New Updates on The Edge

Message from PD&R Leadership:
The Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS)
In the leadership message, general deputy assistant secretary for PD&R Todd M. Richardson discusses the Department of Energy’s Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS). The survey, launched in 1978, collects detailed information on household energy characteristics and informs a number of DOE reports. Richardson describes his recent experience taking the survey and shares his speculation regarding changing domestic energy consumption patterns.

Trending:
Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Historically Black Colleges & Universities Grant Program
In the Trending article, PD&R grant specialist Ophelia H. Wilson discusses the history of HUD’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities Grant program. This program, which provides Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) with federal grant money to assist their local communities with activities such as neighborhood revitalization and community and economic development, dates back to the 1974 creation of the Community Development Block Grant program.

In Practice:
Redwood Crossings Provides Permanent Supportive Housing in Salem, Oregon
Opened in 2020, Redwood Crossings is the first development to offer permanent supportive housing to the formerly homeless and to those at risk of homelessness in Salem, Oregon. The three-story building, previously an unfinished assisted living facility, was renovated by the Salem Housing Authority for a total cost of $4.2 million, and offers 6 units of transitional housing on the ground floor for individuals experiencing homelessness who were recently discharged from a nearby hospital. The top floors have 31 units of permanent housing.

Spotlight on PD&R Research:
Modest Growth and a Tight Home Sales Market in the Wichita HMA
The most recent article in a series focusing on HUD's Comprehensive Housing Market Analyses (CHMAs) examines the Wichita Housing Market Area (HMA) in south central Kansas. This HMA includes five counties as well as the city of Wichita, which is the most populous city in the state with an estimated 650,900 people. Unemployment rose precipitously in the area during the COVID-19 pandemic, though job growth, averaging 1 percent per year, is expected over the next 3 years. The home sales market is slightly tight.

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