The development and function of an affordable housing production ecosystem : Harlem, Hew York in the late 1990s and early 2000s

In late 1990s and early 2000s Harlem, an affordable housing production "ecosystem" comprised of elected officials, city planners, civic advocates, builders, and financial institutions at the local, state, and national level supported a reliable, systematic pipeline of new affordable housing construction. The output of this pipeline included Harlem's first midrise affordable housing construction in thirty years in the late 1990s and, by the early 2000s, over 15,000 units of affordable housing construction starts per year. This thesis seeks to describe the creation and operation of this affordable housing production ecosystem within a framework of "push," "pull," and "safety net" factors influencing the allocation of capital and resources. "Push" factors consisted of the Community Reinvestment Act and Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, the evolution of which led private investment into low-income and minority communities such as Harlem. "Pull" factors included the deeply-experienced, closely-knit network of affordable housing professionals working in Harlem that had the skills and influence to execute projects; and a long-term, comprehensive community development framework, spearheaded by the public sector, that organized affordable housing efforts across the public, non-profit, and private sectors.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Dookchitra, Ben

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Karl F. Seidman.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/40118

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/40118