PD&R Edge, an online magazine, provides you with a snapshot view of our newly released research, periodicals, publications, news, and commentaries on housing and urban development issues. Stay informed on current topics and check back frequently, as our content is routinely updated. Featured: Supporting Homeless Youth in Anchorage, Alaska In Anchorage, youth homelessness provider Covenant House Alaska (CHA) is connecting young people to transitional housing, shelter services, street outreach, education and employment services, and enrichment programs. To increase housing and educational opportunities for youth experiencing homelessness or who have been trafficked, CHA opened Covey Lofts, which features 22 studio units, and Covey Academy, a vocational training center with 19 onsite housing units for students. Key to CHA’s success is partnerships with the Cook Inlet Housing Authority, which helped find financing and manage project construction, and a variety of Alaska Native organizations, who work to ensure culturally responsive program design. PD&R Leadership: Housing and Community Development in Alaska In the Leadership Message, Heidi Joseph, director of the Research Utilization Division for PD&R summarizes her experience traveling to the Alaska Housing Innovations Summit in Anchorage in August 2022, including attending sessions that confronted the stark climate reality facing residents of countless Alaska Native villages. The state is facing disproportionately fast warming, compounding difficulties stemming from historic disinvestment in Alaska’s rural areas. Joseph also discusses her experience touring affordable housing projects in the region that seek to build up the resiliency of Alaskan communities. In Practice: Redevelopment of County Office Space Includes New Affordable Housing Units in Austin, Texas In 2016, Travis County partnered with developer DMA Companies to construct Travis Flats, an affordable housing development located within the boundaries of multiple revitalization plans commissioned by the county and the city of Austin, Texas. The county purchased the 3-acre site as part of its North Campus Redevelopment Project, a master plan relocating, expanding, and improving public service offices while increasing affordable housing in the area. Opened in 2021, Travis Flats is also catalyzing the redevelopment of Airport Boulevard, a major corridor characterized by underutilized properties, disinvestment, and aged housing stock. The 146-unit project provides housing to families likely to be ousted because of gentrification and serves as a new urban core providing access to public transit and shared community spaces for the neighborhood. Trending: Housing in Northern Alaska At the Alaska Housing Innovations Summit in Anchorage in August 2022, Taġiuġmiullu Nunamiullu Housing Authority (TNHA) chief executive officer and executive director Griffin Hagle-Forster discussed TNHA’s work to support affordable and sustainable housing in Alaska’s Arctic Slope region. Like many affordable housing providers, TNHA pursues the goals of sustainability, resilience, and adaptation in the communities it serves. TNHA is actively testing new materials, building techniques, technologies, and processes to create and preserve housing in a region at the frontlines of climate change. Subscribe to receive PD&R Edge here.