Urban Public Housing System - Essay Example

Urban Public Housing System Housing has become a serious concern all over the world. In most of the countries,housing is unaffordable for general public and therefore they are compelled to live on rented houses. However, it is a dream for everyone to live in their owned home. Overall, the public housing in America is a success. This program has provided employment opportunities to numerous Americans. It has provided affordable housing to those Americans who cannot afford higher rents and cannot own a house. It has also eradicated the devastated areas of states. Although many people complain about the quality of housing, but yet residents feel better in those houses than the private sector houses. The question about future of public housing is unambiguous because the role of public housing in America differs from community to community. In order to make public housing useful for the future, special attention needs to be paid off to all what has been learnt from the past. The necessary changes should be made in order to operate it more effectively. The program of public housing cannot be considered as an exceptional success. It does possess some drawbacks which need to be taken care for in the future period. For the remarkable success and to create more employment opportunities, the program must be revived. For that, it is essential to learn from past mistake and to check if any loopholes or imperfections are left. Values of a Housing System Values are the beliefs that people have pertaining to urban housing system. Those beliefs are established on the basis of social outlook of people. It is important to note that those beliefs regarding the housing system prevailing in United States have immensely changed in recent times. The most considerable fact is that these beliefs are still on a changing mode. The older ways of designing, constructing and establishing the houses, buildings and surroundings are replaced by the new norms and values of the current generation not merely on the basis of new techniques of development but also on the basis of values. These values may have the characteristics of a dream, an image, a thought or any similar idea that can cluck anybody’s mind. So once that value, belief or image is established in the mind of the people, the modern techniques of design, architecture, construction and development support that belief, as a result, modern style housings become ready to serve the lives of those people. Design Process of a Housing System Design process always has a paramount role to play in the development of any housing system whether it is intended to serve for the private sector or for the public sector housing systems. Design process of any project with appropriate level of documentation supports the job of architect such that the overall design process becomes convenient and achievable to the architect. The real capabilities of an architect becomes more polished in challenging assignments especially in designing those housing systems which are more prone to the element of insecurity to the residents of that particular housing system. In one of the readings, the example of Robert Pitts Plaza is highlighted. This plaza belongs to that territory which always considered as unsecure to the nearby residents. Many incidents of theft, robbery and other burglaries are reported in that territory. Due to compromising situation of security, the architect of Robert Pitts Plaza could have designed that plaza as strong as a castle. But the architect posed some real capabilities, took over this challenging task and designed the plaza in such a manner that its residents could reside without any fear. The architect designed recreational and play areas in some of the open places such that the residents could enjoy their livings as well as remain safe. Those recreational areas designed, were intended to remain open so that the residents can see across the plaza and everything happening around the plaza can be covered under the observation of the residents. In this way the plaza was designed and built with the surety of being safe for its residents. Revitalization of a Housing System Revitalization of some of the distressed housing systems has turned out to be a very important issue. Around 1.3 million housing systems are in their better shape and condition. Due to the fact not every housing system requires revitalization, then how to decide which housing needs to be revitalized, which one needs to demolished, which one needs to be abandoned and which one needs to stay in the current position. There are various factors that play a key role in such decision of whether to revitalize a specific housing system or not which includes the income level and satisfaction level of the residents of those housings systems. Every housing system contains the residents who belong to low level income category might not necessarily be convinced to revitalize their housing systems. In such cases, the Urban Revitalization Demonstration (URD) funds should be used but with a close scrutiny of the real needs of that housing which intends to be revitalized. Success Factors in the Redevelopment Processes Satisfaction of residents of any public housing system may encompass various factors. Out of those factors, redevelopment is one of the key elements that ensure resident satisfaction more than what other factors do. At times redevelopments do add increased level of resident satisfaction but could not do any good for the residents in economic terms. Thus the redevelopment process should be carefully managed so that resident satisfaction can be highly increased along with the economic exposure of residents. But these redevelopment processes may be deteriorated in case of redevelopment complexities involved and distinct levels of goals to be achieved in respect of redevelopment processes. There are seven kinds of issues that may arise in any redevelopment process of public housing system which may place obstacles in the achievement of redevelopment process goals. These likely issues are design miscomputations, increased level of cost overruns, inability to manage the changes during the course of action, lack of tenant support, lack of security assurance, incompetence to offer, implement and sustain the plans that can add value to the satisfaction level of residents. Lack of support of community residents can hinder the redevelopments efforts by well-organized communities to implement a well-designed redevelopment plan combined with well-conceived attempts. These redevelopment processes becomes more difficult to pursue especially in those communities where the community people are unable to combat with unsecure elements. The sense of being unsecure in any community does not improve its living style no matter how greatest of the redevelopment efforts are placed to serve that community. On the other hand, when reasonable security provision are assured, higher costs, strict rule of enforcements and careful maintenance create a strong reason to justify the redevelopment processes. The redevelopment processes apparently always seems to provide benefits to the needy residents of the communities but under a more realistic scenario, money matters a lot in these redevelopments processes. Those communities, majority of which belongs to lower level of income, cannot contribute to those redevelopment processes. For them, their level of income hardly supports them to meet with their routine expenditures and the residuals are converted into savings. Therefore, for lower income people, these redevelopments processes are quite far from reality due to shortage of money. Conclusion So, in order to make redevelopment efforts more effective, besides money, success in all seven elements of redevelopments process is necessary so that they can create an impact on the quality of living of the residents. If any of those elements is overlooked, then those redevelopment efforts can be derailed. To ensure the success in those seven elements, careful control and monitoring practices need to be developed so that any discrepancy can be avoided during every phase of the redevelopment processes right from beginning till the end with a system of evaluation to achieve the goals of redevelopment processes. References Hecht, Bennett L., and Stockard, James. Managing Affordable Housing, 1997 Supplement: A Practical Guide to Creating Stable Communities. United States: John Wiley and Sons,1997. Print. Varady, David P.; Preiser, Wolfgang F.E.; and Francis P. Russell (editors). New Directions in Urban Public Housing. New Brunswick, NJ: Center for Urban Policy Research Press, 1998. Print. Read More