Fair and Affordable Housing Program

The Fair and Affordable Housing Program spotlights the impact, outcomes and value that affordable housing brings to communities. The program delivers data and tools that help researchers, practitioners and advocates build evidence-based cases for why affordable housing matters. 

The research involved with this program:

  • Examines the availability of affordable housing
  • Evaluates programs that encourage the production of affordable housing
  • Identifies the effects of subsidized housing on surrounding neighborhoods

It will also use its research to both support and develop more balanced, forward-looking housing policies that acknowledge the importance of affordable rental housing and new roles that housing may play in promoting resilient communities.


Program Lead

View profile

Shannon Van Zandt

Professor, Executive Associate Dean

979.458.1223 Email Shannon Van Zandt

Recent Publications

2013, Jourdan, D.E., S. Van Zandt, and E. Tarlton. 2013. Coming Home: Resident Satisfaction Regarding Return to a Revitalized HOPE VI Community. Forthcoming in Cities.

2012, Van Zandt, S., W.G. Peacock, D. Henry, H. Grover, W. Highfield, and S. Brody. 2012. Mapping Social Vulnerability to Enhance Housing and Neighborhood Resilience. Housing Policy Debate 22(1): 29-55.

2012, Rohe, W.M., S. Van Zandt, and G. McCarthy. 2012. The Social Costs and Benefits of Homeownership. In The Affordable Housing Reader. Elizabeth Mueller and J. Rosie Tighe, Editors. New York: Routledge.

2012, Peacock, Walter Gillis, Shannon Van Zandt, Dustin Henry, Himanshu Grover, and Wesley Highfield. 2012. Social Vulnerability and Hurricane Ike: Using Social Vulnerability Mapping to Enhance Coastal Community Resilience in Texas. In After Ike: Severe Storm Prediction, Impact, and Recovery on the Texas Gulf Coast. Edited by Phillip B. Bedient. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press.

2012, Xiao, Y. and S. Van Zandt. 2012. Building Community Resiliency: Spatial Links between Households and Businesses in Post-Disaster Recovery. Urban Studies 49(11):2523-2542.

2012, Vanegas, J. (2012) “A Transdisciplinary, Transinstitutional, and Transnational Integrative Framework for High Quality and Performance, Affordable, and Sustainable Housing,” Proceedings of the XXXVIII World Congress of the International Association of Housing Science (IAHS), Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey, held 16–19 April 2012

2011, Giusti, C. and L. Estevez. 2011. Microlending for housing in the United States. A Case-Study in Colonias in Texas. Habitat International. 35(2): 307-315. Impact factor: 0.855; 5-year Impact factor: 1.216

2011, Ward, P., De Souza, F., Giusti, C., and J. Larson. 2011. El Título en la Mano: The Impact of Titling Programs on Low Income Housing in Texas Colonias. Forthcoming in Law and Social Inquiry, 36:1 Impact factor: 0.817

2011, Van Zandt, S. and W.M. Rohe. 2011. The Sustainability of Low-income Homeownership: The Incidence of Unexpected Costs and Needed Repairs Among Low-Income Home Buyers. Housing Policy Debate 21(2): 317-341.

2011, Grinstein-Weiss, M., K. Anacker, Y. Yeo, S. Van Zandt , and E. Books. 2011. Homeownership and Neighborhood Satisfaction among Low- and Moderate Income Households. Journal of Urban Affairs 33(3): 247-265.

2011, Van Zandt, S. and D. Wunneburger. 2011. The Relationship between Residential Land Use Patterns and the Educational Outcomes of Economically Disadvantaged Students in Texas. Urban Education 46(3): 292-321.

2011, Shin, W. J., J. Saginor, and S. Van Zandt. 2011. Evaluation of Subdivision Characteristics on Single-Family Housing Values using Hierarchical Linear Modeling. Journal of Real Estate Research 33(3): 317-348.

2010, Jourdan, D., S. Van Zandt, and N. Adair. 2010. Meeting Their Fair Share: A Proposal for the Creation of Regional Land Banks to Meet the Affordable Housing Needs in the Rural Areas of Texas. Journal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law 19(2): 147-159.

2010, Giusti, C. 2010. Border Communities: The Case of Colonias in Texas. Development Issues 12, 1: 21-22.

2010, Giusti, C. and M. Olivares. Latinos, planning, and housing regulations. Latino Studies. Accepted pending revisions, May 2010

2010, Booth, Geoffrey, and Vanegas, J. (2010) “The Sustainability Dividend – Real Estate Value Creation and Three Emerging Trends Toward the Delivery of Built Environment Sustainability,” Proceedings of the 4th International Annual Conference Ajman Municipality, Emirates of Ajman, United Arab Emirates, and the University of Wolverhampton, UK, held 29-31 March 2010