Quality: 4 - País

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Mismatches Price Financing Segregation Functional adequacy Vulnerable groups Climate change Pandemics

Main objectives of the project

The focus of the Repair, Reconstruction or Relocation Program (R3 Program) is to provide relief to persons affected by Hurricanes Irma and Maria who still have unmet needs in their residences. Through this Program, fair housing may be affirmatively furthered in accordance with the Fair Housing Act of 1968, as amended, 42 USC 3601 et seq, a federal provision known as the "Fair Housing Act of 1968". Assistance under this Program will be provided in three (3) major categories: repair, reconstruction and relocation. Under the Reconstruction Program, demolition may be an eligible activity, and under the Relocation Program, acquisition and demolition may also be eligible activities.

Date

Stakeholders

Location

Country/Region: Puerto Rico

Description

The national objective of the R3 Program is to benefit low- and moderate-income (LMI) persons whose income is below eighty percent (80%) of the area median family income (AMFI) according to the modified income limits established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the CDBG-DR Program in Puerto Rico. Also included are Low and Moderate Income Housing Incentives (LMHI). These are activities and incentives that benefit low- and moderate-income (LMI) families, with the purpose of relocating these families out of the affected floodplain or at-risk area. These activities are also undertaken for the purpose of providing or improving permanent residential structures that, upon completion, will be occupied by low- and moderate-income families. In addition to achieving the ancillary benefits of community and neighborhood revitalization, promoting resilience and fostering opportunity. 2022 Goals 5,000 Homes completed 1,500 Relocation vouchers 6,500 Cumulative Families Served

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AHA Affordable Housing Activation

‘Worst Case Housing Needs’ Reports to Congress

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‘Worst Case Housing Needs’ Reports to Congress

Mismatches
Policies and regulations
Promotion and production

Main objectives of the project

Date

Stakeholders

  • U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

Location

Country/Region: United States of America

Description

The United States has a well-established system for reporting on appropriate national and local data concerning the affordability, adequacy and availability of housing. Housing conditions in 44 metropolitan statistical areas are assessed. This annual report, published every year since 1991 is known as the ‘Worst Case Housing Needs Report’. Evidence of critical housing problems facing low-income households is provided annually to the United States Congress, drawing on the biennial American Housing Survey (AHS) funded by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Census Bureau. This provides evidence on the affordability, availability and adequacy of housing and defines worst case housing needs of renters with very low incomes – below 50 per cent of the area median income (AMI) – who do not receive government housing assistance, and who pay more than one-half of their income for rent, live in severely inadequate conditions, or both. The AHS data are used to geographically map worst case needs by income, race and ethnicity, with specific focus on rental housing. The AHS housing data advises the US Congress on the funding of specific HUD housing assistance programmes but does not necessarily lead to the definition of specific supply targets. The primary focus of the United States Congress has been on funding and targeting assistance rather than supply outcomes. This has influenced the level of support for housing vouchers (see chapter II), which allow eligible households to “shop” for fair market apartments.[1] The AHS data are rigorously analysed by the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development in the “Worst Case Housing Needs Report”. This provides Congress, all levels of government and relevant stakeholders with information on locally differentiated housing needs. [2] The evidence from these reports underpins government justifications for public expenditure on affordable housing programs, such as investment in Public Housing programs and Housing Vouchers.[3]

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Genesee County Land Bank Authority – Land banking to revitalise distressed areas in the United States

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Genesee County Land Bank Authority – Land banking to revitalise distressed areas in the United States

