Wikipedia talk:United States Education Program/Courses/Housing and Social Policy (Rachel Kleit)

Welcome to the talk page

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This is a place where you can ask questions, talk about problems, and discuss the Wikipedia assignment with classmates and other Wikipedians.--Rachel Garshick Kleit (talk) 16:52, 21 September 2011 (UTC)Reply

Here are the slides from the Campus Ambassador's Introduction to Wikipedia! presentation from 10/5. Elnel84 (talk) 07:51, 5 October 2011 (UTC)Reply

Some ideas for topics

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I'm listing some ideas for topics here, based what I have seen of student interests over the years. Feel free to come up with your own based on your review of the literature.

These I need to look up
Community development finance
Location Efficient Mortgages
Poverty dispersal strategies
Mortgage subsidies
Flexible Lending
Computer-aided Lending
Creative Architecture
Housing Trust Funds
Inclusionary zoning
Mixed-income housing
Transitional housing
Fair Housing
Transforming Rental Housing Approach
Location Efficient Mortgage

No Wikipedia Page
Housing preservation
Low income homeownership
Mutual Housing Association


Needs Improvement
Limited or Shared Equity Housing, listed as Equity sharing
Non-profit housing
Low-Income Housing Tax Credit
HOPE VI
Community Development
Public housing in the united states

Needs an entry and a redirect
Housing Vouchers (redirect from Section 8 Vouchers)

Present and mostly fine
Community Land Trusts
Community Development Financial Institutions

More ideas to come... Rachel Garshick Kleit (talk) 20:43, 26 September 2011 (UTC) Looked up some more todayRachel Garshick Kleit (talk) 21:48, 12 October 2011 (UTC)Reply

Annotated Bibliographies

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For each topic, create a new heading with a title, and put your information below.Rachel Garshick Kleit (talk) 16:47, 21 October 2011 (UTC)Reply

Housing and Residential Segregation

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Katie Fries (talk) and Janine Fraser (talk)

Introduction

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This annotated bibliography reviews several pieces of academic literature that explore residential and housing segregation in the United States.

Annotated Bibliography

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de Souza Briggs, X., Darden, J.T. and Aidala, A. (1999). In the Wake of Desegregation. Journal of American Planning Association, 61 (1), 27-49.
This article tests claims about the early effects of desegregation of public housing. The study focuses on a suburban city where fears about the negative effects of public housing were especially strong following court ordered desegregation. It also examines the effect housing mobility intervention has on occupants of the new housing, on receiving neighborhoods and on governance and race/ethnic relations citywide.
What is the result of this study? Can you provide a sentence?Rachel Garshick Kleit (talk) 03:26, 7 November 2011 (UTC)Reply

Galster, George C. (1986). More than Skin Deep: The Effect of Discrimination on the Extent and Pattern of Racial Residential Segregation. In Housing Desegregation and Federal Policy. John Goering (Ed.), 119–138. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
This paper uses statistical analysis to develop a synthesis of six theories about the high rates of poverty of African Americans in the United States. The paper finds that racial residential segregation, inter-class segregation, school performance and poverty rates are endogenous; it emphasizes the role of housing market discrimination on perpetuating poverty.

Massey, D.S. and Denton, N.A. (1993). American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. Harvard University Press.
Though this book is almost two decades old, it continues to be referenced by scholars who study residential segregation. Massey and Denton examine the history of black-white segregation in America, addressing theories from William Wilson and Oscar Lewis about the role of culture and poverty in the urban economy. The authors argue for the greater role of housing segregation in exacerbating social and economic issues for black Americans – creating an “underclass.”

The Poverty Race Research Action Council and The National Fair Housing Alliance. “Racial Segregation and Housing Discrimination in the United States,” 2008. Retrieved October 7, 2011 from http://www.prrac.org/pdf/FinalCERDHousingDiscriminationReport.pdf.
This report, submitted to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, evaluates the current state of housing discrimination and segregation in the United States and succinctly describes the United States government's failure to fulfill obligations to housing under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The report outlines how Public Housing, the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program and the Low Income Housing Tax Credit perpetuate racial segregation and addresses the United States government's poor response to private acts of housing discrimination.

Stoll, M.A. (2008). Race, place, and poverty revisited. In The Colors of Poverty: Why Racial and Ethnic Disparities Persist, eds. Ann Chih Lin and David R. Harris, 201-231. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
This article looks at different theories about why geographic locations matter for the lower class. Stoll also examines how the location of housing can prevent access to job opportunities, services, and positive, cultural exposure.

Tegeler, P.D. (2005). The persistence of segregation in government housing programs. In The Geography of Opportunity: Race and Housing Choice in Metropolitan America, ed. Xavier de Souza Briggs, 197-216. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
This article looks at the role of government policies and programs in causing and addressing residential segregation. Tegeler discusses the changes in policies from the Civil Rights Era that aimed to give low-income people access to housing (Low Income Housing Tax Credit program, Community Reinvestment Act, HOPE VI, and HOME). He discusses how low-income housing locations add to the problem and consequences.

Turner, M.A. and Fortuny, K. (2009). Residential Segregation and Low-Income Working Families. Urban Institute. Retrieved: October 12, 2011 from http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/411845_residential_segregation_liwf.pdf
This report from the Urban Institute looks at data about residential segregation and presents a review of the literature about its causes and consequences. The authors look at the differences in neighborhood characteristics for different races. The report is heavily evidence based, with heavy use of data to show that residential segregation is still a problem today.

U.S. Census Bureau, “Racial and Ethnic Residential Segregation in the United States: 1980-2000,” August 2002. Retrieved: October 9, 2011 from http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/housing_patterns/pdftoc.html
This report provides recent, credible data on residential segregation trends from the latest completed census data. It includes the breakdown of residential segregation patterns among different racial groups. Trend graphs, data tables and population distribution maps offer visual representation of the problem that is easy to look at and understand.

von Hoffman, A., Beklsky, E. S., and Lee, K. “The Impact of Housing on Community: a Review of Scholarly Theories and Empirical Research,” 2006. Joint Center for Housing Studies Harvard University. Retrieved October 8, 2011 from http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/publications/communitydevelopment/w06-1_impact_of_housing_on_community.pdf.
This report examines 80 years of research on the ways housing markets shape initial neighborhood conditions and drive changes in conditions over time. It examines the impacts of the operations of housing markets on communities and individuals, the public policy responses to housing markets, and focuses on five important impacts of housing markets including residential segregation by race and income.

Other Sources

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1. Bostic, R.W. and Surette, B.J. (2001). Have the Doors Opened Wider? Trends in Homeownership Rates by Race and Income. In Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, 23, (3), 411-34.

2. Denton, N.A. (2006). Segregation and discrimination in housing. In A Right to Housing: Foundation for a New Social Agenda, eds. Rachel G. Bratt, Michael E. Stone, and Chester Hartman, 61-81. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 65-66.

3. Gotham, K.F. (2000). Separate and Unequal: the Housing act of 1968 and the Section 235 Program. Sociological Forum, 159(1), 13-37.

4. Marcuse, P., & Keating, D. (2006). The permanent housing crisis. In A Right to Housing: Foundation for a New Social Agenda, eds. R. Bratt, M. Stone, C. Hartman, 139-162. Philadelphia: Temple University Press

5. Massey, D.S. (2009). The Changing Bases of Segregation in the United States. In The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 626 (1), 74-90.

