Urban policy mechanisms to fund affordable housing through real estate development

Abstract

In the context of 'hyper-unaffordable' cities, this research study examines whether: (1) affordable housing supply is enabled through policy intervention; and (2) The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) is the core US policy that enables affordable housing supply. Towards these aims, the review of the literature explains the phenomenon of 'hyper-unaffordable' cities; what is meant by affordable housing supply policy in terms of traditional economic levers and topic themes; and what broad US policies have been key enablers of affordable housing supply. As well as desk based study, research methods incorporate professional stakeholder interviews on location in the San Francisco case study. Findings show that affordable housing supply is enabled when used in appropriate combination of policies, and that the CRA acts as a demand side subsidy enabling subsidies on the supply side. Discussion, draws out that future research in affordable housing supply should place emphasis on both demand and supply subsidy enablers.