主要研究 今天

当安东尼奥·塞尔纳22岁，23岁的时候 社会工作 主要研究项目, he knew he wanted to be involved in system change to create structural opportunities for lower-income people. 兴趣的火花, combined with his motivation to provide opportunity for New Hampshire’s more vulnerable residents, put him on a college journey that is setting him up for a rewarding career in policy and advocacy.

在他的大学生涯中, 塞尔纳的兴趣主要集中在经济适用房上. 哈德逊, New Hampshire native became interested in that area of economic policy after he took what he was learning in class and applied it to his home town.

“I was really struck when I went home [from 主要研究] and saw that Hudson was less developed than other communities, 我想知道为什么会这样,他说. “I knew it would be interesting to look at and I decided to focus on community development in relation to housing and homelessness.”

塞尔娜，他也参加了加速课程 公共政策硕士 联合国大学卡西公共政策学院的项目, completed an internship with the Workforce Housing Coalition of the Greater Seacoast during his senior year in the 社会工作 program. His research, which focused on the New Hampshire towns of Dover, Exeter and Hudson, is 发表 在他们的网站.

问:请用非技术语言描述一下你的研究.

My research started with a simple question: What are the barriers to workforce housing development within the local approval process? 根据一般人口统计数据, 我确定了三个在规模上彼此不同的社区, 住宅, 家庭收入中位数和住房负担能力. 在确定了这些社区之后, 我联系了这些城镇的规划官员, as well as a developer of a Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC)-supported development. I contacted and interviewed 6 professionals about their experiences in the local approval process. 这些问题都是围绕他们在审批过程中的经历, 这个过程中的一些优势和挑战, 以及他们如何决定在哪些社区投资. I then conducted a thematic analysis of my findings from the interviews to identify specific commonalities between the individuals’ experiences, which were organized into 5 distinct groups: NIMBY(not-in-my-back-yard)-ism/General Attitudes; Land Use Regulations; Capacity; Time; and Cost. 在确定了这些组之后, I sought to establish relationships between them and how they affect workforce housing development.

问:你的研究中最有趣的发现是什么?

One of the more interesting findings is that both developers and planning officials agree on how local land use regulations are impacting workforce housing development. This finding is interesting because it allows for greater opportunity for collaborative work between planning officials and developers. Collaboration was found to be a key condition for workforce housing development, so having developers and planning officials who are on the same page means that they can work together to create solutions for the vitality of their community. Another interesting finding was the degree to which a municipality’s capacity affected its ability to amend land use regulations or assess its 住宅. Even a one-person difference in the number of professional planning staff can determine how effectively a municipality can address regulatory needs. Most interesting is how each finding is part of an interconnected relationship, with political will and regulatory opportunity influencing the conditions for housing development.

问:为什么这项研究很重要? 

New Hampshire is facing a housing crisis characterized by low vacancy rates for rental properties and ever-rising costs for rental and for-purchase homes. 这场危机正在影响劳动力的吸引和保留, 企业很难找到员工. 除了, New Hampshire’s housing crisis is negatively impacting lower income individuals and families looking for affordable housing, 想要缩小退休规模的老年人, 希望在新罕布什尔州成家立业的年轻夫妇, 还有无数其他的人. My research highlights why this problem exists and how to create a greater opportunity for some of our more vulnerable neighbors. 如果新罕布什尔州的居民希望看到他们的社区发展, then they have to both 1) want workforce housing development and 2) change land use regulations to allow for and incentivize it. 住房负担能力影响着我们所有人, 这需要一个强有力的, 集体努力避免不作为的后果.