Mismatches
Financing
Urban Design
Ownership and tenure

Main objectives of the project

Date

Stakeholders

  • Microcredit Foundation HORIZONTI
  • Habitat for Humanity

Location

Continent: North America
Country/Region: United States of America

Description

The Genesee County Land Bank Authority (GCLBA) is an example of a Michigan state land bank.Michigan State has suffered from widespread and long-term abandonment which accelerated following the global financial crisis. Between 2005 and 2015 GCLBA took responsibility for over 14,000 abandoned tax delinquent homes. To determine what to do with all these homes it consulted with the neighbourhoods via a citizen advisory council and outreach officers. This process has built trust with the residents and engaged them in developing solutions. These solutions include not only demolishing unsafe unsightly properties and creating green spaces, but also renovating selected homes and selling them to local tenants for affordable home ownership. Context In the United States of America (United States), land banking has been used to revitalise economically distressed areas. Their role has become even more important since the global financial crises and subsequent foreclosures. Public land banks acquire distressed, foreclosed or abandoned properties with the intent of redeploying them for more productive use. Rehabilitation and resale regenerates neighbourhoods and increases property tax revenue, and importantly redistributes properties to meet specific community needs, such as affordable housing. For a guide for establishing a land bank in the United States, see Frank S. Alexander, Land Banks and Land Banking, 2nd ed. (Flint, Michigan, Center for Community Progress, 2015). Available at https://community-wealth.org/sites/clone.community-wealth.org/files/downloads/report-alexander15.pdf. Results Home sales were offered to first time home purchasers, under favourable contracts. The average home in 2015 cost only USD 6,500 (approximately EUR 5,500) with monthly payments of USD 200 (about EUR 170) for five years. Purchasers negotiate feasible and sustainable conditions with the land bank to ensure their long-term stability as residents, thus strengthening the community and improving local safety and dignity. Non-governmental not-for-profit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity sometimes act as intermediaries for renovating the homes and finding suitable purchasers.

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0

Ownership and tenure

Main objectives of the project

Date

Stakeholders

Location

Country/Region: Pakistan

Description

A common approach to housing the poor in Asian cities is to relocate slum households to new multi-storied apartment blocks, often on the periphery of cities. This is often justified on the basis that the only way to achieve suitable densities in urban areas, to match local planning regulations, is to have multi-storied apartment blocks. Houses on individual plots of land are seen as low-density and inappropriate or not possible given local planning regulations. A recently completed conceptual study from Karachi, Pakistan, challenges this prevailing view by highlighting that similar or even higher densities than specified in local planning regulations can be achieved by using an individual terrace house typology. In terms of settlement and building design, this highlights the importance of exploring design options to suit the local conditions and constraints, rather than settling for one building design and repeating it throughout a city or country.  The experience also demonstrates the opportunity for building and settlement regulations to improve housing affordability. For example, through reducing the size of the plots in Khuda Ki Basti 3 to the lower-end of the regulatory minimum (but still to a size that is comfortable and can accommodate household activities) the cost of a plot reduces from 525 USD to 308 USD, a 41 per cent cost reduction. This also reduces the cost of infrastructure development (water, sewerage, and roads) for each plot by 44 per cent which can reduce the overall cost of each housing unit. While maximising plot area is desired by most urban households, both rich and poor, the fact is that to improve affordability, especially at the lower end of the market, development costs have to be reduced. Modifying planning regulations to facilitate the large-scale provision of land that is affordable for individual households is one important part of improving affordable housing provision.   Building and planning regulations play a crucial role in determining the affordability of housing. Often cities have antiquated or inappropriate design standards and regulations that increase the cost of land and housing provision. Common regulations are inappropriately large minimum plot dimensions that result in expensive plots of land to purchase as well as to service with infrastructure. As the experience from Pakistan shows, modifying building standards and regulations, for instance the minimum plot size or building height limit, can not only contribute to lowering the cost of new housing development but also allow for the in-situ upgrading of already informal areas through being able to formalise them within newly adopted more flexible regulations. 

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Upstream financing

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Upstream financing

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 2015:

Stakeholders

Location

City: Communauté rurale de Fafacourou
Country/Region: Gambia

Description

According to the Gambian Land Minister, the country needed approximately 50,000 housing units in 2015. This project demonstrates the active role the private sector can play in developing alternative forms of affordable housing by making materials cheaper for clients who do not have access to formal financing. The company proposes a purchase scheme based on progressive savings while offering technical and financial assistance. The model is “pay per use”: the cement blocks and their storage are paid monthly and when they are enough, the company takes care of the transportation for free. 

