New Updates on The Edge

PD&R’s online magazine, The Edge, provides you with a snapshot view of our newly released research, periodicals, publications, news, and commentaries on housing and urban development issues. Stay informed on current topics and check back frequently, as our content is routinely updated.

Message from PD&R Leadership: Happy (delayed) New Year 2019

In the leadership message, general deputy assistant secretary for PD&R Todd M. Richardson discusses the office’s accomplishments in 2018 and plans for 2019. In the retrospective, Richardson examines five areas in which PD&R’s research has informed HUD policy efforts and highlights several of the year’s notable activities and publications. Richardson also details eight of the many publications and activities planned for the coming calendar year.

Featured: How Housing Instability Impacts Individual and Family Well-Being

In November 2018, the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management held its 40th annual fall research conference in Washington, DC. During a panel discussion titled “Emerging Evidence on the Impact of Housing Instability on Individual and Family Well-Being,” four housing practitioners and researchers discussed their work on housing instability and its relationship to evictions, homelessness, poverty, and family well-being.

Research: Rapid Re-Housing Working Papers

Two newly published working papers developed as part of HUD’s Understanding Rapid Re-housing Study provide new insight into rapid re-housing (RRH) programs. First piloted in the 1980s, RRH aims to shorten the time it takes for individuals and families experiencing homelessness to secure permanent housing by providing short-term subsidies, housing search assistance, and case management services. The two new publications contribute to the research literature on these programs by performing a review of existing research and analyzing the relevant outcomes of the Family Options Study, respectively.

In Practice: RAD Preserves Affordable Housing in Neptune, New Jersey

Silver Vistas is a 171-unit affordable senior housing development serving Neptune Township, New Jersey. Built in 1982 as Sebastian Villa, the aging development was coming to the end of its Rental Assistance Program (RAP) contract when it was purchased by the Silver Street Development Corporation in 2016. Silver Street converted the RAP contract using the Rental Assistance Demonstration program and performed $9 million of renovations, an undertaking that cost a total of $32 million and preserved the affordability of 144 units in danger of losing rental subsidies.