Housing Systems Planning - Essay Example

16 January Housing Systems Planning Introduction Housing is a significant component in the economy and well-being of the United States. Although there have been good housing policies with an emphasis to provide ordinary citizens with adequate affordable homes, many citizens remain homeless and living in substandard public housing projects. In simple definition, the homeless refer to residents of shelters or in some cases, people living on the streets and those out of such institutions (Hopper & Baumohl, 1996, cited in Culhane & Metraux, 2008, p. 112). It is then the purpose of this memorandum to review and analyze the current housing system and planning in the US to determine the factors that adversely affect the housing situation of the many lower income families in the country. Nature of Housing System According to Schwartz (2010, p. 48) although, the nation’s current housing situation has tremendously changed over the past decades, the federal government has admitted that their country is still confronted by enormous housing problems. These include poor housing quality and conditions, crowding, and affordability. In an effort to address homelessness and other associated problems to housing, the federal government has improved their housing policy to address the quality of housing stock and to eliminate substandard housing (p. 21). Aside from quality improvement (i.e. decent, safe, and attractive housing), the housing policy was also extended to improve and develop the quantity as well as the distribution of affordable housing, making it available to all citizens (Miles & Jacobs, 2008, p. 78). In addition, the government has also devised alternative long-term plans and emergency assistance to reduce or eliminate homelessness in the country (Culhane & Metraux, 2008, p. 111). Poor Housing Quality: To improve the physical quality and standard of the housing stocks, the government has formulated and replaced the old policy of building construction. Despite the implementation of the new policy, it was still noted in 2007 that approximately 1.8 million households have a majority of renters (60%) still living in physically severe/deficient housing. According to the US Census Bureau (2008, as cited in Schwartz, 2010, p. 24), the common deficiencies range from poor plumbing, poor heating facilities, poor hallways lightings, fixtures, poor electric services, and poor upkeep and maintenance services. Based on the study of Miles and Jacobs (2008, p. 77) the causes of poor housing quality were due to the skyrocketing cost of housing construction and other related expenditure that reached up to $37.3 M in 2005, and low rental fees for low-earners. This has led for the rent-house owners to fail to uphold habitability standards in the building because the rental fees do not cover the cost of proper maintenance and upkeep services. Crowding: According to Schwartz (2010, pp. 25-26), the rate of overcrowding to housing is not stabilized. It subsequently rises and falls over the years. Between 1940 to1980 the number of crowding has declined by 60%, as attributed by decreasing family size and larger dwelling units. On the other hand, by 2000, there was a tremendous increase in numbers of crowding which reached up to 66% accounted for more than 6 million household. The increase was attributed by consequent influx of foreign immigrants to the country. Again in 2007, overcrowding had decreased placing only 3% of households that lived in homes with more than one person per room and less than 1% with more than 1.5 persons per room. In this context overcrowding is measured by the number of excess person in a room. A study of Miles and Jacobs (2008, pp. 79-80) indicated that overcrowded housing units have an adverse impact on health due to exposure to air pollution, traffic congestion, noise-induced annoyance, lack of passive ventilation, humidity and mold due to inability of the building structure to absorb excess moisture and dampness, environmental tobacco smoke, cockroaches, and local neighborhood physical disorder which causes chronic stress. Affordability: In the US, housing affordability is more or less likely due to changes in housing expenses or income. To measure the trends/standards in affordability, the most common standard is 30% of income while if exceeded which could be up to 50% of income, the households are defined as severe. In 2007, using the said measures, it was noted that more than 30% of homeowners and more than 45% of renters were confronted of affordability problem due to insufficient or lack of government assistance. As a result, the households especially the very low-income earners were left with only few choices either to pay more than half of their income on rent or live in severely deficient housing (Schwartz, 2010, p 27, 29). In the same manner, the housing affordability could also be affected by the number of family members, i.e. larger families are more likely “shelter poor” as compared to their smaller family counterpart with the same income because the expenses will be mostly covered for their other basic needs such food, clothing, and transportation leaving housing as their secondary priority (Schwartz, 2010, p.30). Furthermore, the failure to provide affordable housing to low-income renters are due to the reductions in the federally subsidized housing stock, inability of the private housing market to produce and maintain low-cost housing, and the government regulations that govern the size, quality, and density of housing that can be built (Schwartz, 2010, p.38-39). Implications Proper housing plays a vital role in the well-being of any individual. People who live in deficient public-housing projects are more exposed to several health risks. The cases of the homeless are more unfortunate because aside from bearing the exposure to cold and hot climate, they were also more prone to health risks, dangers, trauma, indignities and victimization of public destitution (Culhane & Metraux, 2008, p.111). In addition, the homeless are also more prone to become victims of alcoholism, drug addiction, or mental illness (Schwartz, 2010, p.41). Likewise, based on the study conducted by Miles and Jacobs (2008, p.79), it was revealed that poor housing conditions are most likely to be linked with the development of health illness such as asthma. Due to these negative implications of poor housing and homelessness, various remedies for these issues become an intense debate in the US during the past few decades. Although, homelessness and poor housing conditions are linked to poverty, experts still emphasized that it could be counteracted as long as the government would intervene and provide alternative and supportive services to households such as providing stable and affordable housing (Schwartz, 2010, p. 44) or providing emergency assistance and transitional shelter facilities (Culhane & Metraux, 2008). The federal government should subsidize housing and provide access to the services they need in order to maintain housing and will not only end in providing temporary shelter (Culhane & Metraux, 2008, p. 114). Likewise, stressors such air pollution, traffic congestion, housing conditions (i.e. structural problems, leaky roof, problems with drainage), local neighborhood physical disorders, noised-induced annoyance, lack of passive ventilation, humidity and mold, environmental tobacco smoke and proliferation cockroaches and other insects could be prevented and reduce the development or severity of health illness if the building planners would integrate health initiatives in the design of the housing (Miles and Jacobs, 2008, p.79). To implement the said initiatives, the federal government has involved several organizations with green initiatives to recommend the best practices in designing, constructing, and rehabilitating in order to achieve a totally healthy housing system that is affordable to commons. In addition, the initiative also includes several sustainability features such as energy efficient facilities, utilization of natural and local resources which are more likely associated to achieving significant health benefits. Some of the healthy and sustainable features for housing projects include the following: Provide adequate ventilation to the built environment to a avoid moisture and dampness which cause molds to grow and result to acquisition of diseases. This could be achieved through utilization of integrated system wherein fresh air is able to enter and circulate in the built environment and the system is able to distribute the air in balance proportion. The housing should also have specific location characteristics and site improvements such as increased green spaces and increased walkability areas to achieve a healthier environment. The appliances and other facilities to be incorporated in the housing units should meet the minimum standards requirements for health and energy efficiency performance standards (Miles & Jacobs, 2008, pp.85-86). Overall, to address the growing problems in housing, the government should implement the housing policy fairly in order for the commons to have an opportunity to access and own permanent houses. In the same manner, to be more observant in implementing the construction policy which governs the construction of habitable built structures which both provide healthy and sustainable environment. Works Cited: Culhane, Dennis P., and Stephan Metraux.. “Rearranging the deck chairs or reallocating the lifeboats?: Homeless assistance and its alternatives.” Journal of the American Planning Association 74, no. 1,Winter: 111-21. 2008. Miles, Rebecca, and David E. Jacobs. “Future directions in housing and public health.” Journal of the American Planning Association 74, no. 1, Winter: 77-89. 2008. Schwartz, Alex F., “An Introduction to Housing. ” Housing Policy in the United States. New York Routledge. 2nd Edition. ISBN0-415-95031-7. Pp. 13-50: 2010. Read More