美国在一个县城中找到了重振美国公共住房的方法
Montgomery County has found a way to reinvigorate public housing in America

由专筑网郑京，小R编译

美国马里兰州的一个县制定的一项新的公共发展战略为美国住房危机问题提供的解决思路。

蒙哥马利县是华盛顿大都会区郊区的一个不断发展的县城，它提出了一种应对美国社会住房缺少的方法。

同全国其他地区一样，蒙哥马利县迫切需要更多的可负担住房。

虽然在缺少中央政府资金的前提下美国公共部门主导的房屋建设几乎不可能满足需求，但蒙哥马利县政府想出了一种独自提供高质量住房的方法。

As part of Dezeen's Social Housing Revival series, we look at how one county in Maryland is leading the way in the US after devising a novel public-development strategy to help combat its housing crisis.
Montgomery is a growing county on the outskirts of the Washington DC metropolitan area that has come up with a method for addressing the diminished role of social housing in America.
Like much of the rest of the country, it is in dire need of more affordable housing.
While an absence of central government funding means public-sector-led house-building to meet that need is a rarity in the US, Montgomery's county government has conceived a way to deliver high-quality homes on its own.


▲ 马里兰州蒙哥马利县通过一项资助公共住房新计划完成的第一座建筑
Maryland's Montgomery County has completed the first building created under a novel scheme to fund public housing

蒙哥马利县住房机会委员会（Housing Opportunities Commission，HOC）是一个建立于上世纪70年代的机构，旨在提供联邦资助的公共住房。最近，该机构制定了一项他们称之为公共开发者模式的策略。

2021年，蒙哥马利县住房机会委员会建立了住房生产基金（Housing Production Fund，HPF），用于资助混合收入社会住房。他们使用该模式完成的第一个项目名为The Laureate，由美国建筑工作室KTGY设计，共有268个住宅单位，配备有数千平方英尺的设施，甚至还有一个室外加热游泳池和水疗中心。

“我们认为这个项目将成为一种标准。”蒙哥马利县住房机会委员会执行董事切尔西·安德鲁斯说，“当用户走进The Laureate时，他将从一个高质量、高水准、设计精美的社区中体验度假村般的生活体验，我们为此感到非常自豪。届时人们住在负担得起的房子获得的体验将和住在按市场价租来的房子里没有区别。”

“我们认为，这应该成为所有新的经济适用房开发的标准。”

Its Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC), an agency founded in the 1970s to deliver federally funded public housing, has recently developed a strategy that it calls the public developer model.
In 2021, it established the Housing Production Fund (HPF) to fund mixed-income social housing.
Its first completed project using the model is The Laureate, a 268-home scheme designed by US architecture studio KTGY that features thousands of square feet of amenities and even has an outdoor heated pool and spa.
"We believe this should be the standard"
"HOC is proud that when you walk into The Laureate you experience a high-quality, high-calibre, and beautifully designed community that offers a resort-like living experience," HOC executive director Chelsea Andrews told Dezeen.
"We are equally proud that if you're standing in an affordable home or one that rents at market rate, the two are completely indistinguishable."
"We believe this should be the standard for all new affordable housing development."


▲ The Laureate是蒙哥马利县住房机会委员会的第一个住房生产基金项目
The first HPF project is an apartment complex called The Laureate

在美国的大多数地区，城市利用税收优惠来鼓励开发商提供混合收入住房。

蒙哥马利县住房机会委员会采取了更直接的方法——利用联邦补贴来容纳最贫困的群体，同时借贷资金来资助其他项目。而建造联邦补贴住房通常需要私人投资者参与来达到完整的建设成本，这就意味着建筑的质量会因为考虑保护利润率而受到影响。

蒙哥马利县希望住房机会委员会作为公共开发者能通过为各种收入水平的人建设更好的住房消除其在社会住房领域的污名。

这些开发的住房建筑由密切监督居民的收入的住房机会委员会统筹管理，高收入人群的租金将为较贫困人群租房提供支持。

In most parts of the US, cities use tax breaks to encourage developers to deliver mixed-income housing.
The HOC takes a more direct approach, using federal subsidies to accommodate the poorest groups while taking out loans to fund other HOC projects.
Building federally subsidised housing often requires the involvement of private investors to fund the full cost of construction – which can mean build quality is compromised to protect profit margins.
By acting as a public developer and delivering housing for people on a range of incomes, the Montgomery County hopes HOC can build better housing and break down stigmas attached to social housing.
The model also allows the county to create housing for people in need of affordable housing but who do not qualify for Section 8 housing vouchers.
The buildings are managed by the HOC, which closely monitors the residents' incomes. Rents from people in higher income brackets help to contribute to poorer tenants' costs.


