately $17 million.

The researchers say that examining neighborhood impact is only one way to analyze affordable housing. Another method would consider personal impact to tenants. For example, another study found moving children from poor neighborhoods to higher-income ones increases their future earnings.

“In terms of the actual people who live in these buildings, it could be better to move them to better neighborhoods,” McQuade says. “What we’re saying is that the government needs to think seriously about the tradeoff of how much we are benefiting the tenants of affordable housing versus what the effects are on the local neighborhood.”

For media inquiries, visit the Newsroom .

Explore More

How markets can change to ease economic inequality, how well do refugees integrate into american society, how companies can solve the pay equity problem, editor’s picks.

Who Wants Affordable Housing in their Backyard? An Equilibrium Analysis of Low Income Property Development Rebecca Diamond Timothy James McQuade

• Priorities for the GSB's Future
• See the Current DEI Report
• Supporting Data
• Research & Insights
• Share Your Thoughts
• Search Fund Primer
• Teaching & Curriculum
• Affiliated Faculty
• Faculty Advisors
• Louis W. Foster Resource Center
• Defining Social Innovation
• Impact Compass
• Global Health Innovation Insights
• Faculty Affiliates
• Student Awards & Certificates
• Changemakers
• Dean Jonathan Levin
• Dean Garth Saloner
• Dean Robert Joss
• Dean Michael Spence
• Dean Robert Jaedicke
• Dean Rene McPherson
• Dean Arjay Miller
• Dean Ernest Arbuckle
• Dean Jacob Hugh Jackson
• Dean Willard Hotchkiss
• Faculty in Memoriam
• Stanford GSB Firsts
• Certificate & Award Recipients
• Teaching Approach
• Analysis and Measurement of Impact
• The Corporate Entrepreneur: Startup in a Grown-Up Enterprise
• Data-Driven Impact
• Designing Experiments for Impact
• Digital Business Transformation
• The Founder’s Right Hand
• Marketing for Measurable Change
• Product Management
• Public Policy Lab: Financial Challenges Facing US Cities
• Public Policy Lab: Homelessness in California
• Lab Features
• Curricular Integration
• View From The Top
• Formation of New Ventures
• Managing Growing Enterprises
• Startup Garage
• Explore Beyond the Classroom
• Stanford Venture Studio
• Summer Program
• Workshops & Events
• The Five Lenses of Entrepreneurship
• Leadership Labs
• Executive Challenge
• Arbuckle Leadership Fellows Program
• Selection Process
• Training Schedule
• Time Commitment
• Learning Expectations
• Post-Training Opportunities
• Who Should Apply
• Introductory T-Groups
• Leadership for Society Program
• Certificate
• 2024 Awardees
• 2023 Awardees
• 2022 Awardees
• 2021 Awardees
• 2020 Awardees
• 2019 Awardees
• 2018 Awardees
• Social Management Immersion Fund
• Stanford Impact Founder Fellowships and Prizes
• Stanford Impact Leader Prizes
• Social Entrepreneurship
• Stanford GSB Impact Fund
• Economic Development
• Energy & Environment
• Stanford GSB Residences
• Environmental Leadership
• Stanford GSB Artwork
• A Closer Look
• California & the Bay Area
• Voices of Stanford GSB
• Business & Beneficial Technology
• Business & Sustainability
• Business & Free Markets
• Business, Government, and Society Forum
• Get Involved
• Second Year
• Global Experiences
• JD/MBA Joint Degree
• MA Education/MBA Joint Degree
• MD/MBA Dual Degree
• MPP/MBA Joint Degree
• MS Computer Science/MBA Joint Degree
• MS Electrical Engineering/MBA Joint Degree
• MS Environment and Resources (E-IPER)/MBA Joint Degree
• Academic Calendar
• Clubs & Activities
• LGBTQ+ Students
• Military Veterans
• Minorities & People of Color
• Partners & Families
• Students with Disabilities
• Student Support
• Residential Life
• Student Voices
• MBA Alumni Voices
• A Week in the Life
• Career Support
• Employment Outcomes
• Cost of Attendance
• Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program
• Yellow Ribbon Program
• BOLD Fellows Fund
• Application Process
• Loan Forgiveness
• Contact the Financial Aid Office
• Evaluation Criteria
• GMAT & GRE
• English Language Proficiency
• Personal Information, Activities & Awards
• Professional Experience
• Letters of Recommendation
• Optional Short Answer Questions
• Application Fee
• Reapplication
• Deferred Enrollment
• Joint & Dual Degrees
• Entering Class Profile
• Event Schedule
• Ambassadors
• New & Noteworthy
• Ask a Question
• See Why Stanford MSx
• Is MSx Right for You?
• MSx Stories
• Leadership Development
• Career Advancement
• Career Change
• How You Will Learn
• Admission Events
• Personal Information
• Information for Recommenders
• GMAT, GRE & EA
• English Proficiency Tests
• After You’re Admitted
• Daycare, Schools & Camps
• U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents
• Requirements
• Requirements: Behavioral
• Requirements: Quantitative
• Requirements: Macro
• Requirements: Micro
• Annual Evaluations
• Field Examination
• Research Activities
• Research Papers
• Dissertation
• Oral Examination
• Current Students
• Education & CV
• International Applicants
• Statement of Purpose
• Reapplicants
• Application Fee Waiver
• Deadline & Decisions
• Job Market Candidates
• Academic Placements
• Stay in Touch
• Faculty Mentors
• Current Fellows
• Standard Track
• Fellowship & Benefits
• Group Enrollment
• Program Formats
• Developing a Program
• Diversity & Inclusion
• Strategic Transformation
• Program Experience
• Contact Client Services
• Campus Experience
• Live Online Experience
• Silicon Valley & Bay Area
• Digital Credentials
• Faculty Spotlights
• Participant Spotlights
• Eligibility
• International Participants
• Stanford Ignite
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Operations, Information & Technology
• Organizational Behavior
• Political Economy
• Classical Liberalism
• The Eddie Lunch
• Accounting Summer Camp
• Videos, Code & Data
• California Econometrics Conference
• California Quantitative Marketing PhD Conference
• California School Conference
• China India Insights Conference
• Homo economicus, Evolving
• Political Economics (2023–24)
• Scaling Geologic Storage of CO2 (2023–24)
• A Resilient Pacific: Building Connections, Envisioning Solutions
• Adaptation and Innovation
• Changing Climate
• Civil Society
• Climate Impact Summit
• Climate Science
• Corporate Carbon Disclosures
• Earth’s Seafloor
• Environmental Justice
• Operations and Information Technology
• Organizations
• Sustainability Reporting and Control
• Taking the Pulse of the Planet
• Urban Infrastructure
• Watershed Restoration
• Junior Faculty Workshop on Financial Regulation and Banking
• Ken Singleton Celebration
• Marketing Camp
• Quantitative Marketing PhD Alumni Conference
• Presentations
• Theory and Inference in Accounting Research
• Stanford Closer Look Series
• Quick Guides
• Core Concepts
• Journal Articles
• Glossary of Terms
• Faculty & Staff
• Researchers & Students
• Research Approach
• Charitable Giving
• Financial Health
• Government Services
• Workers & Careers
• Short Course
• Adaptive & Iterative Experimentation
• Incentive Design
• Social Sciences & Behavioral Nudges
• Bandit Experiment Application
• Conferences & Events
• Reading Materials
• Energy Entrepreneurship
• Faculty & Affiliates
• SOLE Report
• Responsible Supply Chains
• Current Study Usage
• Pre-Registration Information
• Participate in a Study
• Founding Donors
• Location Information
• Participant Profile
• Network Membership
• Program Impact
• Collaborators
• Entrepreneur Profiles
• Company Spotlights
• Seed Transformation Network
• Responsibilities
• Current Coaches
• How to Apply
• Meet the Consultants
• Meet the Interns
• Intern Profiles
• Collaborate
• Research Library
• News & Insights
• Program Contacts
• Databases & Datasets
• Research Guides
• Consultations
• Research Workshops
• Career Research
• Research Data Services
• Course Reserves
• Course Research Guides
• Material Loan Periods
• Fines & Other Charges
• Document Delivery
• Interlibrary Loan
• Equipment Checkout
• Print & Scan
• MBA & MSx Students
• PhD Students
• Other Stanford Students
• Faculty Assistants
• Research Assistants
• Stanford GSB Alumni
• Telling Our Story
• Staff Directory
• Site Registration
• Alumni Directory
• Alumni Email
• Privacy Settings & My Profile
• Success Stories
• The Story of Circles
• Support Women’s Circles
• Stanford Women on Boards Initiative
• Alumnae Spotlights
• Insights & Research
• Industry & Professional
• Entrepreneurial Commitment Group
• Recent Alumni
• Half-Century Club
• Fall Reunions
• Spring Reunions
• MBA 25th Reunion
• Half-Century Club Reunion
• Faculty Lectures
• Ernest C. Arbuckle Award
• Alison Elliott Exceptional Achievement Award
• ENCORE Award
• Excellence in Leadership Award
• John W. Gardner Volunteer Leadership Award
• Robert K. Jaedicke Faculty Award
• Jack McDonald Military Service Appreciation Award
• Jerry I. Porras Latino Leadership Award
• Tapestry Award
• Student & Alumni Events
• Executive Recruiters
• Interviewing
• Land the Perfect Job with LinkedIn
• Negotiating
• Elevator Pitch
• Email Best Practices
• Resumes & Cover Letters
• Self-Assessment
• Whitney Birdwell Ball
• Margaret Brooks
• Bryn Panee Burkhart
• Margaret Chan
• Ricki Frankel
• Peter Gandolfo
• Cindy W. Greig
• Natalie Guillen
• Carly Janson
• Sloan Klein
• Sherri Appel Lassila
• Stuart Meyer
• Tanisha Parrish
• Virginia Roberson
• Philippe Taieb
• Michael Takagawa
• Terra Winston
• Johanna Wise
• Debbie Wolter
• Rebecca Zucker
• Complimentary Coaching
• Changing Careers
• Work-Life Integration
• Career Breaks
• Flexible Work
• Encore Careers
• Join a Board
• D&B Hoovers
• Data Axle (ReferenceUSA)
• EBSCO Business Source
• Global Newsstream
• Market Share Reporter
• ProQuest One Business
• Student Clubs
• Entrepreneurial Students
• Stanford GSB Trust
• Alumni Community
• How to Volunteer
• Springboard Sessions
• Consulting Projects
• 2020 – 2029
• 2010 – 2019
• 2000 – 2009
• 1990 – 1999
• 1980 – 1989
• 1970 – 1979
• 1960 – 1969
• 1950 – 1959
• 1940 – 1949
• Service Areas
• ACT History
• ACT Awards Celebration
• ACT Governance Structure
• Building Leadership for ACT
• Individual Leadership Positions
• Leadership Role Overview
• Purpose of the ACT Management Board
• Contact ACT
• Business & Nonprofit Communities
• Reunion Volunteers
• Ways to Give
• Fiscal Year Report
• Business School Fund Leadership Council
• Planned Giving Options
• Planned Giving Benefits
• Planned Gifts and Reunions
• Legacy Partners
• Giving News & Stories
• Giving Deadlines
• Development Staff
• Submit Class Notes
• Class Secretaries
• Board of Directors
• Health Care
• Sustainability
• Class Takeaways
• All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions
• If/Then: Business, Leadership, Society
• Grit & Growth
• Think Fast, Talk Smart
• Spring 2022
• Spring 2021
• Autumn 2020
• Summer 2020
• Winter 2020
• In the Media
• For Journalists
• DCI Fellows
• Other Auditors
• Academic Calendar & Deadlines
• Course Materials
• Entrepreneurial Resources
• Campus Drive Grove
• Campus Drive Lawn
• CEMEX Auditorium
• King Community Court
• Seawell Family Boardroom
• Stanford GSB Bowl
• Stanford Investors Common
• Town Square
• Vidalakis Courtyard
• Vidalakis Dining Hall
• Catering Services
• Policies & Guidelines
• Reservations
• Contact Faculty Recruiting
• Lecturer Positions
• Postdoctoral Positions
• Accommodations
• CMC-Managed Interviews
• Recruiter-Managed Interviews
• Virtual Interviews
• Campus & Virtual
• Search for Candidates
• Think Globally
• Recruiting Calendar
• Recruiting Policies
• Full-Time Employment
• Summer Employment
• Entrepreneurial Summer Program
• Global Management Immersion Experience
• Social-Purpose Summer Internships
• Process Overview
• Project Types
• Client Eligibility Criteria
• Client Screening
• ACT Leadership
• Social Innovation & Nonprofit Management Resources
• Develop Your Organization’s Talent
• Centers & Initiatives
• Student Fellowships

