Spring 2016
Issue #182
Mixed Income
It's a common goal of redevelopment to promote economic inclusion by mixing incomes within a new development. While you'll find little argument about economic inclusion in general, there can be some significant differences of opinion about how, why, on what scale, and at what cost. In this issue we explore many sides of those questions, looking at developments from San Francisco to the D.C. area.
Can San Francisco Get Mixed-Income Public Housing Redevelopment Right?
The HOPE SF program is aiming to explicitly avoid many of the problems mixed-income public housing redevelopments have faced, to create a truly inclusive process.
Bigger Forces at Play
If social inclusion and the creation of mixed-income neighborhoods is embraced by so many, why does it seem to be so difficult to materialize this vision for the city? Let’s look at some examples.
Government-Funded Organizing?
Public funding for community organizing would strengthen our democracy and re-legitimize a beleaguered public sector. It’s time to stop writing off the idea.
Voices From the Field: Mixed Income
Do we need more mixed-income housing? Why or why not? The following data and observations were collected via a survey we conducted from late January through mid-February, distributed via Shelterforce Weekly and social media.
The Next Boom for Worker Co-ops?
Baby boomers are the largest percentage of business owners, and they’re headed toward retirement. The worker cooperative movement wants to keep the jobs they’ve created from disappearing.
Mixing It Up
Compared to the worst examples of urban design that have physically isolated low-income families, mixed-income housing seems like an intuitively healthier, more equitable way to go about designing neighborhoods.
Q: What’s the difference between community economic development and traditional economic development ?
A: A lot! In fact, they are so different that the Democracy Collaborative, which made the chart below, has coined the term “community wealth building” to set apart the truly community-oriented practitioners of economic development.
Making Mixed-Income Developments Work
A single development with an intentional income mix involves very specific challenges—both in its design and its management.
Don’t Build Mixed-Income Communities, Buy Them
Building when you could buy is inefficient—and contributes to economic segregation.
Build Mixed-Income Housing–But Not in Isolation
A focus on housing connected to education and wellness will be needed to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty.
“Inclusive Communities” Are Inadequate for the World’s Housing Crises
Housing problems are growing and are likely to worsen with pervasive income inequality and a U.S. population projected to grow by 80 million people by 2050. Yet, the solutions do not match the demand.
Integrating Whitman
A long-forgotten battle over a set of row houses in South Philadelphia makes current day NIMBYism look tame. What can housing advocates learn from how they finally got built anyway?
Community Building Despite Trauma
The trauma caused by poverty and the systems that reinforce it can short-circuit standard efforts to build community. A new method called “trauma-informed community building” aims to change that.
A Voyeur’s View
The author’s treatment of race is, at best, contradictory and, at worst, hypocritical and probably the book’s great failing.
Addressing Social Segregation in Mixed-Income Communities
In some newly created mixed-income, mixed-race communities, we are witnessing “diversity segregation,” where people of different backgrounds, races, ethnicities, and incomes live next to one another but not alongside one another.
The Challenges of Economic Integration
Is it more important to have mixed-income buildings, or to give more people access to mixed-income neighborhoods?