New Updates on The Edge - 11/19/2014

New on The Edge

Message from PD&R Leadership:
Why Disaster Resilience?
Two essential components of preparing for disaster and speeding up recoveries, writes Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Development Todd Richardson, are adequate building codes and flood insurance. HUD, which helped establish many building codes through FHA mortgage requirements, is encouraging communities to update their codes and develop resilient policies to limit damage from disasters. HUD research also indicates that flood insurance allows households in storm-damaged areas to rebuild faster.

In Practice:
Maine Affordable Housing Bonds
Hyacinth Place, a 37-unit development, is helping address the need for affordable housing in Westbrook, Maine. It includes an historic rehabilitation of the former St. Hyacinth Parochial School and Convent and a new building. The new construction was made possible through the Green Affordable Housing Bond program, which is the largest affordable housing development investment in the state's history and has financed $36 million over 44 projects, leveraging an additional $100 million in investment since 2009.

Trending:
An Urban Land Institute Washington Technical Assistance Panel: Harvesting the Value of Metrorail in Loudoun County, Virginia
Loudoun County, Virginia is poised to capitalize on demands for walkable communities due to the construction of the Silver Line, a rapid rail line connecting the Dulles International Airport to Washington, DC, according to a report by the Urban Land Institute's Technical Assistance Panel. The panel recommends building distinct, walkable communities around the new Silver Line stations and leveraging the economic value of the airport to encourage new development.

Spotlight on PD&R Data:
U.S. Housing Market Conditions
PD&R's U.S. Housing Market Conditions (USHMC) website contains national, regional, state, metropolitan, and local data and analysis in one location. Featured USHMC charts highlight monthly and annual homeownership rates. At 64.7 percent, the second quarter 2014 national homeownership rate is below the 2004 peak of 69 percent but closer to the historic norm of 65 percent.

Policy Update:
Housing's and Neighborhoods' Role in Shaping Children's Future
A wide array of research has linked various dimensions of housing — such as quality (the physical condition and safety of the home), crowding, affordability, housing assistance, ownership, and stability — to children's development and well-being. While researchers further explore how housing and neighborhoods matter for families and children, policymakers are using this knowledge to focus on making housing and neighborhoods places of opportunity.