Affordable Housing Communities Research Articles

Optimizing bikeshare service to connect affordable housing units with transit service

Affordable housing and transit accessibility have long been focal points for housing and urban development agencies at all levels, from national to regional. However, these elements are often considered and planned for independently, leading over time to an expanding spatial gap between affordable housing and transit services. This separation creates issues of mobility equity. Fortunately, bikeshare, an emerging mobility solution, provides the potential to bridge this spatial gap between affordable housing communities and transit services. To leverage this, we designed a bikeshare station (BSS) location optimization tool that aims to alleviate the impacts of this spatial divide through bikeshare services. Specifically, we developed a multimodal agent-based modeling (ABM) and simulation framework aimed at enhancing accessibility to a variety of destinations. To solve this optimization problem, we developed a genetic algorithm to determine the optimal locations for BSS. There are three main conclusions from this research. First, the strategic positioning of BSS will enhance accessibility for affordable housing community (AHC) residents by reducing average transit travel time and walk distance, or increasing the number of destinations accessible by transit. This underscores the advantages of combining bikeshare and transit systems to cater to the mobility requirements of AHC residents, especially for non-work-related trips in suburban areas. Second, the relationship between transit and bikeshare is twofold: complementation and substitution. In instances where a lengthy trip involves multiple transit transfers and significant waiting time, bikeshare could replace some transit trips. Lastly, but most importantly, this study advises a forward-looking approach for governments and operators to avoid the waste of public resources when planning bikeshare systems. The tool developed by this research can facilitate this forward-looking approach in practice.

Research on the path of local colleges participating in community education of affordable rental housing in industrial parks

The affordable rental housing community in industrial parks has become a large-scale community, but little attention has been paid to this type of community education. Therefore, based on the concept of educational equality, this project aims to explore the path of local colleges participating in community education for affordable rental housing in industrial parks. With convenient samples, empirical research is conducted on the current situation and residents’ needs of affordable rental housing community education in the Qianwan New Area Industrial Park. And it has been found that community residents have a high willingness to learn on one hand, however, on the other hand, there are few types of community education to meet their demand; Although there are many public space resources, the utilization of scene spaces is far from sufficient. Based on these findings, this research explores and proposes the paths for local colleges to participate in community education for affordable rental housing in industrial parks through resource sharing models, in-depth community services for all-age residential groups, the cultivation of application-oriented talents to promote the integration of industry and education and enriching spiritual connotation of community education content. By enhancing the quality of all-age residents, namely, the new citizens including industrial workers and their relatives, it can promote the construction of a learning-oriented society and contribute to the realization of common prosperity. This study has certain theoretical and practical significance in enriching the research field of community education, promoting social integration of new citizens, and helping to achieve common prosperity.

Study on micro-mechanism of the affordable housing community in urban renewal the case of Zunyi city, Guizhou province

Introduction: Affordable housing in China refers to housing with social security for low and middle income people under the unified planning and coordination of the government. In the process of urbanization, the construction of affordable housing and commercial housing should be developed in parallel, but under the role of the real estate market economy, the development of the two is unbalanced, resulting in a disparity in quantity, a large gap in quality, unreasonable management, and even residential segregation. The construction and development of China's affordable housing community is a huge and complex systemic project. This study focuses on a series of problems in the relationship between supply and demand of affordable housing based only on the development context of urban renewal at this stage.Methods: Based on existing literature and official data, combined with field visits and research, this study uses Vensim PLE software to build a system model for converting various types of stock into affordable housing, and to investigate the effect of various policies on solving the problem of supply and demand of affordable housing.Results: The research results show that 1) the policies stimulate the increase of urban population and help promote the supply cycle of affordable housing; 2) under the stimulation of the supply policy of converting stock housing into affordable housing, social investment will improve by 33%–64% and the gap of affordable housing will decrease by 29%–58%; 3) under the stimulation of the policy of optimizing the management of affordable housing, the coverage rate of affordable population will improve by 3%–5% and the middle and low income households’ per capita housing floor area will increase by 9%–18% l; 4) under the comprehensive influence of the combined policies, the urban population will grow healthily, the per capita income and per capita housing floor area of low- and middle- income people will be improved, the stock of housing will be reduced, the number of affordable housing will increase, the affordable housing gap will be reduced, and the affordable housing community will be developed sustainably and healthily.Meaning: The research results and recommendations will provide references for the government and competent authorities to enact or update the policies on affordable housing.

