109
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
D. B. Abraham, S. D. Iyer (eds.), Promoting the Sustainable Development Goals in North American
Cities, Sustainable Development Goals Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59173-1_9
Helping the Neighborhood:
Creating a Sustainability Indicator
of Substandard Housing
Luis Estevez
9.1
Introduction
Quality of housing is paramount to quality of life
and to any community sustainability effort.
Countries and international organizations recognize
this reality in their visions and goals. For instance,
in 2015, the United Nations reaffirmed the importance of addressing the issue of inadequate housing
by incorporating this indicator in goal 11 of the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The importance of this study is in proposing a
methodology that could be replicated by other
communities to create an indicator for the purpose of implementing goal 11 of the SDGs and
contributing to the literature on defining and
measuring inadequate housing.
The project also reflects the collaborative
efforts of different community stakeholders. This
research has a direct impact on practice, as well.
It demonstrates that by taking a participatory
research approach, it is possible to generate local
data on substandard housing in an efficient way
to facilitate planning for sustainability in general
and for housing in particular.
It is presumed that because of its economic
prosperity compared to other countries, the presence of inadequate housing in the United States
will be minimal. Progress has undeniably been
made since the establishment of this national
goal in the Housing Act of 1949: “A decent home
and a suitable living environment for every
American family.” Nonetheless governmental
reports, such as the Worst Case Housing Needs
report to Congress (Watson et al. 2017), show
that not only is there a reduced supply of affordable housing but this number gets reduced further
due to inadequate conditions.
1
At the same time,
current data and conceptualizations on which
these reports are based do not represent accurate
numbers because of the obsolescence of the variables used to define inadequate housing (Eggers
and Moumen 2013; Emrath and Taylor 2012).
The social and economic consequences of the
deterioration of housing stock in inner-city neighborhoods in cities across the United States are
well known. Although causes for this deterioration are multiple, it is certain that the presence of
substandard or deteriorated
2
housing can lead to
blight conditions, which in turn decreases property values, affects the overall health of local
housing markets, increases safety hazards, and
reduces local tax revenue. Various creative strategies have been undertaken to reverse this deterioration. However, before the implementation of
any strategy or policy, conducting an analysis of
the quality of housing stock to identify and quantify inadequate housing is a necessary first step.
1 In 2017, there were only 89 adequate units available for
every 100 low-income renters.
2 The terms substandard, inadequate, or deteriorated are
used interchangeably in this paper.
L. Estevez (*)
St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN, USA
e-mail: lestevez@stcloudstate.edu
9
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
D. B. Abraham, S. D. Iyer (eds.), Promoting the Sustainable Development Goals in North American
Cities, Sustainable Development Goals Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59173-1_9
Helping the Neighborhood:
Creating a Sustainability Indicator
of Substandard Housing
Luis Estevez
9.1
Introduction
Quality of housing is paramount to quality of life
and to any community sustainability effort.
Countries and international organizations recognize
this reality in their visions and goals. For instance,
in 2015, the United Nations reaffirmed the importance of addressing the issue of inadequate housing
by incorporating this indicator in goal 11 of the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The importance of this study is in proposing a
methodology that could be replicated by other
communities to create an indicator for the purpose of implementing goal 11 of the SDGs and
contributing to the literature on defining and
measuring inadequate housing.
The project also reflects the collaborative
efforts of different community stakeholders. This
research has a direct impact on practice, as well.
It demonstrates that by taking a participatory
research approach, it is possible to generate local
data on substandard housing in an efficient way
to facilitate planning for sustainability in general
and for housing in particular.
It is presumed that because of its economic
prosperity compared to other countries, the presence of inadequate housing in the United States
will be minimal. Progress has undeniably been
made since the establishment of this national
goal in the Housing Act of 1949: “A decent home
and a suitable living environment for every
American family.” Nonetheless governmental
reports, such as the Worst Case Housing Needs
report to Congress (Watson et al. 2017), show
that not only is there a reduced supply of affordable housing but this number gets reduced further
due to inadequate conditions.
1
At the same time,
current data and conceptualizations on which
these reports are based do not represent accurate
numbers because of the obsolescence of the variables used to define inadequate housing (Eggers
and Moumen 2013; Emrath and Taylor 2012).
The social and economic consequences of the
deterioration of housing stock in inner-city neighborhoods in cities across the United States are
well known. Although causes for this deterioration are multiple, it is certain that the presence of
substandard or deteriorated
2
housing can lead to
blight conditions, which in turn decreases property values, affects the overall health of local
housing markets, increases safety hazards, and
reduces local tax revenue. Various creative strategies have been undertaken to reverse this deterioration. However, before the implementation of
any strategy or policy, conducting an analysis of
the quality of housing stock to identify and quantify inadequate housing is a necessary first step.
1 In 2017, there were only 89 adequate units available for
every 100 low-income renters.
2 The terms substandard, inadequate, or deteriorated are
used interchangeably in this paper.
L. Estevez (*)
St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN, USA
e-mail: lestevez@stcloudstate.edu
9