Affordable housing quality across the globe

By Jessica Hoefer
September 1, 2023 3 min read

The challenge of providing sufficient affordable housing is not unique to the United States as governments around the world struggle to produce both quantity and quality of housing.

Affordable housing quality across the globe is benefiting from some refreshing new approaches to design and construction. These innovative trends include creating open and adaptable spaces, the use of modular and prefabricated construction and developing projects that are more responsive to residents and the surrounding environment. What these approaches all have in common is their goal of minimizing construction costs while simultaneously addressing residents’ needs.

In Hangzhou, China, Dongziguan Village was designed as a new cluster form of affordable housing specifically built for collective living for relocalized farmers. The Iceberg in Aarhus, Denmark is aimed at integrating a diverse social profile into the neighborhood in a socially sustainable way by renovating its old, out-of-use container terminal. Project Housing No. 8 in Apan, Mexico is a prototype construction that utilizes a system based on adobe-block manufacturing that can withstand the area’s climate conditions. And in Nijmegen, Netherlands, Tower Hatert is an example of thoughtfully designed social housing, which is made of FSC-certified wood and aluminum panels.

These are a few projects worldwide that saw a problem, affected change and the resulting projects are a showcase of the future of affordable housing. They are redefining how affordable housing responds to its users and environment.

Here in the U.S., the challenges facing the construction and design of affordable housing run the gamut; financing, development expertise, site selection, weather, supply chain disruptions, labor shortages and high-interest rates, to name a few.

So, how do we circumvent the challenges and continue to get quality projects to pencil?

The Builders’ Perspective reveals a few key strategies, developed by general contractors, to help push projects over the finish line in a timely manner without sacrificing overall housing quality. And in Modular Affordable Housing Projects, project managers, investors and consultants of modular projects share their tips on pulling together financing, building stronger partner teams and selecting sites.

Breaking Ground discusses an exciting new modular initiative that Preservation of Affordable Housing, Inc. imported from Europe to save a struggling public housing project.

And in the ongoing effort to promote time and cost efficiency, New Building Technologies and Housing Solutions looks at the latest innovative approaches to construction. From robotics to artificial intelligence to 3D printing, technology is continuing to advance the construction side of the business.

But, when it comes to construction and design, what are the accessibility rules? Legally Speaking covers the main legal obligations for accessible design and construction. Also pointing out how important it is for developers and investors to ensure that their architects, engineers and builders follow all applicable accessible guidelines for all housing and associated non-dwelling spaces.

Affordable housing is not simply limited to providing units. It’s about taking humanistic and holistic approaches when selecting the materials used, as well as the location and purpose of each project. It’s encouraging to see that construction and design teams here and around the world are thinking about more than the mere provision of affordable housing while attempting to meet the needs of the residents and the environment.

Regards,
Jessica Hoefer
Editor-in-Chief

Industry Insights

Final CRA Rule Implementation on Pause

Kaitlyn Snyder • May 1, 2024 4 min read

A U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas recently granted an injunction to extend the Community Reinvestment Act final rule’s effective date, April 1, along with all other implementation dates. Here’s what you need to know about the case and how it will impact LIHTC investment.

The Guru Is In

Neither Fair, Nor Market, Nor Rent

David A. Smith • May 1, 2024 6 min read

Names can outlive their purpose and their original meaning. Though the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire, a cluster of mutually distrustful principalities with a largely symbolic head of state known as the Holy Roman Emperor maneuvered under that rubric for a thousand years after its 800 AD founding by Charlemagne before it was put to sleep by the 1815 Congress of Vienna. Such may yet be the fate of two venerable concepts, Fair Market Rent (FMR) and the Area Median Income (AMI).

Legally Speaking

Blending Yields

Alex Zeltser, Esq. & Robert Kaplan, Esq. • May 1, 2024 7 min read

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting impacts on the economy and financial markets, as well as the Federal Reserve’s raising of short-term rates to stave off inflation, interest rates and construction costs have risen dramatically, resulting in funding gaps that many multifamily affordable housing developers in the four percent LIHTC space have had difficulty filling.