6. Pendall, R., Nelson, A., Dawkins, C., Knapp, G. (2005). Connecting smart growth, housing affordability, and Racial Equity. In The Geography of Opportunity, ed X. de Souza Briggs, 219-246. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution.

7. Schwartz, A. M. (2010) Housing policy in the Unites States (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.

8. Seitles, M. (1996). The perpetuation of residential racial segregation in America. Journal of Land Use and Environmental Law. Retrieved October 9, 2011, from http://www.law.fsu.edu/journals/landuse/vol141/seit.htm.

9. Wilson, W.J. (1987). The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy. University of Chicago Press.

10. Yinger, John. (1995). Closed Doors, Opportunities Lost: The Continuing Costs of Housing Discrimination. New York: Russell Sage

You have been quite thorough!! Rachel Garshick Kleit (talk) 03:28, 7 November 2011 (UTC)Reply

Analysis of Other Wikipedia Articles

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Fair Housing
The Wikipedia page for “Fair Housing” provides a historical context for the development of the Fair Housing Act, provides an overview of agencies responsible for processing fair housing complaints, and includes a case study on fair housing in Seattle, WA. This article is poorly structured and cited. The citations are from various websites with little reference to the broad literature on fair housing. The article does not examine the efficacy of the Fair Housing Act and provides no explanation of how fair housing is enforced. While it does include a case study, Wikipedia does not seem to be the proper venue for a case study.


Residential Segregation
The Wikipedia page for “Residential Segregation” provides a measure for residential segregation, attempts to explain how residential segregation occurs, and briefly mentions both the consequences and current trends in residential segregation. The article finishes with recommendations for reducing residential segregation. It focuses mostly on residential segregation of African Americans and Caucasians and claims that Asians and Hispanics experience declining levels of residential segregation. The article does not accurately articulate the current trends of residential segregation in the United States. It presents little evidence about the problem, providing only one dated statistic about racial segregation. Further, the descriptions of the causal factors of segregation seem to be biased and do not include many of the federal and local policies that contribute to residential segregation, nor does it explain the historical context. The article suggests that private action and personal preference drive segregation more than any other factor. The omission of the other causal elements leaves readers with a skewed perspective of the reasons for residential segregation.


Housing Segregation
Wikipedia’s article on “housing segregation” is very similar to its article on “residential segregation.” The article discusses the history of housing segregation for blacks, looking back at the history of housing discrimination and public policies to promote fair housing and integration. It also presents a case study of housing issues for blacks in Portland, Oregon. The article addresses the issue for blacks, excluding all other groups who are affected by housing segregation. There is no discussion about other races or socioeconomic groups. The article is extremely limited even within the context of blacks. It looks at the history, but does not acknowledge the existence of housing segregation today. In addition to this oversight, the article ignores the wealth of data on the issue. The US Census and housing researchers collect data on the issue that might be useful in presenting incontrovertible evidence. The article also lacks strong references. It currently has a mere handful of references to other Wikipedia articles and websites, when much scholarly research on the subject exists. Finally, while the article talks about policies to address housing segregation, it barely mentions the consequences of the problem and why these policy initiatives exist.

Which of these do you think is most compelling to work on? Rachel Garshick Kleit (talk) 03:30, 7 November 2011 (UTC)Reply

Housing Quality and health

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Adonis E. Ducksworth & Elizabeth Cooper

Introduction

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The purpose of this annotated bibliography is to review some of the academic literature about housing quality and health. One of the reoccurring themes is that the connection between housing and neighborhood quality to health is complex. The impact of housing on health has to be understood in the context of not only the physical house, but also the social, and economic characteristics of neighborhood and community. To this end, policies or interventions designed to address health issues related to adequate housing should be comprehensive.

Annotated Bibliography

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Bashir, S. A. (2002). Home is where the harm is: Inadequate housing as a public health crisis. American Journal of Public Health, 92 (5), 733-738.
Bashir argues the social and physical characteristics of low-income neighborhoods force people to isolate themselves in substandard housing, which is often a characteristic of low-income neighborhoods. Crime, noise, and noxious odors are also characteristics of low-income neighborhoods. The combination of avoiding outside activity and isolating in places with chipped paint or cockroaches leads to negative health outcomes such as obesity, lead poisoning, and asthma. What is particularly interesting about this article is it addresses the inability of poor people to mobilize to address the above problems. Moreover, there is little incentive in the private market to alleviate some of the neighborhood and housing problems that produce negative health outcomes. Therefore, it becomes necessary for non-profits, community groups, and progressive research organizations to try to solve some of the problems mentioned.

Dunn, J.R., Hayes, M.V. (2000) Social inequality, population health, and housing: a study of two Vancouver neighborhoods. Social Science & Medicine, 51, 563-587.
This article seeks to investigate the mechanisms by which housing factors could affect, in a systematic way, inequalities in health status across socioeconomic strata. The authors proposed three dimensions of importance in relationships between housing, social inequality, and health; materiality, meaningfulness, and spatiality of housing. The researchers conducted a survey of residents in two Vancouver, B.C. neighborhoods. Among the determinants most associated with negative self-reported health status, was dissatisfaction with the dwelling, perceived control over their domestic lives, and meaning invested in the home. The authors propose that these results empirically link housing factors and health status.

Jacobs, J. E., Wilson, J., Dixon, S.L., Smith, J. & Evens, A. (2009). The relationship of housing and population health: A 30-Year retrospective analysis. Environmental Health Perspectives, 117 (4), 597-604.<br. Jacobs et al. conduct the first study of its kind. They explore the potential relationship between housing trends and health outcomes over the course of three decades, 1970 to 2000, using the American Housing Survey and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The authors found five significant relationships. 1) They found that health disparities between ethnicities and races did not change between the years 1970 to 2000. 2) Increased usage of air conditioning systems may be related to trends in obesity. 3) Housing ventilation may also be related to increased occurrences of asthma. 4) Trends in neighborhood characteristics like crime or open space may be related to trends in heart health. 5) The rehabilitation and replacement of old homes may be related to decreased incidents of lead poisoning. Given the relationships between trends in housing and trends in health outcomes, the authors hope that health and policy officials will consider the health care costs of poorly designed neighborhoods and housing.

Krieger, J., Higgins, D.L. (2002) Housing and Health: Time again for public health action. American Journal of Public Health, 92(5), 758-768.
Krieger and Higgins provide an explanation of, and justification for, the association between poor housing conditions and health. The authors describe a number of health outcomes that are related to housing or neighborhood conditions, including; infectious diseases, chronic diseases, injuries, childhood development, and mental health. The authors present and place housing as an important social determinant of health in an historical context within public health. The association between housing and health is further defined by current contributions to public and private initiatives and interventions. The authors consider housing codes, assessment, planning and advocacy as important next steps in addressing existing gaps in providing healthy housing. The authors express an urgent need to return to the focus on housing that was a priority in the past.

