FREE WEALTH BUILDING COURSE PART

FREE WEALTH BUILDING COURSE PART

1: FIND YOUR WHY
Why do you want to do this? Have you thought about this in detail? Make sure it is for the right reasons. Helping others can and will help you! Remember, in life, the more people you can help, the more money you will make! There is a direct correlation between how many people you can help and how much money you can make.Take some time and really think about WHY you want to start your first group home. That is all you need to do today. GO ON! FIGURE OUT WHY YOU WANT TO START A GROUP HOME and then do one more thing:Write it down! Write down the reason why you want to start your group home. Make it concrete!

Part 2: FIND YOUR HOME
Now that you have figured out why it is that you want to start a group home, your next step is to get out there and find a property. Let’s go into a little more detail today regarding leasing or buying your first group home property. More than likely, you will need to lease one simply due to time constraints. STEP 1. START CALLING AROUND from newspaper ads or Internet ads. Remember, the bigger the property and the lower the rent, the more people you can serve and therefore the more money you can make!Once you find 2-3 that look like good candidates, schedule a time for a visit. Once you are at the property, you will be looking for a good size home that will easily sleep two people to a room (80 sq.feet per resident). At this point make three “non-binding” offers at about 70% -80% of what they are asking for to see if any of them are motivated. If any of them are, take the lowest priced property (assuming all of them are in operable condition). If none of them want to negotiate, you can either pick the best one or go back and look for more properties. If you need help with any of this we have plenty of different programs to help you get your first group home up and going. Just browse or website or send us an email and we can tell you more about the program that has helped hundreds discover their passion for helping others all while finding financial freedom along the way.Once you have found the property that you want, secure the lease! If money is not an object, offer them the full deposit and lease amount in order to get it secured. Remember, action is the most important thing! If money is still tight, tell them you want the property but will not be occupying it until the following month. Tell them you would like access to it now and that you will offer them the security deposit but you can’t make the first months payment until the following month. If there are a number of vacancies, or you have found the right “motivated” landlord, this shouldn’t be an issue for you!

PART 3: WHO DO YOU WANT TO HELP? FIND YOUR NICHE Have you thought for a moment about who exactly it is that you want to help? When you look back at your big “Why” did you find a particular group of people that you think you can help more than others? Remember, a lot of this may have to do with where you are living. It is vitally important that you find a niche market that has sufficient clients! Let’s think about the types of clients that you can target:

Veterans–female vets and male vets that have just returned from war or those that returned years back from Vietnam, Desert Storm or other wars of years past. They need help and shelter. Would you like to serve this community?

Domestic Violence Woman’s Homes –are you interested in potentially serving this community? Do you have something in your heart that is compelling you to help this population? If so, you need to begin marketing to the local domestic violence counseling services around town. THEY WILL LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Ex-Offenders –Our prison population is at an all-time high! And many of them are locked up for non-violent offenses. When these folks get out of prison, they need somewhere to live! Would you like to help them? Get on the phone with the county jail or even the federal jails. Many of the federal inmates have been locked up for white-collar crimes and have finished serving their time behind bars. Now they are in need of a transitional living home in the outside world. They need you!

Ex-Substance Abusers –Many people turn to alcohol during times of crisis. In fact, during the 08 –’11 recessions, there was an increase in the number of drinking related incidents. These people are looking for you right now! They need someone to help them recover in a recovery home or sober home and stay on the wagon! Who should you market your home to? Alcoholics Anonymous would be a great place to start! The demand is there and they need help! Play the matchmaker. THEY NEED YOU NOW!

Developmentally Disabled –There is a huge need throughout the United States for group homes for individuals with some type of physical or mental disability. You can get on the phone or go in person to your local MH/MR facility in your city and begin helping now.

THEY NEED YOU!Elders & Geriatrics –Have you ever heard of the baby boomers? Guess what they are all doing now? Retiring and aging! They need your help. Many don’t have the reserves to live on their own or the ability to live on their own. You can target this population easily!

Youths and Juveniles –This population and these homes are often considered as Foster Homes. Huge opportunities exist in this niche. You just need to get out there and begin marketing!

I was not going to put this part in this Free Wealth Builder but I really want to see you succeed. Let’s look at the types of home “classification” that you will stumble across when setting up your group home!

TYPES OF HOMES TYPE 1 –The least restrictive type which most refer to as a sober home, adult foster care home or a boarding home

Type 2 -Residents share chores and have jobs often times, so they are self –sufficient, but they cant live alone. You don’t need staff 24 hours per day

Type 3 –Needs 24 hour staff. Many of the residents have emotional problems.

Type 4 -This is the most restrictive. Typically severely disturbed clients, juvenile delinquents with emotional issues maybe an example FELLOW ASPIRING GROUPHOME-PRENEUR: These are just a small fraction of the niche markets that exist in this industry! Can you see the opportunities? They are literally endless. NOW MAKE A DECISION FOR WHO YOU WANT TO HELP! IN the next lesson, we will review specific types of homes and get into how to locate and find the best people to market to.

PART 4: FINDING YOUR TARGET MARKET WELCOME MR. or MRS. FUTURE Group Home Owner! Now we get into the meat and potatoes of the course. If you truly want to help people you MUST learn how to actively target your appropriate market. First, let us ask you two questions:1.Did you find your why?2.Who do you want to help?Good. Now that you have discovered both of them, let’s go over your target audience and how to market to them. STEP 1. Let’s assume that you have decided your target audience to be people with mental health related issues. Maybe people suffering from depression or anxiety. Let’s also assume that you live in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is literally as easy as going to Google, typing in Cincinnati Ohio mental health services. You will find the following results: Clermont Hospital for depression, anxiety and bi-polar Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services Mental Health Access Point NUMEROUS OTHERS!TEAM –there wouldn’t be this many results if the demand were not there! STEP 2. Compile a list of all the Google results in an excel spreadsheet. Now get on the phone and call to begin gathering names of social workers, nurses and case managers. These are the people you will need to market to!Step 3. Fax out a marketing brochure to all the fax numbers of the Google results that you have compiled in your excel spreadsheet. Then, do the exact same thing with emails! Remember, 80% of sales occur after the 5th close. What does that mean? That means that you need to the people 5 times before they will act. For our purposes, that means you need to call them, fax them, email –and then do it all again before they will be guaranteed to know who you are!

The great news is that because there is such a high demand for this type of housing, you most likely will not need to meet with them or call them that many times. Often times, one phone call or one face-to-face meeting is all you need to generate your first client!

PART 5: CREATE YOUR MARKETING FLYER Today’s lesson is one of the more fun (and easy) things for you to do! It is time to create a name for your company along with a marketing flyer!Remember, when you first start, you don’t necessarily need an AMAZING marketing brochure. The key is speed! We can gladly help you to do this to make sure it says the right things.