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Microfinance

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Microfinance

Policies and regulations

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 1976:

Stakeholders

Location

Country/Region: Pakistan

Description

The Grameen Bank is a pioneering the possibly most well-known micro-finance institution in Asia, if not the world. It was started in 1976 and aims to provide small loans to households on favourable terms, notably a low interest rate. In 2009 its total revenue was 209 million USD. It is considered a success due to its low default rate, ability to keep interest rates low and borrowing terms flexible, and it does not rely on international donor funding or national government contributions and is therefore totally self-sufficient.  In 1984 the Bank introduced housing loans. These are perceived as very attractive by low-income households and consequently there has been consistently high demand. The loan period is five years, repayments are weekly and the interest rate is fixed at eight per cent. Between February 2010 and January 2011, 7,215 houses were built using the loans, which amount to 1.16 million USD. The houses are modest yet flood resistant, important in Bangladesh’s river delta geography. With the loan, a household buys a kitset house: four pre-cast concrete columns, a sanitary slab and 26 corrugated iron roof and wall sheets and they construct it themselves. So far 130 million USD has been dispersed in housing loans. Title is invested with the borrower and in 96 per cent of cases this is a woman. 

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Netherlands: NWB Bank (Nederlandse Waterschapsbank) affordable housing bonds

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Netherlands: NWB Bank (Nederlandse Waterschapsbank) affordable housing bonds

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 1954:

Stakeholders

  • NWB Bank

Location

City: Vaassen
Country/Region: Netherlands

Description

The NWB Bank is a large Dutch public investment bank, set up in 1954. In 2017 it created the SDG Housing Bonds, focusing on specific impact drivers for affordability and energy efficiency in social housing, to attract dedicated investors into affordable housing provision. This product won the best social bond award in 2018 and 2019 by the Environmental Finance investment analysis service. These affordable housing bonds are priced according to demand and strategically marketed to a small pool of investors interested in social and green housing. To date they have been significantly oversubscribed. The bonds fund loans for the provision, renovation and retrofitting of income-targeted social housing in the Netherlands, managed by not-for-profit organizations. Social bond investors demand transparency, requiring high standards of reporting. Further work is needed to define the affordable and social benchmarks used in investor reports, as these can change. In addition, NWB co-operates with Aedes, the representative body for social housing providers in the Netherlands, to produce key performance indicator data on the bonds’ impact on social housing provision. The two organizations also organize regular site visits to the developments funded by the bonds’ investors to see the impact of their investments. 

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ㅤ Encouraging the residential mobility of social housing tenants: England’s Right to Move policy (United Kingdom)

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ㅤ Encouraging the residential mobility of social housing tenants: England’s Right to Move policy (United Kingdom)

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 2015:

Stakeholders

  • Promotor: UK government

Location

Country/Region: United Kingdom

Description

In 2015 the UK government passed the Right to Move statutory guidance under the new Allocation of Housing Regulations for England. This guarantee removed residency or queuing requirements for social housing units if prospective tenants move to take up employment or an apprenticeship. For this, the previous ‘hardship’ criteria have been extended to those moving for work. Local authorities are since required to offer a minimum of 1% of their housing stock under the Right to Move scheme.   Previously, prospective council or housing association tenants often needed to sacrifice their rent-controlled tenancy in order to take up work elsewhere, effectively disincentivising employment as waiting lists were often long and private rental options too expensive for these households. The new regulations thus remove rent-benefit and housing affordability related barriers from employment related moves and encourage residential mobility within the social housing sector and across districts. It is not clear whether the Right to Move programme has catalysed moves between districts and lowered some of the mobility barriers.  