• Staff And Affiliates
• Advisory Board
• Research & Policy
• Terner Labs
• Terner Blog: No Limits

Statewide Goals, Local Tools: Case Studies in Affordable Housing Development in California

Published On April 18, 2019

Cities have an important role to play in addressing California’s affordable housing shortage, and local policies such as community land trusts, reforming impact fees, and reducing barriers to multi-family housing production can all make a significant difference. Made possible by the support of California’s Department of Housing and Community Development, the Terner Center has conducted a series of case studies to explore how action at the local level can help to address the state’s housing shortfall.

Case Studies

Accessory Dwelling Units: Hillsborough

Affordable Housing Overlay Zones: Oakley

Building Community Support for Housing: Santa Clara County

Community Land Trusts: Irvine

Development Fees: Sacramento

Enforcement of Housing Element Law: Pleasanton

Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts: West Sacramento

Housing Incentive Programs: Arcata

Integrated Housing Policies: Pasadena

Transit-Oriented Communities: Los Angeles

Case Studies in Affordable Housing Development in California

Households across the country are increasingly burdened by rising rents. This has been a particular hardship for residents of California, where weakening state and federal funding has been compounded by a statewide shortfall in housing production, most notably for lower-income, and increasingly, for moderate-income households.

California has ambitious affordable housing goals with multiple objectives including: expanding the supply of housing, ensuring access to opportunity-rich neighborhoods, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging housing development near transit. Yet housing development is a local decision, often shaped or stymied by restrictive land use and zoning, as well as historic development patterns and broader policy and economic conditions. While the state-mandated Housing Element tasks jurisdictions with addressing their unmet housing needs, local decision-makers can use their authority to deny new developments and adopt land use restrictions–intentionally or unintentionally–that can make housing more difficult and costly to develop, the ramifications of which are felt regionally and statewide.

No single approach will suit every locality, but these case studies show that local governments and stakeholders are making the changes needed to address California’s housing challenges. These case studies serve as an instructive guide for those seeking ways to take action to make our state more livable, prosperous, and equitable.

Topic Selection

Jurisdictions in profiled as a part of this series possess the following characteristics. They are:

• Representative of a cross-section of jurisdictions throughout California
• Demonstrative of how local governments assist in, or impede housing production
• Responsive to housing needs for low- and moderate-income households
• Innovative in regulation, collaborative partnerships and funding

Investigative Techniques

Case studies were selected and researched using two investigative techniques:

• Secondary source review.  Case study selection was informed by a survey of existing literature on California land use regulations and housing programs. In addition to traditional academic and governmental sources, this review included: land use publications and websites; popular journals; media archives; newspapers; business and economic journals; white papers and published reports. These sources offered data and analysis of statewide housing needs and the innovative solutions required to increase the supply of affordable housing.
• Stakeholder interviews.  Housing experts in the private sector, academia, and various state and local agencies provided critical insights and advisement throughout the development of these case studies. These experts were involved in housing support, evaluation, and, assessment. The objective was to obtain information on key actors – developers, regulators and stakeholders – on the opportunities and constraints in increasing California’s housing supply.

More than 45 stakeholders were contacted for interviews, and of those, 18 participated. Stakeholders contacted included housing policy analysts at the Department of Housing and Community Development, city managers, planning directors, housing developers, affordable housing advocates and experts with knowledge of innovative land use regulations.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Liana Arnold and Echo Bergquist for their contributions to the research and authorship of these case studies, and to Sarah Mawhorter for her oversight of the case study research process. We’re deeply grateful to the California Department of Housing and Community Development for the funding that made this work possible, as well as for their guidance and insights on which policies and case studies to select. We would also like to thank all of the local officials and stakeholders who shared their knowledge and experience through the interviews documented in these case studies.

Share This Post:

• Share via Twitter
• Share via Facebook

Related Articles

Modeling inclusionary zoning’s impact on housing production in los angeles: tradeoffs and policy implications.

  Guest author Shane Phillips from the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies has authored a paper that uses…

California’s Prohousing Designation Program: Rewarding City and County Policies that Boost Housing Supply

In this paper, we examine data for 10 early adopters of California's Prohousing Designation Program, and assess whether the policies…

Residential Housing Is Now Allowed in All Commercial Zones: Are California Cities Ready?

Overview  California Assembly Bill 2011 (Wicks) was signed into law by Governor Newsom in September 2022 and went into effect…

The Housing Potential for Land Owned by Faith-Based Organizations and Colleges

This paper updates our 2020 report with expanded data on the potential for development on land owned by faith-based organizations…

Tackling the world’s affordable housing challenge

Decent, affordable housing is fundamental to the health and well-being of people and to the smooth functioning of economies. Yet around the world, in developing and advanced economies alike, cities are struggling to meet that need. If current trends in urbanization and income growth persist, by 2025 the number of urban households that live in substandard housing—or are so financially stretched by housing costs that they forego other essentials, such as healthcare—could grow to 440 million, from 330 million. This could mean that the global affordable housing gap would affect one in three urban dwellers, about 1.6 billion people.

A new McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) report, A blueprint for addressing the global affordable housing challenge , defines the affordability gap as the difference between the cost of an acceptable standard housing unit (which varies by location) and what households can afford to pay using no more than 30 percent of income. The analysis draws on MGI’s Cityscope database of 2,400 metropolitan areas, as well as case studies from around the world. It finds that the affordable housing gap now stands at $650 billion a year and that the problem will only grow as urban populations expand: current trends suggest that there could be 106 million more low-income urban households by 2025, for example. To replace today’s inadequate housing and build the additional units needed by 2025 would require $9 trillion to $11 trillion in construction spending alone. With land, the total cost could be $16 trillion. Of this, we estimate that $1 trillion to $3 trillion may have to come from public funding.

However, four approaches used in concert could reduce the cost of affordable housing by 20 to 50 percent and substantially narrow the affordable housing gap by 2025. These largely market-oriented solutions—lowering the cost of land, construction, operations and maintenance, and financing—could make housing affordable for households earning 50 to 80 percent of median income.

Four approaches can narrow the housing-affordability gap by 20 to 50 percent.

• Unlocking land supply. Since land is usually the largest real-estate expense, securing it at appropriate locations can be the most effective way to reduce costs. In even the largest global cities, many parcels of land remain unoccupied or underused. Some of them may belong to government and could be released for development or sold to buy land for affordable housing. Private land can be brought forward for development through incentives such as density bonuses—increasing the permitted floor space on a plot of land and, therefore, its value; in return, the developer must provide land for affordable units.
• Reducing construction costs. While manufacturing and other industries have raised productivity steadily in the past few decades, in construction it has remained flat or gone down in many countries. Likewise, in many places residential housing is still built in the same way it was 50 years ago. Project costs could be reduced by about 30 percent and completion schedules shortened by about 40 percent if developers make use of value engineering (standardizing design) and industrial approaches, such as assembling buildings from prefabricated components manufactured off-site. Efficient procurement methods and other process improvements would help, as well. 1 1. For more on new construction techniques, see David Xu, “ How to build a skyscraper in two weeks ,” May 2014.
• Improved operations and maintenance. Twenty to 30 percent of the cost of housing is operations and maintenance. Energy-efficiency retrofits, such as insulation and new windows, can cut these costs. Maintenance expenses can be reduced by helping owners find qualified suppliers (through registration and licensing) and by consolidated purchasing. For example, buying consortia in the United Kingdom have saved 15 to 30 percent on some maintenance items for social housing.
• Lowering financing costs for buyers and developers. Improvements in underwriting would help banks safely make more housing loans to lower-income borrowers. Contractual savings programs can help such buyers accumulate down payments and therefore finance purchases with smaller and less risky loans. Such programs can also provide capital for low-interest mortgages to savers. Governments could help cut the financing costs of developers by making affordable housing projects less risky—for instance, by guaranteeing buyers or tenants for finished units.

The successful application of these approaches depends on creating an appropriate delivery platform for housing in each city. Policy makers, working with the private sector and local communities, need to set clear aspirations for housing throughout their cities. Critically, a minimum-standard housing unit must be defined in each of them. But an excessively ambitious minimum can discourage the construction of affordable homes and force more low-income households into informal housing. A better solution is to set standards that reflect rising aspirations—a housing “ladder” that can start with something very basic that might, for example, have communal kitchens and baths and serve as transitional housing for new arrivals.

Affordable housing could represent a significant opportunity for the global construction and housing-finance industries. Building homes for all the low-income households added in cities by 2025 could cost $2.3 trillion. That would represent a construction market of $200 billion to $250 billion in revenues annually, or about 10 percent of the global residential real-estate construction industry.

Lola Woetzel is a director of the McKinsey Global Institute, where Jan Mischke is a senior fellow; Sangeeth Ram is a principal in McKinsey’s Dubai office; Nicklas Garemo is a director in the Abu Dhabi office; and Shirish Sankhe is a director in the Mumbai office.

Explore a career with us

Related articles.