PART 6: FURNISH YOUR HOME Now that you have started your marketing, get ready for some inbound phone calls to start coming in! Remember, every time the phone rings your pocket is about to sing!In all seriousness, you need to realize that every time your phone buzzes, it is somebody that you can help and more importantly, someone that NEEDS HELP!And the help they need is simply a place to live. So in today’s lesson, we are going to review exactly what you need to furnish your home!ALL BEDROOMS:Bed, box spring, clothes dresser. LIVING ROOM:Dining room table, Couch, Television KITCHEN: Plates, utensils, coffee maker BREAKFAST ROOM:Breakfast room table This is basically it! Of course, other things will pop up over time, but if you can simply provide the basics at this point, you will be a godsend!HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU SPEND ON THIS?You should be able to purchase all of this for less than $500 assuming you go the correct route. What is the correct route?LOOK FOR AUCTIONS! First, try to buy the stuff on eBay, craigslist or used furniture stores. The best bet is your local salvation army. You want to know a secret? MOST OF THE SALVATION ARMY LOCATION’shave Auctions. Yes, people drop off their wares at the Salvation Army and then they hold an auction sometime during the workweek. What should you expect to pay for things? Here are some price targets:Beds -$10 -$20 for box spring and mattress Dressers:$10 -$20

3-Piece Sectional Living Room Couch -$5 -$15 (formerly a $3,500 piece of furniture!)Televisions: $10-$15 Dining Room Table: $20 -$45 Kitchen plates, cups and utensils: $5 -$20 (you can buy at Wal-Mart, dollar general, big-lots etc. if you don’t want to buy used and wash them)ARE you seeing now how you can have your first business up and running in no time flat with minimal out-of-pocket expense????Remember, there are people out there who are helping people, truly making a difference in peoples’ lives by providing housing and other services for special needs people. They are not only giving, they are receiving spiritual, emotional and financial blessings. We have experienced this first hand and have seen hundreds of others experience it as well. People living in multi-million dollar homes—-all paid for because they decided to help others. Decide today. Do you want to serve your community? Do you want to help others? The time is now. There are no excuses. We are showing you exactly, step-by-step how to do it. And the costs? They are minimal compared to the massive reward!Get ready for your next lesson, because in it will be how you put together your house-rules and operations manual.

PART 7: YOUR POLICIES AND PROCEDURES MANUAL Now that you are ready and you have almost 90% of your first group home put together, it is time for you to set up your policy manual. In an effort to save time, (remember, writing out a 100 page document takes a LONG TIME and doesn’t allow you to serve your community and therefore enhance your spiritual and financial life) we recommend getting our help with writing out this document. You can also use if any of your referral partners or government agencies want to see them. Review your WHY, review your target clients, make sure that you have your marketing excel spreadsheet put together and send out a few more faxes and emails to get that phone ringing! If you need more help or coaching, remember –we are here to help! We have plenty of tools to help assist you with everything you will need in much more detail. Need help locating your target market? We can help.Need help putting together an excel spreadsheet of potential referral sources? We can help.Need help sending out faxes?We can help.Need help sending out emails?We can help.Need help creating a website to drive even more traffic? We can help.Need a marketing brochure?We can help!In our next sessions, we are going to review what you need to do in order to begin depositing checks into your bank account! It is about time you get PAID for helping others.

PART 8: OPEN A BANK ACCOUNT We are here to not only motivate you, BUT ALSO to show you how!So today, make sure you do the MOST IMPORTANT THING AND GO ONTO GOOGLE AND TYPE IN HOMES FOR RENT IN YOUR CITY!OK!Now that you have your home, it is fully furnished for less than $500 (thanks to the secrets you learned from us at grouphomeriches.com) it is time for you to get your bank account opened up! You have a few options here:1.You can incorporate and obtain your TAX ID and FEDERAL EIN and elect to be an LLC, S or C-Corp 2.You can run it as a sole-prop We are not attorneys and none of the information in this document should be considered legal advice. That being said, if you elect to go with option 2, you will need a DBA (doing business as) certificate so that you can open up your bank account in the company name. If you did elect to move forward with #1, then you can bring your documents into your local banker and have them open up the account. Or you can use Legalzoom.com to get it all handled online easily. This entire process is SUPER, SUPER Easy and will be a reward to you as almost all the heavy lifting is done (and so far, you really haven’t had to do much heavy lifting at all!) So today, I want you to go over to your local bank (or big bank like BofA, Citi, Chase etc.) and open up an account. This is the account that will shortly be receiving deposits of $1,000 then $2,000 then $3,500 then $6,000 then $10,000 then $20,000 then $35,000 then $50,000 per month! WRITE THIS DOWN AND MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AN INCOME GOAL! Remember, the more money that is being deposited into your account each and every month is a reflection of how many people you are helping and assisting! NOW GO OPEN UP YOUR ACCOUNT AND WRITE DOWN YOUR MONTHLY DEPOSIT GOAL for 12 months from TODAY! You will find that writing down this goal will make it manifest!

PART 9: OBTAIN YOUR FIRST CLIENT HURRAY and CONGRATULATIONS! You have just succeeded in setting up —OFFICIALLY SETTING UP AND RUNNING YOUR FIRST GROUP HOME!Think about it. There are literally hundreds of thousands of companies out there that never generate 1 penny in sales. ZERO! Why? Because they really aren’t helping anyone! You on the other hand are different. You are here in this world to make a difference in your life and in other peoples’ lives. You have received three phone calls from case managers and social workers, and it turned out that one of them was a perfect fit for your company. You are officially in business! After you take your client in and show them their new home, make sure to have them fill out a client agreement (information that you can receive by signing up for our coaching sessions and/or our paid course), which will outline everything for them. Once your client has his new room picked out, make sure that you have received his or her deposit and monthly rent. CONGRATULATIONS YET AGAIN! You have now received your first piece of income 100% on your own! You are on the way to financial and spiritual freedom! TAKE THAT CHECK, PHOTOCOPY IT, PUT IT UP ON YOUR WALL AND FIGURE OUT HOW MANY OF THESE YOU NEED EACH AND EVERY MONTH TO HIT YOUR GOAL!YOU DID IT! AND YOU NEED TO CELEBRATE TO REWARD YOURSELF. REMEMBER, WHEN YOU have goals that you accomplish, you need to make sure that you reinforce the positive achievement of those goals with a specific link. Maybe it is dinner at your favorite place to eat, or maybe it is going out to catch a movie. Make sure it is nothing too big, because you are not there yet! You will be able to reward yourself with a trip to Cabo or Hawaii when the entire group home is leased up and you are providing assistance for 6 -10 people. At that point, with thousands and thousands of dollars automatically rolling into your bank account each month…you will be able to afford the vacation (and deserve it).

