New Updates on The Edge

PD&R’s online magazine, The Edge, provides you with a snapshot view of our newly released research, periodicals, publications, news, and commentaries on housing and urban development issues. Stay informed on current topics and check back frequently, as our content is routinely updated.

Featured: Using Artificial Intelligence To Promote Equity in Home Mortgage Access

In October 2021, the National Housing Conference held a panel titled "Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Housing Equity" at its virtual "Tech & Housing" symposium. During the panel, industry professionals discussed the inadequacies of traditional credit score models in fairly assessing homebuyers' level of risk, suggested more equitable novel data types, and discussed the potential of artificial intelligence to foster more transparent lending practices.

Message from PD&R Leadership: Everything from Data to Policy, Discussing Findings and Implications of HUD's Latest Report to Congress on Worst Case Housing Needs

In the leadership message, PD&R's deputy assistant secretary for policy development Ben Winter recounts the recent panel he moderated at the Bipartisan Policy Center, during which speakers discussed HUD's latest Worst Case Housing Needs Report to Congress. Winter emphasizes that the country's affordable housing shortage predates the COVID-19 pandemic and cites graphics from the 2021 report to illustrate the extent and specifics of the crisis.

In Practice: Arroyo Village Provides a Full Spectrum of Housing in a Transit-Oriented Development in Denver, Colorado

Opened in 2019 on the former site of a small affordable housing complex and an aging homeless shelter, Arroyo Village is a transit-oriented development in Denver, Colorado that provides a full spectrum of housing. The $38 million project features a 60-bed homeless shelter for women and transgender individuals, a 35-unit permanent supportive housing development for formerly homeless individuals, and 95 units of affordable workforce housing. Arroyo Village was co-developed by nonprofits the Delores Project and Rocky Mountain Communities.

Trending: Universal Housing Vouchers

In September 2021, the University of Pennsylvania's Housing Initiative at Penn published a report titled "Exploring a Universal Housing Voucher." In this publication, the three researchers discussed the potential impacts of expanding the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, HUD's largest rental subsidy program, to allow it to serve additional eligible households. The HCV program uses federal funds, distributed locally, to allow extremely and very low-income households to rent housing from private landlords.

International & Philanthropic Spotlight: UNECE Ministerial Meeting 2021

In this article, the first of a new segment for The Edge, HUD program analyst Meron Habte discusses the 2021 United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) ministerial meeting. The session was held in Switzerland this October. Because the U.S. is an ECE member state, Habte and two of her HUD colleagues attended virtually as representatives. The Commission saw presentations from the assembled national representatives, and discussed topics including climate change, racial equality, affordable homes, and infrastructure.

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