New Updates on PD&R Edge

PD&R Edge, an online magazine, provides you with a snapshot view of our newly released research, periodicals, publications, news, and commentaries on housing and urban development issues.

PD&R LEADERSHIP

Celebrating PD&R’s Accomplishments in Driving HUD’s Mission Forward

In the Leadership Message, Solomon Greene, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary at PD&R, reflects on the office’s accomplishments over the last 2 years and future priorities. In recent years, HUD has expanded its role in closing the housing supply gap while fortifying all communities against the effects of climate change; built capacity to better harness technology and innovation to advance housing research and policy development; elevated and applied insights from people with lived experience to improve equity and inclusion in PD&R’s work; and improved data support for HUD program operations, among other achievements.

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IN PRACTICE

Preserving Affordability Through Acquisition: Washington Housing Initiative

In the Washington, D.C. area, the Washington Housing Initiative (WHI) is a partnership launched in 2018 by real estate firm JBG Smith and the nonprofit Federal City Council to address the rental affordability needs of moderate-income households. Using a market-based model, WHI raises private capital through a social impact fund called the Impact Pool, that it lends to WHI-affiliated Washington Housing Conservancy or another mission-driven nonprofit to purchase and operate naturally occurring affordable rental housing in high-opportunity neighborhoods with rising rents to preserve affordability for moderate-income residents. Between January 2020 and April 2024, WHI had helped preserve more than 3,000 units of workforce rental housing at 9 properties throughout the D.C. region.

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SPOTLIGHT ON PD&R DATA

Navigating HUD’s State of the Cities Data Systems Building Permits Database

PD&R maintains the State of the Cities Data Systems (SOCDS) database, which collects information on permits for residential construction at the state, county, core-based statistical area, and permit-issuing jurisdiction levels. This database is vital for facilitating analyses of housing supply trends in the United States. This article offers an overview of the data available and reviews how to use the database query tool and report generation tool.

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INTERNATIONAL & PHILANTHROPIC SPOTLIGHT

Visiting a Groundbreaking Affordable Housing Project in Nairobi, Kenya

Cindy Campbell, Director of PD&R's International and Philanthropic Affairs Division, recaps her participation in the Open Ended Intergovernmental Expert Working Group on Adequate Housing for All, held from December 9 to 11, 2024, at the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. Participants, representing nations worldwide, worked to establish benchmarks for the next few years toward realizing the working group’s goals. As part of the visit, HUD delegates toured the Mukuru Affordable Housing Project, a government initiative to create over 13,000 units of housing, most of which are rent-to-own, in a development that will provide services helping residents transition from informal to formal settlement living.

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