PART 10: DEPOSIT MONTHLY CHECKS I sincerely hope that you have achieved your first client. If so, you deserve a HUGE pat on the back! If you haven’t, don’t get discouraged. The free course that you have now received goes pretty fast, especially for those of you with full-time jobs. BUT DO NOT FEAR! I was once in the exact same shoes as you. The difference? I didn’t have anyone to follow that could give me the step-by-step instructions of how to get to where I wanted to be in NO-TIME-FLAT!GOAL SETTING AND VISUALIZING The best thing that you have already done is mentally walked yourself through all the steps needed to get your first group home set up. As Napoleon Hill and numerous others have stated: If you can believe it, you can achieve it. We have walked you through all 9 steps you needed in order to start your first group home. You have already done it! This is the most important thing. Now that your mind has done it, it will be extremely easy for you to go out and accomplish. HOWEVER If you are looking for DETAILED, step-by-step information on how to set up your first group home, develop a detailed business plan that has been used to secure over $5,000,000 in funding, create a marketing brochure that will cause your phone to literally EXPLODE with inbound leads, craft a sales message for your social workers, nurses and other lead sources, learn how to delegate management to your on-site “house manager”, determine EXACTLY what your P&L should look like so you can make the most money possible, Obtain a website that will get you on page 1 of Google and cause your phone to ring to a HYPER-EXPLOSION phase so that you have a 12-month waiting list AND MUCH MORE……….THEN I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU SIGN UP FOR OUR MEMBERSHIP SERVICE.We still have a few slots left, but they are filling up fast.

Remember, we are not full
FREE WEALTH BUILDING COURSE PART 1: FIND YOUR WHY
Why do you want to do this? Have you thought about this in detail? Make sure it is for the right reasons. Helping others can and will help you! Remember, in life, the more people you can help, the more money you will make! There is a direct correlation between how many people you can help and how much money you can make.Take some time and really think about WHY you want to start your first group home. That is all you need to do today. GO ON! FIGURE OUT WHY YOU WANT TO START A GROUP HOME and then do one more thing:Write it down! Write down the reason why you want to start your group home. Make it concrete!

Remember, we are not full-time mentors and coaches –we actually RUN, INVEST IN and OPEN GROUP HOMES OURSELVES! Our lives are busy but we want to help you. SIGN UP NOW

E.A.C.H.E

« Previous: *Managing Disruptions to Supply Chains*Page 149
**Suggested Citation:**“Engineering Methods for Planning Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities.” National Academy of Engineering. 2007. *Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2006 Symposium*. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11827.×

Engineering Methods for Planning Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities
MICHAEL
P. JOHNSON
*Carnegie Mellon University*
*Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania*

Housing is a key component of the U.S. economy. In 2001, housing comprised more than one-third of the nation’s tangible assets, and, in the form of home building and remodeling, housing consumption and related spending represented more than 21 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. Since 2001, home sales, prices, equity, and debt have all increased substantially, enabling millions of Americans to purchase
goods and services (Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, 2006).
Decent, affordable housing (generally defined as housing that consumes less than 30 percent of a family’s income) often enables families to enjoy stability, good health, employment, education, and recreation. Decent, affordable housing also contributes to the physical, economic, environmental, and social health—the *sustainability*—of communities (Millennial Housing Commission, 2002). These impacts are especially important for lower income households and other underserved populations.
Despite the general strength of the U.S. housing market, the benefits
of housing and stable, vibrant communities are not distributed equally. Examples of inequalities include: residential segregation, differences in homeownership rates by race, sprawl-type development patterns, and shortages of affordable housing. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, for example, the challenges of securing basic shelter and rebuilding homes and communities have fallen disproportionately on minority and low-income populations (de Souza Briggs, 2006; Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, 2006; Millennial Housing Commission,
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**Suggested Citation:**“Engineering Methods for Planning Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities.” National Academy of Engineering. 2007. *Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2006 Symposium*. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11827.×

2002). These and similar circumstances justify social intervention by government and nongovernmental organizations.
The purpose of this paper is to highlight new, creative research in a variety of disciplines—especially decision sciences—that can help determine when, where, what type, and by what means affordable housing and sustainable communities might be built, redeveloped, and maintained. As a prelude to the subject, it is useful to link
housing planning and supply chain management, the theme of this Frontiers of Engineering session.
A *supply chain* is a network of facilities and modes of transportation that uses production and logistics processes to transform inputs into finished goods and services, thereby integrating supply and demand management. A central feature of supply chain management is temporal planning—strategic, tactical, operational, and technical (e.g., the location of facilities at which operations are performed). Housing and community development (a social enterprise) are not literally examples of supply chain management. However, facility location— here, the location of housing—is central to both, and the temporal scope of housing and community development planning spans strategic, tactical, and operational time horizons. Finally, effective housing and community development planning, like supply chain management, is an attempt to match supply and demand for goods and services—in this case, affordable shelter and sustainable communities.
Initiatives to make affordable housing and sustainable communities more accessible must address the needs of stakeholders (e.g., employers, housing developers, citizens, government agencies); policy objectives (minimize housing costs and environmental impacts, “deconcentrating” poverty); and actions (the creation of new housing alternatives, protection of current alternatives, changes in attitudes and preferences) (cf. de Souza Briggs, 2005).
Engineering and related disciplines can influence all of these dimensions of housing policy. Civil, environmental, and mechanical engineering, for example, can generate methods of implementing housing initiatives with more efficient and effective construction. Urban and regional planning, especially land-use and transportation planning, in contrast, focus on social efficiency and equitable development outcomes, given current or best-practice construction technologies. Decision sciences (e.g., operations research and management science) represent a link between engineering and planning methods; they generate specific, actionable strategies for optimizing social efficiency, effectiveness, and equity. Decision sciences may take as given current or best practices in construction technologies or planning methods, or both, or neither.
The remainder of this paper is focused on research results in engineering construction methods and urban and regional planning methods related to the development of affordable housing and a discussion of the unique contributions of decision sciences. We also identify a number of promising areas for continued research.
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**Suggested Citation:**“Engineering Methods for Planning Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities.” National Academy of Engineering. 2007. *Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2006 Symposium*. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11827.×

**ENGINEERING-BASED METHODS FOR HOUSING CONSTRUCTION**
Traditional engineering is well suited to the efficient development of cost-effective housing. Improvements in construction technologies can result in increased affordability, energy efficiency, and structural integrity and decreased negative environmental impacts. Recent European research addressing “sustainable” development from an engineering perspective, focused mostly on minimizing negative environmental impacts, has shown that, even when construction techniques are modified to decrease the ecological impacts associated with “flows” of energy, construction materials, and water, the resulting innovations are often contradicted by increased resource usage by housing occupants and ineffective national policies (e.g., Priemus, 2005). Ultimately, Priemus argues, the policy with the greatest impact on sustainability may be a policy that discourages, or even decreases, the construction of new housing.
Other engineering approaches have focused on best practices for reducing energy consumption through energy-conserving materials, such as windows
, insulation, and appliances; alternative energy sources, such as solar power; improved construction methods for foundations and walls; and more efficient heating and air-conditioning systems (Steven Winter Associates Inc., 2001). Building-design strategies are based on advanced computer simulations comparing energy savings from novel designs with actual outcomes, as well as architectural choices, such as site selection and building orientation for maximum passive solar exposure, and compact floor plans. A specially designed house that incorporated these technologies used 46 percent less energy than the average U.S. house (Balcomb et al., 1999).
These technologies are also available for the rehabilitation of existing housing in low-income areas through retrofitting, improved gas metering, and increased cooperation between stakeholders. Estimated cost savings in energy for a low-income family are on the order of one month’s rent per year (Katrakis et al., 1994).
Engineering methods also influence construction processes. Examples include concurrent engineering to help meet customer requirements for industrialized housing (Armacost et al., 1994) and knowledge management to improve coordination between the owners, designers, and developers of affordable housing (Ibrahim and Nissen, 2003).
**URBAN PLANNING FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND** **COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT**
American planners and analysts have been dealing, with limited success, with the problems of affordable housing and community design for more than 80 years (von Hoffman, 1996). In central cities, planners in the 1930s and 1940s embraced the idea of vertical towers grouped in communities distinct from sur-
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**Suggested Citation:**“Engineering Methods for Planning Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities.” National Academy of Engineering. 2007. *Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2006 Symposium*. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11827.×