Lindberg, R.A, Shenassa, E.D., Acevedo-Garcia, D., Popkin, S.J., Villaveces, A. & Morley, R.L. (2010) Housing Interventions at the Neighborhood Level and Health: A Review of the Evidence. J Public Health Management Practice, 16(5) E-Supp, S44–S52.
This article seeks to review the evidence from intervention studies linking neighborhood-level changes with health outcomes. Lindberg et al. reviewed ten studies with a variety of intervention types, including; vouchers, relocation to low-poverty neighborhoods, demolition of distressed housing with relocation of residents, universal design, crime prevention through design, smart growth and connectivity, residential siting, zoning, density bonuses, and green space around housing. Only rental vouchers (Section 8) were found to have sufficient evidence of providing health benefits that would warrant further implementation of the intervention, although none of the others had a negative impact on health outcomes. The specific benefits found to be associated with the Housing Choice Voucher Program were less overcrowding, malnutrition, and concentrated poverty than non-voucher holders. The authors contend that although most of the interventions they reviewed did not provide adequate evidence to prove an association with health outcomes, further research should be done. Many of the interventions that this article reviews have the potential of positive co-benefits to health, even if they were not specifically designed for this purpose.

Matte, T.D. & Jacobs D. E. (2000). Housing and health – current issues and implications for research and programs. Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 77 (1), 7-25.
This article discusses possible research topics related to housing and health. What is of particular interest is the potential for research that connects the community or neighborhood environment with the individual dwelling environment. Characteristics associated with poor housing quality such as cockroaches, ventilation, or moisture can cause negative health outcomes such as asthma. Cockroaches may be a consequence of a community level problem such as trash left unattended in the street. This example illustrates the author’s suggestion for research to be comprehensive, focusing on not just the home but also the community.

Saegert, S.C., Klitzman, S., Freudenberg, N., Cooperman-Mroczek, J., Nassar, S. (2003) Healthy housing: A structured review of published evaluations of US interventions to improve health by modifying housing in the United States, 1990-2001. American Journal of Public Health, 93(9), 1471-1477.
The authors sought to evaluate the success of interventions to improve the housing environment, to change behaviors, or both, to impact health outcomes. The authors attempted to describe the characteristics and results of the studies, assess the methods used for evaluation of the interventions, identify the gaps in the literature on housing interventions to improve health, and to describe future research directions. Inclusion criteria were that the study used some type of housing intervention, which could be one of the following: rehousing, changes in physical infrastructure, changes in equipment or furniture, or changes in housing policy, among others. The authors concluded that changes in household environment, residents’ knowledge, public policy and community norms can contribute to improvements in health status. The authors propose that future studies be done that consider multiple changes to affect a bigger change.

World Health Organization, (1989). Health principles of housing. World Health Organization, Geneva. Retrieved October 28, 2011 from http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/1989/9241561270_eng.pdf
Although this publication has a particular focus on developing countries, I believe the principles they outline for health and housing are applicable in the United States given the number of American citizens who live in substandard housing and neighborhoods. For many Americans, their living conditions do not meet their basic needs for healthy living. According the World Health Organization, housing conditions should address the following six principles: 1) Protection against communicable diseases 2) Protection against injury, poisoning, and chronic diseases 3) Reducing psychological and social stresses to a minimum 4) Improving the housing conditions 5) Making informed use of housing 6) Protecting populations at special risk. These principles are important because they provide a framework to use when assessing the quality of housing or the steps governments and non-profits should take to provide quality housing.

Additional Sources

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Dunn J.R. & Hayes M.V. (1999). Identifying social pathways for health inequalities: The role of housing. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 896, 399-402.

Evans, J., Hyndman, S., Stewart-Brown, S., Smith, D., & Petersen, S. (2000). An epidemiological study of the relative importance of damp housing in relation to adult heath. J Epidemiol Community Health, 677-686.

Howell, E., Harris, L., & Popkin, S. (2005). The health status of HOPE VI public housing residents. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 16(2), 273-285.

Martin, A.E. (1967). Environment, Housing and Health. Urban Studies, 4, 1-18.

US Dept of Housing and Urban Development. (2007). American Housing Survey. Retrieved from US Department of Housing and Urban Development: http://www.huduser.org/DATASETS/ahs/ahsdata07.html

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009). Leading our nation to healthier homes: The healthy homes strategic plan. Retrieved October 15, 2011 from http://www.hud.gov/offices/lead/library/hhi/hh_strategic_plan.pdf

Assessing Wikipedia

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Center_for_Healthy_Housing The Wikipedia article for the National Center for Healthy Housing is woefully inadequate and, despite its brevity, still makes errors. The article fails to mention the current mission, strategies and initiatives. The site is also poorly categorized, leaving out health or built environment in the keywords. There is so little information provided that providing an assessment of content is difficult.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_sprawl Although indirectly related to health, this article provides a good introduction to the impacts of urban sprawl on human health. The section that speaks of health and environmental impacts is found in the “Criticisms and responses” section of the article. The section cites increased dependence on automobiles associated with sprawl as the major contributor to poor health outcomes. It includes obesity, decrease in social capital, and air pollution as the major drivers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_determinants_of_health This Wikipedia page is comprehensive in that it talks about the many social determinates of health outcomes. Although not specifically stated, housing is addressed both as a determinate and outcome of a person’s social or economic condition. This page highlights the need for a Wikipedia page dedicated to housing quality and health. Although the page is good housing is a secondary factor. For our purposes housing quality should be seen as a primary factor.

Non-Profit Housing Development

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Michelle Umadhay (talk) & Matt Beal (talk)

Annotated Bibliography

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Bratt, R. G. (2009). Challenges for Nonprofit Housing Organizations Created By the Private Housing Market. Journal of Urban Affairs, 31(1), 67-96. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9906.2008.00429
Bratt discusses the challenges that non-profit housing developers face operating in the private housing market and how they can plan to overcome these challenges. The article is important to our topic because it explains obstacles that non-profit entities face competing against for-profit organizations during the development process. A couple of these challenges include securing capital for site acquisition and equity requirements to use as leverage for interim loans and mortgages, which is pertinent to our discussion of public funding sources available to raise project capital.

Erickson, D. (2006). Community Capitalism: How Housing Advocates, the Private Sector, and Government Forged New Low-Income Housing Policy, 1968 – 1996. Journal of Policy History, 18(2), 167-204. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/
Erickson traces the history of the federal government decentralizing funding to finance local non-profits and private business to build low-income housing. The article provides a detailed account of how non-profits use federal pass-through programs such as CDBG and HOME funds and tax credits to develop affordable housing, which is important to our discussion because these are the primary sources of development subsidies.

Hecht, B. L. (2006). Developing Affordable Housing: A Practical Guide for Nonprofit Organizations. Hoboken:John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Hecht outlines the various steps within the affordable housing development process with an audience of non-profit development organizations in mind. The various sections of the book include everything from creating a project budget to completing and managing the property. Of particular note, a specific section is dedicated to sources of capital, including loans, grants, equity (such as LIHTC), and public housing funds.

Rohe, W. M., Quercia, R. G., & Levy, D. K. (2001). The Performance of Non-profit Housing Developments in the United States, Housing Studies, 16(5), 595-618. doi:10.1080/02673030120080071
Rohe, Quercia and Levy assess the performance of a sample of housing developments sponsored by non-profit organizations to identify factors that affect performance and lessons about effective development and management. Their research is important to non-profit housing development because it presents the problem of future financial viability of affordable projects. Future financial viability of a project during development depends on factors such as the long-term financing terms on the property, projected rental income and sufficient operating and replacement reserves. During development the non-profit secures public funds to assist with initial reserves and future operating subsidies.

