Spring 2021 Issue - 19

thisissue

Grappling with Housing Issues
In San Francisco, a
combination of creative
financing methods,
modular construction,
and determined local
partnerships is bringing 45 new apartments
to market for formerly
homeless adults. That
story, by Daniel Simons
and Jonas Weber, begins
on page 62.
We also have an
interesting look at an
affordable housing
development underway
in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin
Islands. Not one, but two
Category 5 hurricanes
slammed that territory
over the span of just
two weeks in September 2017, devastating
a market that already
endured problems with
the supply and condition
of affordable homes.
Work is underway on a new $57.7 million project that will
bring 84 affordable apartments-built to withstand future
storms with electricity and water supplies intact-by the
end of 2022. The development carries lessons for global
communities where the hurricane supply kit never gathers much dust. " Rising from the Wreckage in the U.S.
Virgin Islands " begins on page 46.
One way to adjust to shifting market demands in a
post-pandemic world is by repurposing existing structures. Developers' lessons on this intriguing possibility
are presented in " Promise and Perils: Assessing the
Prospects for Adaptive Use, " which begins on page 58.
Thank you for your continued support of ULI and of
this magazine. Watch for your next issue to arrive in
mailboxes-and via the e-reader posted on Knowledge
Finder-in early July. UL
Elizabeth Razzi
Editor in Chief
SPRING 2021

FOB__SP21.indd 19

Housing, a fundamental component of a comfortable and secure life, often seems to be an economic
sector that is in crisis, recovering from crisis, or steaming
toward the next crisis. An adequate supply of decent
quality homes available for rent or purchase is a nearperpetual concern worldwide. Now, in the United States,
in particular, soaring demand for homes in many communities is driving prices to barely imaginable levels.
For example, in Washington, D.C., home of ULI's
global headquarters, the median price of a single-family
home shot past the million-dollar mark last October
to $1.1 million. That was up 24 percent from one year
earlier. Half of all sales were for more than a million
bucks. While the inventory includes some over-the-top
homes (Jeff Bezos, the wealthiest man in the world,
owns a place here, after all) along with many lovely
homes, much of the local housing supply is far from
extraordinary. Housing rents declined, according to
CoStar, which reports that average asking rent per unit
in Washington was $2,064 per month in March, which
was down 6.3 percent from a year earlier.
These changes were driven in part by changing consumer preferences during a time of remote work and
COVID-19 restrictions. Overall, this is not a stable, reassuring condition for any market. It is just one American
city's example, but similar conditions are playing out in
many cities around the world, and no one knows how
markets will readjust once pandemic restrictions fade
into memory.
This issue of Urban Land looks at this extraordinarily
dynamic situation from several perspectives. Beginning
on page 52, we present a snapshot of the ULI Terwilliger Center's Home Attainability Index. The index is a
rich statistical tool that allows sophisticated analysis
of what's happening in specific U.S. rental and owned
housing markets. It allows users to analyze attainability according to real-life conditions, comparing wages
according to job types and local pay rates with local
housing costs. It also allows a look at housing situations through the lenses of racial equity and access to
vital services such as transit and health care. ULI members can access the full power of this analytical tool
through Knowledge Finder, knowledge.uli.org.
This issue also highlights several creative approaches
to making housing more attainable for more people.

U R B A N LA N D

4/1/21 10:18 AM

Spring 2021 Issue

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Spring 2021 Issue