rounding neighborhoods. These enclaves often resulted in social dysfunction and physical decay, which have only been remedied in a substantial way in the past decade under the Federal HOPE VI Program. In contrast, post-World War II suburbs were designed to be affordable, accessible to central cities via freeways, and uniform in appearance.
In recent years, dense, transit-friendly, mixed-use developments in central cities or nearby suburbs, often on land previously used for residential or industrial purposes, have converged with the redevelopment of distressed inner-city neighborhoods into mixed-income, joint ventures (Bohl, 2000). Although U.S. consumers still overwhelmingly prefer the traditional suburban model of detached, single-family, owner-occupied housing, market demand is increasing for housing units and communities that appear to be more sustainable socially and environmentally (Myers and Gearin, 2001).
The impact of assisted housing development has been limited in recent years because of stagnant federal funding for subsidized and affordable housing. Planning researchers are turning to decision models and geographic information systems to generate alternative strategies for optimizing social objectives (Ayeni, 1997). However, very little work in this area, or in traditional urban planning, is being done on decision-support models designed specifically for planning affordable housing.
**DECISION-SCIENCE METHODS FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING** **POLICY AND PLANNING**
Decision models can help planners improve access to affordable housing and sustainable communities by simultaneously, and explicitly, addressing space, opportunity, design, and choice alternatives. *Space* and *opportunity* are factors in decisions about the physical location of housing units and their proximity to community amenities, which are important to improved quality of life. *Design* decisions are important to the development of policies that enable families to participate in housing programs, as well as in establishing development priorities and configuring mixed land-use and mixed-housing communities. *Choice* decisions are essential to individuals choosing housing and neighborhood destinations that best meet their needs and preferences. In contrast to engineering construction and planning methods, decision models for housing development are quantitative, stylized, prescriptive, forward-looking, and multiobjective.
One type of strategic decision we address is choosing and evaluating housing and community development policies. A solution to this problem consists of program *types* (e.g., housing subsidies) and *intensities* (e.g., funding levels or number of program participants). Caulkins et al. (2005) developed a model to predict long-term population outcomes associated with stylized, large-scale programs in which low-income families use housing subsidies to relocate to low-poverty neighborhoods. The purpose of the model is to identify the circum-
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**Suggested Citation:**“Engineering Methods for Planning Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities.” National Academy of Engineering. 2007. *Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2006 Symposium*. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11827.×

stances under which a large-scale housing program might preserve the health of destination communities. The authors model changes in the stock of middle-class families in a typical region as a result of (1) normal demographic changes, (2) a large-scale housing mobility program resulting in low-income families that “assimilate” to the middle class, and (3) middle-class “flight” in response to in-movers. Figure 1 shows that, for base-case values of structural parameters, equilibrium would be maintained over the long term (near X = 1) in a generic metropolitan area with a low-intensity housing-mobility program; in the long term, the size of middle-class communities would decrease only slightly.
Given support, in a strategic sense, for a particular housing policy, a tactical decision must be made about the amount and type(s) of housing to be provided in a specific region over a specific period of time. Addressing this decision requires specifying program *locations* (municipalities, neighborhoods, or land parcels) and *configurations* (different numbers of different-sized rental- or owner-occupied housing units). Gabriel et al. (2006) developed a multi-objective optimization model for identifying land parcels for development that balances the needs of planners, developers, environmentalists, and government.

FIGURE 1 Dynamic optimization model solution for a housing mobility program— base-case parameters. Source: Caulkins et al., 2005. Reprinted with permission.
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**Suggested Citation:**“Engineering Methods for Planning Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities.” National Academy of Engineering. 2007. *Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2006 Symposium*. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11827.×

Johnson (2006) solves two complementary optimization models specifically for affordable housing: (1) a longer range model for identifying regional investment levels that maximize social benefits and (2) a shorter range model for identifying specific locations and development sizes that balances social benefits and equity. Figure 2 shows Pareto frontiers associated with solutions to the multiobjective optimization problem for owner-occupied and renter-occupied housing using data for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The curves show that a range of policy alternatives can support a “most-preferred” solution.
The last decision problem considered here, operational in scope, is a client’s choice of a most-preferred housing program, neighborhood, or housing unit, within defined, affordable, housing-policy priorities. Solving this problem requires specifying detailed characteristics (*attributes*) of housing units and neighborhoods, decision models by which participants can rank potential destinations (*alternatives*), and information systems to help standardize and automate the process (*decision support systems*).
Johnson (2005) developed a prototype spatial decision-support system (SDSS) for tenant-based subsidized housing that addresses qualitative concerns (which attributes of housing units and neighborhoods are important to the client) and quantitative concerns (how a client can rank a “short list” of alternatives to

FIGURE 2 Pareto frontiers for a case study of an affordable-housing location problem. Source: Johnson, 2006. Reprinted with permission from Pion Limited, London.
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**Suggested Citation:**“Engineering Methods for Planning Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities.” National Academy of Engineering. 2007. *Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2006 Symposium*. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11827.×

FIGURE 3 Spatial-data interface for counseling SDSS. Source: Johnson, 2005. Reprinted with permission from Elsevier. (Figure can be viewed in color at *http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/johnson2/SearchPittsburghNeighborhoods.jpg*.)
maximize satisfaction and minimize the burden of the housing search). The SDSS uses geographic information systems to illustrate neighborhood characteristics, a relational database to store information on specific housing units, and a multi-criteria decision model to help clients make relocation decisions. Figure 3 illustrates the spatial-data interface with fair housing data for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
**RESEARCH NOW AND IN THE FUTURE**
A number of analytical methods can be used to make affordable housing and sustainable communities more accessible. In one stream of current research, civil, environmental, and mechanical engineering methods are being used to design housing units that improve on current practices in terms of energy efficiency, cost, structural quality, and efficiency of construction processes. In another stream of current research, urban and regional planning are being used to help stakeholders define development strategies that reflect best knowledge of social science-based program evaluation, land-use and transportation planning standards, and community-level partnerships. Decision sciences can provide opportunities to design housing- and community-development policies that improve on current practices in construction-oriented engineering and planning in terms of social outcomes, multistakeholder negotiations, and housing program client choices.
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**Suggested Citation:**“Engineering Methods for Planning Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities.” National Academy of Engineering. 2007. *Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2006 Symposium*. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11827.×

