A Decent Home

by Mallach, Alan

• ISBN13: 9781932364590
• ISBN10: 1932364595
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-06-15
• Publisher: Amer Planning Assn

Summary

As more and more families lose their homes to foreclosure, affordable housing is very much in the public eye. Across the country, lawmakers and community development organizations scramble to create affordable, decent places to live for the millions in need. Yet affordable housing remains poorly understood and widely controversial, with even experienced professionals finding it difficult to navigate the maze of legal and financial complications that surround it. WithA Decent Home, housing expert Alan Mallach disentangles the issues and breaks down the jargon, offering professionals and educated laypersons a comprehensive picture of what affordable housing is, how it works, and how it is planned and developed. Mallach examines the most important issues and controversies surrounding affordable housingincluding social, economic, and political considerationsand provides readers with the information and insight to develop thoughtful, responsible opinions about an issue that is hotly contested both nationally and in individual communities around the nation.

Author Biography

Alan Mallach is a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC and a senior fellow at the National Housing Institute in Montclair, New Jersey. He is the author of many books and articles on urban planning, housing, and community development.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Preface	p. ix
The Case for Affordable Housing	p. 1
The Need for Decent Housing	p. 2
Affordable Housing Needs and the Private Market	p. 10
Is Affordable Housing a Housing Problem or an Income Problem?	p. 17
Conclusion	p. 25
Affordable Housing in the United States: A Short History	p. 29
Beginnings	p. 29
The Rise and Fall of Public Housing	p. 33
Federal Funding, Private Ownership	p. 37
The Age of Devolution	p. 44
Affordable Housing Policy Today	p. 47
Designing Affordable Housing	p. 53
Why Design Matters	p. 53
Housing for Whom?	p. 57
Housing That Works for People	p. 60
Cars, People, and Open Space	p. 65
Safe Spaces	p. 69
Designing Housing That Fits In	p. 72
Finding Sites and Gaining Approval for Affordable Housing	p. 79
Criteria for Selecting Sites	p. 79
Good Sites Are Hard to Find	p. 85
Getting Projects Approved	p. 89
Making the Numbers Work: Financing Affordable Housing	p. 101
Defining Affordability	p. 102
Filling the Gap	p. 106
Capital Grants and Tax Credit Equity	p. 112
Putting the Pieces Together: Subsidy Layering and the Development Pro Forma	p. 123
Developing Affordable Housing, Step-by-Step	p. 133
Thinking the Project Through	p. 135
Forming the Development Team-Finding a Site	p. 137
The Predevelopment Process	p. 140
Construction, Marketing, and Rent-Up	p. 146
Concentration and Opportunity: Undoing the Exclusion of Affordable Housing	p. 157
The Practice of Suburban Exclusion	p. 158
Challenging Exclusion in the Courts	p. 162
State Planning Laws and Affordable Housing Mandates	p. 165
Conclusion	p. 174
Affordable Housing, Community Development Corporations, and Neighborhood Revitalization	p. 177
Affordable Housing and Poverty Concentration	p. 179
The Role of Community Development Corporations	p. 186
Toward Communities of Choice	p. 191
Balancing Affordable Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization	p. 195
The Risks and Rewards of Affordable Home Ownership	p. 207
Home Ownership-The American Dream	p. 207
The Costs and Benefits of Home Ownership	p. 212
Public and Nonprofit Strategies to Foster Lower Income Home Ownership	p. 217
Low-income Home Ownership and the Subprime Meltdown	p. 228
Preserving Affordable Housing	p. 239
Preservation: A Critical Issue	p. 239
The Problem of Expiring Use Restrictions	p. 242
Preserving Affordable Home Ownership	p. 246
Preserving Affordability in the Private Market	p. 254
Homelessness and Affordable Housing	p. 263
Who Are the Homeless?	p. 264
Why Are So Many People Homeless?	p. 267
Changing Approaches to Housing the Homeless	p. 272
Affordable Housing and Housing First	p. 279
Inclusionary Housing: Using the Market to Create Affordable Housing	p. 285
What Is Inclusionary Housing?	p. 286
The Legal Status of Inclusionary Housing	p. 292
Economics of Inclusionary Housing	p. 295
Making Inclusionary Housing Work	p. 300
Policies, Politics, and the Future of Affordable Housing in the United States	p. 311
Drivers of Housing Policy Change	p. 312
Shaping Future Affordable Housing Policy	p. 319
Appendix: Resources for Further Information	p. 347
Index	p. 365
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