THE IMPACT OF THE R3 PROGRAM ON HEALTH SERVICES UTILIZATION AND COSTS

Abstract Relatively few housing with services evaluations use rigorous designs when assessing program impacts on health services utilization. This study thus employed a pre/post difference-in-difference quasi-experimental design, including building-level comparisons using Medicare fee-for-service claims data across two stages of the R3 intervention. Intervention sites included seven buildings with roughly 1,200 individuals. Key outcomes included hospital admissions, 30-day hospital readmission, and emergency department admissions. Results indicate that adding the R3 intervention to low-income housing sites led to meaningful reductions in service utilization and costs when compared to buildings where the program was not operating. The introduction of risk-targeting in the second stage of the intervention further strengthened this effect. Findings demonstrate that residents of affordable senior housing communities, who tend to be in poorer health than their counterparts in the community, benefit from the R3 program and that additional investment in this type of initiative would benefit the health care system.

HOUSING AND COMMUNITY PARTNER VIEWS ON THE BENEFITS OF THE R3 PROGRAM

Abstract Housing with services programs have potential to benefit residents and operators of affordable senior housing communities. This study aimed to understand housing and community partner views on the benefits of the R3 program. Data derived from 31 interviews with R3 program managers and wellness team members, executives and direct service staff at the intervention sites, and community partners. Overwhelmingly positive overall assessments of the R3 program were reported. Concrete benefits to residents included receiving additional attention and support; connecting with family and health care resources; enhancing group programming; preventing ambulance transports; helping with transitions; and improving health and quality of life. Psychosocial benefits to residents included: empowering program participants; providing socio-emotional support; and alleviating psychosocial distress. Benefits to housing sites included augmenting staffing levels, skills, and capabilities; proactively tracking and responding to resident needs; lowering resident turnover; and learning from and adopting procedures and processes underlying the R3 philosophy.

LESSONS LEARNED FROM AN ENHANCED SERVICE COORDINATION MODEL IN SENIOR HOUSING

Abstract Residents of affordable housing communities are growing older, and new residents are moving in at older ages. As these residents age, their need for services and supports increase. Approximately 5,200 housing communities subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have a service coordinator on-site to help connect residents with needed services and resources. In 2021, the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston (LTSS Center) conducted a process evaluation of the LSA Senior Connect Model, which was designed to build the capacity of service coordinators to better meet the needs of aging residents. The study activities included a review of program-related documents, analysis of resident assessments, interviews with staff, resident focus groups, and cost analysis. We will summarize the model’s framework and tools, and discuss lessons learned from the process evaluation. Lessons for policy and practice will also be discussed.

Evaluation of a Tailored Digital Literacy Intervention in Affordable Older-Adult Housing: Case Study

