Affordable Housing Institute : US

There are times to be reflective, and there are times to be decisive.  Reinventing New Orleans is a time to be decisive, because markets and people are moving, and now, nearly two months after Hurricane Katrina destroyed Old New Orleans, every day that passes lacking a plan makes it that much harder to create a […]

In previous blog posts I have emphasized that New New Orleans’ creation will depend on factors both tangible (the water line) and intangible (the insurance line).  Now, judging by this recent Washington Post article, we may find that the two overlap:
 
NEW ORLEANS — Many of the thousands of homeowners in the Lower Ninth Ward, one […]

While our local media are full of frothy fear stories of housing bubbles and China’s impending global dominance, there’s many a dip twixt the boom and the bust, as illustrated by this New York Times snapshot of the building craze now gripping China:
 
SHANGHAI, Oct. 16 - Move over, New York. This year alone, Shanghai will […]

“Holmes,” began Watson, “I’ve been reading Web Updates about proposed cuts in Section 8 subsidy funding, and I’ve been thinking” — how industrious, thought Holmes — “is not subsidy a form of money? One we have not treated? A fifth kind?”

“A fifth kind of money?”

Is subsidy a kind of money? […]

Over the decades <shiver> that I’ve been involved with affordable housing, I’ve developed strong views on what works and what doesn’t in affordable housing program design.  What works?
 

It was cold when I sat for Rodin, very cold …
 

Cheap rents
Income mixing
Fast consistent enforcement
Self-adjusting rent formulas
Finite resources people compete for
Aligned incentives
Strong positive cash flow
Public-private partnership
A mixture […]