New Updates on Edge

Message from PD&R Leadership:
Another Definition for Rural?
In the leadership message, general deputy assistant secretary for PD&R Todd Richardson discusses the means that housing practitioners have for defining a given area as "rural." Richardson examines a new index, the Urbanization Perceptions Small Area Index, which uses several metrics to predict whether a person would describe a given area as "rural," and explores the phenomena of residents describing their home area differently than practitioners at HUD might define it.

In Practice:
A Former Soldiers Home Offers Permanent Supportive Housing for Veterans
Reopened in March 2021 on the grounds of a VA Medical Center, the Milwaukee Soldiers Home is a historic site that has been restored to its original purpose and now offers 101 units of permanent supportive housing for veterans in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The adaptive reuse and historic preservation project was completed by the Alexander Company and the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee, for a cost of approximately $44 million. The development's residential units are spread across multiple buildings.

Spotlight on PD&R Research:
High Home Sales Prices as Economic Activity Resumes in the Palm Bay HMA
The most recent article in a series focusing on HUD's Comprehensive Housing Market Analyses examines the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville Housing Market Area (Palm Bay HMA). This HMA in northern Florida has an estimated population of 614,200. Sales market conditions in the Palm Bay HMA are currently tight, with an estimated vacancy rate of 1 percent, and home sales prices have increased 13 percent in the 12 months ending June 2021. Rental housing market conditions are balanced.

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