Belema Derefaka, Author at HR&A

Belema Derefaka

A Conversation with Aaron Abelson, HR&A Texas Managing Partner

January 26, 2024 / No Comments

We sat down with the Managing Partner of HR&A’s Texas office in Dallas to discuss his recent elevation from Principal to Partner, the unique challenges facing cities and communities in Texas, and what makes the Lone Star State one of the most exciting places to work in the country.

In your tenure with HR&A, you’ve advanced from a Research Analyst role all the way to Managing Partner — what has that been like?

I joined HR&A in the Fall of 2013 as a Research Analyst, and I was the Assistant to the Chairman, John Alschuler. Looking back now at those formative years in my career, I certainly could not have imagined the path I’ve taken at HR&A and the learning opportunities, supportive mentorship, brilliant colleagues, and diverse project experiences that would help me get to this point.

You helped found our Dallas office — what brought HR&A to Texas and what kind of work have you been doing across the region?

We founded the Dallas office in 2015, which was an incredible opportunity for me to move from New York and help build a presence in Texas from scratch. We had some consequential projects here already, and we had a sense that there was a ton of opportunity here to do important work.

Over the last eight years, it’s been a joy to be able to grow our office and collaborate with amazing people on some incredibly impactful work across the city and state. We’ve helped lead transformative projects across the region like the Buffalo Bayou East Master Plan. We spent over three years working with the Buffalo Bayou Partnership on an investment strategy and master plan for Buffalo Bayou East, a four-mile extension of Houston’s wonderful waterfront park system including park, trail, and community development investments in the Fifth Ward and East End. The plan helped the Buffalo Bayou Partnership secure $300 million in new commitments of funding from the from philanthropic and public sources, which is already helping them realize their vision for reconnecting these communities in Houston with their Bayou.

We’ve also been working for two years with the city of Dallas on crafting and implementing the City’s Equitable Economic Development Policy and incentives Policy, which seeks to address longstanding economic inequalities for historically underserved areas. We work closely with senior City leadership to refine and create policies, structures, and programs that proactively address disparities in economic opportunities and outcomes. I’ve also been leading the team managing the strategic vision update, economic development planning, and real estate strategy for the Panther Island redevelopment project in Fort Worth, which is truly a once in a generation opportunity. Where else can you find a 400+ acre site next to downtown with major economic development potential; essentially an opportunity to create a new neighborhood in the center of Fort Worth through true public-private partnership?

What kinds of work do you hope to pursue as you step into the role of Managing Partner of HR&A’s Dallas office?

One of the early projects for HR&A’s Texas office comes to mind as an example of the sustained work we do with clients to help realize bold visions: Harold Simmons Park in Dallas. It’s a transformative vision for the city that we worked on in several phases over the years. We helped our client, the Trinity Park Conservancy, from the beginning, helping craft the vision and plan for the park, and later we developed an equitable development toolkit to shape the implementation of this major park investment. Throughout that later work, we really focused on both maximizing the positive benefit of the project to the community while also thinking through ways to mitigate the potential negative impacts that a major investment like that can have on existing communities.

That mixture of bringing an equity, policy, and community engagement lens to our work has helped shape our approach on other projects like the Ion Innovation District for Rice University in Houston. HR&A has been the strategic partner and development on the project, which has the goal of creating a thriving and inclusive tech ecosystem in Houston. It has been gratifying to not only see the Ion, a 300,000 square foot innovation hub built in a former Sears store, come to fruition as an inclusive center for Houston’s tech ecosystem, but also to see our client and the City of Houston adopt a Community Benefits Agreement guiding over $15M in commitments to workforce inclusion, entrepreneurship, and housing affordability.

I want to continue pursuing work where we’re helping craft a vision for significant urban investments with clients who are really committed to doing them in a community-driven way that maximizes the project’s positive impacts.

What unique value does HR&A bring to Dallas and cities across Texas?

This is such a rapidly growing state with so much of that growth happening in urban areas, and all of that growth has significant implications for housing affordability, job access, environmental sustainability, and numerous other policy, business, and community considerations. Over the last couple of decades, it feels like Texas is really grappling with what that growth means. How does the state keep attracting people and creating jobs and homes for this growing population? How does it continue competing with other desirable cities and states across the country?

As our clients try to answer those questions, HR&A offers an understanding of how policy relates to real estate, and real estate relates to community development, and community development relates to housing — the list goes on. We can help clients understand how to do strategic, transformative urban work in a way that is community oriented and impactful in as many ways as possible. This integrated thinking really resonates here.

