Recommendations: Executive Summary
Design in affordable housing is a crucial tool to achieve inclusive and sustainable housing for all Americans.
Through innovative and engaged design practices, architects and related design professionals and academics have demonstrated the capacity for innovative housing design to improve the material conditions of our homes and neighborhoods; to support the social and cultural diversity of our society; to provide for the sustainability of our environment; and to support a pragmatic, economically sustainable strategy--all in a manner that is affordable to households with limited incomes. In the fall of 2010, over 200 nationally recognized leaders in architecture and community development, government officials, and affordable housing activists convened in Chicago at the Architecture for Change Summit. Participants addressed critical design goals and articulated affordable housing goals especially those that could be better supported by regulatory frameworks and funding programs.
Their recommendations to eliminate constraints in government regulations and programs are as follows:
- Flexibility in government housing programs and financial practices.
- Consistencies across regulations and codes.
- Performance-based standards, with clear and transparent performance assessment mechanisms.
- Zoning regulations that do not block effective affordable housing design innovations.
Participants at the Summit also noted that U.S. government programs do not typically support research and development of innovative affordable housing, yet the current housing crisis demands innovation.
They concluded that political leaders would benefit by advancing design excellence in affordable housing as follows:
- Architects and design professionals participation in policy-making processes that impact affordable housing.
- Research on affordable housing design and innovations.
- Affordable housing design innovation
demonstration project program.