Urban world: Cities and the rise of the consuming class

Urban world: Mapping the economic power of cities

Infrastructure productivity: How to save $1 trillion a year

Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Read our research on:

Full Topic List

Regions & Countries

• Publications
• Our Methods
• Short Reads
• Tools & Resources

Read Our Research On:

A growing share of Americans say affordable housing is a major problem where they live

Prospective homebuyers and renters across the United States have seen prices surge and supply plummet during the coronavirus pandemic . Amid these circumstances, about half of Americans (49%) say the availability of affordable housing in their local community is a major problem, up 10 percentage points from early 2018, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in October 2021.

This Pew Research Center analysis about the levels of concern among Americans about the affordability of housing draws from a Center survey designed to understand Americans’ views and preferences for where they live.

The survey of 9,676 U.S. adults was conducted from Oct. 18 to 24, 2021. Everyone who took part is a member of Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the  ATP’s methodology .

Here are the questions used for this report, along with responses, and its methodology .

References to White, Black and Asian adults include only those who are not Hispanic and identify as only one race. Hispanics are of any race.

“Middle income” is defined here as two-thirds to double the median annual family income for panelists on the American Trends Panel. “Lower income” falls below that range; “upper income” falls above it. Read the  methodology  for more details.

References to respondents who live in urban, suburban or rural communities are based on respondents’ answer to the following question: “How would you describe the community where you currently live? (1) urban, (2) suburban, (3) rural.”

Another 36% of U.S. adults said in the fall that affordable housing availability is a minor problem in their community, while just 14% said it is not a problem.

Americans’ concerns about the availability of affordable housing have outpaced worries about other local issues. The percentage of adults who say this is a major problem where they live is larger than the shares who say the same about drug addiction (35%), the economic and health impacts of COVID-19 (34% and 26%, respectively) and crime (22%).

Opinions on the question of housing affordability differ by a variety of demographic factors, including income, race and ethnicity, and age. A majority of adults living in lower-income households (57%) say availability of affordable housing is a major issue in their community, larger than the shares of those in middle- (47%) or upper-income households (42%) who say it is a major problem.

Fewer than half of White adults (44%) say that availability of affordable housing is a major problem where they live – lower than the shares of Black (57%), Hispanic and Asian American adults (both 55%) who say the same.

Adults under 50 are more likely than their older counterparts to say affordable housing availability is a major problem locally. More than half of adults ages 18 to 29 and 30 to 49 say this (55% in both age groups), compared with smaller shares of those 50 to 64 and those 65 and older (44% and 39%, respectively).

Americans’ perceptions of this issue also vary based on where they live. About six-in-ten U.S. adults living in urban areas (63%) say that the availability of affordable housing in their community is a major problem, compared with 46% of suburban residents and 40% of those living in rural areas.

Regardless of income level, city dwellers generally tend to view affordable housing availability as a bigger issue than those living in the suburbs or rural areas. Two-thirds of urban adults with lower household incomes (66%) say affordable housing in their area is a major problem, compared with 56% of suburban dwellers with lower incomes and 52% of those with lower incomes living in rural areas. Among upper-income adults, 58% of those living in urban areas say housing affordability is a major problem, compared with 43% of upper-income Americans living in suburban places and 25% of upper-income rural residents.

There are also regional differences. Around seven-in-ten Americans living in the West (69%) say affordable housing availability is a major problem locally. This compares with 49% of Northeasterners, 44% of Americans in the South and 33% of those living in the Midwest.

Since 2018, there have been increases across demographic groups in the shares who say that the availability of affordable housing in their community is a major problem. For example, 55% of adults under 30 now say this is a major problem – a 16 percentage point rise from the 39% who said so in 2018. The share of adults ages 30 to 49 who hold this view has also risen from 42% in 2018 to 55% last year.

About six-in-ten Democrats and independents who lean to the Democratic Party (59%) said in 2021 that affordable housing availability is a major problem in their community, compared with 36% of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents.

These partisan differences remain when looking separately at those who live in urban, suburban and rural communities. Among urban residents, two-thirds of Democrats (67%) see the availability of affordable housing locally as a major problem, compared with 54% of Republicans in urban areas. In suburban or rural communities, smaller majorities of Democrats hold this view (56% in the suburbs and 54% in rural places), compared with around a third of Republicans in those areas (35% and 31%, respectively).

Note: Here are the questions used for this report, along with responses, and its methodology .

• Economic Conditions
• Economic Inequality
• Homeownership & Renting
• Issue Priorities
• Personal Finances
• Rural, Urban and Suburban Communities

Katherine Schaeffer is a research analyst at Pew Research Center .

Public’s Positive Economic Ratings Slip; Inflation Still Widely Viewed as Major Problem

Is college worth it, a look at small businesses in the u.s., state of the union 2024: where americans stand on the economy, immigration and other key issues, americans’ top policy priority for 2024: strengthening the economy, most popular.

1615 L St. NW, Suite 800 Washington, DC 20036 USA (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax (+1) 202-419-4372 |  Media Inquiries

Research Topics

• Email Newsletters

ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER  Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of  The Pew Charitable Trusts .

© 2024 Pew Research Center

A case study: Affordable housing dilemma of a small town

Kevin Connor spent a few months living in the Bridge Homeless Shelter transitional housing when he first moved to Cortez, Colorado, after getting out of three months in prison. The Bridge has 12 transitional housing units with most residents paying under $200 a month for housing.

After leaving the Bridge, Connor lived in a hotel for a bit but was paying more than $400 a week and found it unsustainable. After that, he lived in a storage room at one of his workplaces for four months.

Connor couldn’t afford a rental in Cortez even while holding multiple jobs.

Kevin Connor shows a photo of his housing at one point – a tent in the back of a storage room with an inflatable mattress. (Photo by Ilana Newman)

According to a housing needs assessment presented at a city council meeting for the City of Cortez, Montezuma County, Colorado has had the greatest rate of housing cost increases in the State of Colorado between 2018 and 2022 — 16% per year.

Most importantly, for people like Connor who need an affordable place to rent, there are very few rentals that fit the definition of “affordable housing,” which means that they are available for less than 30% of the area median income. In Cortez, for a one-person household, this is around $863, according to Colorado’s Baseline Assistance Tool . During the time of this reporting, the Daily Yonder was able to locate fewer than five rental offers on local rental websites that fit that price range.

In 2022, Colorado voted to approve Proposition 123, which modified the state’s affordable housing programs to create a State Affordable Housing Fund. Several hundred million dollars will be available for municipalities, counties, and tribes to implement affordable housing. To receive the funding, however, municipalities, counties, or tribes have to commit to raise their affordable housing by 9% in three years above a baseline number, determined by the Baseline Assistance Tool.

Numbers Matter

The issue is that some of the data provided by the Baseline Assistance Tool is wrong.

According to the tool, the town of Dolores (also in Montezuma County), which has a population of 805, has 334 available units, and 282 affordable units. But the Town of Dolores has 543 households , which would mean that half of the households in Dolores are living in affordable rentals, which is untrue. According to the Tool, this means that Dolores needs to create 30 new affordable units in the next three years.

“There’s not a place to put 30 units in Dolores,” said Shalako Powers, who is currently working on updating this incorrect data. “It’s confined by walls of the canyon on both sides and then a hill coming out on the west and a river canyon on the east. Where are you going to put 30 units in Dolores?”

Powers works for Region 9, the economic district that contains Montezuma County as well as the neighboring four counties that make up Southwest Colorado. Region 9 is a nonprofit community economic development corporation that works closely with the counties and cities on projects like housing, broadband, transit, and other types of economic development.

When Powers spotted the discrepancy in the data, which was originally presented in a publicly available spreadsheet , he worked with the Colorado Division of Housing to develop the Baseline Assistance Tool. Municipalities are required to use this data, but the Baseline Assistance Tool allows the user to adjust for inflation, housing size, and other variables. This means the number can get closer to what feels reasonable for municipalities to commit to.

But even after committing to Proposition 123, municipalities are then only eligible for the money from the Affordable Housing Fund. Nonprofits, developers, or governments can apply for the grant but are not guaranteed funding. Powers is worried that even if the towns or counties in Southwest Colorado did commit to Proposition 123, they would not receive the funding.

“Proposition 123 failed in Montezuma County,” said Powers in a Daily Yonder interview. “It did pass as a state but it failed here. My concern is that we’re going to see what we always see. The taxpayers of our rural areas aren’t going to get their money back in their tax refund and none of that money is gonna come back here to provide housing and the people here are just going to get screwed like they always do.” Powers referred to how Proposition 123 passed by 52.6% for the state of Colorado, but lost by 54% in Montezuma County, reflecting the community’s conservative-leaning politics and lack of belief in the solution behind Proposition 123.

Powers thinks that cities and counties on the Front Range — where the population centers of Denver, Colorado Springs, and Boulder are located — will get the majority of the money because they have grant writers who can pursue it, compared to the more rural areas on the Western Slope where there are fewer staff able to pursue funding. Municipalities have until November 1, 2023, to submit their commitment to qualify for funding.

A Universal Problem

In the days following the Daily Yonder interview, Connor secured housing – a $750 trailer in Cortez. But he said about the unit that “The entire park should have [been] condemned 20 years ago. These places are almost 50 year old dumps. I also think what I’m in right now was condemned at some point.”

Daniel Stern, communications and outreach manager for the Washington, D.C.-based Housing Assistance Council, said that other rural areas around the country are facing similar challenges around housing availability and affordability. The common issues he sees are lack of supply, aging supply, and a challenge with scaling construction in rural areas.

“In a rural area, if you need 40 homes or a multi-family house, it’s harder to make that profitable for construction,” Stern said. “That’s why you see so much luxury construction because that’s what pencils out the most unless you use some of the federal programs that are built for building out affordable housing. But those programs… really, really work once you get to a certain scale and that scale is hard to achieve in rural areas.”

This story was produced through  the Daily Yonder Rural Reporting Fellowship, with support from the LOR Foundation. LOR works with people in rural places to improve quality of life. This story was shared via Rocky Mountain Community Radio, a network of public media stations in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico including Aspen Public Radio.

• Hispanoamérica
• Work at ArchDaily
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Cookie Policy
• Affordable Housing

Affordable Housing: The Latest Architecture and News

European collective housing award announces winners of first edition.

The European Collective Housing Award has selected the winners for the 2024 cycle. Created by T he Basque Architecture Institute and Arc en Rêve Centre d’Architecture, in collaboration with the Department of Territorial Planning, the award highlights innovation and excellence in collective housing design, emphasizing aesthetics, social responsibility, and environmental sustainability. Selected from a category of 171 entries from 19 European countries, the winners are La Borda Housing Collectie in Spain and Construction of a Wine Storage into Housing in Switzerland for the new construction and renovation category, respectively. The inaugural edition of the European Collective Housing Award recognizes the importance of collective housing in creating sustainable and inclusive communities while also emphasizing the need to promote architectural excellence in this domain.