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Bathroom, kitchen and laundryin housing production: prefab wet cell-unit design for building retrofit

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Bathroom, kitchen and laundryin housing production: prefab wet cell-unit design for building retrofit

Mismatches
Urban Design
Promotion and production

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 2021:

Stakeholders

  • Natalia Maria Gaspar
  • Paulo Eduardo Fonseca de Campos
  • FAUUSP — Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade de São Paulo

Location

Continent: South America
City: Altamira
Country/Region: Brazil

Description

The Prefabricated wet cell-unit is a compact plumbing core. It is composed of panels and countertop of sink produced in micro-high performance reinforced concrete (HPC) and coated with epoxy paint and connected to each other by welded metal inserts – the HPC also alows covering the panels with tiles. Other elements, such as sanitary ware and accessories, PEX plumbing pipes, window frames and electrical installations are commonly found on the market. This Prefab Wet Cell-Unit for Housing Retrofit was thought as a cost-downsizing agent in housing production-process with the retrofit of old vacant building (like the ones located at the downtown of big brazilian cities, e.g. São Paulo’s downtown). The units will be moved to the aimed building by truck and will be elevated by cranes for getting inside the apartments. By using the prefab wet cell units, the apartment interiors are likely to be more flexible to the family needs, besides the fact that the unit will make faster the retrofit process. Therefore, having a more rational and industry-standard building site, it is expected decent working conditions, which will impact better incomes for the workers and formal, legalized jobs in the construction industry. The wet cell-unit can also be a relevant agent in the complete using of the land stock and in the infrastructure of the big brazilian cities.The Prefabricated wet cell-unit was selected in 2021 to be part of the exhibition “An architecture and urban planning guide to the 17 UN sustainable development goals”, organized by Instituto de Arquitetos do Brasil – IAB as part of the closing activities of the 27th UIA Congress 2021 Rio de Janeiro. Available at www.iabsp.org.br/exposicao_ods_iab_uia_2030.mp4 and at www.iabsp.org.br/guia_iab_agenda_2030.pdf. It was shortlisted at the International Award for Architecture Diploma ACXT/IDOM 2009 3rd Edition – promoted by ACXT Architects/IDOM Consulting Engineering Architecture. Available at tinyurl.com/acxtidom. And it was awarded silver winner in the Student category of the IDEA Brasil Award 2010. Available at tinyurl.com/ideabrasil. The unit was proposed as a way to answer some important questions raised from the low-income housing production, especially the building retrofit aimed at social housing purposes: It should be industrially prefabricated, gathering more working hours at the factory than in the building site, guaranteeing better and more comfortable conditions for the workers. Having its cost in mind, the units should be compact for better horizontal movement (factory to building site track) and better vertical movement (by the cranes) An easy plumbing installation (in-out water) and easy ways for keeping and fixing the unit were thought as design principles. Minimum interference in the retrofitted building structure. Unit compactness: use little direct area and little area next to the unit for circulation aims, when completely installed, as for optimize the apartment area available for other rooms. Along the design process, we noted that the industrialized production of that bathroom or of that device is attached to the kind of building type, therefore it was selected the following types as a working platform: empty buildings located at the downtown area of big brazilian cities that are aimed at social housing by the use of the retrofit methods. The bathroom is subject to the same precarious the low-income dwellings are subject to when they are built in self-help programs, along many weekends by their owners, in far away peripheries and urban fringes .The low-income families, subject to all kind of exploitation, can’t buy or rent homes in downtown areas due to real estate speculation over these places and can only live in far distant districts. However, the downtown areas of big cities in Brazil have the high rate of vacant buildings and are provided with an urban infrastructure and transportation means. By industrializing the building of the house in Brazil, or in the scope of this study, by industrializing the bathroom-kitchen-laundry as a device attached to the apartment to be retrofitted, means not only turning higher the living conditions of low-income classes and making the building conditions of their homes akin to the quality of industrial processes, but also including those low-income families in the most advanced methods of production, guaranteeing the better working conditions and making them able to search for better housing financing programs. And makes them being effective part of the city.

