International Observatory on Social Housing
Examine the world of social housing from an international perspective.
This is a quick summary of one of the first sessions that took place during the International Social Housing Festival in Amsterdam. Doug Saunders-British/Canadian Author The presenter Doug Saunders spoke about the theme of arrival cities. His definition of an arrival city is a place or district where immigrants end up right after immigrating. ... Continue Reading →
Affordable Housing in India The concept and importance of affordable housing takes on a whole different meaning in a country like India. In India, this issue has taken center stage as the rough estimate research says that there is an extreme shortage of millions of housing units. Some estimates put the number at 20... Continue Reading →
The provision of social housing is one of the most vital of essential human rights. In South Africa, social housing is being used to address the rebuilding of trust between the government and its people who have endured unequal treatment and poverty for too long. Political and economic segregation still leave their ugly scars in... Continue Reading →
The Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program is the largest subsided housing program in the USA serving more than 2 million households. Like the public housing program, a few very large housing authorities in large markets hold a good deal of these vouchers. I am pretty sure that someone wrote a list of the ten largest... Continue Reading →
In my short career in social housing, I have noticed that many programs revolve around helping work able households improve self-sufficiency. There is a national program (FSS) just to do that in coordination with housing programs. However; housing providers often serve a large number of senior and disabled households. While there are a number of great examples... Continue Reading →
A recent notice in the federal register was released in conjunction with the President's Executive Order in reducing unnecessary government regulation and waste. President Trump's Executive Order in a Nutshell: To cut to the chase, a committee has been established to identify unnecessary rules and regulations in the government with the further mission of replacing, reducing... Continue Reading →
I broke up this top 10 list into two separate articles. To read part I, click here Without further ado, here is the last 5 innovative public housing programs. 6. Project March- Keene Housing Authority: The Keene Housing Authority used its Moving to Work flexibility to put an emphasis on housing homeless veterans in its region.... Continue Reading →
Some of the most innovative programs to help low-income families have come from public housing authorities across the USA who were willing to partner, think outside of the box and go to often uncomfortable places in hopes of improving the life's of their tenants. Providing a safe, decent and sanitary place to live is the... Continue Reading →
What is Social Housing in Spain, Really?? One thing you must remember when talking about public or social housing is that there is not really a great definition from country to country. Spain is not really any different here. What the Spanish consider social housing is not really rental in nature. Most of... Continue Reading →
This was not an easy article to write. The number one reason is it is 100% based on my opinion of viewing about 75-80 social/public housing websites over the last week. That is of course in addition to the hundreds I visited within my career for whatever reason. A quick disclaimer-***I made my picks... Continue Reading →
International Observatory on Social Housing 