• Read more »

Rebuilding with 3D Printing: For Everyday.Life Designs Community-Focused Homes for ICON's Initiative99 Competition

United Kingdom-based office For Everyday.Life (FEL) is one of the three selected winners for the Open Category of ICON’s Initiative 99 , an open competition aiming to promote affordable home designs that can be built for under $99,000 employing ICON ’s 3D printing technologies . FEL’s project, titled “Housing Salinas,” focuses on community living while applying principles of long-term sustainability, and social and environmental responsibility.

Maximizing Dilapidated Infrastructure: The Potential of Repurposing Abandoned Buildings into Social Housing

As the demand for affordable housing grows and the availability of low-cost properties diminishes, stakeholders in housing must become more innovative in their approach to social housing development . One opportunity lies in restoring and repurposing abandoned buildings. While building new houses remains the primary strategy for Housing Authorities and Associations, rehabilitating derelict buildings can be a more economical option. This approach not only maximizes the use of dilapidating infrastructure but also provides an economic opportunity to increase affordable housing within the city. Although rehabilitating derelict residential buildings may seem like an obvious solution, it becomes even more crucial when considering abandoned commercial, institutional, or historical buildings for social housing.

MTspace Studio Designs Flood-Resistant 3D Printed Homes for ICON's Initiative99 Competition

In an open competition, ICON’s Initiative 99 requested participants to design a home using ICON’s 3D printing technologies while keeping the construction budget under $99,000. Among the three selected winners for the Open Category , New Zealand-based office MTspace Studio proposes a robust flood-resistant design, in response to the housing crisis in New Zealand ’s flood zones. Titled “Wai Home” after the Māori word for water, the concept revolves around the idea of working with this essential natural element. The design features innovative rainwater collection and storage systems, along with elements to increase the resilience of the construction in the face of increasing threats.

Maximized Density: How Co-Living Spaces Do More with Less

Rising populations and soaring real estate prices pose significant challenged to urban housing. In a desperate hunt for affordable living options, communal co-living spaces have emerged as a creative solution , offering quality living conditions through clever space optimization strategies. By implementing innovative design techniques, these shared living communities maximize every square foot to create functional spaces within compact footprints.

Low-Cost Housing in India: A Multistakeholder Approach

In a nation grappling with a severe housing shortage for its economically weakest sections, the concept of "low-cost housing" has surprisingly faded from public consciousness and policy discourse. A crisis impacting millions of the nation's poorest, the need for affordable housing has become even more pressing as India's population overtakes China to emerge as the most populous nation. If left unaddressed, the housing crisis may result in mass homelessness and undignified living conditions for citizens.

The Promise of Accessibility: Can Modular Systems Contribute to Democratizing the Design Process?

At the dawn of Modernism, in the fervent search for innovative, efficient, and cost-effective building systems, the idea of modular construction offered the promise of exactly that: an industrialized system comprised of ready-to-assemble elements, easily configured, cost-effective, and quality-controlled. While the idea did not gain as much traction as was initially expected, it has remained an attractive premise for architects and designers. Now, new developments in the field have led to a renewed interest in the matter, as modular housing emerges as an effective measure in various fields, from affordable housing to emergency shelters, or even as platforms for interdisciplinary collaboration, participation, and co-design. The following article explores this promise of accessibility, creativity, and affordability that has become an integral part of the debate around modular architecture.

How Modular Construction Can Provide Architectural Aid: From Rapid-Response to Transitional and Affordable Housing

Ever since the Industrial Revolution and the introduction of mass production , the ownership and use of simple products and services like flush toilets with running water, electricity, heating , and cooling are seen as human rights in many areas of the world. With the majority of homes and residential projects being individually designed and built to order – therefore without the speed and cost advantages of mass production – an underperforming housing construction sector means many people – even in the world’s richest countries – are being denied one of the most basic human rights, having somewhere to call home.

The UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency) states that there were over 100 million forcibly displaced people worldwide in 2023 – a figure that has tripled over the last 10 years. For host countries, finding safe, sustainable housing solutions for those in need, both in the short- and the long-term, is an ongoing and dramatically worsening challenge.

Beta Realities Creates 3D Printed Social Housing System for ICON Technologies' Initiative99

German-based architecture and design studio Beta Realities has developed the “ Collective Parts ” initiative, a design and technology platform for enabling the construction of affordable 3D printed housing. The project has been recognized as one of the winners of Inititative99 by ICON , a global architecture competition aimed at reimagining affordable housing that can be built for under $99,000. The other winners of the open category are MTspace Studio from New Zealand and For Everyday Life from the United Kingdom. The competition also highlights contributions from students as a separate category, featuring Casa Fami by IAAC from Spain, Juan Felipe Molano from Colombia, and Victoria Roznowski from Germany.

Social Spaciousness: MVRDV Reimagines the Future of Co-Living

MVRDV has just released a new design study exploring how co-living can help shape the future of housing . Created in collaboration with developer HUB and sustainable investor Bridges Fund Management, the study introduces a comprehensive study exploring diverse typologies, aiming to revolutionize communal living and vibrant neighborhoods. It addresses modern housing needs, including flexibility , sustainability, and community, while tackling climate crisis and affordability issues. The endeavor offers tailored solutions for various co-living projects, catering to many demographics and lifestyles.

How Los Angeles is Addressing the Affordable Housing Crisis

Cities in the United States are short of millions of housing units . Compounded by other factors, this shortage is radically increasing the cost of both renting and buying houses . Los Angeles is no exception; with 74% of its land zoned exclusively for single-family homes, multifamily housing construction is limited to an extremely small swath of the city, making the construction of new affordable housing difficult. Complex multi-year permit approval processes often make these projects even less feasible.

That's why, in December 2022, Mayor Karen Bass took a drastic approach by declaring a state of emergency to speed up approval for affordable housing projects, allowing developers to expedite rent-stabilized projects through fast permitting times and exemptions from zoning rules . Executive Direction (ED1) created a surge of affordable housing applications, surprisingly not just from developers using public money but from private ones.

BIG Designs Cantilevered Towers Surrounding the Freedom Plaza on Manhattan’s Waterfront

Located along Manhattan ’s East River waterfront , the Freedom Plaza sets out to create a new civic and cultural hub, introducing a new open and green space in the crowded area , with plans to add an in-park Museum of Freedom and Democracy. Additionally, the scheme designed by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group includes affordable housing units, two hotels, retail, and restaurants. Developed by Soloviev Group and Mohegan , the Freedom Plaza development reimagines one of the largest undeveloped plots in Manhattan, measuring 6.7 acres located south of the United Nations headquarters in the Midtown East neighborhood.

Awesome and Affordable: Making the Case for Great Housing

This article was originally published on Common Edge .

When Brenda Mendoza told an NPR reporter about her commute to work, she became the face of the housing crisis in Los Angeles today. Mendoza, a uniform attendant at a Marriott hotel, was living with her family in an apartment in Koreatown, where she had grown up, 10 minutes from her job. The landlord raised the rent, so she moved to a less costly place in Downey. When that rent also rose out of reach, she moved to Apple Valley, and now gets up at 3:30 a.m. to drive 100 miles to her job, dropping off her husband and son at their jobs on the way. She did not move to Apple Valley to invest in a house she could love. She simply found an equally unstable, but slightly more affordable, rental hours from her workplace.

New Models for Collective Housing

Housing production has been relying on the same spatial configurations for almost a century, catering to a vision of domestic life that no longer constitutes the norm. The widespread housing shortage, the issue of affordability, the rise of single-person households, and an aging population prompt a re-evaluation of existing housing models to address a broader range of demographics and adapt to the changing needs of city dwellers. The following explores contemporary collective housing models that provide the framework for new dwelling experiences and support current lifestyles.

World Habitat Awards 2024 Recognize Housing Initiatives that Empower Communities

International non-profit organization World Habitat, in partnership with UN-Habitat, has announced the World Habitat Awards 2024. The prizes strive to highlight projects that demonstrate novel and transformative approaches to housing that incorporate principles of climate change adaptation and community-driven solutions. This year, 8 projects have been selected, out of which 2 projects were recognized with the Gold World Habitat Award.

Adaptive Urban Regulations: Navigating Change in Affordable Housing, Infrastructure, and Sustainability in the U.S.

In the ever-evolving landscape of urban development , cities are faced with an array of challenges that demand quick and innovative solutions, ranging from the critical issue of affordable housing to the pressing need for efficient and decongested infrastructure and sustainable energy practices. As the demands of the built environment expand, local authorities worldwide are redefining policies and regulations to shape their cities. These innovative regulations can drive sustainable and consistent progress as cities stand at the intersection between their present challenges and future aspirations.

Design for Density: Housing in India as Social Infrastructure

Like most countries, India faces a perpetual housing crisis. As the world’s most populous nation, with an urban population expected to grow from 410 million in 2014 to 814 million by 2050 , this becomes a pressing concern. The Indian built landscape brings further complexities in the form of a pervasive market-driven approach and the need for socially relevant housing. Looking into the future, how will India address the needs of its growing population to house the next million urbanites?

MVRDV Unveils Design for New Residential Complex in the Enterprise Research Campus in Boston

MVRDV has revealed the design of a new residential complex located in the Enterprise Research Campus in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts , a site adjacent to the Harvard Business School. The development, already under construction, features 343 apartments with a quarter of them dedicated to affordable units. It also includes amenities for the residents and retail spaces for small local businesses, aiming to create an inclusive and enjoyable space within the new urban district.

An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Innovation in Affordable Housing

Department of housing and urban development (hud).

The need for quality affordable housing has never been greater. At its best, housing can help strengthen the social and physical fabric of communities and neighborhoods. It is the hope of HUD and its office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) that by initiating and funding this competition, a new generation will advance the design and production of livable and sustainable housing for low- and moderate-income people through research and innovation.

A student presents her design for a HUD affordable housing challenge. (Photo courtesy of HUD)

Hidden Signals Challenge Logo

PD&R worked with the Office of Public and Indian Housing to issue a call for interested public housing authorities. The housing authorities were evaluated on a first-come, first-serve basis. For the inaugural 2014 competition, HUD partnered with the Housing Authority of Bergen County (HABC) in New Jersey.

HABC offered a challenging project for the competition—an historic American Legion building situated on 1.5 acres. HABC wished to maintain this historic building while providing affordable housing for homeless veterans. Challenge participants needed to consider design, community development and financing elements in order to provide an all-encompassing solution that would allow HABC to meet its goal. They also needed to understand the needs of the intended residents, the zoning restrictions and leveraging opportunities. The types of solutions sought through the competition were ideas and visualizations related to architecture, landscape architecture, planning, urban design and real estate finance.

The total cash prize for the 2014 Innovation in Affordable Housing challenge was $15,000. Non-monetary incentives were also used to motivate participants. Finalists were invited to travel to Washington, DC (two members of each team received travel funds) and present in front of a panel of esteemed experts in the field of architecture, affordable housing and community development. This was an excellent development opportunity for the finalists as they entered the job market.