Background Older age, low socioeconomic status, living alone, and low English proficiency are independent factors associated with low information communication technology (ICT) use. Evidence-based interventions are needed to increase digital access and literacy among underrepresented groups. Objective This study aimed to increase the understanding of factors influencing ICT adoption and sustainable resources for training and support in affordable older-adult housing. Methods Broadband, tablet computers, training, and support were offered at 1 affordable older-adult housing community. Three 60-minute classes covered device basics, Google Translate, YouTube, and Zoom; in-language user guides were provided. Resident Ambassadors offered weekly in-language tech support. Mixed methods evaluation included surveys at entry, 30 days, and 90 days and key informant interviews. Results Overall, 72% (N=76) of residents participated. The average age was 78 (SD 8) years, and the participants were primarily Asian (62%), lived alone (68%), and had low English proficiency (65%). About half (49%) of the participants had less than a high school degree. Reasons to decline initial participation included: already owned another device, visual or cognitive challenges, or unwillingness to complete surveys. Of the participants, 89% attended at least 1 class and 37% attended all 3 classes. Over 90% of participants found the classes helpful, 87% found the user guide helpful, and 49% received help from a neighbor. At 30 and 90 days, 82% of the participants reported using their tablet at least twice per week for various activities. However, over half of participants reported the tablet was difficult to learn, and from 30 to 90 days, confusion and the fear of making mistakes when using the tablet slightly increased. Conclusions Overall, participants reported high satisfaction with the devices and tech support, although the decreasing comfort with technology over time indicates a need for additional training and ongoing support. This case study provides a model to increase ICT use among older adults in affordable older-adult housing communities.

Research on Urban Community Elderly Care Facility Based on Quality of Life by SEM: Cases Study of Three Types of Communities in Shenzhen, China

Aging in place has been proposed in response to increasing aging worldwide. Recently, many community elderly care facilities (CECFs) in China have been built to meet the desire of the elderly to age in place and help them live better in familiar environments. This study instituted a correlation evaluation system between the elderly’s quality of life (QOL) and their satisfaction with CECFs. It assessed the QOL of the elderly in urban communities in Shenzhen and identified the issues of CECFs that led to the elderly’s low QOL. Firstly, a hypothesis of the relationship between QOL and CECF satisfaction was proposed on the basis of previous studies. The QOL–CECF model was verified and tested by structural equation modeling (SEM). It was found that the functional setting, planning layout, and operational management affect the QOL of the elderly. Secondly, this study investigated the issue of CECFs in three types of communities, namely, urbanized village communities, affordable housing communities, and commercial housing communities. A factor-based analysis revealed the intrinsic linkages between and extracted the composite factors of CECF indicators in the three types of communities, revealing the CECF issues that led to low QOL using a QOL–CECF satisfaction analysis. Lastly, this study proposed differentiated strategies for CECFs in urbanized village communities and affordable and commercial housing communities. This study can provide differentiated strategies for CECFs in various types of communities to effectively improve the QOL of the elderly and promote the sustainability of CECFs.

Examining the Effects of Policy Design on Affordable Unit Production Under Inclusionary Zoning Policies

Problem, research strategy, and findings Evidence suggests that inclusionary zoning (IZ) correlates with affordable housing and mixed-income communities; however, what effect the policy design has on affordable housing productivity remains unclear. In this study we investigated the relationship between policy features and average annual affordable unit production under IZ by using the IZ data set, which includes adoption year, standardized characteristics, and outcomes in terms of affordable unit counts for 27 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Although the data set does not fully capture affordable unit production for all IZ policies or those produced from in-lieu payments, this study is by far the largest scale empirical examination of IZ outcomes. Findings indicated that jurisdictions with policies that were mandatory, older, covered the entire jurisdiction, or had more complex income requirements designed to reach lower income levels had significantly higher production of affordable units. The top 15% of high-producing policies disproportionately consisted of policies that created affordable rental units, covered the entire jurisdiction, and had more complex income requirements. In addition, longer affordability terms were not associated with lower affordable unit productivity in our regression models. Takeaway for practice Our analysis identified common traits in IZ policies that produced at least one affordable unit as well as high-producing policies. These commonalities generally support enacting more stringent IZ policies with some flexibility in terms of the income levels served for greater affordable unit productivity. Limitations revealed in the data set suggested that local jurisdictions should better track affordable units to gain more information about what works. Considering that IZ policy design varies greatly, planners and policymakers must consider local housing market conditions relative to findings in this study as well as state and local regulatory environments when designing IZ policies.

