How Urban Planners Can Meet the Housing Needs of Low Income Families

Case Study: Challenges Facing Urban Planners

Fair housing for all—all human beings who live in this country—is now part of the American way of life. – President Lyndon B. Johnson’s proclamation following the enactment of the Fair Housing Act of 1968

Today, the United States is experiencing the most severe shortage of affordable housing since the end of World War II (Finnegan, 2021). Indeed, the affordable housing shortage in the United States has assumed crisis proportions and there are few positive signs that any substantive progress is on the horizon. The dearth of affordable housing, combined with a growing “not-in-my-backyard” mindset against locating low-income housing in local communities among American who are fortunate enough to have a home has made it especially difficult to formulate timely and effective solutions to this nationwide problem. The epigraph above, though, makes it clear that urban planners have a fundamental responsibility to the American people to solve this problem. To determine the extent and scope of these issues, the purpose of this case study is to provide an analysis of the various critical challenges that are currently facing urban planners as well as how and why they affect the planning process. In addition, an analysis of the solutions to the selected planning and development challenge and their potential for success is followed by an analysis of the partnerships that can help mitigate the affordable housing crisis using a biblical worldview. Finally, the case study provides a recapitulation of the research and a summary of the key findings in the conclusion.

1) Critical Challenges Facing Urban Planners

Given the dynamics, complexity and resource-intensive stakes that are involved in the affordable housing market, it is little wonder that urban planners today are faced with multiple critical challenges, including most especially the lingering effects of restrictive, racially based zoning laws that contributed to predominately white communities across the country as well as local, state and government regulations concerning real estate development (Finnegan, 2021). Further, irrespective of other considerations, there is widespread agreement that any affordable housing initiative must take into account the need for access to public services including transportation and health care (Gonyea et al., 2022). Likewise, sustained increases in the prices of real estate properties and construction materials have introduced particularly intractable challenges for urban planners who are confronted with the need to balance the expenditure of scarce taxpayer resources with the needs of low-income citizens.

Beyond the foregoing, some other critical challenges that are currently facing urban planners include the following:

· Disruptive innovations;

· Financing difficulties;

· Fragmented and overlapping governments, authorities, and special districts;

· Untangling organizational purpose and organizational strategy;

· Social conflicts and rapid population growth;

· The spread of scattered new development;

· Outdated planning and zoning techniques; and,

· Incorporating “what people think” (reputation and the social definition of value) in the strategic planning process.

All of these critical challenges were already in place in varying degrees and exacerbating the affordable housing crisis in the United States before 2019, but the COVID-19 pandemic served to amplify these challenges even further. For instance, as Finnegan points out, “COVID-19 has further brought to light the structural racism that underlies our housing market, and since the pandemic’s onset, it has become clear that renters and landlords have been pushed to the precipice” (p. 478).

Finally, urban centers continue to attract growing numbers of residents which are representing an increasingly diverse population group with correspondingly diverse social and health care needs. One especially salient example is the increase in the number of elderly Americans who are at high risk of suffering from food insecurity and homelessness (Gonyea et al., 2022). Moreover, minorities in the U.S. are also a vulnerable population with respect to becoming homeless (Gonyea et al, 2022). In sum, urban planners have much to consider when formulating initiatives in general and those seeking to alleviate the nationwide affordable housing crisis in particular as discussed further below as it relates to the planning process.

How do they affect the planning process? Why do they affect the planning process? What are second-order consequences?

Rapidly changing urban environments create real challenges for urban planners who must identify current priorities and weigh them against projected changes in future trends and the needs of a given community. While there are a number of factors that must be considered in the planning process, there are some that represent real existential threats which require the highest priority. For example, the devastating effects of climate change on many American communities, including those situated in coastal regions and where heat indexes are projected to skyrocket by mid-century, mean that urban planners must evaluate the potential for some regions to become essentially uninhabitable in the foreseeable future. In other cases, urban planners must focus on developing climate-resilient infrastructure to protect these threatened communities (Jagarnath et al., 2022).

There are also some severe second-order consequences associated with these constraints to the urban planning process. For instance, many states are already experiencing severe shortages of water supplies, and current projections indicate that this problem is only going to get far worse over time. Indeed, time is already running out for many American communities that have suffered unprecedented droughts and “water wars” are characterizing interstate relations in some parts of the country (Parween & Sinha, 2023). Moreover, there remains a paucity of timely and informed research concerning the viable strategies that are required to respond to these changes in the environment. In this regard, Parween and Sinha (2023) emphasize that, “Even though optimization of water distribution systems and integrated water management practices are being implemented in many cities and regions, there is a lack of an integrated study considering the urban water supply system, planning, and management” (p. 3).