Schwartz, A. F. (2010). Housing Policy in the United States (2nd ed., p. 368). New York: Routledge.
Schwartz examines the 2007 housing crisis, housing finance and housing policy in the United States. The book is important because it provides chapters on public housing programs that non-profit’s use for affordable housing development, such as the Low-Income-Housing-Tax-Credit, CDBG and HOME funds, bonds, and trust funds. These chapters provide an analysis of program operation and effectiveness, which is important to our discussion about the types of funds that non-profits are eligible to apply for.

Washington Area Housing Partnership. (2005). Toolkit for Affordable Housing Development. Washington, D.C.: Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. Urban Affairs Review, 47(6), 775-799.
The purpose of this document is to provide local jurisdictions with a “toolkit” of policies and planning tools which could be used to encourage the preservation and development of affordable housing. Particularly useful to our discussion is Section 4, entitled “Financial Tools for Affordable Housing Development and Preservation.” Each policy or tool described throughout the publication includes an example of how each tool is used in practice. Also included are website and contact information to learn more about each highlighted project.

Williamson, A. R. (2011). Can They Afford the Rent? Resident Cost Burden in Low Income Housing Tax Credit Developments. Urban Affairs Review, 47(6), 775-799. doi:10.1177/1078087411417078
Within this article, Williamson examines approximately 38,000 Low Income Housing Tax Credit households in the state of Florida. This critical analysis of the LIHTC program finds that most residents are cost burdened and that participation in the Housing Choice Voucher program does not necessarily prevent cost burden. This document is important in ensuring we discuss LIHTC on Wikipedia presents a balanced view.


Other Sources
Bratt, R. G. (March 2007). Should We Foster the Nonprofit Housing Sector as Developers and Owners of Subsidized Rental Housing? Unpublished paper presented at the Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University: Revisiting Rental Housing: A National Summit, Cambridge, MA. Retrieved from: http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/publications/rental/revisiting_rental_symposium/papers/rr07-12_bratt.pdf

Joint Center for Housing Studies. (2009). The Disruption of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program: Causes, Consequences, Responses, and Proposed Correctives (p. 45). Retrieved from http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/publications/governmentprograms/disruption_of_the_lihtc_program_2009.html

National Low-Income Housing Coalition. (2011). Retrieved November 1, 2011, from http://www.nlihc.org

Policy Link. (2011). Housing Trust Funds. Retrieved November 1, 2011, from http://www.policylink.org/site/c.lkIXLbMNJrE/b.5137005/k.DB1/Housing_Trust_Funds.htm

Salsich, P. W. (???). The National Housing Trust Fund: A Challenge and an Opportunity for Creative Public-Private Partnerships. In N. M. Davidson & R. B. Malloy (Eds.), Affordable Housing and Public-Private Partnerships (pp. 69-91). Burlington, VT: Ashgate

Wikipedia Sites

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Affordable Housing
Wikipedia provides an article titled “Affordable Housing” which includes some material related to the topic of non-profit housing development Similarities include a short discussion on U.S. federal housing subsidies, such as project-based Section 8, Section 8 vouchers, and Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. The article fails to mention how these federal programs are used to produce housing or the difference between capital advance programs and interest rate deduction programs. Furthermore, the article fails to mention federal pass-through subsidies such as CDBG and HOME funds.

Non-Profit Housing
A Wikipedia titled “Non-Profit Housing” exists, but it is two-sentences long. The entry reads: “non-profit housing is housing owned and managed by a private, non-profit group such as a church, an ethnocultural community or by a government. Non-profit housing can use both private funds and government subsidies to support a rent-geared-to-income program for low-income tenants.” Clearly this article lacks any substance and provides a poor account non-profit housing.

Housing Trust Funds
Currently, there is no “Housing Trust Funds” page on Wikipedia. When searching for that term, the closest result is “Housing Trust” which is redirected to “Housing Association.” This article discusses not-for-profit entities that provide “social housing” in the United Kingdom and has no relation to affordable housing in the United States.

Other sites
Real Estate Development
LIHTC
Section 8 (housing)
Community Development Block Grant
HOME Investment Partnerships Program
Municipal bond

Nice bibliography and list of sites. It looks like you are going to focus on Housing Trust Funds and Non-profit housing development?Rachel Garshick Kleit (talk) 03:55, 7 November 2011 (UTC)Reply

Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996

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Allison Hamburg (talk) & Kalle Speer (talk)

Annotated Bibliography

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Biles, Roger. 2000. "Public Housing on the Reservation." American Indian Culture and Research Journal 24 (2): 49–63.
Biles succinctly chronicles the history of public housing policy on Indian reservations from the New Deal through the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act (NAHASDA) He states that Indian housing issues really came into focus in the 1960s when John F. Kennedy’s campaign brought rural poverty to the surface of national discussion. The article shows how Indian housing policies have paralleled general trends in housing policies from supply-side solutions to devolution and demand-side solutions. It provides good background and context for how NAHASDA arose.

Cortelyou, G. H. "An Attempted Revolution in Native American Housing: The Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act". Seton Hall Legislative Journal 25, no 2 (2001): 429–68.
Cortelyou outlines the act, its background, structure, and implementation from a legal perspective. One salient interpretation Cortelyou provides of the act’s character is that it separated Native Americans from other urban and “non-Indian” housing programs and recognized them as sovereign nations. He points out the program’s successes, such as the ability to distribute grants for new housing projects faster and more efficiently, and its shortcomings, such as the inability to alleviate the root problems of poverty and lack of infrastructure.

Government Accountability Office. Native American Housing: Tribes generally view block grant program as effective, but tracking of infrastructure plans and investments needs improvement. Washington: Government Accountability Office, 2005. (GAO-10-326). http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-326
This report acknowledges the improvements made through The Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act, but offers several suggestions for improving HUD’s tracking of the improvements made to infrastructure. All of these suggestions are shown to have been implemented as of November 1st 2011.

Kingsley, G. T., Spencer, V. E., Simonson, J., Herbig, C. E., Kay, N., Mikelsons, M., and Tatian, P. (Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research). Assessment of American Indian Housing Needs and Programs: Final Report. Washington: The Urban Institute Center for Public Finance and Housing, 1996. (HUD-0007159). http://www.huduser.org/publications/pdf/Hud 7159_1.pdf
This study clearly shows the need for affordable housing in Indian communities. Surveying households in tribal areas all across the country, the researchers were able to determine that Native American housing needs are far more substantial than the rest of the nation. The percentage of over-crowded and inadequate housing was over six times the national average. Based on these findings the researchers offer suggestions for policy revisions.

“Native American Housing Assistance And Self-Determination Act Of 1996.” (P.L. 104—330), U.S. Statutes at Large, 110 Stat. 4016. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-104publ330/pdf/PLAW-104publ330.pdf
This is the actual text of the act to which all of the articles refer. In addition to the many analytical sources cited in this bibliography, it is also important to include the original source as an independent reference by which to judge researchers’ interpretations.

