In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the news media were fixated on the plight of middle-class homeowners in places like the Rockaways in Queens. But two new reports show that low-income renters were the more prevalent victims of the storm.
Matt Chaban discusses the findings of two new studies released this week - one by the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at NYU [PDF], the other by affordable housing developers Enterprise Community Partners [PDF] - that show "Sandy is more likely to have struck a low-income family that rents an apartment than a more well-off one that owns a home."
According to Chaban, the studies "found that of the 150,000 families who have applied for FEMA housing aid, 56% were renters, rather than homeowners. What's more it found that 61% of applicants make less than $60,000 a year, with half that group making less than $15,000 a year."
"'With almost 50% of households making $30,000 a year or less, this is a big deal,' said Shola Olatoye, vice president and New York market leader at Enterprise. 'These are low-income families already in need, and Sandy has made things so much worse.'"
"The authors of the studies hope that their data will help drive the policy debates to come," adds Chaban. "With tens of billions of dollars in federal aid at stake, they believe the money must be spent carefully, and may not even be enough to cover the recovery costs. After all, renters are not typically the ones with the insurance policies, so it can be hard to force a landlord to make repairs."
FULL STORY: Sandy hit the poor hardest in New York
Oregon Passes Exemption to Urban Growth Boundary
Cities have a one-time chance to acquire new land for development in a bid to increase housing supply and affordability.
Where Urban Design Is Headed in 2024
A forecast of likely trends in urban design and architecture.
Savannah: A City of Planning Contrasts
From a human-scales, plaza-anchored grid to suburban sprawl, the oldest planned city in the United States has seen wildly different development patterns.
Washington Tribes Receive Resilience Funding
The 28 grants support projects including relocation efforts as coastal communities face the growing impacts of climate change.
Adaptive Reuse Bills Introduced in California Assembly
The legislation would expand eligibility for economic incentives and let cities loosen regulations to allow for more building conversions.
LA's Top Parks, Ranked
TimeOut just released its list of the top 26 parks in the L.A. area, which is home to some of the best green spaces around.
City of Rochester
Boston Harbor Now
City of Bellevue
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Birmingham, Alabama
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Colorado Department of Local Affairs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.