Rebuilding the Research Capacity at HUD (2008) / Chapter Skim
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4 Evaluation of Technology Research
4 Evaluation of Technology Research
Pages 65-78
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From page 65... ...
As early as the 1930s, the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) issued technical bulletins and circulars on home construction and established minimum property standards for new homes as a requirement for FHA mortgage insurance.
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From page 66... ...
There are several reasons for a federal role in building technology research. Private and public investment to develop new housing technology has historically been small.
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From page 67... ...
However, one generally unrecognized success of Operation Breakthrough is the recent marketplace acceptance that increased factory production of housing improves construction efficiency, quality, and affordability. Factory production can be achieved not only by complete factory production of housing units as in manufactured housing, but also with factory production of increasingly sophisticated building components that are then
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From page 68... ...
During a time of particularly volatile lumber prices, alternatives to conventional wood framing for housing were examined through external contracts to review the advantages and disadvantages of structural insulated panels and concrete insulating forms. PD&R was involved in the development of lead paint regulations prior to the establishment of the Office of Lead-Based Paint in 1991.
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From page 69... ...
From this program came a broad range of large and small research contracts and grants to address development and adoption of innovative housing technology. When President Clinton launched the PATH Program in 1998, he charged PATH with developing technologies, housing components, designs, and production methods that would reduce by 50 percent the time needed to move quality technologies to market, by the year 2010 (see National Research Council, 2000)
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From page 70... ...
A series of tasks to achieve the objectives were developed under the headings of technology needs assessment, technology development, technology adoption, and resource coordination. Evolution and Prior Reviews of PATH The PATH Program has been regularly reviewed and assessed since its inception.
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From page 71... ...
did not contain a concise set of consensus conclusions or recommendations, there was a general sense among the meeting participants that PATH had been responsive to previous NRC evaluations and recommendations. In addition, there was a general sense among the participants that all three substantive goals of the PATH Program were worth pursing rather than placing particular emphasis on any one of them.
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From page 72... ...
. Examples of more notable PATH accomplishments include development of several codes, products, and activities: • prescriptive building codes for structural insulated panels; • a contractor quality program now being marketed and imple mented by the research center of the National Association of Home Builders that has a growing list of company participants; • code provisions for the use of insulating concrete forms and light gauge steel framing that provide an alternative to wood framing; • a knowledge base for the performance of caulking used in construc tion to improve the durability of building envelopes; • an academic competitive research grant program that generated over 40 university-based projects, resulting in a much broader academic support for housing technology instruction and research activities than existed prior to PATH; and • lean production methods for manufactured housing -- approximately 50 percent of the manufactured housing plants use lean methods today.
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From page 73... ...
The funding of PATH relative to the PD&R budget is shown in Table 4-1. While the PATH Program initially represented 21 percent of the PD&R budget in 1999, over time that percentage decreased, to around 9 percent in 2006.
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From page 74... ...
Unfortunately, the five solicitations that ended in 2005 could not sustain the progress that had been made, and many academic programs have pulled back from their initial efforts in housing research. Almost half of the total PATH funds over the 1999-2006 period were awarded in external contracts to five private entities, two of which each received almost 20 percent of the total PATH funding.
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From page 75... ...
As indicated above, important PATH products included the development and implementation of lean manufacturing concepts and fundamental new knowledge on interior moisture control in manufactured housing. Although they received only 2 percent of the overall budget, the manufactured housing industry considered the PATH Program combined with their own MHRA to be a transformational period for innovation in the industry.
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From page 76... ...
In particular, the modest funding directed toward manufactured housing resulted not only in producing tangible products, but also in improving an entire industry that provides an important source of affordable housing. The decline of PATH funding has led to PD&R's relinquishing its developing leadership position in housing technology.
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From page 77... ...
Technology grant and contract programs can foster fundamental advance of housing technology that is removed from proprietary products and labels, is unbiased, and can involve a variety of interested industry partners. Effective enabling technology research is not product development.
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From page 78... ...
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.
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