“Part 1000 Native American Housing Activities.” Code of Federal Regulations 42 U.S.C. 3535(d), 2008 ed. http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=DOC_8140.pdf
This document gives a very detailed outline of why, how, to whom and how much is awarded to different American Indian tribes through the Indian Housing Block Grant Program. The motives behind this program are shown to not simply be to provide affordable housing, but also to promote home ownership and economic self sufficiency in the tribes. The document also explains which HUD regulations are applicable to IHBG projects and makes numerous references to The Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act of 1996.

Pierson, Brian L. “Developing Affordable Housing in Indian Country.” Journal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law 19, no. ¾ (2010): 367-390.
This article offers a summarized history of federal funding used to provide affordable housing to Indians. It also explains legal circumstances specific to the sovereign to sovereign relationship between the federal government and the tribes and covers the different finance programs that are designed for Native American communities.

Richardson, Bill. “More power to the tribes.” New York Times, July 7, 1993, A15.
While not directly addressing the implementation of the Indian Housing Block Grants, this article does argue for increased power of the tribes over their own finances. Accusing the Bureau of Indian Affairs of doing a poor job overall, the author strongly suggests a reorganization that will result in a system where money is put in the rightful hands of the tribes to be managed according to their needs.

Other Sources

“$210 Million in Initial Indian Housing Block Grants Announced.” Native News Network. Posted June 24, 2011. Accessed Nov. 3, 2011. http://www.nativenewsnetwork.com/210-million-in-initial-indian-housing-block-grants-announced.html

Henson, Eric C. The State of the Native nations: conditions under U.S. policies of self-determination: the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.

“HUD Provides $10 M for Distressed Housing Grants.” Children & Youth Funding Report, June 5, 2009: 17

“Seattle Bank supports native American housing.” Journal of Housing & Community Development 52, no. 3 (1995): 3

Paige, Sean, and Josh Mercer. “Schooled to Fool.” Insight on the News 15, no. 26 (1999): 44

U.S. Senate. Committee on Indian Affairs. Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996: Report (to Accompany S. 1210). (S. Rpt. 107-246). Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O., 2002.

Wikipedia Sites

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Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996
For such a landmark piece of legislation, the article is relatively short. The background could be extended somewhat to briefly describe what former programs the new act was replacing. In addition, there is no section on the law’s structure or provisions. While there is a brief section on criticisms of the law, there is no objective statement of its impact or how the law has been implemented in general. Other visitors to the page also note that the page lacks some important citations.

Indian Housing Block Grant
Wikipedia currently does not have a page dedicated to Indian Housing Block Grants, a key part of NAHASDA. While it could be argued that the block grant program does not need its own page, and could instead be a sub-section of the NAHASDA wiki page, the organization of the “Community Development Block Grant” page (despite its faults) could be used as a model for giving the topic its own space.

Indian Reservation
The top of the article mentions that the article in general needs additional citations, but this assessment will focus on the page’s section on “Life and Culture,” which is where housing policy issues would most likely be placed. The section is only three sentences long, offering a vague comparison of Indian reservations to the developing world, but poor housing is not one of the problems mentioned. This section could be expanded to state more about how examining housing conditions are central to describing quality of life on reservations.

Which of these will you focus on? It seems like you'd like to make sure these related pieces are all on Wikipedia. Will one of you work on one entry and the other on another?Rachel Garshick Kleit (talk) 04:04, 7 November 2011 (UTC)Reply

Discrimination and Housing

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Will Chu (talk)

Annotated Bibliography

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1. Tamica Daniel, Bringing Real Choice to the Housing Choice Voucher Program: Addressing Voucher Discrimination Under the Federal Housing Act, 98 Geo. L.J. 769, (2010).

This article talks about how Section 8 housing vouchers are one way to provide people with low income a way to integrate themselves into society and move out of public housing. However, there has been a problem with landlords preventing people who have vouchers from renting in their apartments. Since the landlords are refusing to rent to people with vouchers, there is a lack of housing options and it gives rise to a violation of the Fair Housing Act. This article discusses how parties who have been discriminated against might have legal remedies by bringing disparate claims act under the FHA.

2. Jan Ondrich, Changes in Rental Housing Discrimination Since 1989, Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research, Vol. 10, No. 2 (2008) http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1341244.

This article analyzes the incidence and the causes of housing discrimination against blacks and Hispanics. They study discusses the patterns and the changes in discrimination since the 1980s. It is important to note that discrimination is still going on in the housing market and that more needs to be done to prevent discrimination from taking place. The article suggests the Fair Housing Assictance Program and the Fair Housing Initiatives Program as remedies.

3. Florence Roisman, Keeping the Promise: Ending Racial Discrimination and Segregation in Federally Financed Housing, 48 How. L. J. 913 (2005).
Article discusses federal laws that were imposed to deal with discrimination in housing. It then talks about what problems are still prevalent with discrimination and how the current legal remedies might not be sufficient. Article provides some insight into how the government can takes steps to reduce the racial discrimination and segregation.

4. Robert Schwemm, Why do Landlords still Discriminate (and What can be Done About it)?, 40 J. Marshall L. Rev. 455 (2007). This article addresses the racial discrimination that is prevalent in the rental markets and how the FHA is one remedy to address the discrimination. The discrimination against blacks and Hispanics is high and remains virtually unchanged for many years. However, it argues that the FHA is not sufficient to deal with discrimination.

5. Eric Wilk, A Regional Analysis of Discrimination Complaints in America, SSRN Working Paper SSRN-id1907341 (2011) http://ssrn.com/abstract=1901372.
This paper deals with racial sensitivity in enforcement of civil rights. It compares different parts of America and looks with how racial sensitivity affects the discrimination and the enforcement issues in housing.

6. Charles Lamb, The Right to Fair housing: Its Development, Growth, and Enforcement, APSA 2011 Annual Meeting Paper (2011) http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1901163.

This article looks at the different ways that discrimination has been addressed whether it be on the local level or through federal intervention. The article makes the case that local intervention might be better able to address discrimination than through federal action.


I made some language edits above, just FYI. Rachel Garshick Kleit (talk) 04:10, 7 November 2011 (UTC)Reply

Other Sources

Evan Anderson, Vouching for Landlords: Withdrawing from the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program and Resulting Disparate Impact Claims, 78 U. Cin. L. Rev. 371, (2009).

Sean Zielenbach, Moving Beyond the Rhetoric: Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program and Lower-Income Urban Neighborhoods, 16-Fall J. Affordable Housing & Community Dev. L. 9, (2006).

Rebecca Rotem, Using Disparate Impact Analysis in Fair Housing Act Claims: Landlord Withdrawal from the Section 8 Voucher Program, 78 Fordham L. Rev. 1971, 1977, (2010).

Florence Roisman, Living Together: Ending Racial Discrimnation and Segregation in Housing, 41 Ind. L. Rev. 507, (2008).

Wikipedia Pages

Housing Discrimination – The Wikipedia page on housing discrimination covers many different instances of discrimination, but the information seems to be very brief. This page has significant room for improvement. For example, it mentions the FHA as a possible solution to the discrimination problems, but it does not go far in depth enough to discuss how the FHA is a possible solution to discrimination.