The competition succeeded in introducing the next generation of architects, planners and others to the important and expansive nature of affordable housing. The competition received 7 submissions from teams that were composed of graduate students from a wide range of disciplines. Each team had to include three to five students and at least one had to be from a non-design background. Examples of eligible disciplines include architecture, urban planning, law, public policy, business, finance, real estate, and engineering. The runner-up, which received $5,000, was a joint team from New York University and Columbia University. The winning team, which received $10,000, was from Ohio State University. HUD decided to run the challenge again in 2015.

The acting Executive Director of HABC attended the final presentations, and many staff members viewed it via webcast. The ideas presented by finalists are being kept in mind as HABC works with architects and developers on the site.

Areas of Excellence

HUD recruited a jury of five experts in the field of architecture, affordable housing, and community development. The jury was asked to evaluate the proposals on three main factors: environmental, financial, and social. Each main factor contained seven to eight sub factors. The jurors were also encouraged to look for innovation throughout the proposal. In the future, HUD will designate a head juror who can guide the process.

The competition ran in two phases:

Multidisciplinary teams of graduate students submitted their first-round electronic proposals. A schematic design level site plan and other details were required. The evaluation criteria emphasized understanding of and provision for community services, planning context (including zoning) and economic considerations related to affordable housing development, as well as design. The submissions were to include a narrative of two to four pages and two electronic design boards.

The panel of jurors evaluated all submissions and chose four finalist teams to move on to Phase II of the competition.

Finalists were challenged to further refine their solutions, incorporating more detail, developed floor plans and analyses (economic, energy, etc.). The finalists traveled to the site for a walk-through and meeting with HABC staff. The site visit offered finalists the opportunity to examine the site first hand and speak with local officials and community members.

The final jury and award ceremony was held on May 6, 2014 at HUD headquarters in Washington, DC. Student finalist teams each prepared a 15-minute presentation and two design boards. They presented in front of a live audience, a webcast audience and the panel of jurors. After all the finalists presented, the jurors deliberated and former HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan announced the winners.

Area of Excellence #2: "Announce Winners"

A webpage dedicated to the competition was created on HUDuser.org. An initial announcement of the competition was sent to PD&R's listserv and recipients could sign up on the webpage to receive further competition updates. Throughout the recruitment phase, information was sent to these self-selected individuals. HUD also hired a contractor to help with the competition and aid in solicitation and outreach.

Both before the registration deadline and during the competition, blogs were posted on the HUDdle to keep the general public and the potential student participants informed. Articles covering the competition site visit and the final awards ceremony were included in the Edge, PD&R's online magazine. HUD also issued press releases announcing the finalists, and later the winners.

The competition team learned that more outreach to graduate schools was needed in future years, because some students claimed they did not know about IAH until after registration closed. In addition, the schedule was revised for the second annual competition in 2015 to better accommodate academic schedules.

Challenge Type

The overall goal of the HUD 2014 Innovation in Affordable Housing challenge is to foster innovative problem solving and solutions. The challenge also endeavors to promote an interdisciplinary, team-work way of problem solving and generating ideas that is not the typical academic approach to looking at a problem in this topic area. In order to promote creative thinking and innovative ideation, the challenge required teams consist of students with different backgrounds. This creates a real-world approach for students to solve development problems and promotes new and creative ideas by encouraging competitors to partner with experts in diverse disciplines. It promotes a form of collaboration that results in new innovations and outside-the-box thinking. Some of the ideas generated in this ideation challenge included physical, financial, and social solutions for affordable housing for veterans in Bergen County, New Jersey.

The structure of this challenge also encouraged the development of creative ideas by using a two-phase organization. In the first phase, teams were encouraged to focus on the ideation element of the challenge. This allowed competitors to focus on the design of their solutions. Those who advanced to the next phase were able to further refine their ideas and include more detail, as well as economic and environmental analyses. This iterative approach to judging and challenge structure can be useful when a problem is best addressed by both creative thinking and the careful implementation of new ideas.

Legal Authority

America COMPETES Act

Challenge Website

http://www.huduser.org/portal/challenge/past_competitions.html

Current year of competition: http://www.huduser.gov/portal/challenge/home.html

Aranya Low-cost Housing by B.V Doshi Low-cost urban housing

“They are not houses but homes where a happy community lives. That is what finally matters, ” says B.V Doshi, the shaping hand behind Aranya. Strong recognition of relationships between humans and the environment, the association of our lives and culture, sensitive approach towards society, its traditions, ways, and a conscious response towards the ecosystem are some key factors that made Doshi’s architecture instrumental in crafting the environment for people. 

With the coexistence of functionality and poetic element, his idea behind architecture remains self-evident and expressive of its intent. During 1970 and onward, the emerging need to house large numbers of people gave rise to various housing projects. Doshi designed Life Insurance Corporation , Ahmedabad in 1973 and Aranya Low-Cost Housing , Indore in 1989, which was one of his best-known projects. This project was remarkably unique in terms of its approach, design philosophy, and the way it played a role in the life of users.

Social Context

Aranya Low-Cost Housing situated in Indore was commissioned by Indore Development Authority and co-funded by World Bank and India’s Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO), for Economically weaker sections of society addressing the shortage of houses and shelter at that time. As the number of slums, illegal settlements, and scarcity of shelters increased, it became important for the government to tackle this issue in an affordable and well-served manner. 

There were various case studies done; the housing situation then was understood, where affordable housing was equal to a repetition of a series of modules, units that were a standard response. Aranya Housing spans 86 hectares consisting of six self-contained neighbourhoods. 

Doshi’s integrated approach for mixed-income groups was with an idea to get them together. The response came purely from the understanding of the fundamental needs of people and the fact that space and design eventually revolve around the user. The housing township spans across six sectors and accommodates over 6500 residences. Doshi decided to provide the families with a framework of things, where the plot consisted of provision for services, a toilet block, and a brick plinth to build over. 

Instead of a finished house, this framework allowed people to shape the space according to their fundamental needs and lifestyles. This idea also allowed the house to grow subjectively, influencing the connectivity, human and adaptability, private and public buffers, indoor-outdoor relationships, and flow of spaces.

Hierarchy and Connectivity

The street network has clear vehicular and pedestrian traffic segregation, drawing the vehicular road towards the peripheral main road and pedestrians or informal pathways. This affects the nature of pathways and streets that the houses share, making the heavy traffic inactive and instigating informal public activities and interactions. The entrances, buffer spaces between public and private, streets, space between two houses, the scale of these pathways concerning the built spaces allow ease to spaces and functionality. 

The community public spaces follow a hierarchy, with an even distribution of community sub-centres with active pedestrian movement. The main public space being connected with all secondary spaces maintains a link throughout the township. As the sector roads connect to a central spine, this spine is staggered at 2 points to reduce the traffic.  

Planning, Masses and Form

Every 10 clusters of houses shared a courtyard. The six sectors had their own green spaces and one larger public space for the whole township. The user was given the freedom to choose how much to build, the combinations to build. As every entrance, staircase, verandahs, buffer had variations, it gave a unique character to every house. 

Doshi had a kit of elements that included a staircase, Openings, railings, overhangs, verandahs that allowed families to adapt it according to their needs. He planned and constructed 80 sample homes for the families with variations in terms of size, spatial planning, mass, and movement. Houses ranging from one bedroom to bigger were available for people to choose from depending on the income group. The proximity of two houses helps shade the common courtyard shared in between. 

Construction and Materials

As the soil at the site was black cotton soil, Doshi used shallow concrete piles for footing. Every house was provided with a plinth, load-bearing masonry walls, and concrete slabs. This also reduced the overall construction cost. The longer side of the house was oriented in the north-south axis, residing the heat exposure. Owners were free to choose the decorations, material, and colour palette for the house.

Doshi’s vision to have a unified sense of belonging by including the user in the design process was an effective and practical approach towards the housing. The growth of houses and the evolution of spaces were purely out of need and the lifestyle of families. Design parameters like hierarchy, movement, scale were instrumental in the Master Plan. Every neighbourhood is connected through smaller public spaces and informal pathways. 

This framework provides the space for users to grow and move organically. This project stands to be one of the exceptional attempts towards its purpose. This approach not only maximized the functionality and usage of space but also uplifted the weaker class.

“Design is nothing but a humble understanding of materials, an instinct for solutions and respect for nature.”

— B.V Doshi

Doshi, B. (2019).  Balkrishna Doshi: Architecture for the People . Thames & Hudson .

Manon Mollard (2019).  Revisit: Aranya low-cost housing, Indore, Balkrishna Doshi

. [online]. (2019). Available at: https://www.architectural-review.com/buildings/revisit-aranya-low-cost-housing-indore-balkrishna-doshi 

Madhuli is an architect, who believes in the power of influences from places, people, and experiences. Exploring perspectives in architecture and her purpose as an Architect, she is also an art enthusiast with a love for travel and photography.

Exhibit Design: Jobs & Career Guide

10 Famous set designers of all times around the world

Related posts.

Kopeshwar temple, Khidrapur

Shipping Container Skyscraper for Mumbai Slum by Ganti + Asociates (GA) Design

Gyan Museum, Jaipur

Community Architecture: Stoneleigh Terrace

Kariba Dam: Engineering Marvel and Environmental Impact

School for Blind and Visually Impaired Children by SEAlab

• Architectural Community
• Architectural Facts
• RTF Architectural Reviews
• Architectural styles
• City and Architecture
• Fun & Architecture
• History of Architecture
• Design Studio Portfolios
• Designing for typologies
• RTF Design Inspiration
• Architecture News
• Career Advice
• Case Studies
• Construction & Materials
• Covid and Architecture
• Interior Design
• Know Your Architects
• Landscape Architecture
• Materials & Construction
• Product Design
• RTF Fresh Perspectives
• Sustainable Architecture
• Top Architects
• Travel and Architecture
• Rethinking The Future Awards 2022
• RTF Awards 2021 | Results
• GADA 2021 | Results
• RTF Awards 2020 | Results
• ACD Awards 2020 | Results
• GADA 2019 | Results
• ACD Awards 2018 | Results
• GADA 2018 | Results
• RTF Awards 2017 | Results
• RTF Sustainability Awards 2017 | Results
• RTF Sustainability Awards 2016 | Results
• RTF Sustainability Awards 2015 | Results
• RTF Awards 2014 | Results
• RTF Architectural Visualization Competition 2020 – Results
• Architectural Photography Competition 2020 – Results
• Designer’s Days of Quarantine Contest – Results
• Urban Sketching Competition May 2020 – Results
• RTF Essay Writing Competition April 2020 – Results
• Architectural Photography Competition 2019 – Finalists
• The Ultimate Thesis Guide
• Introduction to Landscape Architecture
• Perfect Guide to Architecting Your Career
• How to Design Architecture Portfolio
• How to Design Streets
• Introduction to Urban Design
• Introduction to Product Design
• Complete Guide to Dissertation Writing
• Introduction to Skyscraper Design
• Educational
• Hospitality
• Institutional
• Office Buildings
• Public Building
• Residential
• Sports & Recreation
• Temporary Structure
• Commercial Interior Design
• Corporate Interior Design
• Healthcare Interior Design
• Hospitality Interior Design
• Residential Interior Design
• Sustainability
• Transportation
• Urban Design
• Host your Course with RTF
• Architectural Writing Training Programme | WFH
• Editorial Internship | In-office
• Graphic Design Internship
• Research Internship | WFH
• Research Internship | New Delhi
• RTF | About RTF
• Submit Your Story

Looking for Job/ Internship?

