Rents Can Only Go So Low

In This Issue: Rents Will Only Go So Low, No Matter How Much We Build ● The Problem with On-Demand "Transit" ● The Overselling of Rapid Re-housing ● Also: Jobs ● Industry News ● Events ● In Case You Missed It +

Week of December 16 In This Issue: Rents Will Only Go So Low, No Matter How Much We Build ● The Problem with On-Demand “Transit” ● The Overselling of Rapid Re-housing ● Also: Jobs ● Industry News ● Resources ● In Case You Missed It + The Problem with On-Demand “Transit” Jarrett Walker, public transit consultant While having door-to-door service might seem like an answer for areas poorly served by transit, here’s why it’s the wrong answer for equity and ridership. Read Full Article Rents Will Only Go So Low, No Matter How Much We Build Alan Mallach, Center for Community Progress Why doesn’t market rate housing seem to bring rents down to where the lowest income people can afford them? The answer lies with . . . Read Full Article From the Shelterforce archive: The Overselling of Rapid Re-housing Sharon Lee, Low Income Housing Institute Rapid re-housing, originally a strategy to prevent homelessness for households experiencing a temporary financial crisis, is now being promoted widely as a broad solution. But in a high-cost area, it's possible it might do more harm than good. Read Full Article Industry News Barika X. Williams will lead Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development (ANHD) as its new executive director. Williams previously served as Deputy Director for ANHD and assistant secretary for housing for the state of New York under governor Andrew M. Cuomo. Williams will begin her new position January 13, 2020.  Events Thursday, Dec 19, 2:30 p.m. ET | NACEDA executive director Frank Woodruff will host a webinar about the proposed rule change to the Community Reinvestment Act–and what you can do about it. Register here. Opportunities The Kresge Foundation is accepting letters of inquiry for two grant opportunities in the Arts and Culture program: Strengthen Equitable Creative Placemaking Field; and Increase Creative Capacity to Shape Healthier Neighborhoods. Enterprise Community Partners and Wells Fargo announce the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge, an initiative designed to spark innovations that support housing affordability in the areas of construction, financing, and resident services and support. The challenge will award grants to six entities. Learn more here. Resources The Uprooted Project | A new website and toolkit by University of Texas researchers identifies best practices and city policies for addressing displacement in Texas neighborhoods undergoing gentrification. The website includes an interactive policy toolkit, information about gentrification and displacement in Texas, and case studies on successful interventions in Texas and other parts of the United States. Community Approaches to System Change | This report from Build Health Challenge tells the story of 19 communities across the country that, together, created nearly 60 new systems-level changes that resulted in policy changes, new funding streams, stronger community leadership and improved health outcomes. Colorado Health Foundation Symposium Resource | Resources are available from two symposia held by the Colorado Health Foundation—their annual conference and Ideas for Healthy Homes in Rural Colorado. While focused on Colorado, many of the lessons should be useful nationally. From Outcomes to Impact: An Exploratory Model for Estimating the Health Returns of Comprehensive Community Development | New research from Build Healthy Places Network shows one way to identify the health return on investment in affordable housing and other community development activities. We only list free events and resources of national interest. To learn about advertising, click here. Double the Value of Your Donation Today! From now until December 31 every dollar you donate to Shelterforce will be doubled by NewsMatch* up to $1,000!! And if you set up a new recurring donation, the whole year of your donations will be matched, up to $1,000.  *NewsMatch is a national matching-gift campaign to grow fundraising capacity in nonprofit newsrooms and promote giving to journalism among U.S. donors. It’s supported through an open collaborative fund at The Miami Foundation. Funders include the Democracy Fund, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation and others. You Said It On “YIMBY, White Privilege, and the Soul of Our Cities” Bill Cunningham: Everyone should act ethically, but even so we all have to act within the framework of current and anticipated regulations and incentives. After all if one biotech engineer doesn’t . . . Read More On “Bike Lanes Aren’t Just a White Thing” Hcat: I know in So Cal a lot of poor people use bicycles for economic reasons! If in other cities people want to call bike lanes “white lanes,” they could at least . . . Read More Georgia Bikes: Important read from @Shelterforce with some important takeaways for bicycle advocates about equity in planning, public participation and input on projects, and the need to see transportation as a part of a broader set of issues to engage with. Via Twitter On “Trickle Up Housing: Filtering Does Go Both Ways” Michael Lewyn: Not at all wrong, but we can do both! We could let the market build for the high end of the market and government and nonprofits could build for the lower end. Read More Barbara Samuels: Thank you, Miriam, for the caveat about low demand, weak market places where building new affordable housing or rehabbing vacants can actually be counterproductive and lead to abandonment . . . Read more Shannon O'Hara:. . . a good explanation of how helping those with higher need helps everyone. When we build affordable housing, overall affordability increases. Via LinkedIn On “Here’s What We Actually Know About Market-Rate Housing Development and Displacement” Jim Ausman: Pennington’s new research “The Impact of Housing Production on Legal Eviction in San Francisco” effectively rebuts most of . . . Read More On “Blame Zoning, Not Public Transportation, for Displacement” Nehemiah: Market based solutions don’t work because markets can be manipulated but zoning was a market manipulation itself. To fix zoning would be to . . . Read more Sign up for Shelterforce Weekly! In Case You Missed It Anti-Displacement Organizing Should Start Here Bike Lanes Aren't Just a White Thing Getting Ahead of Gentrification in the South Side of Columbus The $9 Jar of Artisanal Pickles: Equity and Local Food Regulation and Housing Supply: Where the Left and Right Agree (Sort of) Looking for a Job? Scroll Down... Jobs Real Estate Development Director, Community Frameworks, Spokane, Washington ● The Real Estate Development Director supports the CEO in the implementation of the vision, mission, programmatic and business objectives of Community Frameworks (CF) as set forth by the Board of Directors. They also manage real estate activities, providing oversight and leadership to . . . Read Full Listing Tenure-track Assistant or Associate Professor of Real Estate Development, New Orleans, Louisiana ● The Tulane University School of Architecture is seeking qualified candidates in Real Estate Development at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor. This position will support our educational mission in the teaching of real estate development at both . . . Read Full Listing Executive Director, City Roots Community Land Trust, Inc., Rochester, New York ● Reporting to a community-led Board of Directors, the Executive Director (ED) provides direction and leadership for the mission and vision of City Roots, represents the organization and its work, and manages day-to-day operations. The ED . . . Read Full Listing Executive Director, Affordable Housing, Wisconsin Partnership for Housing Development, Wisconsin ● Reporting to the Board of Directors and managing a team of three, the Executive Director is responsible for ensuring that the real estate development activities and other WPHD programs advance WPHD’s mission, vision, policy and strategic . . . Read Full Listing Click here to post a job! More Jobs Planner or Assistant Planner, San Rafael, CA ● Marin County Real Estate Director, Boston, MA ● Planning Office for Urban Affairs Chief Executive Officer, Trenton, NJ ● Isles, Inc. Vice President, Real Estate, Detroit, MI ● Housing Partnership Network Director of Finance and Operations, Minneapolis, MN ● Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers Deputy Director, Charlottesville, VA ● Piedmont Housing Alliance Editor, Miriam Axel-Lute Managing Editor, Lillian M. Ortiz Senior Editor, Keli A. Tianga Assistant Editor, Elizabeth Oguss Operations Assistant, Sam Fields Publisher, Harold Simon Made possible by the generous support of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ● Kresge Foundation ● NeighborWorks America ● Kaiser Permanente ● Bank of America Foundation ● JPMorgan Chase Foundation ● Citi Community Development ● PNC Bank Foundation● BB&T ● Valley National Bank ...and with the support of readers like you.