Affordability Housing
經(jīng)濟適用房
Affordable ?Housing is a generic term used to characterize the degree to which residents can afford to rent or buy housing. The usual metric focuses on whether housing rents and mortgages are with the means of those making a certain percentage of the median income.By conversion,housing is deemed a affordable ?if people spend 30 percent or less of their income on housing. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition,the U.S. is in the midst of an affordable ?housing crisis, especially for renters, because so many people spend far more that 30 percent of their income on housing. This is the case ?for many countries around the world, and the situation has been worsening over time.
經(jīng)濟適用房是一個通用術語，用于表征居民可以負擔得起租房或購房的程度。通常的衡量標準聚焦于房屋租金和抵押貸款是否與中等收入的一定比例有關。換一句話說，如果人們將30％或更少的收入用于住房，那么住房就被認為是負擔得起的。根據(jù)國家低收入住房聯(lián)盟的統(tǒng)計，美國正處于經(jīng)濟適用房危機之中，尤其對于租房者，因為很多人在住宅上的消耗遠遠超過他們收入的30%。世界上許多國家都是這種情況，而隨著時間的推移情況在進一步惡化。
Housing can always be made affordable if built cheaply and located in poor neighborhoods . The key issue for affordable housing advocates is how to produce good-quality, affordable housing in good-quality neighborhoods. In Western capitalist democracies, affordable housing in well-serviced neighborhoods is difficult to find. It can be maintained either by reducing housing cost-perhaps by building smaller, or using less costly materials-or through subsidy wherever a reduction in cost does not offset higher land values.?
如果建造成本低廉，而且位于貧困地區(qū)，住房總是可以負擔得起的。對于經(jīng)濟適用房倡導者來說，關鍵問題是如何在高質(zhì)量的社區(qū)建造高質(zhì)量的經(jīng)濟適用房。在西方資本主義民主國家，很難在服務良好的社區(qū)找到經(jīng)濟適用房。它可能通過建造更小的建筑來降低住房成本，或者使用成本更低的材料，或者在那些通過降低成本已不能抵消更高土地價格的地方以補貼的方式來維持。
There are a wide number of policy options available for increasing the supply of affordable housing. Where housing markets are strong and public subsidies are not available, communities can enact inclusionary zoning rules, requiring developers to provide a certain percentage of new construction as affordable housing units. This is politically expedient, but some have argued that inclusionary zoning ultimately increases housing costs overall, and may be unnecessary where affordability can be designed in (via smaller-sized units and lots). More politically difficult are public housing subsidies, which can be either tenant-based (Section 8 housing vouchers, for example), project-based (the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit [LIHTC] program), or can consist of public housing, where governments own and operate the housing (such as through the HOPE VI program). A nongovernmental option is the community land trust, a private nonprofit corporation that makes ownership for low-income residents possible by maintaining control of land costs. Out of all of these options, however, the federally-operated LIHTC program has been by far the most significant source of subsidy for the development of affordable multifamily housing.
為增加經(jīng)濟適用房供應，有許多政策可以選擇。在住房市場強勁，同時沒有公共補貼的情況下，社會可以制定包容性分區(qū)規(guī)則，要求開發(fā)商提供一定比例的新建建筑作為經(jīng)濟適用房。這在政治上是一種權(quán)宜之計，但有人認為，包容性分區(qū)最終會增加總體住房成本，而且在(通過較小的單元和地塊)有能力承擔經(jīng)濟適用房設計的地方，這種做法似乎沒有必要。公共住房補貼在政治上更為困難，它可以是基于承租人的（例如第8節(jié)住房券）、基于項目的（低收入住房稅收抵免[LIHTC]計劃），也可以由政府擁有和經(jīng)營的公共住房組成（例如通過希望六計劃）。一個非政府的選擇是社區(qū)土地信托，一個私人的非營利公司，通過控制土地成本使低收入居民的擁有物業(yè)成為可能。然而，在所有這些選擇中，由聯(lián)邦政府運營的LIHTC項目是迄今為止為開發(fā)多戶經(jīng)濟適用住房提供補貼的最重要資金來源。
Outside of public subsidies, government-run housing programs, or non-profit mechanisms, affordable housing advocates look for ways to maintain affordability in the open market through cost controls. For example, housing affordability can be improved by the use of cost-effective building materials, or efficiencies that reduce energy costs, or the lessening of regulatory burden. The reduction ?of ?size is perhaps the most important variable- small lots and small housing units that not only contribute to walkable neighborhoods and good urbanism, but are more affordable by definition. For example, very small apartments known as "micro-units" are now being marketed to small households as a way of maintaining affordability. Urbanists are experimenting with units that are manufactured, modular, kit-based , or panelized in an effort go maintain affordability. A central question, however, is how much the design of the built environment can help ensure a reversal of the incomes segregation that has long characterized human settlement.