Rtf will connect you with right design studios.

• 1131 N Paul Russell Road, B-201 | Tallahassee, FL 32301

• Board of Directors
• Coalition Staff
• Become A Member
• Implementing Housing Strategies
• Increasing Housing Stability
• Strengthening Housing Ecosystems
• Shaping Housing Policy (Sadowski Affiliates)
• Affordable Housing Development
• Housing and Community Development
• Land Use and Innovation
• Preservation and Permanent Affordability (Community Land Trusts)
• Resilience and Recovery
• Support for SHIP and Other Programs
• Supportive Housing and Ending Homelessness
• Training Calendar
• State Housing Initiatives Partnership Program (SHIP) Webinars
• In-Person (Live) Workshops
• Community Land Trust Institute
• Nonprofit Capacity Building Institute
• On-Demand Learning Through ELEVATE
• Live Local Act
• Experiencing a Housing Crisis?

PAVING HOPE, REBUILDING LIVES

Driving change by empowering communities.

The heart of housing transformation is where vision meets action. At the Florida Housing Coalition, we drive innovation and progress in affordable housing by empowering communities with education, resources, and actionable strategies. Through collaborative partnerships, data-driven solutions, and expert implementation, we work hand in hand with local governments, nonprofits, developers, and communities to turn vision into reality.

Implementing housing strategies is a complex mission, often easier said than done. We help communities rise to the challenge. Our comprehensive and adaptive approach recognizes each community’s unique housing ecosystem. We invite you to learn more about our approach to housing innovation and follow our journey with a community dedicated to elevating housing and economic opportunities.

Our Approach to Housing innovation

Strategic plan, collaborative partnerships, data driven solutions, expert implementation, marion county: long term partnerships for permanent affordability.

Through our collective efforts, we’re making a tangible impact on housing affordability and stability across Florida. From expanding access to affordable housing to promoting equitable development practices, each initiative we undertake brings us one step closer to our vision of a housing-secure Florida for all.

Marion County has been a transformative journey—one fueled by dedication, collaboration, and a shared commitment to fostering thriving communities. Since our partnership commenced in 2017, we’ve embarked on a mission to redefine what housing means for the residents of Marion County. With a vision that extends far beyond mere shelter, we’ve set out to create a landscape where every individual has the opportunity to flourish, to build roots, and to call Marion County home.

Today, as we stand on the cusp of a new chapter, we reflect on the progress we’ve made and the challenges that lie ahead. Our journey is far from over, but with each passing year, we inch closer to our shared vision—a Marion County where housing is not just a basic necessity but a cornerstone of opportunity and prosperity for all.

Explore our partnership: key milestones

A journey begins, helping others help themselves, 2018 to present, mercy village thrives, preserving affordability, a roadmap for growth, new partnerships, sustainable affordability, join us in driving change.

Ready to be part of the solution? 

Join us in our mission to implement housing strategies that transform communities and improve lives. Together, we can build a future where every Floridian has access to safe, affordable housing and the opportunity to thrive.

Co-Housing NL (Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada)—Piloting Affordable Housing Within a Sustainable Community Context

• First Online: 02 June 2024

Cite this chapter

• Thomas Mengel 3 &
• Wendy Reid Fairhurst 4  

A Founding Member of Killick Ecovillage (formerly Cohousing NL) Cohousing NL, a cohousing community currently in development in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, provides a case study of a futures-oriented approach to improving housing affordability. It demonstrates the significance of values- and futures-oriented leadership as a means to co-create and implement a vision for a more socially and environmentally sustainable neighborhood. It describes some of the strategies—such as dynamic governance, sociocratic decision-making, and leadership that is participatory, inclusive, and diverse—that Cohousing NL uses to understand the complexity of the issues, develop solutions, and work to address larger systemic equality issues. The goal of this chapter is twofold: first to discuss the context of shifting wealth in the Canadian housing market that the government has not yet adequately addressed; and second, to describe “cohousing” as a model of alternative, sustainable community living. This case demonstrates that Cohousing NL may be the model for future housing and community living in Canada.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

• Available as PDF
• Read on any device
• Instant download
• Own it forever
• Available as EPUB and PDF
• Durable hardcover edition
• Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bollier, D., & Helfrich, S. (2019). Free, fair, and alive: The insurgent power of the commons . New Society Publishers.

Google Scholar  

Boyer, R. H. (2018). Intermediacy and the diffusion of grassroots innovations: The case of cohousing in the United States. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 26 , pp. 32–43. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319107317_Intermediacy_and_the_diffusion_of_grassroots_innovations_The_case_of_cohousing_in_the_United_States

Canadian Cohousing Network (2022). Frequently asked questions—What is it going to cost? https://www.cohousing.ca/about-cohousing/faq/

Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation [CMHC] (2022 June). Canada’s Housing Supply Shortages: Estimating what is needed to solve Canada’s housing affordability crisis by 2030. Housing Market Information . https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.914364/publication.html

Caranci, B., Fong, F., & Gebreselassie, M. (2022, October 5). Digging beneath the surface: Is housing perpetuating a wealth divide in Canada? TD Economics . https://economics.td.com/esg-housing-wealth-inequality

Cohousing NL (2021). EXPERIENCE COHOUSING—Creating sustainable community living . https://cohousingnl.wixsite.com/coho

Cohousing NL (2022a). Cohousing overview, v2, 2022–07–29. Unpublished report.

Cohousing NL (2022b). Collected meeting minutes . Unpublished minutes.

Clark, P. (2022).  Cohousing in the UK: How to apply this experience to the Canadian movement.  Canadian Cohousing Network. https://cohousing.ca/wp-content/uploads/Lessons-From-The-UK-Report-Final.pdf

Durrett, C., Yang, J., Lin A., Nash, S., & Kongkhajornkidsuk, N. (2022). Cohousing communities: Designing for high-functioning neighbourhoods . Wiley-VCH GmbH.

Elkington, R., Van der Steege, M., Glick-Smith, J., & Moss Breen, J (Eds). (2017). Visionary leadership in a turbulent world: Thriving in the new VUCA context . Emerald Publishing Limited. Kindel Edition, Location 250.

Frankl, V. E. (1959). Man’s search for meaning: An introduction to logotherapy . Beacon Press.

Frankl, V. E. (1969). The will to meaning: Foundations and applications of logotherapy . The World Publishing Company.

Frankl, V. E. (1985). Man’s search for meaning . Beacon Press, Pocket books.

Garciano, J. L. (2011). Affordable cohousing: Challenges and opportunities for supportive relational networks in mixed-income housing. Journal of Affordable Housing and Community Development Law 20 (2), 169–192. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41429168

Gladu, C. (2020). The Good Fight: The development of dialogue in Canadian cohousing communities [PhD Dissertation, Concordia University]. https://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/986918/1/Gladu_PhD_F2020.pdf

Lundy, M. (2022, September 12). Canadians’ wealth suffers biggest drop on record as markets, real estate swoon. Globe and Mail , Para. 1. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-statscan-canadians-household-net-worth/

Ma, J. (2015). When human-centered design meets social innovation: The idea of meaning making revisited. Cross-Cultural Design Methods, Practice and Impact , 349–360. International Conference on Cross-Cultural Design. Los Angeles, US. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-20907-4_32

McCamant, K., & Durrett, C. (2011). Creating cohousing—Building sustainable communities . New Society Publishers.

Mengel, T. (Ed.). (2021a). Leadership for the future: Lessons from the past, current approaches, and future insights . Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Mengel, T. (2021a) Exploring meaningful futures together—An integrative approach to futures and values-orientation in theory and practice. In Mengel, T. (Ed.), Leadership for the future: Lessons from the past, current approaches, and future insights , pp. 351–366. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Mengel, T. (2021b). Values-Oriented Leadership—Discovering meaning, exploring options, realizing values. In: Mengel, T. (2021). Editor. Leadership for the future: Lessons from the past, current approaches, and future insights , pp. 68–86. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Mengel, T. & Stewart, M. (Eds). (2021). Practicing gratitude . Independently published through Kindle Direct Publishing.

Mengel, T. & Boccuzzi, T. R. (2018). Project management ethics: Responsibility, values and ethics in project environments. In P. Dinsmore & J. Cabanis-Brewin (Eds.), The AMA handbook of project management, (5th edition), pp. 224–233. American Management Association.

Mengel, T., Tantawy, M., & McNally, J. J. (2018). Social entrepreneurship education in Canada: Passion and practice. In M. Wielemaker & B. Sharma (Eds.), Aspects of Entrepreneurship: Practice and Passion, pp. 197–217. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Nemtin, A., & Ahmed, M. M. (2022). Financialization and housing—A social innovation approach to a better housing system. Prototyping phase: Brief summary report . Social Innovation Canada.

Nemtin, A., Makris, C., Bure, C., Roberts, J., Mohiuddin, M., & Cheng, S. (2021). Financialization and housing: A social innovation approach to a better housing system. Housing Lab Report . https://sicanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Financialization_of_Housing_Report.pdf

Pattakos, A. (2017). Prisoners of our thoughts: Viktor Frankl's principles at work . Berrett-Koehler (3rd edition).

Rau, T. J. (2021). Who decides who decides? The first meetings of your new group—Explained step By step . Sociocracy For All.

Rau, T. J., & Koch-Gonzales, J. (2018). Many voices one song. Shared power with sociocracy . Sociocracy For All.

Reid Fairhurst, W. (2018). Project plan—Affordable rural cohousing. Report for Cohousing NL to submit to CMHC as part of Seed Funding obligations].

Reid Fairhurst, W. (2021). Content analysis of Canadian cohousing community vision statements [Unpublished paper]. Memorial University.

Reid Fairhurst, W. (2022a). Cohousing NL—Initial Municipal Submission . Portugal Cove-St. Philiip’s, NL: Reclaim Design Studio.

Reid Fairhurst, W. (2022b). Research Proposal—Wendy Reid Fairhurst—Memorial University . [Unpublished Proposal].

Reid Fairhurst, W. (2022c). Learning from others: An overview of affordability strategies in cohousing communities [Unpublished paper]. Memorial University.

