Volume 3 Number 7
July/August 2006

In this Issue
Outcomes of Permanent Housing Programs for the Homeless
Fair Housing: What the Public Knows and Supports
Exploring Subprime Mortgage Lending and Alternative Financial Services
Does Owning a Manufactured Home Make Sense?
In the next issue of ResearchWorks

In the Next Issue of ^ResearchWorks...

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• A new set of research reports commissioned by HUD’s Office of Policy Development & Research examines the home- ownership gaps that exist between Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites, the causes of these gaps, and what is known about the scale and effectiveness of programs designed to help Hispanics become homeowners. We’ll take a look at the findings and show what we’ve learned about homeownership trends in this growing demographic .

• Moisture control is an ongoing challenge for many American homeowners. The Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH) now has a set of checklists, organized room-by-room, which will alert homeowners to early warning signs of water-related problems and potential home damage. We’ll discuss the simple observations, inspections, and corrective actions that PATH recommends to protect your family’s biggest investment.

• The December/January issue of ResearchWorks carried an article describing Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding disparities between affluent areas and areas of high poverty and distress. In light of changing demographics and socioeconomic conditions, HUD seeks to correct the disparities by revising the allocation formula. In this article, we’ll examine the highpoints of HUD’s proposal to Congress, the CDBG Reform Act.

• Lean production has successfully transformed many industries, including automotive manufacturing. A recently released HUD publication, Getting Lean: Assessing the Benefits of Lean Production in Factory-Built Housing, reports on the first phase of a long-term effort to develop and implement lean production techniques for the factory-built housing industry. We’ll examine a benchmarking survey of home manufacturers across the nation and review an assessment conducted at a case study plant in Brooklyn, New York that manufactures modular homes using a steel-based building system. We’ll also take a quick look at recommendations for the future of factory-built housing recently compiled by business, industry, and government leaders.