Thoughts on Affordable Housing

 Krishna K. Shrivastava, AICP

Principle, Founder, LIKAplan, Las Vegas, NV, USA

December 9, 2023

This article is an accumulation of thoughts about what constitutes “Affordable Housing”, experiences in different countries under different circumstances, and the reconciliation of “WANTS” and “NEEDS”. 

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the United States of America defines an “Affordable House” as one that requires:

“The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines affordable housing as housing where the occupant is paying 30% or less of the gross income on total housing, including utilities.” 

Let us break this down in a couple of ways in order to debate how can we, as planners, impact the overall quality of life of those seeking affordable housing and are in the lower strata of society.

Currently, affordable homes around the world can be found in the range of $5,000 (Ukraine) to $2 Billion (India). A wide range but meets the HUD criteria of 30% of income noted above.

The cradle-to-grave cost of housing is impacted by:

• Governance Factors (Laws, Policies, Regulations, Land Use, Zoning and Building Codes and Standards).

• Socio-cultural acceptability of living lifestyles.

• Architectural Design (Construction, Operation, and Maintenance costs).

• Urban Dynamics (the Circular redevelopment of urban areas).

Let us look at each of these factors.

Governance Factors:

In the USA several federal government programs exist to fund the development and construction of affordable housing. These range from providing publicly owned lands at below market cost (Clark County, Nevada) to providing federal land at minimal cost to narrow the gap of affordable housing. These types of programs help fulfill the minimal need for affordable housing. Most of the requirements are to maintain and ensure the current housing stock remains in habitable conditions. A vast majority of such housing is administered by local housing authorities as governmental units or semi-autonomous entities. While there are well-managed housing authorities a vast number of them are mismanaged, and are fraught with political and personality infighting within the governing Boards. The Housing Development Authority in Las Vegas has been plagued by such issues over the last two decades, with multiple audits by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and forced realignment of Board members and the administrative staff.

California, with the largest homeless population in the USA, legislated a push for affordable housing a few years ago with a budgetary allocation of two billion dollars. With a current homeless population of 60,000, the paltry budget allocation is approximately $33,000 per homeless person. With current restrictive laws, rules, and regulations in California, this amount is woefully inadequate. An article about two years ago indicated the cost of apartments being developed for the homeless population subset is estimated at $850,000. At this rate, only about 4% of the requirement will be met. It is worth reminding the reader that this does not even touch the needs of Californians living in unaffordable (cost-wise) or substandard housing units. 

Up for Growth, a non-profit organization, conducted a webinar on “International Solutions for Nationwide Pro-Housing Legislation” on 30 November 2023, with speakers from Israel, the United Kingdom, and the USA, and covered governance issues and solutions offered in the above-named countries and South Korea. The problems are immense, but solutions are there waiting for the planning community to adopt methodologies that have worked elsewhere, with appropriate adjustments for local socio-cultural and economic conditions. Of note, and solutions that struck me were the solutions in Israel and Austria, both relatively small countries (land area) as opposed to the USA. However, the increased density is what is now being proposed with the 15-minute city to replace the urban sprawl due to climate concerns. Global Policy Leadership Academy, Los Angeles, CA, conducts an educational tour of Austria with the intent of how their policies on affordable housing have made Vienna the best city to live in. Israel’s policy, known as TAMA-38 has resulted in the residents’ attitude towards affordable housing changing from NIMBY to YIMBY. Public acceptability of the policy adopted should be paramount from the planners’ perspective.

Socio-cultural acceptability of living lifestyles:

With all the hoopla about climate change and global warming, the current trend of imposing lifestyle changes on the common man, from food habits to living conditions and environment is ill-advised. It is incumbent on us planners to devise methodologies and processes, in association with other professionals affecting the built environment, to effectuate lifestyle changes only with the consensus of the affected population. 

A simple example, drying clothes on a clothesline with sunshine is a common practice in the developing world. With the availability of washers and dryers, the same practice is shunned in the developed world, in some cases even with a deed restriction. Hence the old saying “Don’t wash your dirty laundry in public.” A happy medium has been observed during my travels over the last twenty years, notably the use of washers and clotheslines due to a busier lifestyle and financial constraints or conservancy habits in the developing world.

Architectural Design:

Architectural design is a major contributor to the cost of housing, whether it is monthly or life cycle cost. 

The primary cost for affordability is construction since this is a major component of the elements defined by HUD above. I am not aware of any houses built pre-World War II that were not paid for by owners at the time of moving in. 

The concept of mortgages was discovered by the building and financial industry because of the desire to provide decent housing for returning soldiers. An appreciation for their service. 

This resulted in defraying the cost of housing over thirty years, thereby eliminating the need for immediate capital expenditure by a young couple and making the monthly payments to pay off the mortgage acceptable on a meager monthly salary. The mortgage payment dependent on prevailing interest rates and payoff duration has since evolved into multiple options for durations and payment amounts, the most popular being a 15-year mortgage.

Orientation and the outer envelope of the housing structure should maximize the use of sunshine, wind patterns and conditions, and landscaping (xeriscaping) to optimize the living environment inside and the curb appeal.

The outer envelope development should account for materials that are more cost-effective from an Operation and Maintenance (O&M) perspective than the modern-day stick architecture, resulting in better insulation, and thus less demand for HVAC energy consumption. 

Some examples would include adapting exterior finishes used in commercial and industrial buildings, roof tiles that also function as solar panels, and insulated building blocks instead of wood framing. Did you know there are eight types of sheetrock (drywall) and selecting the most suitable one? How about using organic industrial hemp-based building blocks and sheetrock? Yes, they are available, meet the code and standards, and can supplement the agriculture industry.

A similar concept needs material selection for inside spaces to mitigate maintenance costs and/or the need for replacement. The seven-year relocation cycle invented in the post-WWII era was dictated by the interests of the financial and home-building industry and the longevity of systems and appliances then available. Some of these appliances now will last a couple of decades or more and thus less need to be relocated. With someone looking for affordable housing, this relocation may be too expensive, as well as the maintenance costs, and thus the depredation of the housing stock and sub-standard living conditions. We, as planners, need to reverse this trend.

The combination of architectural design elements is best exemplified in the work of an Architectural firm in Singapore. Reacting to the conditions in Ukraine and the need for new housing stock, they have virtually dedicated the last 18 months to building affordable homes for displaced families along the war front. They have built 500 homes on the Ukrainian frontlines as the war raged around them. Since the first home in August 2022 for $25,000 they are now building them for less than $5,000 with Ukrainian resources, both manpower and material. (2) This has been done by keeping their pencil sharp and attention to detail 

Urban Dynamics:

The concept of Urban Dynamics, expounded by Jay W. Forrester in the late 1960s, simply talked about the upward mobility of people and the decay of neighborhoods over a period. The confluence of the two in summary results in affordable livability. 

Hence, comes the battle between WANTS and NEEDS, between Affordability and Unaffordability in housing. WE NEED TO AND WILL MANAGE.