Rebuilding the Research Capacity at HUD (2008) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
11 Vision for the Future: Recommendations
11 Vision for the Future: Recommendations
Pages 187-200
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 187... ...
Similarly, today's housing finance system looks very different than it did 40 years ago, when most home purchases were financed by local savings and loans or other thrift institutions through over-thecounter passbook savings accounts. In 1965 there was no federal regulation of the real estate settlement process, and no federal construction standards for manufactured housing.
|
From page 188... ...
VISION FOR TOMORROW'S PD&R The analysis in this volume of HUD's research capacity and the research program has found much to praise within the confines of a very small staff that is charged with policy development and research in support of public expenditures of about $37 billion a year. As documented in this volume, the research program has produced excellent work over a long period of time and has served the nation well.
|
From page 189... ...
PD&R's urban development research has been much less focused on the specific actions of local governments and much more on basic issues of program design, such as block grant formulas, and on broad trends in urban phenomena. The future PD&R can build on this history.
|
From page 190... ...
In a similar manner, while the technology of housing does not directly relate to many of HUD's current programs, technology directly affects housing construction and affordability, and people's living standards and styles. It seems likely that analysis of future HUD programs will not be
|
From page 191... ...
A major reason for substituting federal funding of programs initiated by local governments for direct programs imposed by the federal government was the presumption that local and state governments were able to design and execute programs better adapted to local circumstances. In the intervening years, states and localities have used many different strategies for using CDBG funds.
|
From page 192... ...
But PD&R can play a central role in guiding technology research and regulation of buildings and on emerging issues in engineering and design, such as energy utilization, construction methods, and building materials. The office can encourage development of basic knowledge and provide leadership in analyzing the impact of generic designs and innovations on building codes, regulations, life safety and affordability; efficient engineering and economic choices between up-front capital investment and life-cycle energy costs; and the spatial pattern of capital investment in urban areas, with a particular focus on linkages between transportation and housing investments.
|
From page 193... ...
Better use of on-line computer technology could place HUD at the center of a national discussion on future directions for urban America. Seamless availability of HUD data sets, administrative data as well as survey data, could greatly stimulate research undertaken outside of HUD and PD&R.
|
From page 194... ...
The Smart Growth Office of the Environmental Protection Agency, which was initially funded in part by HUD, has emerged as the leader in defining and crafting the broad federal response to identifying new ways to facilitate more compact cities and to improve the quality of life of urban residents. Other examples of offices conducting policy-relevant research in other cabinet departments include the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality and the Office of Research, Development, and Information in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
|
From page 195... ...
in the budget process -- with OASMB leading the development of the department's annual budget proposals with input from OASPE, and OASPE leading the development of accompanying legislative proposals. Policy research, analysis, and program evaluation have played an integral part in the design of new legislative proposals and in the decision to contract, expand, or modify existing programs.
|
From page 196... ...
Major Recommendation 4: Formalizing what has been an informal practice over most administrations, the secretary should give PD&R's independent, research-based expertise a formal role in HUD's processes for preparing and reviewing budgets, legislative proposals, and regulations. Major Recommendation 5: PD&R should strengthen its surveys and administrative data sets and make them all publicly available on a set schedule.
|
From page 197... ...
In addition to these major recommendations, the committee also makes a number of more detailed recommendations largely intended to facilitate and expand upon the major recommendations. Recommendation 3-1: Congress and the secretary should assign PD&R responsibility for conducting rigorous, independent evaluations of all major programs and demonstrations and should ensure that the necessary data collection protocols and controls are built into the early stages of program implementation.
|
From page 198... ...
Recommendation 4-3: As HUD programs develop to address new emerging problems -- such as sustainable housing or sustainable urban development -- PD&R should adopt a systems approach that brings together in-house social science and technology expertise to guide and implement such programs; technology research should support HUD policy development. Recommendation 4-4: PD&R should partner with other federal agencies and philanthropic foundations to fund major studies of significance in technology.
|
From page 199... ...
Recommendation 7-1: The number of metropolitan areas in the AHS, the frequency with which they are surveyed, and the sizes of the sample in each area should be increased substantially. Recommendation 7-2: PD&R should modify the AHS to increase its usefulness for program evaluation and policy development.
|
From page 200... ...
It should be possible to identify publications by author and subject (including individual HUD programs) more easily.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.