New Updates on The Edge

Message from PD&R Leadership:
The European Responsible Housing Awards 2019
In the leadership message, director of PD&R's International and Philanthropic Affairs Division Cynthia Campbell discusses the winners of this year's European Responsible Housing Awards. Housing Europe, a network of 45 national and regional federations serving 23 countries, holds the annual competition to highlight housing best practices throughout the European Union. Campbell provides an overview of the winning projects in five categories.

Research:
Deriving Local Trend Factors for Fair Market Rent Estimation
Each year, HUD estimates Fair Market Rents (FMRs) for approximately 600 metropolitan areas and 2,000 non-metropolitan counties in the United States. In March 2019, HUD published a report that investigates statistical approaches for HUD to address concerns about how well FMRs reflect local market conditions. The research was divided into two phases: Phase I proposes a statistical approach for deriving local trend factors, while Phase II develops an empirical framework using third-party rental data to augment local market conditions.

In Practice:
A True Home Library: Combining Housing With a Public Library on Chicago's North Side
Opened in 2019, the Northtown Library and Apartments development is a colocation of a public library and affordable senior housing serving northern Chicago's West Ridge neighborhood. The $34 million project is Chicago's third to combine a library with affordable housing to create a cost-effective, mixed-use development. The development is a three-story building with a Chicago Public Library branch on the ground floor and 44 apartments for seniors aged 62 and older on the upper levels.

Trending:
The United States and South Korea Partner To Research Urban Revitalization
In June 2019, a group of HUD researchers visited Busan, South Korea, as part of a longstanding research partnership between South Korea and the United States. Two months prior to the visit, researchers from South Korea's Housing and Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG) visited the United States. During their times abroad, researchers from each country presented case studies of urban revitalization projects and discussed the lessons to be learned from each approach.

Please send your comments and suggestions to editor@huduser.gov.