This article has three key objectives: (1) provide an interdisciplinary understanding of affordable housing and lessons learned that can guide new production, (2) highlight the importance of household choice and production of quality solutions that fit the needs of targeted households and (3) present an integrated financial model that indicates how economically viable affordable housing can be delivered in a market-based context. The proper positioning of affordable housing in the built environment with respect to places that comprise the environs surrounding a site and its connection to key linkages and services is critical to enhancing the quality of life of households. This article has three key objectives: (1) provide an interdisciplinary understanding of affordable housing and lessons learned that can guide new production, (2) highlight the importance of household choice and production of quality solutions that fit the needs of targeted households and (3) present an integrated financial model that indicates how economically viable can be delivered in a market-based context.
This article is divided into two components. The first component is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary review of the literature to draw on knowledge from disciplines operating outside of the real estate domain. Drawing on these “lessons learned” the findings are linked to real estate development using the built environment as a bridge. The second component presents a Frontdoor/Rental Structure financial model of a mixed-income project developed in the United States to demonstrate how affordable housing can be delivered without subsidies. It also indicates how collaborative efforts can be used to penetrate further down into the affordable housing continuum, leveraging private and public efforts.
The lack of an adequate supply of affordable housing to meet increasing demands is a global issue, a gap that is continuing to grow. While many policies and practices have been launched to satisfy the demand, less has been done to ensure the qualitative issues that link individual affordable housing spaces to built environment places are addressed. This is especially true when the emphasis shifts from social or subsidized housing to affordable housing that serves moderate-income households. This article demonstrates how a mixed-income multifamily rental project in the US can be developed without subsidies to deliver affordable housing by applying a rental structure model.
This article demonstrates how market-based affordable housing can be delivered as part of mixed-income rental housing development to serve the spatial and built environment needs of households. The article also presents a financial framework that can be used to leverage other policies and fiscal incentives to further increase the delivery of quality, sustainable affordable housing.
