Joshua Shokoor: [00:00:01] We're seeing this problem happen a lot in our metropolitan areas. You know that's where the jobs are. That's where college grads tend to go and they are some of the most highest cost of living areas in the country. You want a good salary you want to be able to pay off your college debt. You want a job. You want a career. You know it seems like you have to bite the bullet and live in areas that have high costs of living and high rents.
Patrick Antrim: [00:00:26] That's Joshua Shakoor. He's an affordable housing advocate dedicated to elevating organizational efficiency and promoting effective communication to strengthen public and private relationships. He's devoted the last two years to furthering an understanding of how communities in the 21st century organize themselves and how residents interact with the institutions they construct. Since the fall of 2017 Joshua has worked full time as a data and communications analyst at the NHP Foundation. In late 2018, Joshua will graduate from George Mason University with a master's degree in urban policy and development concentrating on the role Science and Technology will play in the future design and social function of our cities.
Patrick Antrim: [00:02:20] So housing intersects with every aspect of our live. Our social lives, our communities. And for the last two years or maybe even perhaps more I know you've done some deep research on this but you've devoted a lot of time in your own personal resources and professional to understand how communities organize themselves and how residents interact with the institutions that they construct. Can you tell us a little bit more about this?
Joshua Shokoor: [00:02:50] So my main thing is looking at you know local governments municipalities and how people inhabit those areas and how their relationships are with you know the different levels of government whether it goes to county state and federal. But yeah I mean mainly how people set up their neighborhoods. I grew up in a very nice neighborhood. City of Falls Church it's actually ranked as the number one household median income in this country. And also it's just rated the healthiest and it's a strange case because it's a 2.2 square mile city. You can look at it now and you can say it's growing. How did it get to where it is? And you know there was a lot of community involvement, resident involvement and engagement. You know so many meetings there's so many people attending but you can if you look at the history of it. It got its independence and its own municipality that 2.2 square miles based on redlining. So you know we can look at the history and how things were organized whether through know homeowner's association or local governments to where they are now and it's just trying to get that full scope to understand how city got to where it is and where it's going. And why you know certain areas are so different socioeconomically wise diversity was than others.
Patrick Antrim: [00:04:27] In order to have an all encompassing program to develop even affordable housing in a community I mean you've have bankers involved, you've got builders, you have private public partnerships, cities, state issues, local issues, attorneys, accountants, and all these types of programs that come into play. Do we need more expertise in affordable housing or are we just not collecting the right data?
Joshua Shokoor: [00:04:57] So when it comes to housing specifically I would say that it's not necessarily all these expertise and these individuals with certain titles playing their roles and you know creating affordable housing more so it's the data sharing between developers and local governments and developers at one another. Academics. Medical facilities different hospitals. The these industries all intersect with one another and have to sort of work together to see what local...