Cheshire, CT (PRWEB) July 20, 2016 -- The Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation (PAHRC), HAI Group’s research division, announced today the release of their third annual research publication, 2016 PAHRC Report: Housing is a Foundation. The report brings together the latest data on the need for rental assistance, the added value rental assistance brings to those who receive it, and the impact the presence of assisted housing has on communities. The report’s release will be accompanied by a launch event, the 2016 PAHRC Report Forum: Housing is a Foundation: Housing-Centered Approaches to Strengthening Communities and Lifting Families out of Poverty at The Lyceum in Hartford, Connecticut on Wednesday, July 20 from 9:30 am to 11:30 am.
The report concludes that while families helped by rental assistance are becoming more vulnerable and need additional investments to succeed, resources for rental assistance and related services are shrinking. The majority of individuals benefiting from rental assistance are children, seniors, and disabled individuals who cannot enter the labor market. In many ways, families who select to receive rental assistance face greater challenges than their low-income peers. Adults receiving rental assistance have lower levels of education and lower incomes than their low-income peers, making additional labor market investments essential to afford market-rate housing. Seniors receiving rental assistance report higher rates of disability, making health services and accommodating spaces important features of housing. Children receiving rental assistance have higher rates of learning and developmental disabilities, making educational supports critical to their educational success. Rental assistance also provides valuable help to critical populations like those experiencing homelessness and veterans and serves a growing number of working families who have not recovered from the recession.
There is also evidence that rental assistance is uniquely positioned to serve families with greater challenges to economic success. In addition to providing additional stability and reducing housing uncertainty, rental assistance can improve health and educational outcomes and lift families out of poverty. Yet, the resources for and supply of rental assistance continue to shrink, just as it faces critical challenges requiring additional resources such as aiding in neighborhood economic revitalization, providing more successful opportunities for mobility, and offering service provision.
To further this conversation, researchers, educators, and interested parties are invited to attend the 2016 PAHRC Report Forum: Housing is a Foundation: Housing-Centered Approaches to Strengthening Communities and Lifting Families out of Poverty. The event will feature nationally recognized keynote speaker, Dr. Mark L. Joseph, Associate Professor at Case Western Reserve University and Director of the National Initiative on Mixed Income Communities and Amy Khare, Research Affiliate at the National Initiative on Mixed-Income Communities. The keynotes will be followed by a panel discussion of the role of housing assistance in transforming communities and lifting families out of poverty, which is the focus of the 2016 PAHRC Report. Panelists include Andrea Pereira (Executive Director, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) of Connecticut and Hartford), Annette Sanderson (Executive Director, Hartford Housing Authority), Ed LaChance (Community Development Specialist, Connecticut Department of Housing), Keely Stater, PhD (Manager, Public and Affordable Research Housing Corporation), and Suzanne Piacentini (Director, US Department of Housing and Urban Development Connecticut Office). Courtney Rice (Director of Communications, HAI Group) will moderate.
About the Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation (PAHRC)
Incorporated in 2011, PAHRC conducts independent research to support the efforts of the public and affordable housing industry and its stakeholders. PAHRC also engages in collaborative research with a number of industry group partners to inform current knowledge about important public and affordable housing questions. In addition to research, PAHRC compiles data relevant to affordable housing issues from a wide variety of primary and secondary sources and makes these data available to affordable housing industry members as well as the general public. PAHRC is part of the HAI Group family of companies, founded by and dedicated to serving the public and affordable housing community. For more information, visit http://www.housingcenter.com/PAHRC.
Contact
Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation (PAHRC)
Jessica Elle Rosa, 203-272-8220, ext. 311
jrosa(at)housingcenter.com
Jessica Elle Rosa, Public and Affordable Housing Research Company, a HAI Group Company, https://www.housingcenter.com/, +1 203-272-8220 Ext: 311, [email protected]
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