A cost-effective, scalable, and portable IoT data infrastructure for indoor environment sensing

The vast number of facility management systems, home automation systems, and the ever-increasing number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices are in constant need of environmental monitoring. Indoor environment data can be utilized to improve indoor facilities and better occupants’ working and living experience, however, such data are scarce because many existing facility monitoring technologies are expensive and proprietary for certain building systems. With the aim of addressing the indoor environment data availability issue, the authors designed and prototyped a cost-effective, distributed, scalable, and portable indoor environmental data collection system, Building Data Lite (BDL). BDL is based on Raspberry Pi computers and multiple changeable arrays of sensors, such as sensors of temperature, humidity, light, motion, sound, vibration, and multiple types of gases. The system includes a distributed sensing network and a centralized server. The server provides a web-based graphical user interface that enables users to access the collected data over the Internet. To evaluate the BDL system’s functionality, cost effectiveness, scalability, and portability, the research team conducted a case study in an affordable housing community where the system prototype is deployed to 12 households. The results indicate that the system is functioning as designed, costs $73 per zone and provides 12 types of indoor environment data, is easy to scale up, and is fully portable. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by proposing an innovative way for establishing a distributed wireless IoT data infrastructure for indoor environment sensing in new or existing buildings.

Lessons From Lighthouse: Operationalizing Technology to Support Older Adults in Affordable Housing Communities

Lighthouse for Older Adults, an innovative public-private partnership, was developed in response to COVID-19 as a means of advancing telehealth for low-income older adults living in affordable housing communities. Residents of these communities often don’t have reliable access to devices, sufficient bandwidth for telehealth, or adequate social services, further complicated by the need for multi-lingual and culturally sensitive programs. This presentation will share program implementation strategies and outcomes, including the essential role telehealth services play in the care and wellbeing of older adults during and beyond COVID-19. This session will review evidence-based components of a telehealth intervention, including digital literacy training and technology support. Key drivers for successful implementation (e.g., peer led training, user input into technology selection) as well as barriers to implementation (e.g., broad band installation, internet service availability/cost, tech support) will be reviewed. Lessons learned through program replication and scaling of Lighthouse telehealth services will be discussed.

Telehealth as a Resource for Continuity of Care in the Face of Disaster

This symposium co-sponsored by the Disasters and Older Adults and the Technology and Aging special interest groups of GSA aims to highlight the promise of, and barriers to, the use of telehealth to support continuity of care in the face of disasters and crises, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. M. Mattos will showcase a home-based medical care (HBPC) program to address chronically ill and homebound persons living with dementia and caregivers’ needs during the pandemic. T. Wyte-Lake will present the results of a national survey on how changes were made to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) HBPC programs in response to the pandemic. G. Demiris describes a large caregiver study in which problem solving therapy and positive appraisal theory interventions designed specifically to support family caregivers of hospice patients during the COVID-19 pandemic were implemented via telehealth. D. Lindeman will specifically discuss challenges and implementation strategies for telehealth solutions applied to low-income older adults living in affordable housing communities. Finally, H. Xu will present the results of an analysis examining the effectiveness of telehealth in reducing readmissions among heart failure patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the COVID-19 pandemic has especially impacted older adults and those who care for them, these talks highlight the potential of telehealth services and interventions to provide support and facilitate the continuity of care during times of crisis.

A Critical Examination of Senior Housing: Promoting Equity Through Ensuring Safe Spaces

As affordable senior housing communities aimed to address the health and well-being concerns of residents in the COVID-19 pandemic, special attention to safety during renovation had to be addressed. This paper offers case studies from members of a city-wide advocacy group, Senior Housing Preservation-Detroit. Eighty one percent of covid deaths in the City of Detroit are those 60 and above; 81.2% of deaths have been among African Americans (Detroit Health Department, 2021). With the grief and challenge in a city hit early on in the 2020 pandemic, these case studies will highlight how Covid-19 affected planned projects in senior buildings, how stakeholders such as developers, staff and residents responded and key considerations for future emergencies affecting senior housing communities. This paper offers critical perspectives applicable to many urban landscapes in order to raise awareness to policy makers, and practitioners.

