New Updates on PD&R Edge

PD&R Edge, an online magazine, 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.

Featured: PD&R Quarterly Update: Institutional Investors in Housing

Since the 2008 financial crisis, an increasing number of large corporations have purchased single-family homes to flip or convert to rentals, and these purchases accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Institutional investors now own hundreds or thousands of properties, aided by their ability to outcompete individual homebuyers with all-cash purchases. As institutional investors acquire housing, they often drive up housing costs, pricing existing and potential residents out of the neighborhood. On December 6, 2022, HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) held a Quarterly Update, where panelists discussed the effects of these developments on affordability and actions that policymakers can consider to mitigate some of the negative impacts that large institutional investors can have on the housing market.

PD&R Leadership: Happy New Year 2023

In the Leadership Message, Todd Richardson, general deputy assistant secretary for policy development and research, summarizes PD&R’s accomplishments in 2022 and previews its goals for 2023. In 2022, HUD hosted events, sponsored research, supported HUD technical assistance, and distributed grant funding, among numerous other undertakings. In 2023, HUD expects to continue its important work, including issuing new Notices of Funding Opportunity, publishing highly anticipated research, and supporting new HUD initiatives like the Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE) initiative.

In Practice: First Project of County’s Mixed-Use Campus Serves Low-Income Families

Opened in January 2022, Mercy North Auburn is an affordable housing project within the Placer County Government Center (PCGC) campus in Auburn, California. Developer Mercy Housing California partnered with the county after submitting the winning proposal for residential space in the PCGC master plan update, a plan to redevelop a 200-acre site previously housing a World War II-era army hospital. Serving as a northern entry to the campus, which currently consists of commercial and institutional uses, the development provides 79 low-income households with a sense of community through amenities and public art that honors the site’s indigenous past.

Trending: Global Cities and Affordable Housing: Lusaka

Despite recent infrastructural improvements and bustling economic activity, housing has been a challenge in Lusaka (the capital city of Zambia) for decades. The nation has a deficit of approximately 1.5 million homes, which is projected to increase to 3 million by 2030. Zambia’s rapid rate of urbanization and the accompanying rise in incomes and employment are creating a demand for affordable housing in urban areas that is outpacing the supply. As a result, 70 percent of Zambia’s urbanites live in slums with an inadequate water supply and poor sanitation. The government hopes that public-private partnerships can help reduce the affordable housing shortage and create healthy, quality, affordable housing for the nation’s citizens.

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