The US Treasury issued a paper on reforming government sponsored entities on February 11, 2011. On February 22, 2011, Urban Land Institute Senior Resident Fellow and ULI/J. Ronald Terwilliger Chair for Housing, John K. Mcllwain, responded to this report and shares three options that are being considered to replace government sponsored entities. Read the full report here.
A continuing conversation to identify and develop innovation in buildings, places, and systems throughout the Twin Cities region.
Archive for February, 2011
Reforming America’s Housing Finance Market: The Administration’s Proposal
Rethinking Housing Design
In early December 2010, community members and local leaders gathered to rethink affordable housing design in the Twin Cities region over a two-day event. Keynote speaker, Maurice Cox, delivered a powerful message on the importance of design excellence at a public event to an audience of nearly 150 people, while day two’s workshop generated dialogue among 60 local leaders to re-imagine how we can elevate innovative and holistic design in affordable housing now and in the future throughout the region. The purpose of the workshop was to examine the following key questions:
- With increasingly diverse needs for a full range of housing, how can a broader community become engaged in design in a meaningful way?
- How can innovative designs connect communities, especially underserved communities, to opportunity—opportunity to work, to be safe and healthy, and to play?
- What steps can this region take to move beyond the financial, political, social, and creative barriers to high quality and distinctive design of housing?
To view a full summary report of the two day event, please click here.
Location Efficiency and Housing Type – Boiling it Down to BTUs
This past January, the Environmental Protection Agency, in partnership with the Jonathan Rose Companies, released a study analyzing the energy use associated with a range of development approaches.
The Study, Location Efficiency and Housing Type – Boiling it Down to BTUs, contrasts development in conventional, automobile-dependent locations with more location efficient, transit oriented locations; multifamily housing construction with single-family detached and attached houses; and conventional cars and homes with their energy efficient counterparts.
The report finds that a home’s location and access to transit – in other words, its location efficiency – are as important to reduce energy use as are energy-efficiency measures in homes and cars.