Examining social vulnerability to flood of affordable housing communities in Nanjing, China: Building long-term disaster resilience of low-income communities

In the context of climate change and rapid urbanization, urban floods disasters occur frequently across the globe, and social vulnerability has become an important theoretical perspective for understanding the occurrence and response of flooding disasters. This paper takes Nanjing as an example to investigate flooding disasters and social vulnerability in development countries. It develops an analysis framework and evaluation index system of social vulnerability from three dimensions of exposure, sensitivity and adaptability. Ten typical affordable housing communities were selected and individual-level survey data were collected to explore the influencing factors of social vulnerability. The results show that social vulnerability is simultaneously affected by exposure, sensitivity and adaptability. Communities with new construction ages and good built environments usually have lower levels of risk exposure. Those with residents having higher levels of education and social capital have lower sensitivity. The government’s emergency operations and residents’ response capabilities can both significantly improve the adaptability of communities to floods.

Voice First as a Platform for Addressing and Measuring Social Isolation

Voice First solutions offer the opportunity to promote social connectedness and independence. AARP Foundation has been successful in deploying Voice First devices (Amazon Alexa, Google Home Assistant) in senior living and affordable housing communities and developing Voice First solutions through its Connect2Affect Connected Communities program. Connected Communities empowers older adults through voice first solutions to help them obtain the social support resources needed to stay socially connected, remain independent and age in place. AARP Foundation has developed three Voice First solutions 1) Community Hub, a voice application that encourages participation in group activities by voice-enabling a community’s calendar of events and allowing older adults to discover, register and receive reminders for events, 2) A data collection voice application that administers the 10-item version of the Duke Social Support Index (DSSI) at regular intervals to assess an older adults’ condition of isolation, 3) Social Check-in, a guided risk assessment for social isolation that helps older adult understand their individual risk factors.

The Elderly's Demand for Community-Based Care Services and Its Determinants: A Comparison of the Elderly in the Affordable Housing Community and Commercial Housing Community of China.

With the rapid aging of the world population, great pressure has been placed on the provision of community-based care in China. This paper aimed to compare the demand and its determinants for various community-based care services among the elderly in the affordable housing community (AHC) and commercial housing community (CHC) of China. Two community-based surveys were conducted separately in the AHC and CHC of Nanjing City, China. In total, 408 valid questionnaires were returned from the Daishan AHC while 8422 valid questionnaires were received from the CHCs. The chi square test indicated that the respondents in the AHC had significantly higher demands for five types of services (the meal-aid service, the cleaning-aid service, the bath-aid service, the rehabilitation therapy service, and the first-aid service) than those in the CHCs of Nanjing. Further, the Cochran–Mantel–Haenszel test showed that factors influencing the elderly's demands for these services varied across communities. Several policy implications could be obtained to improve the efficiency of community-based care provision.

Review of Conceptual Model to Spatially Assessing Safe City Level of Affordable Housing in Malaysia

Safety of residential area has become major concern in urban area, especially in affordable housing area, with several safety measure was implemented. Several Governments also developed safe city program, focusing on preventing crime index. Several initiatives were conducted to assess safety, including Safe City Index 2019, Safe City Program, Defensible Space Concept, crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED), Smart Sustainable Cities, etc. Some of these initiatives focus only on crime, other focus on step to improve safety and other model that are broader focus but not specific to safety. Besides that, these models are less emphasis on the aspects of spatial assessment especially the safety level assessment based on affordable housing location in Malaysia. This study focuses on integrating spatial information and analysis to improve current initiatives, and come out with conceptual model to spatially assessing safety level of affordable housing in Malaysia. This conceptual model consists of 6 main indicators; crime, safety and security, infrastructure security, accessibility, natural disaster, and health security. With proper assessment model, further planning to improve current safety can be taken by government and affordable housing community.

