|
|
As part of a multi-year project, AREA worked with the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) and the City of Philadelphia to develop an AREA Rents™ rental housing database for use by PHA staff in assessing the appropriate rents for specific units using Housing Choice (formerly Section 8) certificates and vouchers.
We identified 34 housing submarkets within the city and collected data on over 1,500 rental units—including rents, size, building/unit type and condition, and neighborhood characteristics—for input into the database. AREA's annual updates will keep the database current.
Learn more about the AREA Rents™ model for Philadelphia.
Senior Housing Market Study – Chicago, Illinois
In 2000, AREA led a team retained by the Chicago Department of Housing to assess the housing needs of the city's seniors and  identify ways of meeting them. AREA collected demographic, socioeconomic, and housing supply data and conducted housing surveys, focus group, and interviews with senior housing developers, managers, and service providers in order to quantify seniors' current and future needs.
Major policy recommendations included new multigenerational housing options; innovative financing mechanisms that could spur new senior housing development; public-private ventures to help seniors with home repair; and rehabilitation projects designed to increase seniors' home equity and revitalize aging communities.
Analysis of Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program – Nationwide
AREA served on a team headed by The Urban Institute to conduct  HUD-funded research on its Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program.
AREA was primarily responsible for conducting interviews with credit-allocating agencies and HUD staff to determine how LIHTCs are being combined with other HUD programs to produce viable housing developments. Over 100 extensive telephone interviews were conducted with tax credit experts across the country.
Evaluation of Supportive Housing Programs for Persons with Disabilities – Nationwide
As the prime contractor for this two-year project, AREA examined the successes and limitations of HUD's Section 202, 162, and 811 programs and identified ways to improve them.
A major component of the analysis was evaluation of the development process and operating costs for 30 case-study projects throughout the country. AREA prepared a full report and executive summary for publication by HUD and the U.S. Government Printing Office.
Analysis of HUD-Insured Housing – Nationwide
AREA, as a part of a team headed by Abt Associates, evaluated a sample of over 600 HUD-insured apartment projects across the country to help develop a predictive model that HUD could use to estimate the potential extent of apartment conversions from subsidized to market-rate units.
In this four-month-long study, AREA identified the market and financial factors likely to affect the conversion potential for sample properties—in particular, potential project revenues, vacancy levels, capitalization rates, and other key financial assumptions.
This assignment updates AREA research conducted in 1990 that has served as HUD's primary source of information for its effort to "mark to market" the federally insured properties in its portfolio.
Comprehensive Affordable Housing Strategy – Seattle, Washington
Seattle's attractiveness as a place to live has created a significant demand for housing. As a result of this demand, there has been a substantial increase in housing prices over recent years, making it difficult for even middle-income households to afford adequate housing.
Recognizing that the disparity between cost and affordability would affect an even larger segment of the population in the future, City officials retained AREA to provide a workable housing strategy.
This plan will guide the City in the development of policies and programs for addressing housing needs through the next decade and beyond. It encompasses all of the existing and traditional approaches to providing housing for the lowest-income households while expanding public sector policies and programs that will foster the production of housing affordable to a large middle-income segment of the population.
Other selected analyses:
- Technical assistance to communities across the country, as part of a HUD-funded assignment headed by ICF Incorporated, to improve the design and operation of the Rental Rehabilitation Program.
- Evaluation of HUD's Multifamily Urban Homesteading Demonstration Program as part of a team led by Abt Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- Assessment of housing market dynamics on Milwaukee's far northwest side and identification of public policies to encourage new residential development.
- Analysis of the luxury housing market in Kansas City, Missouri, and of options available to moderate-income households displaced by upper-income housing development.
- Preparation of demographic, economic, and historic information on each of Chicago's 77 community areas, as well as analysis of rents for market-rate housing. This market information is being used as a basis for determining reasonable rents in each community area and will be updated regularly
- Assistance to for-profit and nonprofit developers and community organizations in evaluating housing development and rehabilitation opportunities. These assessments examine market demand, acceptable rental ranges, prospective occupants' characteristics, appropriate product types, and required levels and forms of subsidies. Recent clients include RESCORP, Hispanic Housing Development Corp., The Woodlawn Organization, the Neighborhood Institute, and the Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corp.
|
|