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Workshops for Construction and Training of a Municipal Housing Diagnosis Instrument based on Community Health Agents

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Workshops for Construction and Training of a Municipal Housing Diagnosis Instrument based on Community Health Agents

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 2022:

Stakeholders

  • Promotor: Institute of Architects of Brazil (IAB)

Location

City: Marcelândia
Country/Region: Brazil

Description

The case presented is the creation of a local policy for housing diagnosis based on the action of Community Health Agents (ACS – Community Health Agents) that can be a model for Brazilian cities. The relationship between public health, quality of life and housing conditions was even more evident with the economic and sanitary crisis caused by the Sars-COV 2 pandemic. In Brazil, the housing scenario is experiencing one of the most critical moments in history, with cuts in federal resources and environmental disasters, which mainly affect the population of greater social vulnerability. Thus, the municipal government must promote policies that guarantee the right to decent housing. One of these strategies is the implementation of Technical Assistance in Social Interest Housing (ATHIS – Assistência Técnica em Habitação de Interesse Social). This policy is regulated in Brazil by Federal Law 11.888/2008.   There is a direct relationship of hospitalizations in the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS – Sistema Único de Saúde) caused by lack of basic sanitation, poor housing and urban quality – lack of infrastructure, clean water and insalubrity problems. This panorama increases the costs of Public Health and could be prevented with access to healthy housing. Therefore, it is necessary to bring the architects closer to the population in housing vulnerability. This close relationship between health and living conditions is essential in the intersectoral policy agenda, especially at the local level.   Given this perspective, the Maringá core of the Paraná Department of the Institute of Architects of Brazil (IAB/PR – Núcleo Maringá do Departamento Paraná do Instituto de Arquitetos do Brasil), sponsored by the Council of Architecture and Urbanism of Brazil (CAU/BR – Conselho de Arquitetura e Urbanismo do Brasil), in partnership with the João Pinheiro Foundation (FJP – Fundação João Pinheiro), is creating a Municipal Housing Diagnosis Instrument (IDHM – Instrumento de Diagnóstico Habitacional Municipal) based on the action of Community Health Agents. These professionals will be trained to apply and, later, act as multipliers. This instrument is being designed from the methodology of the João Pinheiro Foundation, an institution that calculates the quantitative and qualitative housing deficits since 1995 in Brazil. The first case of application of the instrument is being carried out in the city of Maringá, Paraná state. The main objective of the proposal is to obtain territorialized data on housing inadequacies in the municipalities and to integrate health and housing information systems. From the case of Maringá, the instrument can be incorporated into the SUS, covering 63,62% of the Brazilian population that is served by the Family Health Strategy (Estratégia Saúde da Família), according to data from the Ministry of Health of Brazil for 2021. The information collected by Community Health Agents in the monthly visits and registrations of the families’ houses is not sufficient to guide specific housing policies. There is a lack of information such as identification of cohabitation, improper water storage, inadequate coverage, lack of exclusive sanitary units, excessive rent burden, and lack of accessibility for people with disabilities and the elderly, among others. Data collected by the Health Agents will be automatically integrated with the local housing information system. This information will support the application of resources in promoting intersectoral public policies between Health and Housing, recognizing the role and social function of the Architect and Urbanist. Diagnoses will also assist in the development of Local Plans for Housing of Social Interest (PLHIS – Plano Local de Habitação de Interesse Social) and the distribution of public resources according to intervention needs contributing to the reduction of urban inequalities and the right to health, well-being and decent housing. The project is part of the forum theme as a case of mobilizing public and private agents from various disciplinary fields to create an innovative intersectoral policy to diagnose the housing situation at the local level.   Housing diagnoses carried out in Brazil are developed based on statistical data, mainly with information collected by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE – Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia Estatística) in the Demographic Censuses. These censuses are conducted at a periodicity of 10 years. The project, developed by the core Maringá of IAB, proposed a territorialization of housing data, identifying the needs for housing improvements, with continuous monitoring of the housing situation of the population through the monthly visits of Community Health Agents.   One of the impacts, in addition to the integration of health and housing systems in the city of Maringá, is the creation of a methodological and the design of training material, capable of becoming a model for Brazilian cities. Actions like this, which seeks to integrate housing issues into the public health system in Brazil, could be a way to popularize the architect’s profession.   The creation of the Municipal Housing Diagnosis Instrument aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals elaborated by the United Nations (UN) – mainly SDG 3 “Good Health and Well-Being”, SDG 6 “Clean Water and Sanitation” and SDG 11 “Cities Sustainable and Communities” – stimulating and contributing to the promotion of Public Health and Housing Policies for the Brazilian population.

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