▲ 图为KTGY建筑工作室的室内设计作品
It was designed by architecture studio KTGY

KTGY建筑工作室负责人Ben Kasdan认为混合收入住房在充分解决美国面临的住房危机方面发挥着关键作用，因为这种策略可以填补建设资金的差距，同时创建一个更全面和多元化的社区。

蒙哥马利县有两个人口中心：银泉区（Silver Spring）和贝塞斯达区（Bethesda）。由于与华盛顿特区的强大铁路联系，这两个地区都在迅速增长。

住房机会委员现在的目标是靠近铁路线的地区，进一步进行类似的高密度开发。

虽然从建筑的角度来看，这些项目往往并不令人兴奋，但公共企业中心主任Paul Williams认为，考虑到该县快速增长的住房需求，快速交付是重中之重。

“非常丑陋的五层一单元公共住房比没有建造的漂亮公共住房好得多。” Williams说，他是蒙哥马利县该项目的顾问。

"Mixed-income housing plays a critical role in adequately addressing the housing crisis that we face in this country, as that strategy can bridge the gap in construction financing while creating a more holistic and diverse community," KTGY principal Ben Kasdan told Dezeen.
Montgomery County has two population centres – Silver Spring and Bethesda. Both are growing rapidly thanks to strong rail links to Washington DC.
The HOC is now targeting areas close to the train lines with further similar, high-density developments.
While architecturally speaking the projects tend to be unexciting, Center for Public Enterprise director Paul Williams believes that rapid delivery is the priority given the county's fast-growing housing need.
"Extremely ugly five-over-one public housing is orders of magnitude better than beautiful public housing that doesn't get built," said Williams, who advised Montgomery County on its programme.


▲ 这种资金模式允许私募股权获得的利润回流到住房基金
The funding model allows for profits usually reaped by private equity to flow back into the housing fund

尽管这些建筑的结构看起来很普通，但它们可能代表了一种创造性的方式开始介入解决美国的深层住房危机。

传统的美国公共住房模式依赖一个近百年前建立的体系，住房管理机构被创建来管理国会批准的预算和美国住房和城市发展部（HUD）向地方政府提供的联邦流动资金。

然而，当上世纪90年代的立法限制了社会住房建设，并将住房分配仅限在给该国最贫困人口之后，许多当局已经停滞不前。

Williams说：“这种模式给予了目前大部分只是处于停滞状态的公共住房管理机构一些事情可做的机会。在美国，能建造多少负担得起的住房在于国会每年在预算中拨出多少美元用于低收入住房税收抵免。”

通过使用这种模式，联邦补贴可以直接流向最需要的人，而当局则可以采用私人风格的投资模式，而不需要私募股权的利润动机，为那些仍然有压力但不那么绝望的人提供住房。

然而，停滞不前的楼市管理部门不会在一夜之间改变。

While the structures seem run-of-the-mill, they may represent an inventive way to begin to dig the US out of its deep housing crisis.
The traditional US public housing model runs on a system that was put in place nearly a hundred years ago. Housing authorities were created to manage the flow of federal funds from Congress-approved budgets and HUD to local governments.
However, after legislation in the 1990s limited social housing construction and its allocation to only the poorest in the country, many of the authorities have stagnated.

Activating stagnant agencies
"The model gives public housing authorities who at this point are largely just kind of stagnant entities something to do," said Williams.
"The constraint on how much affordable housing gets built in America is how many dollars Congress appropriates to low-income housing tax credit in each year's budget. People wish it was something else, but that's it."
By using this model, federal subsidies can go directly to the most in need, while the authority, running on a private-style investment model without the profit motive of private equity, can provide housing for people in the still-stressed but less desperate range.
However, stagnant housing authorities don't change overnight.


▲ 混合收入资格意味着更多的人可以得到帮助，同时住房的设计质量将更高
Its mixed-income qualifications mean more people can be helped and that the quality of the design is to higher standards

蒙哥马利县在公共住房方面有着悠久的创新历史。由于与国家首都的距离很近，它经常成为政策实验的热点地区。

Andrews说：“20世纪70年代席卷美国的社会正义运动对蒙哥马利县发展经济适用房产生了巨大影响。在我们县分散新的经济适用房开发项目多年来为我们带来了很好的效果，帮助我们塑造了多样化的社区，使我们的县变得充满活力。”

Williams表示，他的组织正在帮助其他城市采用类似的模式，利用金融系统的杠杆来为住房危机的问题提供即时解决方案，因为完全彻底改革美国的房地产系统在短期内不太可能实现。

他说：“这就是我们如何将这些住房管理机构重新转变为包容性经济发展的积极推动者，而不仅仅是国会通过这些管道向人们发放少量资金。”

Montgomery County has a long history of innovation in public housing. Being so close to the nation's capital, it has often been a hotbed of policy experimentation.
"The social justice movement that swept across the US in the 1970s had a tremendous impact on Montgomery County's approach to development of affordable housing," Andrews said.
"Dispersing new affordable housing developments throughout our county has served us well over the years and helped us shape the diverse neighbourhoods that make our county so vibrant."
Williams said that his organisation is helping other cities adopt similar models, using the levers of the finance system to create immediate solutions to the problems of the housing crisis – as a complete overhaul of the American property system is unlikely to come any time soon.
"This is how we shift these housing authorities back to being active agents of inclusive economic development, as opposed to just being tubes through which Congress sends small amounts of money out to people," he said.






















摄影：Whitney Cox

The photography is by Whitney Cox.