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: Evidence for Housing Policy at the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management

In this month’s leadership message, associate deputy assistant secretary for research, evaluation, and monitoring Mark Shroder and former acting director for the policy development division Barry Steffen report on a recent trip to the annual Fall Research Conference of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. At the conference, held in November 2019 in Denver, Colorado, speakers addressed topics such as new tools for policymakers, HUD demonstrations, the recent research on evictions, and more.

Featured: Achieving Spatial Justice in the Aging Society

In October 2019, the Hastings Center joined with Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies to hold a symposium addressing the accessibility of the built environment to the nation’s seniors. Titled “Aging in [a] Place,” the event featured practitioners, policymakers, and theoreticians in planning, design, and medicine, who discussed the need for accessible dwellings and public amenities. The presenters explored ways to promote independence and quality of life for America’s older population.

In Practice: Award-Winning Affordable Housing Puts a Modern Twist on Classic Charleston Architecture

Opened in 2017, Williams Terrace provides 41 affordable apartment units to low-income seniors in Charleston, South Carolina. The $12 million development is owned by the Housing Authority of the City of Charleston and stands at the site of a former public housing property devastated by a hurricane. A five-story, U-shaped building, Williams Terrace is built around a piazza, with design elements that call to mind Charleston’s renowned architectural history. For its work on Williams Terrace, lead design firm David Baker Architects received the 2019 Excellence in Affordable Housing Design Award.

Trending: New Insights on Borrowers From the National Survey of Mortgage Originations

The Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management’s Fall Research Conference, held in November 2019, featured a session focused on research recently published in PD&R’s Cityscape and based around the National Mortgage Database (NMDB) and the National Survey of Mortgage Originations (NSMO), sources of data on the mortgage market. A collaboration between the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, NMDB is based on a 1-in-20 sample of closed-end first lien residential mortgages active since January 1998, obtained from one of the national credit bureaus. Since 2013, new mortgages have also been randomly sampled every quarter for the NSMO.

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