May 18, 2016

Beyond Bricks and Sticks




A weekly digest of current trends in housing and community development. The discussion examines topics from infrastructure to community fabric.

100 Essential Books of Planning

(RECAP: As part of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the American planning movement, the American Planning Association created a list of the books essential to planning. These books come from every decade starting in 1909, the date of the first national planning conference.)
https://www.planning.org/library/greatbooks/

RAD at 3

(RECAP: Rolled out in an initial notice in March 2012, with additional authority granted by Congress in early 2015, RAD has enabled housing authorities to convert public housing operating and capital funds to long-term Sec. 8 contracts—no additional funds were appropriated—as the means to generate additional financing resources. As the demonstration has been at work for three years, we can begin to see how RAD is measuring up to its original charge.)
http://www.housingfinance.com/policy-legislation/rad-at-3_o

Does The Bank of Mom and Dad Help Homeownership?

(RECAP: As the housing industry looks to the large, racially and ethnically diverse millennial generation as a new source of home purchase demand, the potential and limitations of the 'Bank of Mom and Dad' need to be kept in mind.)
http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/04292016_downpayment_assistance.asp

The REAL rental housing issue

(RECAP: Tenants in private market housing, most of them low or very low income, make up half or more of the residents of most lower-urban neighborhoods. Millions of people are evicted each year, and millions more move involuntarily without waiting for a formal eviction proceeding. We have a fairly decent although patchy network of organizations in this country to help homeowners keep their homes, but nothing that to help renters keep their homes.)
http://www.communityprogress.net/blog/real-rental-housing-issue

Families With Kids Are The Reason Neighborhood Segregation Is Getting Worse

(RECAP: While families without children — both high- and low-income — continue to live in diverse areas, families with children have been sequestering themselves to the neighborhoods with the best local schools. As income inequality has gotten worse, so too has this phenomenon. This is bad news for low-income families that have kids. When affluent families choose housing based on local school options, those without the ability to choose are left with the worst schools.)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/residential-segregation-children-families_us_57214692e4b01a5ebde47d34

Jane Jacobs believed cities should be fun — and changed urban planning forever

(RECAP: The Death and Life of Great American Cities, published in 1961, was Jane Jacobs reaction to urban planning movements that wanted to clear entire city blocks and rebuild them. She argued this ignored everything that made cities great: the mixture of shops, offices and housing that brought people together to live their lives. And her vision triumphed.)
http://www.vox.com/2016/5/4/11583342/jane-jacobs-100th-birthday

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