You’ve worked in cities across the country; what do you think are some of the unique challenges and opportunities in Dallas compared to other US cities?

In addition to the explosive growth across the state, the other force we’re seeing play our in many cities across the state, but Dallas in particular, has been a great deal of suburban growth. In recent years, there has been a recognition of the value of a vibrant downtown, and there has been a lot more investment in the center city. But at the same time, there are so many challenges for downtowns in these major cities across Texas to grapple with and continue acting as the economic engines they’ve been in the past. It’s a theme we see across the country, but the issues of housing affordability, downtown economic growth, and the challenges of office markets facing a new reality after COVID almost feel more pronounced here. I think Texas is a great place to work on finding the right balance of investment in downtowns as drivers of growth and strength for entire regions.

As HR&A Texas’ Managing Partner, what are your aspirations for the office? Where are y’all headed?

I’m very proud of what the Texas office has become over the last eight years and the team we now have across Dallas, Houston, and Austin. It’s a group of people who I think really reflect the best of HR&A. Everyone is passionate and committed to the work we do and to the places where we live. We have a real dynamic mixture of staff who were born and raised in Texas as well as transplants like me who have found their home here.

I look at all of the projects that my HR&A colleagues from across the state and the country are working on here in Texas and I’m blown away by the diversity and reach of our projects. From broadband and statewide digital opportunity planning, to equitable TOD policies, to affordable housing trainings, to mission-driven real estate and economic development strategies, to parks and open space plans, it is thrilling to see the impact we have had and the clients and collaborators we’ve been able to partner with in cities across Texas.

What’s exciting to me when I think about the future of our office is the opportunity to continue building this team and expand our ability to offer clients here the unique value that is in HR&A’s DNA. We want to leverage all of this team’s passion, expertise, and commitment to improving cities, institutions, policies, and major projects across Texas.

A Conversation with Connie Chung, HR&A Los Angeles’ Managing Partner

January 26, 2024 / No Comments

We sat down with the Managing Partner of our LA office, Connie Chung, to discuss her recent elevation from Principal to Partner, California’s role as a national leader in problem-solving at the urban scale, and what’s in store for HR&A in the LA region and beyond.

You grew up in LA, but you joined HR&A in New York. What drew you to the company, and after living and working in New York, what inspired you to return home to manage HR&A’s LA office?

I actually got to know HR&A as a client when I was living in New York. I was the Director of Planning at the Alliance for Downtown New York (a business improvement district for Lower Manhattan) working on all kinds of planning, economic development, and placemaking projects. My role there was focused on implementation, from activating the public realm to working with the Department of City Planning on zoning issues. After Superstorm Sandy, I hired HR&A to advise us on an economic recovery strategy for lower Manhattan for a major grant application. I loved working with these experts I had hired – and I guess the feeling was mutual!

I joined the firm in 2013 to manage our Program Development and Implementation work for The Lawn on D in Boston, which was a natural fit given my background in placemaking and public space activation. We developed project vision/mission statements and a programming strategy that could realize that vision, and then I actually ran implementation for a year and a half. It was so much fun, and it also kickstarted my work in our parks and open space practice. I also worked on district master plan projects like Detroit’s East Riverfront, where we collaborated closely with the urban designers and the community on a strategic framework for reinvestment in 400 acres adjacent to Downtown and the Detroit Riverwalk. In Pittsburgh, I crafted an economic benefits case for citywide and equitable reinvestment in its parks, to support a ballot measure that voters approved to support funding the park system.

These types of projects continue to be a focus for me because they’re all about creating places —whether it’s a public park or bringing less tangible investments into a neighborhood — that bring community together and foster a sense of belonging and buzz of activity. These places are at the heart of what makes cities thrive.

After a while I began working on projects in LA, and that allowed me to visit home more regularly. I saw that Southern California had evolved so much since I was a kid, and that evolution made it an incredibly interesting place for someone interested in planning and urban development. We were building out an entirely new transit system (funded thanks to the passage of Measures R and M); Downtown LA had undergone a massive transformation; and yet this was and is all in the context of the very LA patchwork of neighborhoods spread out across the region. Meanwhile, our Los Angeles office was growing, and I was thrilled at the chance to help lead the office while also making an impact on my hometown.