Rozworski, M. (2019, June 14). The roots of our housing crisis: Austerity, debt and extreme speculation. Policynote. https://www.policynote.ca/the-roots-of-our-housing-crisis-austerity-debt-and-extreme-speculation/

Singh, D., Thompson, R. J., & Kurran, C. (2021). Reimagining leadership on the commons: Shifting the paradigm for a more ethical, equitable, and just world . Emerald Publishing Limited.

Book   Google Scholar  

United Nations (2020). The future we want, the United Nations we need . https://www.un.org/en/un75/presskit

United Nations (2021). Make the SDGs a reality. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. https://sdgs.un.org/#goal_section

Wheelwright, V. (2010). It’s YOUR future... Make it a good one! Personal Futures Network.

Zhu, Y., Yuan, Y., Gu, J., & Fu, Q. (2021). Neoliberalization and inequality: Disparities in access to affordable housing in urban Canada 1981–2016. Housing Studies, 38 , pp. 1860–1887. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02673037.2021.2004093

Zhu, Y. (2021, December 23). New study reveals intensified housing inequality in Canada from 1981 to 2016. The Conversation . https://theconversation.com/new-study-reveals-intensified-housing-inequality-in-canada-from-1981-to-2016-173633

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

Thomas Mengel

Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador (MUNL), St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Wendy Reid Fairhurst

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas Mengel .

Editor information

Editors and affiliations.

University of Massachusetts Global, Washington, DC, USA

Deborah A. Schreiber

University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Columbia, MD, USA

Zane L. Berge

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Mengel, T., Reid Fairhurst, W. (2024). Co-Housing NL (Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada)—Piloting Affordable Housing Within a Sustainable Community Context. In: Schreiber, D.A., L. Berge, Z. (eds) Futures Thinking and Organizational Policy, Volume 2. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-55956-3_6

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-55956-3_6

Published : 02 June 2024

Publisher Name : Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

Print ISBN : 978-3-031-55955-6

Online ISBN : 978-3-031-55956-3

eBook Packages : Business and Management Business and Management (R0)

Share this chapter

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

The School of Business

Learning What Feels Right – A Study in Affordable Housing

by Reginelle Anderson May 27th 2024 Share

Although Portland's gorgeous scenery is enough to draw in new people, our Master of Science in Real Estate (MSRE) program further solidified Christina Mirani's decision to move from San Francisco. 

Previously Christina attended San Francisco State University studying urban studies and planning with a focus on development. During that program, she interned at Eviction Defense Collaborative, Inc., which opened her eyes to the eviction crisis in San Francisco and steered her career toward a focus on affordable housing.

“As a developer, your work is crucial as you are the driving force behind a project getting completed. Of course, housing insecurity and homelessness are caused by various factors, but access to affordable housing is one proven solution that highlights the urgency of building and preserving more deed-restricted affordable housing,” said Christina. 

Over time Christina struggled to discover the ideal career trajectory for herself until she stumbled upon affordable housing and is now navigating her way through this field. After a few years of working in affordable housing development, Christina decided it was time to transition to the finance side of the industry. To prepare her for a career in this very specialized field, she sought out graduate programs emphasizing finance rather than design and prioritized practical application over theory. 

Portland State’s MSRE program caught her attention due to affordable housing being one area of specialization for students. As she advances her career, she recognizes that “there are so many different options within the finance stack of affordable housing,” therefore, this dynamic program presents her with the opportunity to explore various paths that suit her best. 

Additionally, the academic director for the MSRE, Dr. Julia Freybote, was a compelling factor in her decision as a beneficial resource. Dr. Freybote has been attentive to Christina’s wants and needs both previously and presently within the program. 

Prior to the start of the program, Dr. Freybote connected Christina to alumni from the program emphasizing Christina’s major takeaway from the program – the significance of networking. Some graduates have gone into affordable housing finance, development or asset management and joined organizations such as Related NW, Home Forward, Central City Concern, and Hacienda CDC. 

“It has pushed me to meet people in the industry and make connections,” said Christina as she reflected on how “it has been really helpful.” Portland State University maintains a valuable community that continues to serve Christini during her time in the program. A highlight of PSU’s community for her is the Real Estate Emerging Leaders Club (REEL). This organization welcomes all undergraduate and graduate students interested in real estate-related fields, providing networking and educational opportunities within the industry. 

As Christina’s time in the program winds down, she continues to engage in “learning what feels right.” 

• community impact
• economy, business and finance

Housing is now unaffordable for a record half of all U.S. renters, study finds

A new harvard analysis finds people across income levels got squeezed by rent hikes during the pandemic. the market has lost millions of low-rent places, and new construction is mostly high-end..

A new Harvard University report finds that housing was unaffordable for a record half of renters in 2022. And a softening rental market might not help those who struggle most.

Matt Rourke/AP

Over the past two years, Genuine Campbell was shocked at how rent for her two-bedroom apartment in Philadelphia just kept going up — from $1,300 a month to $1,600. She’s a single mom of four, and right as her rent was rising, her hours as a hotel valet were getting cut.

Add in utility costs plus inflation, and every month brought a wrenching decision.

“Do you want to pay the bills and then give half the rent, or do you want to try to do the whole rent and then be back on bills?” she says.

Campbell says the area isn’t even safe enough for her kids to play outside, but the rents are still way out of line with what she can make. “You have to work in, like, maybe a hospital or [as a] police officer ... just to keep up with the rent,” she says.

In fact, more such households and many others also now struggle to pay rent, according to a newly released report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. It finds that in 2022, as rents spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic, a record half of U.S. renters paid more than 30% of their income for rent and utilities. Nearly half of those people were severely cost-burdened, paying more than 50% of their income.

“We actually saw increases across every single income category that we look at, which sort of surprised us,” says Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, a senior research associate with the center and the report’s lead author.

Since 2019, the biggest jump in unaffordability was for households making $30,000 to $74,999 a year. Even among those working full time, a third of all renters were still cost-burdened.

For renters making under $30,000 — who already faced the most severe struggle to afford housing — Airgood-Obrycki “didn’t think it could possibly get that much higher.” But the report found it did nudge up, to an all-time high of 83% who are cost-burdened. She says the amount of money they have left over for all other household expenses has plummeted by nearly half, to just $310 a month.

And she says the compromises people traditionally make to get cheaper rent aren’t guaranteed these days.

“So you might not be living in as good of a neighborhood. You might be commuting farther. You might be sacrificing the quality of your school system,” Airgood-Obrycki says. “And often what we’re seeing is that even when people are attempting to make these trade-offs, they still end up paying too much for housing.”

As the Harvard report notes, U.S. homelessness rates hit a record high last year. The Biden administration and housing experts link that squarely to a severe housing shortage that has helped drive up prices.

“We simply don’t have enough homes that people can afford,” says Jeff Olivet, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. “And when you combine rapidly rising rent — that it just costs more per month for people to get into a place and keep a place — you get this vicious game of musical chairs.”

A cooling housing market isn’t likely to help those struggling the most

The double-digit rent hikes of the past few years are finally easing , and rents have even come down in some cities that saw the biggest jumps. A record number of apartments are also under construction, and as they come online, tight vacancy rates will loosen.

Still, prices for many people are still higher than before the pandemic, and the building boom is not likely to change that.

“What we are building is at the high end, because of the increased cost of construction and because we have a lot of demand from higher-income renters,” says Airgood-Obrycki. Most new apartments over the last decade have gone for $1,400 a month or higher, “and that’s not affordable to the majority of renters.”

At the same time, she says the market has lost millions of low-rent units for $600 a month or less. And these trends are continuing a long-term, growing gap in what people can afford. Since 2001, the Harvard report notes, median rents have risen by 21% while the median annual income for renters has risen just 2%.

The upshot is that millions more people qualify for federal housing subsidies. But those have been chronically underfunded, and the amount available has fallen further behind the need.

In Philadelphia, Campbell moved her family out of their unaffordable apartment and in with friends this month. She’s making a bit more working as a driver with Lyft, and also does people’s hair on the side.

Her plan is to stay until she gets her tax refund to help with a fresh start. She has already started looking around for a cheaper place, and hopes to find something for $1,000 or $1,100 a month.

“It’s like you’re dreaming of a fairy tale,” Campbell says. “But I’m going to try to find something that I can handle.”

Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Carolina Public Press

Carolina Public Press provides in-depth, investigative reporting on issues affecting Western North Carolina in a nonprofit, nonpartisan setting.

Every region of NC facing affordable housing crisis, seeking solutions

Share this:.

Before you go …

If you like what you are reading and believe in independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan journalism like ours—journalism the way it should be—please contribute to keep us going. Reporting like this isn’t free to produce and we cannot do this alone. Thank you!

Tameka Ford of Cabarrus County said she cries often at night about her housing situation, contemplating moving away. Ford and about 30 others with Down Home North Carolina rallied in support of allocating funds towards affordable housing development ahead of the May 20 county commissioners meeting, where she also spoke during public comment about her experiences.

Her current housing situation is uncomfortable and unsafe, Ford told Carolina Public Press , but she can’t afford to move. She was also evicted once, so landlords may reject her application because of that. 

“It shouldn’t be this hard,” she said.

Ford grew up in the area, just northeast of Charlotte, and is considering moving to somewhere more cost-effective. But her two daughters are thriving in school, Ford said, so she’s torn.

Cabarrus County doesn’t put any county dollars towards affordable housing, according to Jasmine Lewter , a Piedmont Regional organizer with Down Home North Carolina.

Advocates across the state are pushing for initiatives to address the shortage in affordable housing. Some local governments have commissioned housing studies and supported protections against eviction, among other efforts.

While many areas are “trying a little bit of everything” to address the shortage, the scale of investment into efforts like housing trust funds is far outpaced by the need, said Stephanie Watkins-Cruz , director of housing policy at the North Carolina Housing Coalition , a nonprofit advocacy group.

The crisis affects the entire state, with both urban and rural communities feeling the pressure of housing costs, Watkins-Cruz said.

The coalition estimates that almost half of renters and 19% of homeowners in North Carolina have difficulty affording their homes. Even people with higher incomes, such as those making $80,000, are now also struggling, Watkins-Cruz said.

Housing supply isn’t keeping pace with demand, and wages haven’t caught up with rising living costs, she said. The cost of development also rose, she said, increasing housing prices.

But the solution is more than just building, she said. Passing subsidies to keep the housing affordable, making sure the infrastructure to implement the solutions is adequate and using stability measures such as eviction protections for homeowners are all necessary pieces, she said.

Affordable housing in Cabarrus County

Cabarrus County ranks fifth in the state for evictions among renter households, according to the N.C. Housing Coalition. 

Lewter of Down Home North Carolina said organizers expanded the county’s crisis financial assistance program , which gave applicants money for rent or utilities to help prevent evictions. But the program was initially underutilized and barely publicized, she said.

Organizers convinced the county commissioners to raise the amount of funding an individual could receive from $500 to $1,000, as well as create an online application for the program. 

The fund is now utilized much more, she said.

Lewter and other advocates also asked county commissioners to create a revolving fund of at least $5 million for local nonprofits to fund affordable housing developments.

