Building America: Affordable Housing Research

U.S. Deptartment of Energy.

This website outlines the Building America program, where the U.S. Department of Energy sponsors research in building homes that use 30-90% less energy, thus reducing utility bills and making housing more affordable.   The website describes partnerships with groups such as Habitat for Humanity to build energy-efficient, affordable homes.

Habitat for Humanity : EPICS Team

EPICS Habitat for Humanity.

Describes projects and includes reports and learning resources for the EPICS (Engineering Projects in Community Service) branch of Habitat for Humanity, which looks for ways to construct low-cost, energy efficient homes. 

   The EPICS program engages teams of undergraduate engineering students in multiyear, multidisciplinary projects.  Students work with community and educational organizations to alleviate engineering or technology problems.

Service-learning syllabi : Engineering

Campus Compact.

This website features syllabi from undergraduate engineering courses that require service learning, including a course that focuses on developing solar hot water systems for low income homes.

Best practices for effecting the rehabilitation of affordable housing

Listokin, David; Crossney, Kristen. (U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research, 2006)
McNichols Campus Library
Government Document Stacks HH 14.2:AF 2/

This report includes best practices in dealing with lead-based paint, asbestos, radon, and in increasing energy efficiency in older buildings.  It also details construction practices and technologies that are useful in housing rehabilitation.

Technology roadmapping for manufactured housing

Manufactured Housing Research Alliance. (U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, Affordale Housing Research and Technology Division, 2003)
McNichols Campus Library
Government Document Microfiche HH 1.2:T 22/5

Includes information on the latest technology, challenges, and future directions for affordable manufactured housing.

Energy conservation and housing rehabilitation under the HOME program

Office of Affordable Housing Programs, Community Planning and Development, U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development. (U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, 1994)
McNichols Campus Library
Government Document Stacks HH 1.2:EN 2/28

This document, "offers specific organizational models for combining housing rehabilitation and energy conservation programs and examines a number of actual joint and individual ventures by State and local governments, public utility companies, and nonprofit providers that offer energy-efficiency and conservation services".

Housing that dreams are made on: Detroit engineer grows up homeless, returns to build what should have been

Brandt, David; Inman, William. Industrial Engineer. (38(12), Dec. 2006, 36-40)
Electronic Access Only

Available through the InfoTrac OneFile Database.

Describes how an engineer worked with the Greater Detroit chapter of the Institute of Industrial Engineers and the nonprofit Cass Corridor Neighborhood Development Corp. (CCNDC) to plan and develop twenty new apartment buildings with 120 affordable apartments for low income families in Detroit ’s Cass Corridor.

Housing within reach: Innovations in affordable housing

Damery, David T.. Forest Products Journal. (56(6), June 2006, 9-10)
Electronic Access Only

Available through the ABI_Inform (Firstsearch) database.

Provides an overview of the Housing Within Reach: Innovations in Affordable Housing Design conference, sponsored by the Forest Products Society and the University of Massachusetts Architecture + Design Program.  Links to conference proceedings and a briefing booklet are available.

ME students teach robot fundamentals to children of SF’s homeless

Engineering News. (77(12S), April 10, 2006, 1)
Electronic Access Only

Engineering problem solving design project: Emergency/Homeless Shelter Design

Jessop, Julie L. P. : Peeples, Tonya L.. ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings. (2005, 5493-5501)
Electronic access only

Describes a college freshman engineering project where students designed a cardboard shelter heated by sunlight and body heat.

Shelter in the Ivory Tower

Chronicle of Higher Education. (51(27), Mar 11, 2005, A56)
McNichols Campus Library
Electronic Access Only

Available through the Education Abstracts Full Text (WilsonWeb) database.

Describes how Seattle University hosted a temporary tent city for the homeless, providing educational and social services to residents and inviting them to take classes.

World-Class Act

ASEE Prism. (14(1), September, 2004, 42-45)
Electronic Access Only

Available in the WilsonSelectPlus (FirstSearch) database.

Describes international service projects, organized by the Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW) organization and  manned by engineering students.

Runaway, throwaway and homeless adolescents

Dove, Marianne K.. Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin 68 no1 10-15, 27 Fall 2001. (68(1), Fall 2001, 10-15, 27)
Electronic Access Only

Available through the Education Abstracts Full Text (WilsonWeb) database.

"This article discusses the plight of troubled adolescents and details a successful collaborative project by a university and family service agency to provide on-site educational programs at a residential adolescent crisis shelter."

Geography of disaster vulnerability in megacities: a theoretical framework

Uitto, Juha I.. Applied Geography. (18 (1), January 1998, 7-16)
Electronic access only

This article is available on campus only through the ScienceDirect database.

This article describes how marginal populations, such as the homeless, are often neglected in assessing vulnerability when planning for natural disasters in major cities.  It describes a study of  the risks to Tokyo's homeless population during a hypothetical cyclone or earthquake.