New Updates on The Edge

Message from PD&R Leadership:
Transitions
As the nation transitions from one administration to the next and new leadership is appointed, the staff at HUD continue to conduct and support research and best practices that advance HUD’s mission. Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Development Todd Richardson discusses PD&R’s accomplishments in 2016, which are further described in PD&R’s Biennial Report. Richardson also highlights PD&R’s current and ongoing projects, such as releasing HUD’s housing discrimination studies and updating data critical for program operations.

In Practice:
Eco-Friendly Affordable Housing at Taos Haus + 6
In the town of Taos, New Mexico, the large number of vacation and second homes has inflated housing prices and led to a market in which very few affordable housing options exist, especially for low-income households. In response, in 2013, Tierra Realty Trust developed Taos Haus + 6, a LEED for Homes Platinum-certified development that includes 24 newly constructed single-family detached houses and 6 apartments in a rehabilitated 3-story building, all affordable to households earning up to 60 percent of area median income.

Policy Update:
Digital Inequality and Low-Income Households
Research indicates that low-income households, particularly HUD-assisted renter households, have lower rates of in-home Internet connectivity when compared with higher-income groups. This lack of connectivity is significant because as information, services, and resources increasingly move online, digital inequality has come to both reflect and contribute to other persistent forms of social inequality. This article presents a series of frameworks, points of reference, and data for developing strategies to address current relationships between low-income housing and digital inequality.

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