Public perception matters: Individual waste sorting in Chinese communities

Individual waste sorting is necessary for effective, efficient waste management. Despite active government interventions, waste sorting has achieved limited success in China. Previous research provides contradictory theories and mixed evidence of the relationship between perceived environmental governance and individual waste sorting behavior. Some researchers argue that perceived environmental governance enhances individual engagement by offering a supportive atmosphere, whereas the crowding out thesis suggests that it undermines intrinsic motivation and suppresses participation. This study suggests that the controversy is partially attributed to people's varying expectations for central and local governments. Multivariate analyses of nationally representative data in China show that a positive evaluation of local government motivates individuals’ sorting behavior, whereas the perceived effective environmental governance of the central government decreases individual engagement, net of demographic and socioeconomic factors. Additionally, people in danwei and affordable housing communities who perceive the central government's environmental governance to be effective are more likely to sort waste. Institutional trust and the involvement of local actors may lead to differential outcomes. These findings suggest that waste sorting results from systematic evaluations of both individual preferences and institutional settings, and effective environmental governance requires more nuanced measures to evoke intrinsic motivation, preferably at the community level.

Emergency Rainwater Harvesting, Water Storage, and Distribution System for an Affordable Housing Development in Barbados

Background: To sustain both permanent residents and an intense tourism industry, Barbados overpumps its sole source of natural freshwater—the aquifer. Climate change is projected to increase both storm intensity and drought, further hampering groundwater recharge. These intense rainfalls quickly saturate topsoil and result in extensive surface run-off that causes flooding, erosion, sedimentation, and eutrophication. By providing more water for households and reducing aquifer withdrawal, rainwater harvesting has the potential to both mitigate water scarcity and reduce the amount of harmful run-off. However, rainwater harvesting is not currently practiced in Barbados. This paper proposes a hurricane-resistant rainwater harvest, storage, and distribution system to be implemented in an affordable housing community in St. Thomas, Barbados.Methods: In the creation of the distribution system design, social, economic and environmental concepts need to be considered. We first conducted a field survey within the neighbourhood to understand what the residents felt the local water supply lacked. Afterwards, we performed a detailed rainfall analysis to determine the amount of rainwater that can realistically be captured. Finally, we consulted with various academic experts, local industry members, and supply stores to determine an affordable design.Results: Our findings suggest that an initial household investment of $2790.90 BBD appears adequate to provide a system for rainwater harvesting, dual plumbing, and communal distribution which can withstand and utilize 1/50 years storms.Limitations: Given that rainwater harvesting is not currently practiced in Barbados, government initiatives are needed to encourage its development.Conclusion: Affordable rainwater harvesting, dual plumbing, and community distribution systems can be implemented to possibly reshape life in countries facing water scarcity.

Demand for community-based care services and its influencing factors among the elderly in affordable housing communities: a case study in Nanjing City

BackgroundCommunity-based care services refers to the professional services provided at home to the elderly with formally assessed demands. The growth of the elderly population has increased the demand for these services, and this issue is even worse in the affordable housing community (AHC) of China. Understanding of elderly’s demands for different types of community-based care services and its determinations would enable the implementation of appropriate incentive schemes to promote utilization of community-based care services in the AHCs of China.MethodsGuided by previous studies, a conceptual framework was developed. Then, a questionnaire was designed and a community based survey was conducted from May 10–20, 2018 in Daishan AHC of Nanjing City, China. Four hundred eight participants from 25,650 elderly people were selected by systematic random sampling technique. Binary logistic regression was applied to the data about the elderly’ primary demands for community-based care services in the AHC, to quantify the elderly’s demands and explore related individual-level factors.ResultsThe finding indicates that more than 50% of respondents had the demand for an elderly care hotline, building health archives, on-call nursing and doctor visits, medical lectures, regular medical examinations and sporting fitness. The binary logistic regression models revealed that the primary demands of the elderly for community-based care services were influenced by distinct factors.ConclusionsOur findings help clarify different types of community-based care services and provide fresh information about the demand for community-based care among the elderly in AHCs. Several policy implications are discussed to enhance the efficiency of community-based care service provision.