The International Social Housing Festival is underway in Amsterdam and is bringing many interesting minds from academia, social housing companies and other think tanks together. Today we had the opportunity to hear from Martin van Ham who is a professor of Urban Renewal at the University of Delft spoke about segregation and inequality. He brought… Read More Segregation in European Social Housing- A Path to Move Forward
In my short career in social housing, I have noticed that many programs revolve around helping work able households improve self-sufficiency. There is a national program (FSS) just to do that in coordination with housing programs. However; housing providers often serve a large number of senior and disabled households. While there are a number of great examples… Read More How the Dutch Lead the Way in Senior Housing Innovation
Lets get to the meat of it. Sunday we got word that a FY2017 Omnibus spending bill agreement was forming up. What the hell does that mean? A spending bill would set our public housing funding until September 31st of this year. Secondly, it allows us to plan for the rest of the… Read More 2017 Public Housing Funding Levels Finally Decided? -Quick Recap
Finding affordable housing online is not always easy. Sometimes websites are not easy to use and or you might not know exactly where to go when looking for affordable housing online. Here are some tips to use: Public Housing Authority: If you are extremely low income and searching for affordable housing online, look to see… Read More Finding Affordable Housing Online
I visited the city of Mannheim Germany in October to speak with both city officials and social housing staff about affordable housing in this mid-sized German city. I met with Arno Knobel who works for the city of Mannheim. He focuses his attention on strategic issues including urban renewal and long term planning. For instance… Read More Social Housing in the German City of Mannheim
Last Saturday, somewhere in the neighborhood of 12,000 refugees arrived in Munich in one single day. The large number puts a punctuation point on what is quickly becoming a race against time to find, build and provide enough housing for the new arrivals especially before winter comes. The German government decided last week to commit… Read More Social Housing’s role in the German Refugee Crisis
Overview The population of Cologne is around 1.016 million. That makes the city around the 4th biggest in the entire country. Population estimates show that Cologne is expected to grow in the upcoming years. I believe the prognoses that are out there now will change dramatically and believing anything right now is dangerous. With the… Read More Cologne Social Housing- Tale of a Growing City
Social housing in the Netherlands enjoys a long and rich tradition. Social housing associations ensure that more than 2.4 million households in the Netherlands have access to adequate and affordable housing. That means almost 40% of all Dutch live in social housing. The history of social housing becomes especially interesting when looking at the housing… Read More Dutch Social Housing-Changes Part I
I visited the German city of Kiel in late July of 2015. I met with Emily Sittel from the department of Housing and Social Help. Attending the meeting from the Ihre Forderbank was Imme Reiben-Mucha a specialist in real estate funding. We discussed the theme of social housing in the city of Kiel and how… Read More Social Housing in the German Port City of Kiel
The city of Leipzig is an interesting case study in rapid population decline, slow steady growth and change/maturation of the housing market. Leipzig as a city is becoming a sexy trend in many magazines and newspapers that claim it is now the place where people should be moving. Many citizens believe the press is nothing… Read More Leipzig or Hypezig?- Housing and Recovery
Housing Futures 