All Discussions Tagged 'housing' - HousingPolicy.org Forum

Housing Crisis Led to Worsening Housing Affordability for Older Adults

2014-01-23T15:42:45.294Z

A recent AARP report, Loss of Housing Affordability Threatens Financial Stability for Older Middle-Class Adults, assesses the impact of the housing crisis on the economic security of older adults (50 years and older). The authors found that, unsurprisingly, the housing crisis negatively impacted housing affordability for older adults, and as a result, housing cost burdens among older adults increased and spread between 2000 and 2010. Also significant was the uneven impact based on race and ethnicity. Between 2005 and 2009, homeowners of color lost half of their wealth, due in part to growing income gaps between white and other homeowners, and higher foreclosure rates on prime mortgages among households of color.

Do these results match what you see on the ground? Do you know of innovative programs to address the housing affordability needs of older adults?

Mapping Combined Housing and Transportation Costs

2014-01-02T19:38:40.798Z

Have you tried out HUD's new Location Affordability Index yet? The index estimates the typical share of household income spent on housing and transportation costs to offer a picture of housing affordability in neighborhoods and regions across the country. When housing affordability is discussed, transportation costs are typically not included. This can obscure the reality that affordable housing is often located far from job centers and requires long and expensive commuting. Once transportation costs are considered with housing costs, many affordable options are no longer affordable to households with limited budgets.

For those of you have used the Index, what do you think? How do you foresee using it in your work?

Grim picture for renters highlighted in recent report

2013-12-12T17:57:22.144Z

Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies recently released a report that explores the nation's rental housing market and rental housing needs, America's Rental Housing: Evolving Markets and Needs. The findings from the report, summarized in a great infographic, describes the growing renter population, shows how rents have increased while renter incomes have fallen, and explains the impact this has on renter households that must cut back on spending in other areas like food, transportation, and healthcare.

One element of the report that stuck out to me was the discussion of the share of income that lower-income renters spend on energy, as much as 15 percent for renter households earning less than $15,000 are year. Have you read the report? Did anything surprise you?

Rebuilding After Sandy

2013-10-31T17:45:40.387Z

With the 1 year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy the topic of many discussions, I have been thinking a great deal about rebuilding efforts. Post-disaster, there is a difficult tradeoff between rebuilding and re-housing people quickly and rebuilding better and stronger to make housing more resilient during future disasters.

There are still families displaced by Hurricane Sandy living in temporary situations while their homes are rebuilt or searching for more permanent housing. Displacement places enormous stress of families and makes even simple daily tasks like commuting to work or school a burden. In addition to helping these families find and rebuild homes, there also needs to be a focus on making these homes resistant to future hurricanes so that these, and other families, do not have to live the nightmare over again.

New HUD Fair Housing Rule

2013-08-08T17:02:19.170Z

On Monday, I attended NHC’s Discussion on the new Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule which provided an opportunity for housing stakeholders to come together and ask questions and air concerns about HUD’s proposed Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Rule. The conversation at the event focused on the need for clear enforcement mechanisms for the new AFFH rule and the importance of providing stakeholders an opportunity to appeal to HUD in cases where they find that municipalities are not in compliance. A recording of the event can be found on the NHC website here (register for the event to view the webcast recording).

I found useful context on the AFFH rule in the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the National Fair Housing Alliance, and the Poverty & Race Research Action Council’s “First Term Report Card” on the Obama administration’s enforcement of the AFFH rule. The report highlights successes and missed opportunities.

New Blight Index and Research in Dallas

2013-07-18T15:01:49.562Z

The Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity recently released a study conducted by University of Texas researchers that assesses the impact of blight on Dallas neighborhoods and its cost to the City. The researchers also developed a blight index which considers physical and social characteristics that can be adapted and used in other cities to better inform policy decisions.

Do you know of other useful blight measuring tools or research?

New Report from CTOD on TOD Best Practices

2013-06-04T16:20:35.093Z

The Center for Transit-Oriented Development (CTOD) recently released a new report that examines strategies for transit-oriented development (TOD) in different neighborhood contexts. Effective TOD creates the opportunity for affordable housing development and improved amenities to create vibrant, affordable, mixed-use neighborhoods near transit stations. The report "Downtowns, Greenfields and Places in Between" offers common development contexts near transit stations as framework for TOD planning and discusses typical barriers to TOD development.

Affordable Housing and Supportive Services

2013-05-09T14:41:48.297Z

Supportive housing is affordable housing enhanced with services, or access to services, that help individuals and families who have complex needs to live independently and successfully in their community. Providing supportive housing is a particular challenge in rural areas where households are dispersed over large geographic areas without transportation options to travel to towns or cities where service areas are based.

Have you observed communities and agencies in rural areas that have successfully provided supportive housing or affordable housing with access to services? What were the keys to their success?

Reno & Cavanaugh to Present Webinar on the Rental Assistance Demonstration

2013-04-17T17:07:30.323Z

WASHINGTON, DC (April 16, 2013) – Three Reno & Cavanaugh attorneys will lead an April 23^rd webinar on the Rental Assistance Demonstration, one of the most important topics in the affordable housing industry currently.

Free to the public, the webinar will include a discussion of alternative ways housing authorities, nonprofits and other developers can obtain private equity and innovative HUD resources to rebuild, renovate, and preserve housing projects as affordable rental housing.

The presenters are Reno & Cavanaugh’s George L. Weidenfeller, Martin Walsh and Stephen I. Holmquist, along with Patrick Costigan, Senior Advisor in the HUD Office of the Secretary, and John Mackey, partner at CohnReznick LLP. The webinar will discuss HUD goals and the current status of RAD, analyze structuring and legal issues, financial issues, FHA involvement, regulatory issues, and HUD’s role for RAD transaction types, and interface tax credits and alternative structures.

The webinar will be held from 1pm – 2:30pm ET on Tuesday, April 23^rd. Please click [email protected]?subject=RAD%20Webinar%20April%2023%2C%202013">to ask questions or to register.

About Reno & Cavanaugh, PLLC

Established in 1977, Reno & Cavanaugh, PLLC is a national law firm with a mission to strengthen communities across the country. Reno & Cavanaugh represents developers, housing authorities, lenders and other industry participants in matters of real estate development, finance, energy efficiency and sustainable development, litigation, and regulatory and legislative advocacy. From residential and mixed-use projects, to office buildings, shopping centers, and transit-oriented developments, Reno & Cavanaugh structures transactions to bring the full slate of public and private resources to bear.