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Cityscape: Volume 3 Number 2

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Mixed-Income Housing - In Memory of Donald Terner

Volume 3, Number 2

Editors
Paul A. Leonard

Symposium

Mixed-Income Housing
In Memory of Donald Terner

Dedication

Michael A. Stegman, MacRae Professor of Public Policy University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC 1997

For members of the Clinton administration, April 3, 1996, was an even more mournful day than it was for the rest of the Nation. As "insiders," we had early access to information about the crash of the airplane carrying Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown and 32 other Americans in Croatia. Unfortunately, much of the information turned out to be wrong. The false hope that people we knew and cared about, including Ron Brown and Don Terner, had somehow managed to survive the crash left us more devastated than we would have been if we had known the truth from the beginning.

Because he was a giant in the world of housing and community development, I knew that Don would be properly memorialized by his friends and admirers and that the prize-winning projects he and BRIDGE Housing had developed would stand as a permanent tribute to his great vision and talent. Nevertheless, we at HUD -- from then-Secretary Cisneros on down -- felt a special need to tell Don's story in a manner that might change the way the Nation thinks about and produces affordable housing. What better place to do it than in PD&R's own policy research journal, whose goal is to rise above short-term politics and budget considerations and expand the policy frontier by focusing on "innovative ideas, policies, and programs that show promise in revitalizing cities and regions."

Thus this very special issue of Cityscape is dedicated to our friend, colleague, and mentor Don Terner. It has been a labor of love by all who worked on it, but I would especially like to thank guest editors Jill Khadduri, who so ably directs PD&R's Policy Development Division, and MIT professor Langley Keyes, another of Don's friends and colleagues. Both of them managed to juggle urgent priorities in order to help create this important work.

As I look back on my 4 years at HUD, I could not be more proud of the exceptional men and women of the Office of Policy Development and Research and of this outstanding journal, whose influence grows with each issue.

From the Editor

Paul A. Leonard, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Development

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.

Donald Terner: The Champion Is Missed
by Bradley Inman

Mixed-Income Housing: Factors for Success
by Paul C. Brophy and Rhonda N. Smith

Mixed-Income Housing in the HUD Multifamily Stock
by Jill Khadduri and Marge Martin

Mixed-Income Housing: Unanswered Questions
by Alex Schwartz and Kian Tajbakhsh

 

 

Cityscape is published three times a year by the Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Subscriptions are available at no charge and single copies at a nominal fee. The journal is also available on line at http://www. huduser.gov/periodicals/cityscape.html.

PD&R welcomes submissions to the Refereed Papers section of the journal. Our referee process is double blind and timely, and our referees are highly qualified. The managing editor will also respond to authors who submit outlines of proposed papers regarding the suitability of those proposals for inclusion in Cityscape. Send manuscripts or outlines to Cityscape@hud.gov.

Opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of HUD or the U.S. government.

Visit PD&R’s website, www.huduser.gov, to find this publication and others sponsored by PD&R. Other services of HUD USER, PD&R’s research information service, include listservs, special interest and bimonthly publications (best practices and significant studies from other sources), access to public use databases, and a hotline (800–245–2691) for help with accessing the information you need.

 

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