The Fair Housing Act (Civil Rights Act of 1968) – This wikepedia page is also lacking. It briefly talks about what the Act is intended for and a little bit about the history of it. I feel that this page can be improved significantly. The site can do a better job of explaining the different types of housing discrimination that exist. In addition, it can do a better job of explaining the different legal remedies that are available and what parties have access to them.

Residential Segregation – Much like the last two Wikipedia pages, this page seems to do a good job of touching up on some of the discrimination problems, but it does not go too in depth. I think that these pages seems to have over lapping concepts and that they could use some work to improve them. For example, this page discusses “steering” which was also listed as a form of discrimination under the “FHA” page. The “steering” information in this page is very lacking.

Talk to Katie and Janine about this last one. Focusing on one of the first two pages would be appropriate, given the slight overlap in your topics.Rachel Garshick Kleit (talk) 04:13, 7 November 2011 (UTC)Reply

Equitable Development

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Kelly Rider (talk)

Annotated Bibliography

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Kennedy, M. & Leonard, P. (2001, April). Dealing with neighborhood change: A primer on gentrification and policy choices. Retrieved from http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2001/04metropolitanpolicy_maureen%20kennedy%20and%20paul%20leonard/gentrification.pdf This piece explores the balance between cities’ needs for renewed investment with potential for gentrification. The authors do not discuss gentrification with a negative connotation but primarily in a judgment neutral context, focusing on optimizing the outcomes of gentrification rather than preventing it. Kennedy and Leonard define gentrification as the process of neighborhood change that results in the replacement of lower income residents with higher income ones and changing the essential character of the neighborhood. The process can impose great financial and social costs on the families and businesses least able to accommodate them. However, this process can also create mixed-income communities that offer greater economic opportunity to disadvantaged households that stay in place. Decision makers can prevent negative effects by anticipating them and taking steps to mitigate them through equitable development. The authors define equitable development as, “the creation and maintenance of economically and socially diverse communities that are stable over the long term, through means that generate a minimum of transition costs that fall unfairly on lower income residents” (p. 4). By striving for equitable development, leaders try to ensure that the costs of community change do not fall disproportionately on those least able to bear them.


Blackwell, A.G. & Treuhaft, S. (2008). Regional equity and the quest for full inclusion. Retrieved from http://www.policylink.org/atf/cf/%7B97c6d565-bb43-406d-a6d5-eca3bbf35af0%7D/REGIONALEQUITY-QUESTFOR%20INCLUSION_FINAL.PDF This article proposes four principles for equitable development: balance a focus on people with a focus on improving places, reduce local and regional disparities, promote financial and human investments that are equitable and coordinated, and ensure meaningful community participation and leadership. In the authors’ opinion, equitable development principles should be applied to any issue that influences opportunity for life success, including: economic development, infrastructure, transportation, workforce development and education, housing and neighborhoods, health, land use, fiscal and tax policy, and energy and the environment. The authors also make a strong argument for equitable development decisions to be "win-win." In other words, stakeholders working in different sectors—government, community organizations, funders, the business community—should be able to achieve their goals while also working toward shared goals. This piece is a terrific framework for summarizing what equitable development means to communities.


Rose, K. (2002). Combating gentrification through equitable development. Race, Poverty, and the Environment, 9(1), 5-8. Retrieved from http://www.urbanhabitat.org/node/919 Rose explores the process of gentrification and identifies key characteristics that help communities anticipate gentrification processes. She identifies the stages of gentrification as: 1) significant redevelopment or new investments; 2) growing knowledge of the neighborhood’s benefits leads to displacement as housing costs rise; and 3) prices escalate and displacement occurs in force. The communities most vulnerable to gentrification she describes as having a high proportion of renters, easy transportation access to jobs, high regional congestion, low housing values. Rose addresses the importance of assessing a community, through what she terms “community mapping” (p. 7). This assessment measures indicators of gentrification vulnerability and displays them graphically. By assessing and mapping these criteria, communities can anticipate gentrification. Communities vulnerable to gentrification should use an equitable development framework when planning for growth and development. To Rose, equitable development is the process for increasing community investments while allowing enough community control of development that current residents and appropriate amenities can remain. Rose underlines the importance of community organizing and creating the political will to develop equitably. Unlike Kennedy & Leonard, Rose’s framework focuses on preventing gentrification rather than improving it, and she does not appear to support Blackwell & Treuhaft’s priority for win-win strategies.


Blackwell, A.G. (2005). Building policy from the ground up: Regionalism, equitable development, and developing new leaders. National Civic Review, 94(1), 29-35. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=1a9a71b1-9908-4ad8-8294-d1c42fb4a5b3%40sessionmgr111&vid=2&hid=113 This piece focuses on the fourth principle of the Quest for Full Inclusion, ensuring meaningful community participation and leadership, without which equitable development policies are unlikely to be enacted. Blackwell argues that we must work regionally to implement policies that increase economic and social equity among all segments of society because in a democratic society justice and fairness can only be achieved if everyone can fully participate in society. In order to achieve equity, Blackwell believes the United States needs to promote and develop a new generation of culturally diverse leaders who are able to collaborate and work across government boundaries, have a multiethnic and multiracial perspective, and can work across silos or sectors. While Rose seems to focus on creating political will from the ground up for these policies, Blackwell argues here that the full democratic inclusion of all households must be coupled with a more diverse and equity-conscious slate of contenders for elected office.


PolicyLink. (2002). Promoting regional equity, a framing paper. Retrieved from http://www.policylink.org/atf/cf/%7B97C6D565-BB43-406D-A6D5-ECA3BBF35AF0%7D/RegionalEquityFramingPaper_final.pdf This piece focuses on the application of equitable development regionally. Regional equity is defined as: “reducing social and economic disparities among individuals, social groups, neighborhoods, and local jurisdictions within a metropolitan area” (p. 8) in order to give children and families of all races and classes the best possible environment in which to live. The authors identify seven issues which often create regional disparities, including: transportation, housing, economic opportunity, land use and infrastructure, education, environmental justice, and health. A framework is presented for enhancing regional cooperation toward equity on these issues, based on three premises: 1) Regional health depends on success of the region’s public, economic, and civic sectors; 2) Cities cannot successfully solve concentrated poverty independently; and 3) Regional equity supports rather than undermines the political power, social cohesion, and sense of place of all residents of the region. This framework supports both people-based strategies, which support community residents and families, and place-based strategies that stabilize and improve the neighborhood. The authors argue these strategies can increase community benefit while reducing negative consequences like displacement, achieving the win-win approach or what they call “Double Bottom Line Investments” (p. 9).


Reece, J. & Gambhir, S. (2010, Sept 24). Opportunity mapping: Using GIS for social equity, racial justice & advocacy [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved from http://www.kirwaninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/2010_09_24_arc_oppmapworkshop.pdf The Kirwan Institute has created community opportunity maps or equity assessments, advocated for by Rose, for several communities across the United States. This presentation argues that regional, racial and social inequities are usually spatial inequities, so maps are the best way to demonstrate this imbalance. Opportunity is defined as, “a situation or condition that places individuals in a position to be more likely to succeed or excel” (p. 10). The presenters focus on the need to map opportunity structures, the structures in society that are most critical to accessing opportunities for success. This includes high-quality education, healthy and safe environment, stable housing, sustainable employment, political empowerment, outlets for wealth-building, and positive social networks. In the Kirwan framework, equity would allow everyone fair access to these structures, and this requires deliberate, coordinated, and regional investments in people, places, and linkages. This framework supports the two-pronged approach of place-based and people-based investments.

