PD&R Edge Elist 11/06/2013

New on The Edge

In Practice:
Uptown Preserves Iconic Building for Affordable Living
Minneapolis’s popular Uptown neighborhood is now home to 136 affordable apartments. Located minutes from downtown, the Buzza Lofts features the adaptive reuse of a historic structure to provide much needed affordable housing in one of the city’s most sought after neighborhoods.

Research:
An Early Look at Choice Neighborhoods
HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research recently released Developing Choice Neighborhoods: An Early Look at Implementation in Five Sites. The interim report, part of an evaluation of the Choice Neighborhoods initiative, provides a preliminary view of the first five Choice implementation sites and includes observations on grantee progress and implementation challenges.

Policy Update:
Preserving Affordable Rental Housing: A Snapshot of Growing Needs, Current Threats, and Innovative Solutions
In an era of growing demand for affordable housing, the shrinking supply has heightened the need to preserve units in the subsidized stock. Preserving existing units is an efficient means of maintaining the affordable stock and increasingly preservation is being achieved through close collaboration among private and public sector groups working at federal, state, and local levels.

Partner Report:
The Inextricable Link between Neighborhoods and Health
A new series of maps produced by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center on Society and Health are helping to illustrate vast disparities in health outcomes among Americans living just a few miles apart. Produced on behalf of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America, the maps are part of the Commission’s efforts to improve health in early childhood and to build healthier communities.