Because affordable housing and sustainable community development are not currently top priorities for market-rate housing providers, government support for the engineering of residential housing may be necessary to increase environmental sustainability and reduce user costs. However, housing policies that optimize various social criteria must also address technological aspects of housing and be based on best practices in urban and regional planning to be considered sustainable and affordable.
The decision-sciences research described in this paper suggests a number of promising areas for future research. The most important is to provide evidence that implementation of the decision models described above result in improved outcomes for communities and individuals. Other areas for research include: (1) choices of housing design and construction strategies that balance housing-unit-and community-level sustainability measures; (2) the development of dynamic models for designing strategic housing policies to address place-based housing strategies (i.e., new construction and rehabilitation of existing housing units); and (3) the design of realistic and tractable decision models to guide developers of affordable housing who must routinely choose a handful of sites to develop from many alternatives, with limited funding, to maximize the probability of neighborhood revitalization.
As long as urban sprawl, environmental degradation, and geographical barriers to affordable housing and opportunity remain policy problems, researchers have an opportunity to devise novel and creative solutions at the nexus of engineering, planning, and decision sciences.
**ACKNOWLEDGMENTS**
My thanks to Jeannie Kim and Vincent Chiou for assisting in this research and to Julie Swann and Jennifer Ryan for encouraging me to participate in the 2006 Frontiers of Engineering Symposium.
**REFERENCES**
Armacost, R.L., J. Paul, M.A. Mullens, and W.W. Swart. 1994. An AHP framework for prioritizing customer requirements in QFD: an industrialized housing application. IIE Transactions 26(4): 72–80.
Ayeni, B. 1997. The Design of Spatial Decision Support Systems in Urban and Regional Planning. Pp. 3–22 in Decision Support Systems in Urban Planning, edited by H. Timmermans. London: E & F N Spon.
Balcomb, J.D., C.E. Hancock, and G. Barker. 1999. Design, Construction, and Performance of the Grand Canyon House. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy. Available online at: *http://www.nrel.gov/docsfy00osti/24767.pdf*.
Bohl, C.C. 2000. New urbanism and the city: potential applications and implications for distressed inner-city neighborhoods. Housing Policy Debate 11(4): 761–801.
Page 157
**Suggested Citation:**“Engineering Methods for Planning Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities.” National Academy of Engineering. 2007. *Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2006 Symposium*. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11827.×

Caulkins, J.P., G. Feichtinger, D. Grass, M.P. Johnson, G. Tragler, and Y. Yegorov. 2005. Placing the poor while keeping the rich in their place: separating strategies for optimally managing residential mobility and assimilation. Demographic Research 13(1): 1–34. Available online at: *http://www.demographic-research.org/Volumes/Vol13/1/default.htm*.
de Souza Briggs, X. 2005. Politics and Policy: Changing the Geography of Opportunity. Pp. 310– 341 in The Geography of Opportunity: Race and Housing Choice in Metropolitan America, edited by X. de Souza Briggs. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.
Gabriel, S.A., J.A. Faria, and G.E. Moglen. 2006. A multiobjective optimization approach to smart growth in land development. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences 40: 212–248.
Ibrahim, R., and M. Nissen. 2003. Emerging Technology to Model Dynamic Knowledge Creation and Flow Among Construction Industry Stakeholders During the Critical Feasibility-Entitlements Phase. In Information Technology 2003: Towards a Vision for Information Technology in Civil Engineering, edited by I. Flood. Reston, Va.: American Society of Civil Engineers. Available on CD-ROM.
Johnson, M.P. 2005. Spatial decision support for assisted housing mobility counseling. Decision Support Systems 41(1): 296–312.
Johnson, M.P. 2006. Planning Models for Affordable Housing Development. Forthcoming in Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design.
Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. 2006. The State of the Nation’s Housing 2006. Available online at: *http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/publications/markets/son2006/son2006.pdf*.
Katrakis, J.T., P.A. Knight, and J.D. Cavallo. 1994. Energy-Efficient Rehabilitation of Multifamily Buildings in the Midwest. Argonne National Laboratory, Decision and Information Sciences Division. Available online at: *http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/info/documents/pdfs/multi-gu.pdf*.
Millenial Housing Commission. 2002. Meeting Our Nation’s Housing Challenges: A Report of the Bipartisan Millenial Housing Commission Appointed by the Congress of the United States. Available online at: *http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/mhc/MHCReport.pdf*.
Myers, D., and E. Gearin. 2001. Current preferences and future demand for denser residential environments. Housing Policy Debate 12(4): 633–659.
Priemus, H. 2005. How to make housing sustainable?: the Dutch experience. Environment and Planning B 32(1): 5–19.
Steven Winter Associates Inc. 2001. Building America Field Project: Results for the Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB), January to October 2001. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy. Available online at: *http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy03osti/31380.pdf*.
von Hoffman, A. 1996. High ambitions: the past and future of American low-income housing policy. Housing Policy Debate 7(3): 423–446.

Engineering Methods for Planning Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities

« Previous: Managing Disruptions to Supply Chains Page 149 Suggested Citation:“Engineering Methods for Planning Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities.” National Academy of Engineering. 2007. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2006 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11827.

MICHAEL P. JOHNSON

Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Housing is a key component of the U.S. economy. In 2001, housing comprised more than one-third of the nation’s tangible assets, and, in the form of home building and remodeling, housing consumption and related spending represented more than 21 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. Since 2001, home sales, prices, equity, and debt have all increased substantially, enabling millions of Americans to purchase goods and services (Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, 2006).

Decent, affordable housing (generally defined as housing that consumes less than 30 percent of a family’s income) often enables families to enjoy stability, good health, employment, education, and recreation. Decent, affordable housing also contributes to the physical, economic, environmental, and social health—the sustainability—of communities (Millennial Housing Commission, 2002). These impacts are especially important for lower income households and other underserved populations.

Despite the general strength of the U.S. housing market, the benefits of housing and stable, vibrant communities are not distributed equally. Examples of inequalities include: residential segregation, differences in home-ownership rates by race, sprawl-type development patterns, and shortages of affordable housing. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, for example, the challenges of securing basic shelter and rebuilding homes and communities have fallen disproportionately on minority and low-income populations (de Souza Briggs, 2006; Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, 2006; Millennial Housing Commission,Page 150 Suggested Citation:“Engineering Methods for Planning Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities.” National Academy of Engineering. 2007. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2006 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11827.

2002). These and similar circumstances justify social intervention by government and nongovernmental organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight new, creative research in a variety of disciplines—especially decision sciences—that can help determine when, where, what type, and by what means affordable housing and sustainable communities might be built, redeveloped, and maintained. As a prelude to the subject, it is useful to link housing planning and supply chain management, the theme of this Frontiers of Engineering session.

