Low Income Housing

Buildings
Sectors	Buildings
Contact	Wilfred Pinfold
Topics	E-Worksite Intelligent Building Low Income Housing Mobility Modular Buildings Next Generation Building Operations Organizational and Individual Productivity and Wellness of Smart Buildings Public Safety-Resilience and Regeneration of Communities Regenerative Urbanism Resilience Hubs Smart Building-related Mobility
Activities Dwellingly Dwelling.ly is an app to improve communication between the landlord providing transitional housing and the social workers who support them. My Digital Data Locker Baltimore For those staying in a shelter or shuttling between other people’s homes, keeping track of these vital documents can be near impossible. They also can be lost, destroyed or stolen. Recognizing that this was blocking some people from securing stable housing, the city of Baltimore this year launched an innovative program — My Digital Data Locker — to help people store and keep track of key documents. Parkrose Community Village WeShine’s first micro-village. Micro-villages are “transitional shelters”, designed to provide safety, privacy, hygiene, and community to people seeking permanent housing. PCV will include paid staff, lockable sleeping pods, laundry, showers, toilets, fencing, and a community building. Volunteers will help with art, gardening, financial literacy, food, pet care, and medical/nursing needs. Personal Access System for Services (PASS) Social services are programs or services designed to support individuals and communities in need. They provide assistance with basic needs such as food, housing, and clothing, as well as health and medical care, education and job training, child care, support for individuals with disabilities or mental health conditions, and aging and elder care. These services are intended to improve the quality of life for individuals and communities and help individuals achieve self-sufficiency. Rose City Resource The Street Roots Rose City Resource (RCR) is a 4’x 4′, 104 page guide that is the most comprehensive, updated list of services for people experiencing homelessness and poverty in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties. Smart Work Learn Play - Participatory Smart City Innovation and Digital Inclusion in Public and Subsidized Housing Smart Work Learn Play, initiated by the Housing Authority of the City of Austin (HACA), with support from Next Century Cities, the Transit Empowerment Fund and the City of Austin’s Digital Inclusion and Transportation departments, aims to ensure that the design, deployment and use of smart cities technologies are inclusive and equitable. The program hires HACA-resident Smart City Ambassadors to work local government and corporate partners to: 1) teach HACA residents how to use digitally-enabled education, workforce and transportation tools; 2) advocate for and manage meaningful partnerships with private smart city technology providers; 3) engage in democratic processes, online and face-to-face with local and other government officials; 4) participate in design of smart city systems and tools with a wide array of actors. This project has successfully conducted a small pilot phase with non-profit and corp partners. In this stage, we will build on that pilot to encompass a broad array of smart city issues, technologies, tools and diverse low income populations. Press Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure The Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program provides funding for this vital part of our nation's high-speed network. With $1 billion in funding, the program will reduce the cost of bringing high-speed internet to unserved and underserved communities. Launch of My Digital Data Locker Baltimore Baltimore’s Continuum of Care (CoC) have launched My Digital Data Locker Baltimore – a web-based tool that gives people experiencing homelessness a secure place to manage digital copies of vital documents needed to obtain housing services.

Authors

Low-income housing refers to housing that is intended for households with low incomes.

In the United States, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines low-income as households that earn 80% or less of the area median income (AMI). The AMI is the middle income for a given area and is based on the income of all households in the area. For example, if the AMI for a certain area is $75,000, then a household earning $60,000 or less would be considered low-income.

Low-income housing can take many forms, such as public housing, low-income housing tax credit properties, and community land trust homes, to name a few. The goal of low-income housing is to provide safe, decent, and affordable housing to households who are unable to afford to rent or purchase housing on the open market. These properties are usually maintained to a high standard, and tenants often have a secure tenancy, meaning they can stay in the property for as long as they wish, provided they follow the terms of the tenancy agreement. The rent for low-income housing is usually lower than market rents and is based on the tenant's income.

How it is Provided

Low-income housing is provided in various ways around the world, depending on the country and its housing policies. Some common methods include:

• Public or Council Housing: As mentioned earlier, this is housing that is owned and managed by local government authorities, and is intended for low-income households.
• Subsidized housing: In some countries, the government may provide financial assistance to private developers or landlords to build or maintain affordable housing units.
• Community land trusts: This is a type of affordable housing that is owned and managed by a nonprofit organization, which holds the land in trust for the benefit of the community and ensures that the housing remains affordable for future generations.
• Tax incentives: Governments may offer tax incentives to encourage private developers to build affordable housing units.
• Microfinance: Some countries offer microfinance loans to low-income families to help them build or purchase their own homes.
• Rent control: Some countries have laws that limit the amount landlords can charge for rent, making it more affordable for low-income renters.
• Informal settlements: In many developing countries, low-income families may live in informal settlements, which are unplanned communities that lack basic services such as sanitation, clean water, and electricity.
• Public-Private partnership: Governments may partner with private companies to provide affordable housing, by allowing private companies to build or manage housing units and receiving financial assistance or tax breaks.

It's worth noting that the approach and method of providing low-income housing can vary greatly between countries, and what works in one country may not work in another.