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,

Featured: Community Land Trusts and Stable Affordable Housing

In June 2019, the research institute PolicyLink hosted a webinar on community land trusts (CLTs). A CLT is a system of tenure in which a piece of land is owned by a mission-driven entity, usually a nonprofit, and the homes on the land are owned or leased by residents. This arrangement can safeguard affordable housing in areas experiencing rapid economic change, and is becoming more common. The webinar featured panelists from land trusts in Houston, Texas, and Oakland, California.  

Research: Rental Assistance Demonstration Evaluation: Final Report

The recently released HUD publication "Evaluation of HUD's Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD): Final Report" presents the culmination of a five-year research project. RAD is a voluntary program that allows public housing agencies (PHAs) to convert public housing projects to Section 8 contracts in order to leverage private funding for renovation or demolition and replacement. Overall, the study found that RAD has been extremely successful at attracting capital to stabilize and improve public housing.

In Practice: Affordable Housing Goes Green in Anchorage, Alaska

Completed in 2017, Muldoon Garden provides 23 units of affordable housing in Anchorage, Alaska, in an energy-efficient building. To maximize the building’s performance while containing costs, developer Rural Alaska Community Action Program, Inc. included features such as a rooftop solar panel array, fiberglass window frames, low-toxicity building materials, a high-efficiency heating system, and more. 

Subscribe to receive The Edge here.