The threats posed by climate change are growing every day, and they threaten severe impacts on public health, society, and housing. As climate change causes more powerful storms like Hurricane Harvey with increased frequency and intensity, housing developers are increasingly interested in disaster resilience.
How Does Climate Change Affect Housing?
Some of America's most significant cities face the highest risks, as most are near a coast. Worse, these urban hubs contain high populations, capital assets, and ports that influence the national economy. Protecting the nation and the world's most populated areas should be at the forefront of every government official's mind in the immediate future. Recently published assessments of Califonia cities' carbon footprint found that, ...
Nearly two-thirds of renters nationwide say they can’t afford to buy a home. According to ATTOM Data Solutions' latest Rental Affordability Report, home prices are rising at twice the rate of wage growth. “With rental affordability outpacing home affordability in the majority of U.S. housing markets, and home prices rising faster than rental rates, the American dream of owning a home, maybe just that — a dream,” ATTOM Data Solutions Director of Content Jennifer von Pohlmann told HousingWire. April marked the 10th consecutive month with year-over-year declines, according to the report, contributing to a positive outlook for the housing market. Despite a slight uptick in July, last year saw the lowest number of foreclosures since 2005. Last month, year-over-year ...
Where you live is significantly linked to how healthy you are. Sadly, U.S. Latino communities face unaffordable housing, unreliable public transportation, and a lack of green space and parks. This limits Latinos’ access to health-promoting assets─medical care, good schools, healthy food, and physical activity. This contributes to health inequities affecting this population. Fortunately, community leaders can adopt dynamic land-use methods, public-private partnerships, and community involvement to build and revitalize Latino neighborhoods. This can create affordable housing, connection to public transportation, and more green spaces. The result is health equity─a fair, just opportunity to achieve the best health possible.
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This is part of the Salud America! The State of Latinos and Housing, Transportation, and Green Space: A Research Review » Future Research
Many of the policy suggestions and strategies highlighted in this review are based upon research performed within urban Latino communities. While many of the suggestions may be applicable to smaller Latino communities, it will be essential to determine if they will be successful when applied to the semi-isolated Latino communities of the “new Latino destinations.” In one sense, because the majority of these policy recommendations hinge upon community activism and solidarity, it may be possible to translate them into the heavily Latino-majority communities found in these small-town and rural areas. However, activism builds upon political ...
This is part of the Salud America! The State of Latinos and Housing, Transportation, and Green Space: A Research Review » Conclusions
Latinos need affordable housing options, access to reliable, relevantly routed public transportation, and connected, safe, and maintained green spaces for transportation and recreational use. Many societal and economic factors are responsible for the inequitable distribution of funds to support these projects. For instance, it was beyond the scope of this review to fully discuss the historical legacy of disparities. However, with proper political will and community activism, change can be made to improve access to affordable housing, public transportation, and green spaces in all types of Latino communities. A common theme across the research has ...
This is part of the Salud America! The State of Latinos and Housing, Transportation, and Green Space: A Research Review » Summary
Neighborhood development initiatives in Latino communities that rely upon “bottom-up” activism, a wide public-private partnership network, and “cultural brokers” have been effective at driving and maintaining long-term community change, especially in the context of environmental justice in Latino communities.
Green Space Access Is an Environmental Justice Issue
Over the past two decades, uneven access to green space has become an important environmental justice issue as awareness of its contribution to public health has become more widely recognized [33, 52]. In general, racial/ethnic minorities and low-income people have less access to ...
This is part of the Salud America! The State of Latinos and Housing, Transportation, and Green Space: A Research Review » Summary
To improve access to affordable housing near public transport, Latinos would benefit from transport-oriented development projects in their neighborhoods that increase the stock of affordable housing centered around the transport hub. These projects should emphasize strong preemptive community involvement to limit displacement and gentrification that has frequently plagued these projects, and to maintain cultural authenticity in Latino neighborhoods that have undergone revitalization.
What Is Transit-Oriented Development?
Transit-oriented development is a model for neighborhood revitalization that can be defined as ‘walkable, dense, compact, mixed-use ...
This is part of the Salud America! The State of Latinos and Housing, Transportation, and Green Space: A Research Review » Summary
Two forms of intervention could improve the current state of housing instability in Latino communities. First, devoting more resources toward keeping renting families in their homes, and second, increasing the number of affordable housing initiatives with the ultimate goal of increasing the stock of affordable housing in Latino communities.
Keep Renters in Their Homes
Toward the first goal, development of a program that could provide aid to renters who experience drastic, but temporary, loss of income due to job loss, medical emergency, or other unexpected financial burden could prevent many forced displacements. In 2009, Milwaukee tenants facing ...
This is part of the Salud America! The State of Latinos and Housing, Transportation, and Green Space: A Research Review » Summary
A pattern of Latino migration to small town and rural areas in the Southeast and Midwest instead of to traditional urban centers has led to the formation of isolated, segregated rural Latino communities with unique housing and transportation needs.
The Latino Population Shift: From Urban to Rural
Real estate and transportation trends have shown two prominent residential shifts among Latinos. First of all, in urban areas, Latinos are living farther from transport hubs and amenities, where housing is more affordable. Secondly, a large number of Latinos are migrating into new areas where jobs are available and rents are more affordable, primarily to ...