A supply chain is a network of facilities and modes of transportation that uses production and logistics processes to transform inputs into finished goods and services, thereby integrating supply and demand management. A central feature of supply chain management is temporal planning—strategic, tactical, operational, and technical (e.g., the location of facilities at which operations are performed). Housing and community development (a social enterprise) are not literally examples of supply chain management. However, facility location— here, the location of housing—is central to both, and the temporal scope of housing and community development planning spans strategic, tactical, and operational time horizons. Finally, effective housing and community development planning, like supply chain management, is an attempt to match supply and demand for goods and services—in this case, affordable shelter and sustainable communities.

Initiatives to make affordable housing and sustainable communities more accessible must address the needs of stakeholders (e.g., employers, housing developers, citizens, government agencies); policy objectives (minimize housing costs and environmental impacts, “deconcentrating” poverty); and actions (the creation of new housing alternatives, protection of current alternatives, changes in attitudes and preferences) (cf. de Souza Briggs, 2005).

Engineering and related disciplines can influence all of these dimensions of housing policy. Civil, environmental, and mechanical engineering, for example, can generate methods of implementing housing initiatives with more efficient and effective construction. Urban and regional planning, especially land-use and transportation planning, in contrast, focus on social efficiency and equitable development outcomes, given current or best-practice construction technologies. Decision sciences (e.g., operations research and management science) represent a link between engineering and planning methods; they generate specific, actionable strategies for optimizing social efficiency, effectiveness, and equity. Decision sciences may take as given current or best practices in construction technologies or planning methods, or both, or neither.

The remainder of this paper is focused on research results in engineering construction methods and urban and regional planning methods related to the development of affordable housing and a discussion of the unique contributions of decision sciences. We also identify a number of promising areas for continued research.Page 151 Suggested Citation:“Engineering Methods for Planning Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities.” National Academy of Engineering. 2007. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2006 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11827.

ENGINEERING-BASED METHODS FOR HOUSING CONSTRUCTION

Traditional engineering is well suited to the efficient development of cost-effective housing. Improvements in construction technologies can result in increased affordability, energy efficiency, and structural integrity and decreased negative environmental impacts. Recent European research addressing “sustainable” development from an engineering perspective, focused mostly on minimizing negative environmental impacts, has shown that, even when construction techniques are modified to decrease the ecological impacts associated with “flows” of energy, construction materials, and water, the resulting innovations are often contradicted by increased resource usage by housing occupants and ineffective national policies (e.g., Priemus, 2005). Ultimately, Priemus argues, the policy with the greatest impact on sustainability may be a policy that discourages, or even decreases, the construction of new housing.

Other engineering approaches have focused on best practices for reducing energy consumption through energy-conserving materials, such as windows, insulation, and appliances; alternative energy sources, such as solar power; improved construction methods for foundations and walls; and more efficient heating and air-conditioning systems (Steven Winter Associates Inc., 2001). Building-design strategies are based on advanced computer simulations comparing energy savings from novel designs with actual outcomes, as well as architectural choices, such as site selection and building orientation for maximum passive solar exposure, and compact floor plans. A specially designed house that incorporated these technologies used 46 percent less energy than the average U.S. house (Balcomb et al., 1999).

These technologies are also available for the rehabilitation of existing housing in low-income areas through retrofitting, improved gas metering, and increased cooperation between stakeholders. Estimated cost savings in energy for a low-income family are on the order of one month’s rent per year (Katrakis et al., 1994).

Engineering methods also influence construction processes. Examples include concurrent engineering to help meet customer requirements for industrialized housing (Armacost et al., 1994) and knowledge management to improve coordination between the owners, designers, and developers of affordable housing (Ibrahim and Nissen, 2003).

URBAN PLANNING FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

American planners and analysts have been dealing, with limited success, with the problems of affordable housing and community design for more than 80 years (von Hoffman, 1996). In central cities, planners in the 1930s and 1940s embraced the idea of vertical towers grouped in communities distinct from sur-Page 152 Suggested Citation:“Engineering Methods for Planning Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities.” National Academy of Engineering. 2007. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2006 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11827.

rounding neighborhoods. These enclaves often resulted in social dysfunction and physical decay, which have only been remedied in a substantial way in the past decade under the Federal HOPE VI Program. In contrast, post-World War II suburbs were designed to be affordable, accessible to central cities via freeways, and uniform in appearance.

In recent years, dense, transit-friendly, mixed-use developments in central cities or nearby suburbs, often on land previously used for residential or industrial purposes, have converged with the redevelopment of distressed inner-city neighborhoods into mixed-income, joint ventures (Bohl, 2000). Although U.S. consumers still overwhelmingly prefer the traditional suburban model of detached, single-family, owner-occupied housing, market demand is increasing for housing units and communities that appear to be more sustainable socially and environmentally (Myers and Gearin, 2001).

The impact of assisted housing development has been limited in recent years because of stagnant federal funding for subsidized and affordable housing. Planning researchers are turning to decision models and geographic information systems to generate alternative strategies for optimizing social objectives (Ayeni, 1997). However, very little work in this area, or in traditional urban planning, is being done on decision-support models designed specifically for planning affordable housing.

DECISION-SCIENCE METHODS FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING POLICY AND PLANNING

Decision models can help planners improve access to affordable housing and sustainable communities by simultaneously, and explicitly, addressing space, opportunity, design, and choice alternatives. Space and opportunity are factors in decisions about the physical location of housing units and their proximity to community amenities, which are important to improved quality of life. Design decisions are important to the development of policies that enable families to participate in housing programs, as well as in establishing development priorities and configuring mixed land-use and mixed-housing communities. Choice decisions are essential to individuals choosing housing and neighborhood destinations that best meet their needs and preferences. In contrast to engineering construction and planning methods, decision models for housing development are quantitative, stylized, prescriptive, forward-looking, and multi-objective.

One type of strategic decision we address is choosing and evaluating housing and community development policies. A solution to this problem consists of program types (e.g., housing subsidies) and intensities (e.g., funding levels or number of program participants). Caulkins et al. (2005) developed a model to predict long-term population outcomes associated with stylized, large-scale programs in which low-income families use housing subsidies to relocate to low-poverty neighborhoods. The purpose of the model is to identify the circum-Page 153 Suggested Citation:“Engineering Methods for Planning Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities.” National Academy of Engineering. 2007. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2006 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11827.

stances under which a large-scale housing program might preserve the health of destination communities. The authors model changes in the stock of middle-class families in a typical region as a result of (1) normal demographic changes, (2) a large-scale housing mobility program resulting in low-income families that “assimilate” to the middle class, and (3) middle-class “flight” in response to in-movers. Figure 1 shows that, for base-case values of structural parameters, equilibrium would be maintained over the long term (near X = 1) in a generic metropolitan area with a low-intensity housing-mobility program; in the long term, the size of middle-class communities would decrease only slightly.

