New Updates on The Edge

Featured Story

Message from PD&R Leadership:
HUD Funding Supports Chapin Hall's Voices of Youth Enabling Collection of Crucial Data on Youth Homelessness
In July 2016, the University of Chicago's Chapin Hall Voices of Youth Count (VoYC) project was awarded a $2 million HUD Research Partnerships grant. Marge F. Martin, director of PD&R's Policy Development Division, explains how VoYC will provide critical data on homeless youth population size and characteristics, which is necessary for developing coordinated and systematic interventions, and she details how the project will support HUD's policy objectives.

In Practice:
Hillsboro's Orenco Station Adds Passive House Affordable Housing
Orchards at Orenco Station offers much needed affordable housing within a transit-oriented development in the city of Hillsboro, Oregon. Developer REACH completed the first of three phases, a 3-story building with 57 rental units and North America's largest multifamily building constructed to the Passive House design standard, in June 2015. The remaining phases of the development, which are slated to be completed by 2022, will comply fully with the Passive House standard.

Policy Update:
Pressing Challenges in Housing Finance: Credit Access and Seniors' Mortgage Debt
Nearly a decade after the onset of the housing and financial crises, several indicators, including increases in home prices and decreases in foreclosures, show that the housing market is recovering. However, important housing finance challenges persist. Lenders are implementing strict credit standards that exclude creditworthy borrowers, especially traditionally underserved populations, and a greater proportion of older homeowners are carrying mortgage debt, potentially affecting their financial stability.