Since returning home in 2017, I’ve been proud to lead projects in our region while maintaining a national practice. I worked alongside city leaders and a community coalition on a vision plan for the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena — which led to the community forming a new foundation that is seeking to implement its first project. I’ve also worked with numerous community-based and cultural institutions to evaluate possible real estate strategies in order to better support their missions. And other recent favorite projects outside California have been with the Atlanta BeltLine, and work in New Orleans, Chicago, Kansas City, and Denver.

As I step into my new role as Managing Partner for our Los Angeles office, I think about my young daughter whose hometown this has become, and I’m more excited than ever to play a role in LA’s continued evolution.

What are some of the greatest challenges facing the LA region right now?

I think two of our most important challenges right now are housing affordability and climate change, and we have so many of the tools at HR&A to help our clients tackle them. I love that we have never been afraid to dive into the most difficult issues facing our cities; it’s just our culture. So, I want to be laser focused on doing work that’s moving the needle on the most pressing problems here.

Housing affordability is a statewide (and national) issue, and the related homelessness crisis is an affordable housing crisis. It means we have to figure out how to fund and develop all kinds of affordable housing from extremely low-income to middle-income housing, and we have to think about solutions to homelessness. And you can’t think about either of those things without considering the many and disparate impacts of climate change on our most vulnerable and historically marginalized communities. These issues are so interconnected.

After working in cities across the country, what do you think is unique about working in LA and California. What excites you about the future here?

What’s so exciting is that California is a leader in so many things, and we can create models for solving big problems like climate change and the housing crisis that the rest of the country and maybe even the world can take and adapt to solve these issues in their regions. What’s important about the work we’re doing in California is that we’re really digging into how these issues are connected. When we’re doing climate work, we’re considering issues like extreme heat, resilience, equity, water and energy, as well as carbon. We need to look at all of those things holistically.

HR&A is so good at thinking comprehensively about the issues facing cities and working in an interdisciplinary way — that’s desperately needed in LA. So, we’re not just working in a silo, writing a report, and handing it over to our clients. We really love getting in the trenches and figuring out the implementation aspects of our plans and how our analysis will be used. We want to help our clients understand what the data means and create a roadmap with them to use our analysis to address the problems they’re hoping to solve and build something better. We want to make an impact and see positive change here because it’s our home.

I’m excited to expand our presence in LA not just because it’s good for HR&A, but also because I sincerely believe that we can be helpful in improving people’s lives here in LA and across California. That’s our mission, and I want HR&A to be one of the first companies that come to mind when potential clients are thinking about how to move the needle on the big urban challenges that they’re facing.

Senior Advisor, Carl Weisbrod named PoliticsNY Transportation Power Player

January 17, 2024 / No Comments

This excerpt was originally published in PoliticsNY’s Transportation Power Players Announcement.

Carl Weisbrod

Senior Advisor, HR&A Advisors

Carl’s distinguished 40-year career in public service and urban development has been dedicated to building accessible, resilient, and economically vibrant communities. An internationally-sought after expert on city planning, affordable housing policy, and public-private real estate development, Carl has guided some of New York’s most significant public agencies and transformative development initiatives in leadership roles at HR&A Advisors, as chairman of the NYC Planning Commission, and as director of the NYC Department of City Planning.

Why did you pursue a career in transportation?

Transportation is one essential component of a highly functioning urban environment along with planning, economic development, education, and social equity. As we look to the future, I want to continue asking how transportation – particularly public transportation – can most effectively contribute to the lifeblood of a functioning, connected, resilient, and equitable urban environment.

What is your favorite travel experience?

It is certainly not sitting in a traffic jam!

What transportation improvement would you like to see completed in the future?

After serving as the chair of the MTA’s Traffic Mobility Review Board, I was pleased with MTA’s recent embrace of our recommendations, leading to the nation’s first congestion pricing plan. It’s a transformative change in how people will experience New York City and the region, with the expected easing of traffic that will significantly improve transit times along with reduced carbon emissions and increased use of public transit while providing critical funding for public transportation infrastructure.

What is your preferred method of transportation?

As a lifelong New Yorker, of course, my favorite mode of transit is the subway. It’s the largest and most iconic transit system in the world, and I’m proud to have navigated most of my life traveling along its many routes. Its daily riders reflect the diversity of the city’s residents and visitors. Its pace and density reflect the excitement and rhythm of New York – the world’s greatest city.

See other Transportation Power Players here.