Other Sources

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Bell, J., Oshiro, C., & Snyder, H. (2005). Advocating for equitable development. Retrieved from http://www.policylink.org/atf/cf/%7B97C6D565-BB43-406D-A6D5-ECA3BBF35AF0%7D/AdvocatingForED_final.pdf

Blackwell, A. (2001). Promoting equitable development. Indiana Law Review, 34 (1273). Retrieved from http://www.lexisnexis.com.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/?shr=t&csi=222360&sr=TITLE%28Promoting+Equitable+Development%29+and+date+is+2001

Blackwell, A.G., Bullard, R.D., Ferris, D., & Powell, J.A. (2007). Regionalism: Growing together to expand opportunity to all. Retrieved from http://4909e99d35cada63e7f757471b7243be73e53e14.gripelements.com/publications/CleveReportMay2007.pdf

Blackwell, A.G. & Fox, R.K. (2004). Regional equity and smart growth: Opportunities for advancing social and economic justice in America. Retrieved from http://www.fundersnetwork.org/files/learn/Regional_Equity_and_Smart_Growth_2nd_Ed.pdf

Levy, D.K., Comey, J., & Padilla, S. (2006). In the face of gentrification: Case studies of local efforts to mitigate displacement Retrieved from http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/411294_gentrification.pdf

Mallach, A. (2008). Managing neighborhood change: A framework for managing sustainable & equitable revitalization. Retrieved from http://www.community-wealth.org/_pdfs/articles-publications/cdcs/paper-mallach.pdf

NeighborWorks America. (2005, April). Managing neighborhood change: Best practices for communities undergoing gentrification. Retrieved from http://www.community-wealth.org/_pdfs/articles-publications/cdcs/paper-hill-pozzo.pdf

Reece, J., Gambhir, S., Ratchford, C., Martin, M., Olinger, J., Powell, J.S., Grant-Thomas, A. (2010, April). The geography of opportunity: Mapping to promote equitable community development and fair housing in King County, WA. Retrieved from http://4909e99d35cada63e7f757471b7243be73e53e14.gripelements.com/publications/king_county_wa_opportunity_mapping_apr_2010.pdf

Treuhaft, S. & Madland, D. (2011, April). Prosperity 2050: Is equity the superior growth model? Retrieved from http://www.policylink.org/atf/cf/%7B97c6d565-bb43-406d-a6d5-eca3bbf35af0%7D/POLICY_LINK_BRIEF.PDF

Wikipedia Pages

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Gentrification is a very thorough presentation of gentrification issues. The page presents examples of gentrification across the globe. The “Controls” discussed in the article align well with the equitable development strategies discussed above. The article would benefit from the inclusion of a clearer definition of gentrification like the one from the Brookings piece above. It would also benefit from a discussion of the factors that make a community vulnerable to gentrification and the data that can prove or disprove that gentrification is occurring. However, the proposals in the above articles may not be appropriate more globally.

Equitable Development is currently not a page on Wikipedia. A search links the phrase to Social Development Theory, which does not align with the definitions presented here. According to the Social Development Theory page, “Development is a process of social change, not merely a set of policies and programs instituted for some specific results. This process has been going on since the dawn of history.” Comparatively, equitable development focuses on policies and programs and land use development rather than more abstract social change. Wikipedia would benefit from an equitable development page that defines equitable development, describes strategies that can be used to ensure future or current economic and land development does not further disadvantage already disadvantaged groups, and provides examples of communities that have implemented equitable development techniques. If the sources described above formed the basis of the article, then the page would need to clarify that it provides a U.S. specific perspective, as these articles do not explore more global perspectives.

Regional Equity also does not have a Wikipedia page. A page of this nature could focus on strategies that reduce disparities between communities in a region and how those disparities dictate access to opportunity for residents. This page could discuss the balance between equitable development’s people-based and place-based strategies in order to create equitable access to opportunity for people regardless of where they live within a region. The page could summarize regional equity issues like the influence of sprawl, regional planning processes that help create regional equity, and compare regional governance structures like Metropolitan Planning Organizations with the regional impact of more divided, local governance structures.

Green Affordable Housing

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Lovisa Högberg (talk) & Greg Potestio (talk)

Introduction

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Green Affordable Housing is used as a descriptive term for affordable housing that also exhibits so called green or sustainable features,the more dominant of which being energy efficiency. Energy consumption in the American building sector accounts for approximately 40 % of total energy use and carbon dioxide emissions. Residential buildings account for a little more than a fifth of the total energy use, predominantly for space heating (and cooling). Low-income households (at <50% of national poverty level) sometimes pay more than a third of their income in energy bills. Building or renovating sustainably shifts focus from primarily looking at upfront cost of an investment, to assessing the full life cycle of a building (investment). In this way housing can stay affordable longer. Thus, improved energy efficiency in housing not only helps mitigating climate change but also has the potential to make housing more affordable, not the least to vulnerable low-income households. To address both these problems state and local governments have in some cases adopted policy programs for green affordable housing. Below are a number of academic articles and other sources that look into energy efficiency related to housing affordability as well as give examples of adopted green building programs for affordable housing.

Annotated Bibliography

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Retzlaff, Rebecca. “Green Buildings and Building Assessment Systems.” Journal of Planning Literature: Volume 24 Number 1. August 2009.
This article is more or less a toolkit that examines the issues facing planners of green housing projects. The author also provides an analysis of common themes that have arisen in the literature on green buildings. Although it doesn’t focus exclusively on affordable projects, the issues that the authors address are important to consider in planning or assessing such a project. The article organizes the existing literature on green buildings and assessment into five major themes: scope, weighting, subjectivity, rigor, and adaptation and context. One must consider these five issues when considering how “green” a building is, and realize that every certification does not necessarily mean the same thing. This very issue came up during Tory Loughlin Taylor’s presentation to the class on 10/26: as she pointed out, her organization’s LEED certified building actually didn’t perform very well in efficiency. Overall, this study is a comprehensive introduction to the issues behind green and sustainable building practices.
Retrieved from University of Washington Library's Worldcat.

