- Published on
The Sustainability of Affordable Housing in San Francisco
- Authors
- Name
- Okoro Victor I.
Project: Affordable Housing Research Thesis Paper @ the University of California, Berkeley
Collaborators: Okoro Victor, Pierre Lucas, Calvin Chen
Scope
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) initiated a series of measures during the 1970s in response to mounting criticisms regarding the role of assisted housing projects in perpetuating residential segregation. A seminal study titled "Assisted Housing and Residential Segregation" (Rohe & Freeman, 2001) sought to assess the efficacy of these measures by scrutinizing the influence of race and ethnicity in the development of assisted housing during the 1980s. The study revealed that despite HUD's concerted efforts, indicators such as poverty rates and minority concentration continued to exert a significant influence on the planning and execution of certain categories of assisted housing projects.
It is imperative to delve deeper into the disparities inherent in the realm of affordable housing initiatives. Diverse programs exist, encompassing project-based affordable housing projects and market-rate housing developments, with a fundamental determinant of "affordability" being the underlying property valuation associated with apartment complexes. Notably, more economically accessible housing options may not always find placement within the most sustainable communities, potentially leading to an escalation in vehicular travel, among other consequences. A comprehensive examination of affordable housing projects within the context of Chicago (Talen & Koschinsky, 2010) revealed that, on average, affordable housing projects were situated in communities characterized by enhanced sustainability attributes, including heightened walkability and accessibility. However, it is essential to underscore that certain programmatic categories did not conform to this pattern.
Our collective objectives, as a research team, are twofold: firstly, to build upon the foundational research conducted in the aforementioned studies, and secondly, to cultivate a more nuanced comprehension of how both infrastructural elements and the socio-economic milieu of neighborhoods interplay in shaping the dynamics of affordable housing initiatives.