San Diego Housing Commission Study of Residential Evictions in the City of San Diego Provides Insights for Eviction Prevention Efforts

January 12, 2024 / No Comments

This press release was originally issued by San Diego Housing Commission.

Study may inform the evaluation and development of opportunities to potentially strengthen existing eviction prevention and housing stability initiatives

SAN DIEGO, CA — Communities with lower income, higher rental cost burden, a higher proportion of Black and Hispanic households, more single-parent households, and higher unemployment levels are more likely to experience evictions in the City of San Diego, according to a recent San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) study of residential eviction trends from 2017 to 2022. The study, “Analysis of Residential Evictions in the City of San Diego,” was published today on SDHC’s website.

“All San Diegans need and deserve to live in secure and stable housing. This study highlights the housing challenges many residents face, particularly those from historically disenfranchised communities,” said San Diego City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera. “As a City, we need to do much more to guarantee everyone can have a roof over their head where they can live with dignity. Making sure our friends, family, and neighbors can afford to remain in and not be unnecessarily removed from their homes adds to the safety and stability of our neighborhoods and is an essential piece of our homeless prevention strategy. We must take active steps to prevent evictions, ensure people don’t fall into homelessness, and provide greater housing opportunities for all income levels.”

SDHC initiated the study in February 2023, as households began to face potential evictions in greater numbers upon the conclusion of federal assistance and renter protections implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As rents continue to rise and vacancies remain low, individuals and families throughout the city will continue to struggle to pay rent and keep up with other living expenses at the same time. The potential for eviction is real for many households,” SDHC President & CEO Lisa Jones said. “This study analyzed data, reviewed best practices and sought input from renters themselves to provide our policy makers crucial information as they consider next steps to enhance eviction prevention.”

SDHC completed the study in consultation with HR&A Advisors, a public policy firm with more than 40 years of experience in real estate and economic development.

“The goal of this report is to establish a baseline of existing conditions and trends related to residential evictions here in San Diego,” said Judith Taylor, a Partner at HR&A Advisors, Inc. “I want to thank the City of San Diego and the San Diego Housing Commission for acknowledging the importance of these issues and for conducting this study. Eviction-related challenges are not unique to San Diego, but with this analysis, community leaders here will have needed information to make informed policy decisions addressing local housing instability.”

SDHC contracts with Legal Aid Society of San Diego to operate the City of San Diego Eviction Preventi on Program, which launched in December 2021.

“The housing crisis in San Diego is one of the most pressing problems facing our residents today,” said Joanne Franciscus, CEO and Executive Director of the Legal Aid Society of San Diego (LASSD). “More than half of the cases LASSD handles are evictions and other housing-related cases. Evictions not only threaten people’s housing but their health, employment, education and financial well-being for years to come. Effective eviction prevention requires a comprehensive, multifaceted solution that starts with lawyers enforcing people’s rights. LASSD is grateful to the City of San Diego and the San Diego Housing Commission for their forward thinking and ongoing support of the Eviction Prevention Program, through which we and our community-based partners provide legal representation, education, outreach, case management services, and emergency financial assistance that have helped thousands of San Diegans avoid eviction and homelessness to date.”

The study included analysis of Superior Court case data, Sheriff’s Department lockout data, U.S. Census Bureau data, survey responses from more than 6,000 residential renters in the City of San Diego, roundtable discussions with community-based organizations, and a review of best practices in cities nationwide.

Approximately 3,700 renter households annually in San Diego faced formal eviction proceedings before the pandemic, as measured by unlawful detainer case filings, according to SDHC’s study. However, that total does not fully capture tenants who received an eviction notice or faced informal evictions outside of the legal system. Research outside San Diego suggests that informal evictions could be twice as high as formal evictions, based on data before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Enterprise Community Partners’ 2022 report, “Home for Good: Strategies to Prevent Eviction and Promote Housing Stability.”

The SDHC study also found that the geographic distribution of evictions remained consistent year over year. Central and Southeastern San Diego have historically faced the highest levels of evictions (Downtown San Diego, Southeastern San Diego, Otay Mesa, City Heights, Mission Valley and Tierrasanta). Neighborhoods with a higher share of Black and Hispanic residents, single-parent households, and residents who are unemployed were also more likely to experience higher rates of evictions (Southeastern San Diego, Barrio Logan, Encanto, Valencia Park, Lomita, Otay Mesa, and Nestor).

Key takeaways from the study also include that community-based nonprofits, cultural organizations and religious groups are essential partners in eviction prevention efforts.

