PRRAC — Connecting Research to Advocacy

Poverty & Race Research Action Council

Housing Opportunity, Community Development, and Civil Rights: Toward a Shared Vision (Part 2)

November 28, 2012
At the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
101 Market Street, San Francisco, CA

Agenda and Related Documents

Powerpoint Presentations from the Conference

Post-Conference Research and Reflections

Overview of Research and Basic Data Regarding Affordable Housing and Opportunity

Ingrid Gould Ellen and Keren Horn, Do Federally Assisted Households Have Access to High Performing Public Schools? (PRRAC, November 2012)

This report looks at the elementary schools accessible to households receiving four different forms of housing assistance, in the country as a whole, in each of the 50 states, and in the 100 largest metropolitan areas. It considers whether voucher holders are able to reach neighborhoods with higher performing schools than other low income households. It finds that assisted households are more likely to live near low-performing schools than other households, and that housing choice voucher holders do not generally live near higher performing schools.

FRBSF, Community Development Research Brief, School Quality and Affordable Housing in the Bay Area

Affordable housing location and school quality is an important factor in access to opportunity for low-income families. This analysis of the data shows uneven distribution of high quality schools and subsidized housing in the Bay Area, and shows that subsidized housing tends to be located in neighborhoods with underperforming schools.

The Role of Regional Housing Planning in Achieving Balance: Examples from the Sustainable Communities Initiative and from Mission-Based Developers

“Building in housing affordability near transit stations and town centers” (from housingpolicy.org)

Expanding Affordable Housing Development in High Opportunity Areas

Rachel Bratt, Overcoming Restrictive Zoning for Affordable Housing in Five States: Observations for Massachusetts (Tufts University and CHPA, 2012) (Executive Summary)

This study is aimed at better understanding the experience of Massachussetts andother states that have programs targeted at overcoming the negative impacts associated with exclusionary zoning, to be able to reflect on the comparative strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches to promoting a more balanced distribution of affordable housing across urban, suburbs, and rural areas. The state programs in Rhode Island, New Jersey, California, and Massachusetts were studied, along with the county-wide program in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Building Opportunity: Civil Rights Best Practices in the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program (PRRAC and the Lawyers’ Committee, 2008)

Megan Haberle et al, Accessing Opportunity: Recommendations for Marketing and Tenant Selection in LIHTC and Other Housing Programs (PRRAC, November 2012) (executive summary)

Affirmative marketing programs and tenant selection procedures serve an important role in promoting housing choice. This report addresses the need for Affirmatively Furthuring Housing Marketing guidance governing the LIHTC program, and the need for stronger AFHM and tenant selection guidance throughout all federal housing programs. It identifies specific ways in which existing guidance and commonly used procedures undermine the goal of connecting low income people to equal housing choice. It contains recommendations for federal and state agencies.

Opportunity and Location in Federally Subsidized Housing Programs: A New Look at HUD’s Site & Neighborhood Standard As Applied to the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (PRRAC, Kirwan Institute, and The Opportunity Agenda, October 2011)

REO to rental maps and advocacy documents from the Kirwan Institute and PRRAC (2012)

Revitalization and Preservation – The Role of Affordable Housing Investment

“Section 8 Opt-Outs” (powerpoint, National Housing Trust)

Jill Khadduri et al, What Happens to Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Properties and Year 15 and Beyond? (US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research, 2012).

In addition to exploring the issue of whether owners of older LIHTC properties continue to provide affordable housing for low-income renters, this study examines the factors that affect those owners’ decisions to leave the LIHTC program and the implication of these departures for the rental housing market. The study describes the issues and decisions that property owners confront as their tax-credit projects reach the 15 year mark. The results demonstrate that most LIHTC properties remain affordable despite having reached and passed the 15-year mark.

Marcia Rosen and Wendy Sullivan, From Urban Renewal and Displacement to Economic Inclusion: San Fransisco Affordable Housing Policy 1978-2012 (PRRAC and the National Housing Law Project, November 2012)

This analysis of San Francisco’s housing policy determines that the success of the city’s housing policy in creating inclusive communities is the result of four factors: dedicated community advocacy and strong coalitions; development of and access to substantial funding sources; a holistic vision of building “not just housing, but communities;” and constantly evolving housing programs that respond to new challenges and opportunities. This report describes the development and interaction of these four key components of housing program and policy development since the late 1960s and how they have resulted in the current dynamic affordable housing system in San Francisco.

Background Readings on Federal AFFH Policy

Myron Orfield and Thomas Luce, America’s Racially Diverse Suburbs, Opportunities and Challenges, July 20, 2012

Racially diverse suburbs are growing faster than their predominately white counterparts. The fragile demographic stability in these newly integrated suburbs, and the rise of poor virtually non-white suburbs presents serious challenges for governments at all levels. This study presents a typology of suburban neighborhoods, analyzes data to demonstrate the vulnerability of integrated neighorhoods to racial transition, discusses the causes of re-segregation, and offers strategies to achieve stably integrated suburbs,

Robert G. Schwemm, “Overcoming Structural Barriers to Integrated Housing: a Back-to-the-Future Reflection on the Fair Housing Act’s “Affirmatively Further” Mandate,” Kentucky Law Journal

This article looks at the underutilized provision of the FHA § 3608 mandate that federal housing funds be used to affirmatively further fair housing. It provides background on the integration goal of the Fair Housing Act, and on the mandate of § 3608, and finally on the data showing that despite the FHA, high levels of segregation persist. It examines the history of § 3608, and looks at the recent Westchester County lawsuit, and reviews some of the developments post settlement for pro-integrative strategies, as well as the possibility that more aggressive enforcement of § 3608 may be undermined.

Additional Resources

Marlys Harris, Suburbs of a certain age: the post-racial frontier (November 2012)