Davis Langdon. “Cost of Green Analysis for Affordable Housing in Seattle and Portland.” July 2009.
This article examines the effect of green standards on the costs of affordable housing projects in Seattle and Portland. This study compared “standard housing projects” (i.e. projects with no explicit sustainability goals) and projects attempting to achieve Built Green or LEED certification. The study includes both public and private affordable housing projects. At the time of the study, both cities had high sustainability standards for public projects, and Washington has only increased that standard since then. Construction cost analysis (in terms of cost per square foot) showed no significant difference between standard projects and green-rated projects. The study is limited by a small sample size, because of which they couldn’t compare public and privately funded projects. The appendix of the study does provide an extensive list of requirements for the green standards.
Retrieved from http://www.pdc.us/pdf/sustainability/greenbuilding/Langdon-Cost-of-Green-Affordable-Housing-Study.pdf

Davis, Lucas. “Evaluating the Slow Adoption of Energy Efficient Investments: Are Renters Less Likely to Have Energy Efficient Appliances?” June 2010.
This article tests the widely held belief that landlords will buy cheaper, less energy efficient appliances when tenants pay the utility bills. Appliances are not emphasized as often in the literature on green buildings, but inefficient appliances can have a large impact on people’s energy spending. Using household-level data, this study determines that homeowners are significantly more likely to own energy efficient large appliances, such as refrigerators or washing machines. However, the results show that the cost of this problem is negligible compared to overall energy consumption. This finding is important considering the ever increasing efficiency standards for household appliances. As this study shows, an increase in standards would possibly raise rents for low income tenants, while not necessarily providing any significant energy savings.
Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/chapters/c12130.pdf

Hernández, Diana & Stephen Bird. "Energy Burden and the Need for Integrated Low-Income Housing and Energy Policy", Poverty & Public Policy: Volume 2 Number 4, Article 2. 2010. doi: 10.2202/1944-2858.1095
This article discusses the energy burden for low-income housing and relates it to public policy for energy efficiency, including recommendations for how policies for affordable housing and energy efficiency should be related to address this dual problem. The study reports that due to high energy burden low-income households suffer from illness and stress, financial challenges (e.g. utility bill debts or tradeoffs between energy bills and other housing expenditures) and housing instability (e.g. shutoffs). Existing policies are uncoordinated and hence insufficient to address fuel poverty, neither by fuel assistance nor by weatherization programs. The article proposes how policies (particularly LIHEAP) could be changed to address energy conservation (including the “split incentives” problem), “energy literacy” (informing low-income tenants on energy conservation) and utility rates affordability.
Retrieved from http://www.psocommons.org/ppp/vol2/iss4/art2

Burke, Patricia M., Galen Nelson and Wilson Rickerson. “Boston’s Green Affordable Housing Program: Challenges and Opportunities". Legislation and Public Policy: Volume 11 Number 1. 2007.
This article gives a background to the green building development in the US: its drivers and the rationale for integrating it into affordable housing. The implementation of Boston's Green Affordable Housing Program is used as a case study to draw lessons from about what to think about when adopting a local sustainable building rating tool as part of housing policy and integrating it into existing building standards. Boston chose the Green Communities Criteria, developed specifically for affordable housing by Enterprise Community Partners, Inc., over LEED. There are however parallel assessment processes at work and as a national tool LEED still remains valid, and is used by the city for some types of buildings. Lessons learned from the Boston experience include the importance of training and of the coordination of resources.

Bradshaw, William, Edward F. Connelly, Madeline Fraser Cook, James Goldstein and Justin Pauly. "The Costs and Benefits of Green Affordable Housing". Report by New Ecology & The Green CDCs Initiative. 2005
This report analyzes green affordable housing projects to assess the costs and benefits of implementing green features in affordable housing using survey data and a number of case studies. The report identifies a number of challenges to building green affordable housing, emphasizes the use of life-cycle cost rather than initial capital cost when assessing financial viability and concludes that the (small) green premium up-front is recovered in the longer run but that the benefits are not always evenly distributed among players. Also this study is limited by a small sample of buildings. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.165.8.38 (talk) 06:48, 4 November 2011 (UTC)Reply

Other sources

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Dastrup, Samuel, Simon McDonnell, and Vincent Reina. "Household Energy Bills and Subsidized Housing". Prepared for the American Housing Survey User Conference, Washington, DC, March 8, 2011. http://www.huduser.org/portal/pdf/Dastrub_McDonnell_Reina.pdf

Howat, John and Jerrold Oppenheim. Analysis of Low-Income Benefits in Determining Cost-effectiveness of Energy Efficiency Programs. 1999 http://www.env.state.ma.us/dpu/docs/electric/09-119/112009clcrag1-22h.pdf

Hatfield-Dodds, Steve and Richard Denniss. Energy affordability, living standards and emissions trading: Assessing the social impacts of achieving deep cuts in Australian greenhouse emissions. Report. 2008. http://apo.org.au/node/525

Dillman, Don A., Eugene A. Rosa, Joye J. Dillman. Lifestyle and home energy conservation in the United States: the poor accept lifestyle cutbacks while the wealthy invest in conservation. Journal of Economic Psychology Volume 3, Issues 3-4, September 1983, Pages 299-315.

Jacobs, Robin, David E. Jacobs and Jill Breysse. "HOME Is Where the Health Is: Bringing Green, Healthy Housing to Low-Income Populations". Journal of Poverty Law and Policy: September/October, 2010.

"The big green apple. Environmentally-sound homes for the poor are a model for everyone else." The Economist. April 3 2010.

The U.S. Department of Energy Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, http://www.dsireusa.org/

Washington State Evergreen Sustainable Development Standard (ESDS), http://www.commerce.wa.gov/site/1027/default.aspx

City of Seattle's Office of Housing. SeaGreen Affordable Housing Guide. November 2002. http://www.seattle.gov/housing/seagreen/SeaGreen.pdf

Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties. Built Green residential building program http://www.builtgreen.net/

Enterprise Green Communities http://www.greencommunitiesonline.org/

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No Wikipedia entry exists for Green Affordable Housing. A section on affordable housing could be included under the page for Green building in the United States, which would emphasize how the issues discussed in that article affect affordable housing. The Green Building article discusses different efforts made in the United States to promote sustainable design and green housing. The article is not well organized, and we recommend that it be divided into different sections on the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Editors have begun to make entries for state efforts, including Washington, but there is no specific mention of affordable housing or the Evergreen Sustainable Development Standard.

LIHEAP and US Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) are two services offered in the US that are related to both affordable housing and sustainable, green design. Both programs use federal funding but are administered on a local level, and are targeted at low income households. As the LIHEAP entry points out, the two programs are often administered together to combine immediate and long term solutions to a household's energy poverty. The Wikipedia entries describe the obvious benefits to households who receive the assistance, and thus have smaller energy bills. Still, the entries could use a deeper discussion into how the issue of energy costs could feed into a household's overall housing costs. The LIHEAP entry does give some statistics about Americans inability to pay heating bills, but that assertion would be more powerful with some statistics about housing costs in general.

Domestic Energy Poverty refers to the situation in which a household is unable to meet its energy needs. The term is usually used in reference to third-world countries but it certainly applies to low-income households in the US and other developed countries who are unable to meet their energy needs. The Wikipedia article shows this bias, not even mentioning the problem in regards to developed areas. It does point out that the term fuel poverty more often refers to issues of affordability, whereas energy poverty refers to issues of access. Fuel poverty would thus be more suited to the situation in the US, although the term is distinctly British. The fuel poverty article describes how the issue can affect the budget of low income households, and it opines that more sustainable design is the best solution. This term should perhaps be used more often in regards to the US, and our domestic fuel poverty situation should merit its own section in the article.

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It turns out that the India Education Outreach Project contributed a lot of bad content to Wikipedia that had continued copyright issues see Wikipedia_talk:India_Education_Program. So, take a moment to read some resources: Wikipedia:Copy-paste and Wikipedia:Close paraphrasing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rgkleit (talkcontribs) 19:03, 23 November 2011 (UTC)Reply