fall 2005
ARC 386M / CRP 388:
Affordable Housing Development and Design
Course Description
Increasingly, non-profit community based organizations are involved in major rehabilitation and new construction of owner occupied and multiunit rental housing. In addition to the basic knowledge of policy, project development and financing, non-profit developers must manage the selection and design of building sites, the design of housing types or multi-unit buildings, and oversee the construction or rehabilitation process. Successful and innovative non-profit development hence requires knowledge of financing, site selection, physical design choices and construction management. The aim of this course is to expose students to issues and questions involved in affordable housing development including the policy environment, financing mechanisms, site selection and site and building design processes.
The first part of the course will review key theories and concepts pertaining to housing markets and housing policy, evolution and current structure of federal, state and local affordable housing programs, and the increasing role of community-based groups in housing production and management. We will emphasize the steps and political and financial challenges associated with non-profit housing development, production and project management. Successful non-profit development practices will be studied through an analysis of actual projects in Austin and elsewhere. The site selection process for affordable housing will be covered in some detail. The second section of the class will focus on planning issues including zoning, physical characteristics of sites, condition of site and surrounding properties, and relationship of site to transportation access and access to services. The third segment will concentrate on design issues beginning with landscape and site plan design based upon space and topography, open space and configuration of buildings and access for safety and livability. We will then turn to individual, collective and community design elements: including architectural variety, diversity within recurring building systems. We will then investigate individual and collective design elements including architectural prototypes and current innovative housing design. Topics will include: interior organization, space, light, materials, private and shared activities and space, building access, construction costs and life cycle costs.
Sample of readings:
Koebel, Theodore. Shelter and Society: Theory, Research and Policy for Non-Profit Housing, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998.
Miles, Mike, Gayle Berens and Marc Weiss, Real Estate Development: Principles and Process, Third edition, Washington D.C.: Urban Land Institute, 2000.
Ramsey, Ray, Developing Affordable Housing A Practical Guide for Non-Profit Organizations. New York: Wiley&Sons, 1999.
Stein Debra, Winning Support for Land Use Projects. Washington D.C.: The Urban Land Institute, 1992.
Marcus, Clare, Housing as if People Mattered, Berkeley; University of California Press, 1986.
Davis, Sam, The Architecture of Affordable Housing, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995.
Davis, Sam, The Form of Housing, New York: Von Nostrand Reinholdt, 1977.
MacDonald, Donald, Democratic Architecture: Practical Solutions to Today's Housing Crisis, New York: Whitney Library, 1996.
Wentling, James, Housing by Lifestyle: The Component Method of Residential Design, New York, 1996.
Hayden, Doloris, Redesigning the American Dream, New York: WW Norton Inc., 1984.