EVIDENCE BASED PLANNING

PUTTING HOUSING NEEDS ASSESSMENTS AND

HEALTH DATA TO WORK FOR YOUR COMMUNITY

Barry Long, of Marketplace Sotheby’s International Realty, who “motorcycled myself into using a manual wheelchair 31 years ago,” got so interested in the power of data bases that he scaled down decades of success as a motivational speaker to become a REALTOR in his native King County. 

He gave a speech on how REALTORS can identify accessible or potentially accessible homes and that led to him being matched with Tom Minty, of John L. Scott Real Estate, -- who he didn’t know despite them living all of eight minutes from each other.

EVIDENCE BASED PLANNING

PUTTING HOUSING NEEDS ASSESSMENTS AND

HEALTH DATA TO WORK FOR YOUR COMMUNITY

In the Seattle area, REALTORS Barry Long, of Marketplace Sotheby’s International Realty and Tom Minty, of John L. Scott Real Estate, have teamed up to use data to address a long-underserved market segment – people with disabilities.

CDC statistics find that up to one in four people experience some level of disability.

But HUD surveys have found, less than one percent of all housing is move-in ready for wheelchair users, and virtually all of that tiny one percent is newly built multifamily housing.

EVIDENCE BASED PLANNING

PUTTING HOUSING NEEDS ASSESSMENTS AND

HEALTH DATA TO WORK FOR YOUR COMMUNITY

Guidance for Developing a Housing Needs Assessment, published by the Washington State Department of Commerce, cites several factors causing housing affordability problems, including:

 ·       Rapid population growth, especially in the Central Puget Sound region

Rising construction costs

·        New housing construction that does not address local needs

·        Displacement, as middle- and moderate-income households cannot find adequate affordable housing near job centers

·        Short-term rentals -- Airbnb, HomeAway and VRBO make it easy for homeowners to convert residential properties into commercial wealth generators.

·        Lack of living-wage jobs, meaning workforce development can be as important of a solution as lower cost housing.

     “Shelter is the most basic of human needs,” the report states.” 

When people can secure stable and affordable housing near locations of jobs and opportunity, they are able to focus on achieving other life goals, such as education, career advancement, health and wellness, or raising a family. 

Without stable and affordable housing, residents face significant and sometime insurmountable challenges to achieving these goals.”

IF YOUR CITY IS NOT ACCESSIBLE TO EVERYONE

 IT HAS FAILED AND SERVES NO ONE

There is something deeply symbolic and disturbing about the yellow caution tape signaling yet another out of order MTA elevator in New York.

It screams that in one of the most-diverse cities in America, people with disabilities are barely second class.

It says that decades of mayors – from both major political parties – have failed.

They have supported tax breaks and cushy deals for billionaires – promising tax revenue to fix problems.

Yet long into the 21^st century, only a fraction of train stations have wheelchair access.

Half the elevators I examined were roped off, non-functioning or otherwise out of service.

The subjugating, ignore the problem answer for decades has been that the bus system has wheelchair access, so that’s enough.

Ever try to get from Lower Manhattan to the Upper East Side…for a business meeting, for a restaurant reservation…for a timed ticket to a museum?

The train takes 15 minutes max.

Busses take two to three times that long.

And the irony is, for a lot of people with disabilities – such as those with rheumatoid arthritis that have joint pain – the endless bumping and listing of a bus right produces pain, discomfort and danger of injury.

So the default, substandard ride option is the more stressful and fatiguing one – along with taking up time.

It’s like the city doesn’t think, a third of a decade after passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, that people with disabilities are vibrant, firm-leading employees that need to move about the city rapidly: to keep their highly productive lives in motion.

Imagine a transportation system that said only White Anglo-Saxon Protestant abled-bodied males reaped the benefits of the underground and elevated speedy trains – but everybody else had to stand in the rain and snow for a slow, inefficient ride on a bus.

News of this discrimination would lead the local TV broadcast and top the newspaper headlines for weeks. Boycotts would take place. 

Politicians would lead rallies to overturn to abusive treatment.

How is it any different when subways and elevated trains could have added elevators and ramps for half a century, but have not?

EVIDENCE BASED PLANNING

PUTTING HOUSING NEEDS ASSESSMENTS AND

HEALTH DATA TO WORK FOR YOUR COMMUNITY

Brian Loughlin, Director of Planning and Urban Design at New York-based Magnusson Architecture and Planning, said data can help a city evaluate housing initiatives on the basis of affordability, accessibility and appropriateness. 

Accessibility means access to jobs and services via walking or transit. 

Appropriateness looks at the kind of housing needed. 

Often there is a gap in Missing Middle housing.

 

The Missing Middle includes: duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes, courtyard apartments, bungalow courts, townhouses, multiplexes, and live/work units.  

 

“The missing middle usually is more affordable than a single family home or high rise apartment.

People who are cost burdened can move into it. 

Once they can afford other housing, they can move on and that frees up more workforce housing,” he explained.

EVIDENCE BASED PLANNING

PUTTING HOUSING NEEDS ASSESSMENTS AND

HEALTH DATA TO WORK FOR YOUR COMMUNITY

“Housing is a regional thing.  New York City housing depends on not just the city but New Jersey, Connecticut, Long Island – we really need to approach things from an MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area) to create regional solutions,” said Brian Loughlin, Director of Planning and Urban Design at New York-based Magnusson Architecture and Planning.

“The problems/challenges for everyday people -- transportation, economic, housing – are regional.” 

 

Loughlin said data is proving that affordable housing is located farther and farther from job centers – creating long commutes, traffic congestion and a waste of urban core infrastructure in place to serve density.

EVIDENCE BASED PLANNING

PUTTING HOUSING NEEDS ASSESSMENTS AND

HEALTH DATA TO WORK FOR YOUR COMMUNITY

Brian Loughlin, Director of Planning and Urban Design at New York-based Magnusson Architecture and Planning said the APA is trying to help smaller municipalities, the ones that don’t have the resources of huge cities and counties, to have tools that demystify the process of interpreting big data. 

“We want all communities to be able to get a quick snapshot of what their housing landscape looks like, so they can better address the housing crisis,” he said.

 

Loughlin said a major issue holding back impactful planning solutions is that programs and legislation stop at city/county boundaries.