Leveraging Resilience: Evidence From the Management of Senior Low-Income Housing

Abstract

Although public and private management approaches have been frequently analyzed for their outcomes along the lines of efficiency and equity, their relationship to fostering community resilience has been understudied. Public housing has undergone a market-based transition, devolving management and operations of its sites or tenants to private management companies. This multi-site case study evaluates different management contexts to understand how management processes encourage or discourage community resilience. Findings include that management can play an integral role in developing community resilience by providing spaces and opportunities for community engagement and resident empowerment. To better navigate in an era of austerity measures, this article recommends practitioners actively leverage and invest in citizen strengths to build more resilient programs.

Aging in Place in Social Housing: A Scoping Review of Social Housing for Older Adults

“…Housing staff usually consisted of a building manager (e.g., Bernstein, 1982; Heumann, 1988; Robbins et al, 2000) and maintenance staff (Heumann, 1988). Although these staff were typically hired for their skills in managing the physical and fiscal property, they frequently engaged in tenant-support activities (Heumann, 1988), despite no formal training to fulfill this role (Lucio & McFadden, 2017; Suggs et al, 1986). Most housing managers reported that they had limited knowledge of which older tenants were experiencing difficulties managing their units and/or health (Heumann, 1988) and expressed a need for more training in identifying at-risk tenants and connecting them to services (Sheehan & Wisensale, 1991).…”

“…From the tenant perspective, tenant support staff were key sources of companionship and provided a sense of security (Schulman, 1996; Sheehan, 1999); they also helped foster more positive relationships between tenants (Blandford et al, 1989) and created a community-like environment where older tenants were empowered to have a stronger voice in the management of the building (Lucio & McFadden, 2017).…”

“…The importance of tenant support staff was echoed in the literature reviewed here, which found that resident services coordinators and other similar positions play an important role in identifying vulnerable tenants, making linkages to services, and monitoring needs (e.g., Schulman, 1996). These staff also had the added benefit of fostering a sense of community where tenants were able to have input into the types of programs and services that they wanted to see in their building (Lucio & McFadden, 2017).…”

“…Most housing managers reported that they had limited knowledge of which older tenants were experiencing difficulties managing their units and/or health (Heumann, 1988) and expressed a need for more training in identifying at-risk tenants and connecting them to services (Sheehan & Wisensale, 1991). Some housing providers created tenant-facing roles, such as "Tenant Resource Coordinators" (Blandford, Chappell, & Marshall, 1989), "Resident Activity Directors" (Lucio & McFadden, 2017), and "Resident Services Coordinators" (Blumberg, Jones, & Nesbitt, 2010;Sheehan, 1999) who had prior experience working with older adults and/or formal training in gerontology (Schulman, 1996). Tenant-facing staff had a variety of roles: they supported recreation programs (Noonan et al, 2017) and tenant-led events (Lucio & McFadden, 2017), provided information to older tenants (Blandford et al, 1989;Sheehan, 1999), helped coordinate on-site services (Schulman, 1996), identified at-risk tenants and linked them to services (Schulman, 1996;Sheehan, 1999), and provided training for other building staff on how to identify older adults who needed additional support (Blumberg et al, 2010).…”

The Potential for Coproducing Food Security in Public Housing Communities

“…Recent research has illustrated how management can implement institutional support in order to leverage the actions of elderly residents living in public housing (Lucio & McFadden 2015). In this same vein, results of the current study can be used to guide policy or program suggestions that leverage both the actions and the community structure of public housing developments.…”