Given support, in a strategic sense, for a particular housing policy, a tactical decision must be made about the amount and type(s) of housing to be provided in a specific region over a specific period of time. Addressing this decision requires specifying program locations (municipalities, neighborhoods, or land parcels) and configurations (different numbers of different-sized rental- or owner-occupied housing units). Gabriel et al. (2006) developed a multiobjective optimization model for identifying land parcels for development that balances the needs of planners, developers, environmentalists, and government.

FIGURE 1 Dynamic optimization model solution for a housing mobility program— base-case parameters. Source: Caulkins et al., 2005. Reprinted with permission.Page 154 Suggested Citation:“Engineering Methods for Planning Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities.” National Academy of Engineering. 2007. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2006 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11827.

Johnson (2006) solves two complementary optimization models specifically for affordable housing: (1) a longer range model for identifying regional investment levels that maximize social benefits and (2) a shorter range model for identifying specific locations and development sizes that balances social benefits and equity. Figure 2 shows Pareto frontiers associated with solutions to the multiobjective optimization problem for owner-occupied and renter-occupied housing using data for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The curves show that a range of policy alternatives can support a “most-preferred” solution.

The last decision problem considered here, operational in scope, is a client’s choice of a most-preferred housing program, neighborhood, or housing unit, within defined, affordable, housing-policy priorities. Solving this problem requires specifying detailed characteristics (attributes) of housing units and neighborhoods, decision models by which participants can rank potential destinations (alternatives), and information systems to help standardize and automate the process (decision support systems).

Johnson (2005) developed a prototype spatial decision-support system (SDSS) for tenant-based subsidized housing that addresses qualitative concerns (which attributes of housing units and neighborhoods are important to the client) and quantitative concerns (how a client can rank a “short list” of alternatives to

FIGURE 2 Pareto frontiers for a case study of an affordable-housing location problem. Source: Johnson, 2006. Reprinted with permission from Pion Limited, London.Page 155 Suggested Citation:“Engineering Methods for Planning Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities.” National Academy of Engineering. 2007. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2006 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11827.×Save Cancel

FIGURE 3 Spatial-data interface for counseling SDSS. Source: Johnson, 2005. Reprinted with permission from Elsevier. (Figure can be viewed in color at http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/johnson2/SearchPittsburghNeighborhoods.jpg.)

maximize satisfaction and minimize the burden of the housing search). The SDSS uses geographic information systems to illustrate neighborhood characteristics, a relational database to store information on specific housing units, and a multi-criteria decision model to help clients make relocation decisions. Figure 3 illustrates the spatial-data interface with fair housing data for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

RESEARCH NOW AND IN THE FUTURE

A number of analytical methods can be used to make affordable housing and sustainable communities more accessible. In one stream of current research, civil, environmental, and mechanical engineering methods are being used to design housing units that improve on current practices in terms of energy efficiency, cost, structural quality, and efficiency of construction processes. In another stream of current research, urban and regional planning are being used to help stakeholders define development strategies that reflect best knowledge of social science-based program evaluation, land-use and transportation planning standards, and community-level partnerships. Decision sciences can provide opportunities to design housing- and community-development policies that improve on current practices in construction-oriented engineering and planning in terms of social outcomes, multi-stakeholder negotiations, and housing program client choices.Page 156 Suggested Citation:“Engineering Methods for Planning Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities.” National Academy of Engineering. 2007. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2006 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11827.

Because affordable housing and sustainable community development are not currently top priorities for market-rate housing providers, government support for the engineering of residential housing may be necessary to increase environmental sustainability and reduce user costs. However, housing policies that optimize various social criteria must also address technological aspects of housing and be based on best practices in urban and regional planning to be considered sustainable and affordable.

The decision-sciences research described in this paper suggests a number of promising areas for future research. The most important is to provide evidence that implementation of the decision models described above result in improved outcomes for communities and individuals. Other areas for research include: (1) choices of housing design and construction strategies that balance housing-unit-and community-level sustainability measures; (2) the development of dynamic models for designing strategic housing policies to address place-based housing strategies (i.e., new construction and rehabilitation of existing housing units); and (3) the design of realistic and tractable decision models to guide developers of affordable housing who must routinely choose a handful of sites to develop from many alternatives, with limited funding, to maximize the probability of neighborhood revitalization.

As long as urban sprawl, environmental degradation, and geographical barriers to affordable housing and opportunity remain policy problems, researchers have an opportunity to devise novel and creative solutions at the nexus of engineering, planning, and decision sciences.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My thanks to Jeannie Kim and Vincent Chiou for assisting in this research and to Julie Swann and Jennifer Ryan for encouraging me to participate in the 2006 Frontiers of Engineering Symposium.

REFERENCES

Armacost, R.L., J. Paul, M.A. Mullens, and W.W. Swart. 1994. An AHP framework for prioritizing customer requirements in QFD: an industrialized housing application. IIE Transactions 26(4): 72–80.

Ayeni, B. 1997. The Design of Spatial Decision Support Systems in Urban and Regional Planning. Pp. 3–22 in Decision Support Systems in Urban Planning, edited by H. Timmermans. London: E & F N Spon.

Balcomb, J.D., C.E. Hancock, and G. Barker. 1999. Design, Construction, and Performance of the Grand Canyon House. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy. Available online at: http://www.nrel.gov/docsfy00osti/24767.pdf.

Bohl, C.C. 2000. New urbanism and the city: potential applications and implications for distressed inner-city neighborhoods. Housing Policy Debate 11(4): 761–801.Page 157 Suggested Citation:“Engineering Methods for Planning Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities.” National Academy of Engineering. 2007. Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2006 Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11827.

Caulkins, J.P., G. Feichtinger, D. Grass, M.P. Johnson, G. Tragler, and Y. Yegorov. 2005. Placing the poor while keeping the rich in their place: separating strategies for optimally managing residential mobility and assimilation. Demographic Research 13(1): 1–34. Available online at: http://www.demographic-research.org/Volumes/Vol13/1/default.htm.

de Souza Briggs, X. 2005. Politics and Policy: Changing the Geography of Opportunity. Pp. 310– 341 in The Geography of Opportunity: Race and Housing Choice in Metropolitan America, edited by X. de Souza Briggs. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.

Gabriel, S.A., J.A. Faria, and G.E. Moglen. 2006. A multiobjective optimization approach to smart growth in land development. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences 40: 212–248.

Ibrahim, R., and M. Nissen. 2003. Emerging Technology to Model Dynamic Knowledge Creation and Flow Among Construction Industry Stakeholders During the Critical Feasibility-Entitlements Phase. In Information Technology 2003: Towards a Vision for Information Technology in Civil Engineering, edited by I. Flood. Reston, Va.: American Society of Civil Engineers. Available on CD-ROM.

Johnson, M.P. 2005. Spatial decision support for assisted housing mobility counseling. Decision Support Systems 41(1): 296–312.

Johnson, M.P. 2006. Planning Models for Affordable Housing Development. Forthcoming in Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design.

Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. 2006. The State of the Nation’s Housing 2006. Available online at: http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/publications/markets/son2006/son2006.pdf.

