and 2013 (Zuk, Chapple, 2015). Public housing and rental vouchers have been the most direct and accessible affordable housing options for low income residents in the city, however, the waitlists and qualifications to have access to Below Market Rate (BMR) programs have become increasingly burdensome and less realistic option the average household can expect to depend on (Sabatini, 2015). The result of a rapid decrease in housing affordability is the large displacement of communities. Many who live and work within the urban fabric are still being forced out to distant neighborhoods (characterized in Figure 1, UC Berkeley’s Urban Displacement map in Figure 1), which often facilitates auto-oriented lifestyles. These changes often pressure residents to purchase a car or live in a position of transportation disadvantage. Drastic lifestyle changes such as these are extremely disruptive and it is reasonable to assume employment retention becomes more difficult. The nature of affordable public housing is dictated and controlled at a local level as legislation allows local public housing authorities to issue bonds as a means to finance affordable housing development. The budget for these projects often times is far lower than say if developed by the private sector at market-rate
Figure 1: UC Berkeley’s Urban Displacemment Map
(Schwartz, 2010). The greater impact of a shrunken budget leaves the city less economically capable of purchasing land that offers strategic benefits to those who will eventually live there. The result leads to development on cheaper land in more isolated locations. Section 8 housing options are an alternative to public housing and are often far less expensive. Section 8 and rental vouchers, unlike public housing development, give low-income individuals more flexibility in where they choose 58 | URBAN ACTION