New Updates on The Edge

New on The Edge

Message from PD&R Leadership:
Increasing Opportunity in LIHTC
Each April, HUD celebrates Fair Housing Month by renewing its commitment to eliminating housing discrimination and creating communities of equal opportunity for all. Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research Katherine M. O'Regan highlights HUD's release of a report this April that builds evidence for a potentially effective tool for fostering equal opportunity, the Qualified Allocation Plan that each state housing agency creates and uses to guide the allocation of low-income housing tax credits.

Research:
Foreclosure Crisis Response with the Neighborhood Stabilization Program
In 2008, Congress created the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), to be administered by HUD, in order to counteract the negative consequences of the foreclosure crisis brought about by the housing market collapse. Several changes were instituted in the program's second round (NSP2), and in 2011, HUD commissioned an evaluation of the impact of NSP2. The resulting study examines how NSP2 grantees invested funds in eligible activities and assesses whether neighborhoods receiving NSP2 resources experienced positive benefits.

In Practice:
Making Homes Affordable and Sustainable in Tacoma, Washington
The Tacoma Housing Authority (THA) recently completed the first phase of Bay Terrace, a development that provides 70 townhomes, cottages, and midrise apartments, as well as a 7,227 square foot community and education center on the site of formerly dilapidated public housing units in the Hilltop neighborhood of Tacoma, Washington. All units in the first phase are affordable to households earning up to 60 percent area median income, and additional affordable units are planned in the development's next phase.

Trending:
Investing in People and Places for Upward Mobility: An Interview with Katherine M. O'Regan
A new report, authored by Raj Chetty, Nathan Hendren and Larry Katz, and its companion study expand on HUD's Moving to Opportunity (MTO) Demonstration by further exploring the correlation between children's neighborhood quality and their upward mobility as adults. Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research Katherine M. O'Regan responds to questions about these recent mobility studies, the MTO Demonstration, and implications for HUD policy and practice.

Policy Update:
Federal Disaster Policy: Toward a More Resilient Future
In the wake of increasingly frequent natural disasters, rapid urbanization, climate change, and globalization, the need to promote resilience in disaster policies has become more urgent. In response, federal disaster policy has become more proactive – promoting predisaster mitigation planning and enhancing resilience in postdisaster planning and recovery.

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 the annual absorption rate and median price for condos and co-ops, as well as for unfurnished rental apartments.