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: Toward Permanent Renter Protections

At a National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) Housing Policy Forum session, speakers discussed the lessons learned from pandemic-era renter protections and eviction prevention measures and if such policies could be permanent. While prompted by the pandemic emergency and the recognition that stable housing and homelessness prevention were essential for promoting public health, the measures were built on years of effort by advocates, tenants, and tenant organizers. Panelists discussed how local, state, and federal efforts could work together to achieve lasting change that helps keep people stably housed without the prompting of public health or other emergencies.

PD&R Leadership: An Application of Evidence-Based Policymaking

In the Leadership Message, Brian McCabe, deputy assistant secretary for policy development at PD&R, and Peter Kahn, associate deputy assistant secretary for policy development, discussed recent HUD efforts to evaluate research examining Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMRs). SAFMRs are calculated at the ZIP Code level, while the standard fair market rents are calculated at the metropolitan area level. A 2016 rule on SAFMRs aims to expand opportunity within the housing choice voucher program by ensuring that units affordable to voucher holders are available in every neighborhood in a metropolitan area. The evaluation team is conducting listening sessions, engaging external researchers, and analyzing administrative data to assess the future shape and use of SAFMRs.

PD&R at 50: HUD’s Fair Market Rents and Income Limits

Each of HUD’s major program offices oversees various programs that require operating parameters to govern the operations of each program. Although Congress provides the statutory basis and funding for these offices, many of the annual operating parameters are calculated by HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R). These include Income Limits and Fair Market Rents (FMRs), which help determine the functioning of programs, such as the Housing Choice Voucher program. PD&R’s work on these program parameters stretches back to 1975, when it developed the first FMR schedules using data from the 1970 decennial census.

In Practice: Permanent Supportive Housing Development Serves New York’s North Country

Completed in December 2022 by developer Housing Visions, Northwoods is an 80-unit affordable housing development in Plattsburgh, New York, a small city in the state’s North Country near the Canadian border. Half of the units serve as permanent supportive housing for people transitioning out of homelessness. Experiences of homelessness in the area have increased in recent years as housing costs have increased. While helping to meet affordable housing needs locally, Northwoods is also helping the state achieve its goal of creating 1,200 new supportive housing units annually.

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