Conversely, many regions of the country are faced with historic flooding and the inundation of low-lying coastal regions (Mianabadi et al., 2022). Irrespective of the precise second-order consequence that is involved, however, urban planners must take steps today to ensure both current and future water security (Mianabadi et al., 2022). Therefore, it is crucial to integrate the three key aspects of urban water management into the planning process. These steps include the management of various water resources (e.g., surface water, groundwater, recycled water, reclaimed water, and rainwater), as well as water supply planning that takes into account present and future water demand, contingency planning for emergency situations, and the integration of topography and spatial planning within a city or region\\\\\\\'s water distribution system (Parween & Sinha, 2023).

Further, urban planning for water supply management must address a number of other issues such as water resource allocation, distribution, and management, as well as the optimal strategies for recycling and reuse of wastewater (Parween & Sinha, 2023). Taken together, the foregoing considerations underscore the need for urban planners to “plan to plan” when it comes to the first- and second-order consequences resulting from the constellation of critical challenges arrayed against them, and these issues are discussed further below.

Some Challenges

The above-described critical challenges that are facing urban planners at present can all have an effect on a planning organization’s likelihood of future success alone or in combination with others. For example, while affordable housing is widely regarded as crucial for the nation’s best interests, there is widespread concern among developers regarding the economic feasibility of developing affordable housing (Finnegan, 2021). In other words, all of the hang-wringing by public and private sector leaders concerning the paucity of affordable housing matters not a whit until adequate financial incentives are in place to motivate real estate developers and investors to fund these initiatives.

One specific reason for this growing concern is the U.S. federal government’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program which provides real estate investors and developers with a reduction in their federal income tax liability that support rental housing that is targeted at serving low and very low-income households (Finnegan, 2021). Under the LIHTC, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) distributes tax credits to real estate investors and developers based on the proportion of units within a new development that are classified as affordable. These tax credits can then be sold to corporate investors by the real estate developer to raise the equity capital that is needed to fund the project. As a result, real estate investors and developers frequently attempt to acquire a significant proportion of equity in the project while also receiving a reduction in their federal income taxes (Finnegan, 2021). The cumbersome LIHTC program, however, has failed to generate sufficient interest in constructing new affordable housing initiatives to the extent that is needed by the nation’s homeless and housing insecure citizens (Finnegan, 2021).

Some of the more serious second-order consequences of this unmet demand for affordable housing in the United States have been an increase in supply shortages of construction materials for developers which has generated corresponding price increases for new housing developments. In this regard, Finnegan (2021) points out that, “This increased demand drives home prices up and further prevents low-income families from being able to purchase single-family homes” (p. 484). Recent reports suggest that inflation will continue to drive construction material prices up even further for the foreseeable future, suggesting that innovative construction approaches are needed to reduce the costs associated with new home construction (Finnegan, 2021).

Finally, restrictive zoning laws can be changed to allow the development of affordable housing projects. As noted in the introduction, though, few American communities openly welcome these types of initiatives for fear of the diminution of existing property values as well as the potential for the increase in crime and substance abuse. In sum, it is reasonable to posit that a overwhelming majority of Americans are in favor of providing everyone with a safe and comfortable place to live, as long as they are not situated in their neighborhood. In sum, the first- and second-order consequences that are associated with these challenges underscore the need to improved strategies to address the nation’s affordable housing crisis and these issues are discussed further below.

2) Analyze the Solutions to the Planning and Development Challenge selected

As noted throughout, there are no easy or quick solutions to the current affordable housing crisis in the United States, and virtually all of the viable solutions are expensive and time-consuming. Therefore, the most obvious solutions to the affordable housing crisis include increasing the funding for these types of projects in those American communities where the need is greatest. For these purposes, funding can assume the form of direct investments by the private sector or additional tax incentives by governmental authorities at all levels.

Because the additional allocation of taxpayer resources by the public sector and increased investments by the private sector are essentially part of a zero-sum calculus (e.g., the more capital that is directed towards affordable housing initiatives the less that is available for other high priority needs), there are multiple second-order consequences that are associated with these solutions that are difficult or even impossible to predict with any degree of certainty at present. Fortunately, there are some proven strategies that are available which offer a real potential for helping solve the nation’s affordable housing crisis, at least in part, and these are discussed below.

3) Analyze the Partnerships That Can Mitigate, or Address each Planning and Development Challenges selected using a biblical worldview

Not only is affordable housing considered as a fundamental, universal human right and a national priority as exemplified by the above-stated epigraph, there is also biblical guidance concerning this need that is relevant for modern Americans. For instance, Matthew 25:34 (NIV) states: “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world”). Similarly, Acts 2:42-47 (NIV) emphasizes that the apostles “sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.”

Notwithstanding the biblical worldview and the prioritization of affordable housing by political leaders, economic realities combined with a legacy of racially based zoning restrictions have created a number of second-order consequences that were simply made worse over the past several years due in large part to the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, according to Finnegan (2021):