除了公共補貼、政府運營的住房計劃或非營利機制之外，經(jīng)濟適用房倡導者們尋求通過成本控制的方法在公開市場上保持經(jīng)濟適用性的方法。例如，住宅的經(jīng)濟適用性可以通過使用更高性價比的材料，提升能耗比以及減少監(jiān)管成本來提高。尺寸的縮小可能是最重要的變量——縮小地塊和縮小住房單元，它們不僅有助于實現(xiàn)步行社區(qū)和良好的城市化，而且從定義上講更為經(jīng)濟適用。例如，被稱為“微型單元”的非常小的公寓現(xiàn)在正在向小家庭銷售，是一種保持經(jīng)濟適用性的方式。然而，核心問題是，建筑環(huán)境的設計在多大程度上有助于逆轉(zhuǎn)長期以來以人類居住為特征的貧富分化。
Another important dimension of affordability in an urban context is whether affordability contributes to the overall diversity of a neighborhood, or whether it is furthering disinvestment ?and decline in some locations. The idea of calculated social mixing in cities and towns originated in the nineteenth century when social critics were attempting to improve the living conditions of the poor. As refined since then, the good of integrating housing types and sizes is driven by the idea that social mixing ensures more equitable access to resources, and that social diversity is the basis of a more creative and ultimately more stable urban environment. Affordability will thus be valued for the degree to which it contributes to an overall social mix: affordable housing will be needed where there is little affordability, but in areas with depressed real estate values and widespread affordability, adding more affordable housing stock is not a worthwhile objective.
在城市環(huán)境中，經(jīng)濟適用性的另一個重要方面是，經(jīng)濟適用性是否有助于一個社區(qū)的整體多樣性，還是會在某些地區(qū)進一步減少投資和形成衰退。計算城鎮(zhèn)社會混合度的概念起源于19世紀，當時社會評論家正試圖改善窮人的生活條件。從那時起，經(jīng)過精煉，住宅類型和規(guī)模的整合得益于這樣一種理念：社會混合能確保更公平地獲得資源，社會多樣性是更具創(chuàng)造性和穩(wěn)定性的城市環(huán)境的基礎。因此，經(jīng)濟適用性將根據(jù)其對整體社會結(jié)構(gòu)的貢獻程度來進行評價：在負擔不起的地方需要經(jīng)濟適用房，但是在房地產(chǎn)價值低迷且普遍具有負擔能力的地區(qū)，增加更多經(jīng)濟適用房的庫存并不是一個值得追求的目標。
The affordability of housing can be measured by factors other than just the price of rent or the cost of a mortgage. Neighborhood quality can also be factored in, where pedestrian orientation, the provision of public space, and walkable access to services become an essential part of the affordability equation. This approach emphasizes the affordability of location, since people living in well-serviced locations will have lower transport costs. The metric has been used to argue for "location-efficient" financing of mortgages, where residents are permitted to leverage transportation cost saving to access cheaper or larger loans. Of course, better access and lower transportation costs may be offset by higher housing prices. In a highly valued context, the source of increasing housing cost is land cost, not unit cost, and thus increasing the cost efficiency of individual units may not necessarily have a significant effect on affordability.
住房的經(jīng)濟適用性可以通過除租金價格或抵押貸款成本以外的其他因素來衡量。社區(qū)質(zhì)量也可以考慮在內(nèi)，其中是否步行導向、提供公共空間和擁有可步行通達的服務設施成為經(jīng)濟適用性方程的重要組成部分。這一方法強調(diào)了地理位置的適用性，因為居住在擁有良好服務設施位置的人們交通成本更低。該指標被用來爭取抵押貸款時“位置效益”的融資，這允許居民利用節(jié)省下來的交通成本以獲得更便宜或更大的貸款。當然，更好的道路與更低的交通成本可能會被更高的房價抵消。從更高的層面來看，增加住房成本的主要來源是土地成本，而不是住宅的單元成本，因此提高單元的成本效率未必對經(jīng)濟性有顯著影響。
The goal of increasing affordability in quality urban contexts is more important than ever, given recent evidence ?that demand for walkable neighborhoods is increasing. There is concern that the current turmoil in financial markets will only weaken the nation's supply of affordable housing, especially in well-serviced, walkable neighborhoods. As fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are no longer required to provide a specific level of low-income mortgages, there is great uncertainty about the future of affordable housing and whether it will get pushed aside as concerns focus more narrowly on the health of financial ?markets. On the more positive side, the policy case for why affordable housing matters focuses increasingly on why the associated neighborhood characteristics matter. The Obama administration has ushered in a new "place -conscious" federal urban policy that ties housing goals to sustainable communities:neighborhoods with good access to services；lower transport costs；a healthy, walkable and safe environment; and a build form that facilitates social and economic diversity.?If a new wave of policymakers can find ways to produce more affordable housing in better-quality (i.e., walkable) neighborhoods, that will be a significant advance.
最近的證據(jù)顯示人們對步行社區(qū)需求在不斷增加，在高質(zhì)量的城市環(huán)境中提高經(jīng)濟適用性的目標比以往任何時候都更顯重要。人們擔心，當前金融市場的動蕩只會削弱美國經(jīng)濟適用房的供應，特別是在服務良好、步行優(yōu)先的社區(qū)。由于房利美和房地美不再需要提供特定水平的低收入抵押貸款，經(jīng)濟適用房的未來以及是否會被推到一邊存在著很大的不確定性，因為人們會更關注金融市場的健康狀況。從更積極的角度看，為什么經(jīng)濟適用住房問題的政策案例越來越關注相關社區(qū)特征的重要性。奧巴馬政府已經(jīng)開始實施一項新的“地方意識”聯(lián)邦城市政策，將住房目標與可持續(xù)社區(qū)聯(lián)系起來：提供良好服務的社區(qū)；較低的交通成本；健康、可步行和安全的環(huán)境；以及促進社會和經(jīng)濟多樣性的建筑形式。如果新一輪的政策制定者能夠找到在更好質(zhì)量（例如，可步行化）的社區(qū)生產(chǎn)更多經(jīng)濟適用房的方法，那將是一項重大進步。
