The Brazos Valley Affordable Housing Corporation recently awarded a $36,582 contract to the College of Architecture’s Center for Housing and Urban Development (CHUD) to conduct an affordable housing market study for the seven-county Brazos Valley Region.

Members of the research team include June Martin, assistant director for CHUD, and Cecilia Giusti, Dawn Jourdan and Shannon VanZandt, assistant professors in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning. They will examine the demand for and supply of affordable housing, focusing on: housing conditions, the factors that affect the affordability of both home ownership and rental housing, the geographic distribution of affordable housing, and the barriers to the provision of affordable housing.

Based on their findings, the team will offer recommendations on the range of affordable units needed — including number, type, tenure and location. They will also propose programmatic or policy changes for creating an environment for the construction and consumption of affordable housing that meets the identified market needs.