User:Nmarrewa/Affordable Housing

Inequality and Housing
The geographic distribution of affordable housing and its respective restrictions provides a disproportionate distribution of benefits to certain economic groups. For example, research has found that cities are more likely to have zoning restrictions, which effectively limits the expansion of affordable housing units in these areas. These zoning restrictions increase housing prices, forcing the housing developers who create subsidized housing to look towards other options. Zoning restrictions drive low-income families to live in neighborhoods with reduced opportunities, restricting access to metropolitan economies. These patterns of zoning ultimately force the income divide between different socioeconomic groups to widen by creating enclaves of low-income and wealthy neighborhoods. These enclaves dictate the distribution of labor, causing a geographical distribution of industries that disproportionately excludes low-income residents from lucrative industries.

Affordable Housing and Sustainability
A new subsection of affordable housing has emerged: sustainable affordable housing. Many researchers have contributed to this subsection, discovering innovative methods to make affordable housing less environmentally detrimental. One method emphasized is creating disaster-resistant affordable housing units to reduce the impact of climate change-related natural disasters. This method includes using weather-resistant housing materials and placing affordable housing units in disaster-resistant geographical locations. Another method is creating new standards for affordable housing developments such as energy efficiency and location efficiency. A study by Albert Chan and Michael Adabre on the relationship between sustainable housing and affordable housing found that setting standards for energy and location would help reduce environmental stressors like greenhouse gas emissions. Improving the sustainability of affordable housing units is found to provide benefits such as reductions in energy costs, an increase in the economic value of sustainable housing, and increased comfort for sustainable housing residents.