Community development and affordable housing : the United States and Italy

Community development corporations have played an important role in America’s neighborhoods since the 1960s. Over the years, CDCs have shifted from an initial focus on job creation and economic development to include the creation of affordable housing and community organizing. This paper traces these changes over time, as well as two factors that have and continue to impact the role that a CDC plays in the community development milieu: its major rental housing funding source, the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, and its most common intermediary, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). This paper then examines the corollary community development context in northern Italy, exploring the historical development of philanthropy and nonprofits, the nascent and diffused network of CDCs, and the need for affordable rental housing. A new model is proposed based on Healey’s three-tiered matrix of governance interactions which emphasizes the importance of creating moments and places where stakeholders can exchange and develop ideas; mobilizing bias to frame and solve an issue; and the context and constraints shaped by culture. Finally, the creation of an Italian community development intermediary is explored, using LISC as a catalyst.