Katrakis, J.T., P.A. Knight, and J.D. Cavallo. 1994. Energy-Efficient Rehabilitation of Multifamily Buildings in the Midwest. Argonne National Laboratory, Decision and Information Sciences Division. Available online at: http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/info/documents/pdfs/multi-gu.pdf.

Millenial Housing Commission. 2002. Meeting Our Nation’s Housing Challenges: A Report of the Bipartisan Millenial Housing Commission Appointed by the Congress of the United States. Available online at: http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/mhc/MHCReport.pdf.

Myers, D., and E. Gearin. 2001. Current preferences and future demand for denser residential environments. Housing Policy Debate 12(4): 633–659.

Priemus, H. 2005. How to make housing sustainable?: the Dutch experience. Environment and Planning B 32(1): 5–19.

Steven Winter Associates Inc. 2001. Building America Field Project: Results for the Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB), January to October 2001. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy. Available online at: http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy03osti/31380.pdf.

von Hoffman, A. 1996. High ambitions: the past and future of American low-income housing policy. Housing Policy Debate 7(3): 423–446.

Everything You Need to Know to Claim & Finance Your R&D Tax Credits

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Protect Your Innovations with a Research and Development Agreement

Protect Your Innovations with a Research and Development Agreement
by Belle Wong, J.D., March 2019

Research and development is often associated with large corporations with ample funding and the ability to attract top-class innovators. But research and development (R&D) is not the purview of major corporations only. Despite access
to smaller budgets, many small businesses can also reap the advantages of a robust R&D strategy.

Research and Development Basics
Within the business world, research and development refers to activities a company pursues for a number of purposes, including:
The creation of new products or innovations
Improvements to existing products

The development of new processes to enhance the production process
While there is always a cost associated with R&D, the funds you direct toward such activities can potentially reap generous rewards. When viewed from this perspective, the costs of research and development can be seen as an investment.
Importance of Research and Development

As the name indicates, research and development activities are composed of two phases. Investigative activities inform the research phase, during which ideas and innovative approaches are examined to determine feasibility. Once research pinpoints a potential direction, development can then take place.
The benefits of R&D can include:

Reduced production costs generated by more efficient processes. This in turn can often have a direct impact on a firm’s bottom line. For example, a jacket manufacturer initially employs hand-stitching to produce its signature product. Through R&D, the company develops a mass-production process that results in increased profits because it is able to better meet rising demand.

Increased company value. You business can increase the value of its intellectual property through patents and copyrights arising out of new processes and innovations. For example, a patent obtained for a new invention can be valued, and its valuation becomes an asset in the company’s balance sheet.

Ability to capitalize on trends. This can occur either through product development or by improving existing products to attract the trend’s demographic. For example, with the rise in popularity of low-carb diets, a craft beer company that invests in the formulation of a low-carb beer is able to enter
into a new market driven by this trend and, in the process, expand its target audience.

Supporting changes in operations. R&D can help you obtain the evidence required to support crucial operating decisions. For example, data obtained through R&D might enable a company to determine that a particular product or service is no longer feasible and should be retired.
R&D Partnership Agreements

Because cost can be an important factor in the sustainability of an R&D strategy, many small companies turn to partnerships with other companies or experts to help them further their research and development goals. In such cases, it’s important for companies to draft a research and development agreement that provides adequate protection for any innovations generated by the partnership.
Your agreement should clarify the parameters of the joint project. Elements to consider include:

Description of the project. Be specific about the details of the venture you and any partners are undertaking.

Duties and responsibilities. Specify who is responsible for the various aspects of the project.

Confidentiality and nondisclosure. Given the nature of R&D, partners to such an agreement often find themselves exposing trade secrets to each other. It’s common for R&D agreements to include nondisclosure wording to provide conditions of confidentiality.

Ownership of intellectual property. Most R&D ventures give rise to intellectual property such as patents or copyright. Your agreement should specify the percentage of ownership of such property that will be accorded to each party to the agreement.

Revenues and expenses. In addition to a clear outline of how any profits generated as a result of your joint venture will be divided among the partners, there should also be wording that deals with how the costs and expenses of R&D activities will be shared.

Termination of the agreement. Outline what happens to the R&D that has already taken place if either partner has to terminate its participation in the project.

Dispute resolution. A number of processes are available to help in the conflict-resolution process. For example, if a conflict does arise, your agreement might stipulate that the parties must engage in mediation or arbitration to come to a resolution of the issue.

A concrete R&D strategy has the ability to give your business a clear competitive advantage within a crowded marketplace. If you’ve partnered with another company or individual to advance your company’s R&D goals, it’s always a good idea to protect your innovations with a research and development agreement.
Ready to start your Research and Development Agreement? LEARN MORE
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Program Management5 Steps in the Research Process

The five (5) steps in the research process are: [1]

Step 1 – Locating and Defining Issues or Problems
This step focuses on uncovering the nature and boundaries of a situation or question related to marketing strategy or implementation. In defining the issues or problems, the researcher should take into account the purpose of the study, the relevant background information, what information is needed, and how it will be used in decision making.

Step 2 – Designing the Research Project
This step is focused on created a research plan or overall approach on how you are going to solve the issue or problem identified. A research plan or approach is a framework or blueprint for conducting the marketing research project. It details the procedures necessary for obtaining the required information, and its purpose is to design a study that will test the hypotheses of interest, determine possible answers to the research questions, and provide the information needed for decision making.

Research design involves the following steps: [2]

Secondary data analysis
Qualitative research
Methods of collecting quantitative data (survey, observation, and experimentation)
Definition of the information needed
Measurement and scaling procedures
Questionnaire design
Sampling process and sample size
Plan of data analysis

Step 3 – Collecting Data
This step revolved around obtaining the information that you will need to solve the issue or problem identified. Data collection involves a field force or staff that operates either in the field, as in the case of personal interviewing (in-home, mall intercept, or computer-assisted personal interviewing), from an office by telephone (telephone or computer-assisted telephone interviewing), or through mail (traditional mail and mail panel surveys with prerecruited households).

Step 4 – Interpreting Research Data
Interpreting research data: This step is focuses on examining the data and coming up with a conclusion that solves the problem.

Step 5 – Report Research Findings
The final step is to report the research findings to those who need the data to make decisions. The findings should be presented in a comprehensible format so that they can be readily used in the decision making process. In addition, an oral presentation should be made to management using tables, figures, and graphs to enhance clarity and impact.

Tips:

Qualitative Research: Information, industry experts, and secondary data may not be sufficient to define the research problem. Sometimes qualitative research must be undertaken to gain a qualitative understanding of the problem and its underlying factors. Qualitative research is unstructured, exploratory in nature, based on small samples, and may utilize popular qualitative techniques such as focus groups (group interviews), word association (asking respondents to indicate their first responses to stimulus words), and depth interviews (one-on-one interviews which probe the respondents’ thoughts in detail). Other exploratory research techniques, such as pilot surveys with small samples of respondents, may also be undertaken. [2]

[1] Pride, Ferel (2010). Marketing. South-Western Cengage Learning
[2] Website: Wikipedia – Marketing Research Process

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