Housing Rehabilitation Online Purposes of Housing Rehabilitation

Summary:
Each Housing Program should have written drafts of their goals, objectives, standards and priorities available for all the participants to review and understand.

Goals and Objectives

The main purpose of housing rehabilitation is to help address those physical, social, and economic factors which have tended to contribute to neighborhood deterioration

• Physical Factors - Neglected and/or disorderly physical environments can signal to residents that behaviors that are usually prohibited are tolerated. Studies have also found that the appearance and design of buildings and streets can facilitate crime. See the "broken window" theory for more information.
• Social Factors - The "value" of deteriorated housing is not rated very highly by the power structure that governs those areas, but to those who live there. They will have to relocate if there are plans to revitalize on large scale, thus causing instablity in their lives.
• Economic Factors - Lack of basic market support mechanisms (employment, goods and sevices) hastens flight from neglected areas which enhances further deterioration in the housing stock

Standards

The program has to have clearly stated operation objectives and establish a listing of standards based on various codes and/or regulations for housing and construction. The following list has samples of goals and objectives found in most housing rehabilitation programs

• Improving housing that is livable, healthful, safe, and physically sound
• Rehabilitation that is cost efficient and affordable
• Establishing a guide for an acceptable minimum level of rehabilitation
• Satisfying varied local conditions concerning visible housing stock
• Encouraging innovation and improved technology for reducing initial construction costs and long term maintenance costs
• Providing safe and decent housing to as many qualified residents possible

Sample codes that may be used are: BOCA/National Property Maintenance Code, CABO One and Two Family Dwelling Code, HUD Minimum Property Standards (Applied when a local code has not adopted either BOCA or CABO)

Project Priorities

Some programs may also develop a list of priorities for the rehabilitation work based on the following:

• Health and Safety items consist of code violations that threaten the health and safety of residents (Including Lead issues found in the assessment report)
• Incipient items consist of those elements of the structure which are not in violation of the code but appear to be in a condition that will deteriorate into a code violation if left uncorrected
• Energy Conservation items are directly related to the conservation of energy by upgrading the dwellings thermal protection such as storm windows, storm doors, water saving fixtures, and insulation which may be undertaken if sufficient dollars have been available to address the health, safety and incipient items
• General Property Improvement items constitute improvements which can be made to the property after all other items are satisfied. It is up each program to come up with specific items that can and can not be improved.