The commissioners seemed amenable to the idea and will decide whether to grant this request when they vote on the budget June 17, Lewter said.

Western NC affordable housing challenges

Transylvania County commissioned a comprehensive housing needs study to identify gaps, needs and barriers, according to a May 8 press release from the county, located south of Asheville on the South Carolina line. 

The study is expected to be done early next year, according to the county’s director of transportation, planning and community development, Jeffrey Adams .

Affordable housing is “the No. 1 issue” in the community, Adams told CPP.

“We find ourselves where the mountain town communities and many of the destination resort or gateway communities found themselves 30 or more years ago, looking for solutions and creating alternative markets,” he said in an email to CPP.

A 2021 Bowen National Research study commissioned by Dogwood Health Trust assessed housing needs in 18 counties and the Cherokee reservation in the western part of North Carolina.

Researchers found a potential housing gap of more than 13,000 rental units for those making anywhere from up to 50% to 120% of the Area Median Household Income, in the region, which is mostly rural with a few small towns and cities.

Zoning that restricts developments other than single-family homes and geographic constraints in the mountainous region also play a role, said Traci Thompson , regional planner at Land of Sky Regional Council . She also pointed to lack of water and sewer access in some areas.

Short-term rentals can also take away from long-term housing in a market with already low stock, she said. 

Both the public and private sectors need to invest more into solving these issues, she said. 

The Land of Sky regional housing alliance, which includes Buncombe, Henderson, Transylvania and Madison counties, acts as an information hub around best practices and accurate messaging around housing, she said.

Some evidence-based strategies include focusing on housing for essential workers like educators and health care providers, promoting higher-density housing developments and repurposing large, unused retail spaces, she said.

In smaller communities, initiatives like agreements between community groups and developers and employer-created housing for workers can be useful, she said. 

Wilmington area housing

Commissioning a report to identify gaps in affordable housing was an “intelligent step in the right direction” for Wilmington, said Liz Carbone , vice chair of the Cape Fear Housing Coalition , a volunteer organization that raises awareness about the affordable housing crisis.

Being able to put numbers to the issue was “life-changing” for advocates, Carbone said. Overall, Wilmington just doesn’t have enough housing, she said. 

Facing water on two sides limits the city’s development, she said. But part of the issue is also a lack of community support, which can make it harder for elected officials to act, Carbone said.

Some community members dislike the influx of people moving into the area and the development that may come with it, she said. Others may believe affordable housing developments will cause their own property values to go down, which isn’t true, she said. 

“The people you’re worried about living next to you are the same people who have a child in your kid’s class or the person who works at the gas station you go to once a week,” she said. “These are your neighbors.”

Wilmington can also look to other communities to see what they did for solutions, she said. The coalition brought in the mayor of Charlotte to talk about the city’s housing bond and discussed programs around accessory dwelling units with the City of Raleigh, she said.

The city already has some good programs that need more support, like the homeowner opportunity program and WARM NC , which does home repairs for low-income homeowners.

But Wilmington still doesn’t have all the parts of a “healthy housing ecosystem,” Carbone said. That can include the right to a lawyer when a landlord brings an eviction against a tenant, she said.

That right helps address the “imbalance of power” that often exists between landlord and tenant, said Sarah Gallagher , vice president of state and local innovation at the National Low Income Housing Coalition .

North Carolina laws protect tenants from retaliation, such as a landlord increasing rent if someone complains about a health code violation, she said.

The state also allows a 10-day notice period before evicting someone for non-payment of rent, she said, although the coalition recommends 30 days.

Northern Coastal Plains region housing

Some areas of Eastern North Carolina struggle with having adequate resources to address housing issues. 

The Mid-East Regional Housing Authority serves around 1,000 families across Beaufort, Bertie, Hyde, Martin, Pitt, Tyrell and Washington counties, said Lynn Alligood , executive director. 

That includes public housing units and housing choice vouchers , she said. Because many of the developments are scattered across rural areas, it’s a challenge to serve them, she said. 

The agency also has a shortage in funding, Alligood said. Most of their funding comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development , she said, but the agency is stretched thin and has a waiting list for housing. Winning tax credits towards developing affordable housing also remains difficult, she said.

The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency distributes those credits through a competitive application process, said Tara Hall , manager of rental development at the state agency.

The agency tries to be as balanced as possible in distributing the tax credits , she said. The agency splits the resources into 23% for the eastern part of the state, 16% for the west, 23% for central area, plus 38% for metro areas in any part of the state, she said.

Agency staff score applications for the credits on items such as distance from amenities, Hall said. Small towns of under 10,000 people get more leeway in terms of that distance, she said.

The agency can only approve about a third of the applications it gets, she said, and those resources have stretched even tighter recently with increased building costs. 

That’s why it’s helpful when municipalities can offer funding to offset costs, but many rural areas can’t do that, she said.

Republish This Story

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may republish our stories for free, online or in print. Simply copy and paste the article contents from the box below. Note, some images and interactive features may not be included here.

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License .

by Grace Vitaglione, Carolina Public Press May 28, 2024

This <a target="_blank" href="https://carolinapublicpress.org/64097/every-region-of-nc-facing-affordable-housing-crisis-seeking-solutions/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://carolinapublicpress.org">Carolina Public Press</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/carolinapublicpress.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/cropped-cropped-CPPlogo_icon_RGB.png?fit=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://carolinapublicpress.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=64097" style="width:1px;height:1px;">

Grace Vitaglione

Grace Vitaglione is a reporter for Carolina Public Press. Send an email to [email protected] to contact her.

Exploring the Link Between Housing Stability and Mental Health

• Share this page on Facebook facebook
• Share this page on Twitter twitter
• Share this page on LinkedIn linkedin
• Health & Wellness

By Mia Chapman

Millions of people in the United States living with mental health challenges face barriers to finding and maintaining stable housing. Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, and mental health illnesses are some of the most common health conditions across the country. There are myriad causes of mental health illnesses and challenges, however, there is evidence that the accessibility of stable and affordable housing can improve mental health. As much as the benefits of stable housing can help uplift mental health, the repercussions of a lack of stable and affordable housing can exacerbate mental health challenges. This is a trend identified among both renters and homeowners, with similar mental health repercussions reported on those experiencing mortgage strain .

Repercussions of Unstable Housing on Mental Health

A recent study reported that individuals with mental health challenges are at-risk of experiencing exacerbated mental health symptoms as a result of housing instability. With the growing housing affordability crisis, individuals and families experiencing high cost burdens are numerous. Those experiencing long-term housing affordability stress report significant negative effects on mental health related to social, emotional, and mental functioning.

The eviction process has also been found to have serious mental health repercussions on renters. In the two years following an eviction , people were more likely to visit the emergency room or require hospitalization for a mental health condition (compared to those who had not experienced an eviction). Eviction is more common among low-income tenants and disproportionately affects renters who are black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC).

Reducing cost burdens and long-term affordability stress can help alleviate less-severe mental health challenges. Those experiencing serious mental illnesses may find it significantly more difficult to access stable housing; the number of Fair Housing complaints related to mental illness and disability has in recent years. Furthermore, many people with serious mental illnesses rely on Social Security Insurance (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) payments , making many housing options unaffordable. Individuals experiencing chronic unsheltered homelessness also experience daily struggles and face emotional tolls of exposure to the elements, difficulty meeting basic needs, and a lack of economic opportunity.

While mental illness does not cause homelessness, the experience of homelessness exacerbates mental health conditions and symptoms of mental illness. Source: National Library of Medicine

Policies and Programs to Support Mental Health Through Housing

There is an array of federal policies and housing programs that aim to support mental health through the provision of housing or related funding and services. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 and the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program have helped provide rental assistance to state and local program grantees to support those in need. State and local governments have used State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) provided through ARPA to distribute additional rent, mortgage, or utility assistance to more than 700,000 households and provided eviction prevention services to more than 100,000 households in 2021.

In 2021, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), established the Housing and Services Resource Center . The center strives to provide federal resources to individuals seeking housing and social services support, including behavioral health, personal care, transportation, and community living options. As a response to the growing mental health crisis, HUD is also training housing counselors, housing-based services coordinators, and Fair Housing grantee staff in basic mental health skills.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has funding available for homelessness services through the Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH) program. Source: SAMSHA

The PATH program is intended to fund services for people with serious mental illnesses experiencing homelessness and is part of the first major federal legislative response to homelessness. PATH grants are distributed annually at the state level, where each state or territory solicits proposals and awards funds to local public or nonprofit organizations, which are known as PATH providers. The PATH program has reached over 100,000 individuals and enrolled nearly 60,000 PATH-eligible clients in a variety of services .  

How Are Cities Supporting Mental Health Through Housing?

Cities are developing programs to provide mental health services alongside providing housing, in addition to leveraging federal policies and funding to provide services to the local community. Mental health services and policies can often be most impactful at the local community level, making city initiatives vital in the provision of mental health services.

• Boise, ID – The New Path Community Housing project was developed in collaboration with the City of Boise, Ada County, and the HUD Supportive Housing Program. New Path strives to address homelessness through the provision of permanent supportive housing and has been one of Boise’s biggest accomplishments in its efforts to address homelessness since 2009. New Path is a 40-unit apartment building for those who have experienced chronic homelessness and their partners. Most New Path residents have chronic or debilitating health conditions such as mental health challenges or brain disorders, long-term substance use disorders, or trauma. To adequately support residents, these residents receive daily or weekly support from onsite staff, such as case management, physical and mental health care, substance abuse counseling, life skills training, and peer support groups.
• Seattle, WA – Plymouth on First Hill is a permanent supportive housing development in Seattle that provides 77 units of housing to individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. The project was designed specifically for residents with physical and mental illnesses, even winning an award for housing accessibility. Many of the units are fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards, and the rest comply with universal design principles, making all units easily accessible for those living with mental health challenges, substance use disorders, and physical disabilities.
• Santa Monica, CA – The City of Santa Monica has partnered with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health to equip first responders with behavioral health teams to more appropriately provide mental health services to those experiencing homelessness. The pilot program provides a therapeutic transport team to assist first responders in Santa Monica and is part of the city’s holistic approach to addressing homelessness. By scaling solutions, such as immediate mental health support services, the city hopes to holistically address homelessness and work towards securing stable housing for all residents.

About the Authors

You may also like:.

Healthy Housing Innovation Cohort Info Session

Advancing Inclusive Mental Health Policies in the Workplace & Addressing the Behavioral Health Workforce Shortage 

• Community & Economic Development

Using National Opioid Settlement Funds: Local Strategies and Solutions

• Legal Advocacy

Recent Litigation Activity That Local Governments Should Know About

• McKaia Dykema
• Carolyn Berndt
• Stephanie Martinez-Ruckman

What We’ve Learned from Two Years of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline

Launching NLC’s National Opioid Settlement Dashboard: Focusing on Solutions

• Sarah Minster