From the Editor

One of Mike Stegman's many lasting achievements as HUD's Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research from 1993 to 1997 was the creation of Cityscape, a journal that encourages scholarly work on housing and urban issues and makes some of the best research and analysis of these topics available to academics and practitioners. I am honored to follow in his footsteps as editor of Cityscape.

This volume, in particular, is Mike's creation. It was his idea, more than a year ago, to devote an issue of Cityscape to the subject of mixed-income housing and to dedicate that issue to nonprofit housing developer Don Terner. It is an idea wholeheartedly endorsed by Secretary Andrew Cuomo, whose appreciation of Terner's accomplishments is based on his own experience as a builder of community housing before entering government service.

Mixed-income housing is an appealing idea, but it is not well defined. Many people have opinions about what it means, but they do not all agree. These articles, brought together in one place, present the first rigorous analysis of mixed-income housing undertaken in many years.

Mixed-income housing has special relevance to current policy choices before HUD and the U.S. Congress. There is a broad consensus that public housing developments occupied by families with children should be transformed into stronger communities by including families with a broader range of incomes than is now typical. Similarly, many believe that privately owned housing developments that have deep rent subsidies attached to some units should be part of the mainstream "mixed-income" housing market with its market-determined rents. But these objectives must be harmonized with others: meeting the severe housing needs of the poor, responding to the challenges of welfare reform, counteracting the growing spatial isolation of the poorest families, and keeping within the constraints of the Federal budget.

This volume of Cityscape contains a set of articles that will compel clearer thinking about the principles and practical realities necessary to achieve mixed-income housing. The ideas and analysis presented here will set the framework for policy discussions of mixed-income housing and will also stimulate additional research on the subject.

Paul A. Leonard Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Development