Study Recommendations

- Continue focusing eviction prevention outreach, educational and service provision efforts on neighborhoods experiencing high rates of evictions.
- Consider opportunities to strengthen existing tenant protections.
- Continue to assess the usefulness of and opportunities to enhance the Tenant Termination Notice Registry after completion and implementation of the registry.
- Explore options to enhance the Unlawful Detainer Court Case Database and deepen understanding of those affected.
- Explore the development of benchmarks and targets for the City of San Diego Eviction Prevention Program (EPP) to support the understanding of whether existing outreach efforts and service provision are meeting community needs sufficiently.
- Explore potential avenues and advocate for increased resources to bolster financial assistance programs, particularly emergency rental assistance.
- Continue partnering with and supporting capacity building of the Eviction Prevention Collaborative (EPC).
- Consider an eviction-focused, citywide needs assessment.
- Continue to focus on ways to increase preservation, production and access to affordable housing through a “whole-system” approach.

Additional Coverage:

San Diego has boosted protections for renters. It’s not enough, report says., San Diego Union-Tribune

Who’s most likely to experience eviction in San Diego?, NBC San Diego

Housing commission completes eviction study, comes away with recommendations, KPBS

Photo: Maciej Drazkiewicz

Mobilizing Finance Through Anticipating Economic Impact of Urban Infrastructure

January 9, 2024 / No Comments

Photo: World Bank

This press release was originally issued by The World Bank.

In April 2021, the World Bank engaged HR&A Advisors to support an Advisory Services Activity (ASA) under Terms of Reference (TOR) to produce two case study narrative assessments of completed urban infrastructure projects in identifying how those projects impacted private sector partners and/or economic sectors to inform opportunities for targeting and collaborating with private co-investment and enhancing Program Design for urban infrastructure projects. HR&A’s assessment of impacts includes all direct, indirect, and induced impacts, with a focus primarily on indirect and induced impacts as a means of catalyzing private investment. Indirect or induced impacts are also referred to as positive externalities or ‘multiplier’ impacts. Recommendations in this report focus primarily on indirect or ‘multiplier’ impacts associated with real estate values, development activity, business investment, jobs, and quality of life. Real estate values and other development do not necessarily represent a benefit themselves but are a quantifiable measure of the capitalized impacts of a project.

Click here to read the official PDF report.

Erin Lonoff and Sierra Scott Discuss their Paths from Fellowship to Full Time

December 22, 2023 / No Comments

Summer Analyst Fellows turned full time HR&Aers, Principal Erin Lonoff and Analyst Sierra Scott, share insights into their experiences in our Fellowship Program, aligning academic passions with career paths, HR&A’s culture of mentorship, and what they’ve learned along the way.

What inspired you all to apply to the HR&A Summer Fellowship program? And how did HR&A stand out?

Erin: I was a summer fellow a little over ten years ago. Prior to heading to planning school, the planning world itself was unfamiliar territory for me. When I stumbled upon the Fellowship at Summer at HR&A in a job posting, it stood out as the singular internship opportunity that resonated deeply with my passion for quantifying and advocating for public policies. I recognized that while I might not have initially seen myself deeply involved in real estate, my true passion was utilizing data to articulate infrastructure investments and policies that benefit society and the environment. HR&A’s Summer Fellowship Program was the sole internship opportunity I found that explicitly highlighted a focus on using data to advocate for public policy.

Sierra: Towards the end of my time in graduate school, I was still uncertain of whether I wanted to work in the public or private sector. Throughout my academic journey, I’d worked at a state government agency and took on a few contracted policy research gigs, yet my definitive post grad direction remained unclear.

It was a former classmate turned colleague, Miriam Dominguez, who introduced me to HR&A. Her experience as a fellow in 2022 intrigued me, prompting a deeper dive into HR&A’s portfolio. What I found resonated deeply — it epitomized the aspirations I held while pursuing my graduate studies, aligning perfectly with what I like to call a “planner’s dream”.

Despite receiving an opportunity for a two-year policy fellowship, HR&A was the place I wanted to be. It offered an exciting blend of public and private sector exposure and the opportunity to fulfill my professional aspirations. Today, I find myself precisely where I am meant to be, nurturing my career in alignment with my ambitions.

After your fellowships, you both stuck around. Why? What made you decide to join HR&A full time?

Sierra: I consider myself a generalist, which is something you’ll hear from many of us at HR&A. When we form our project teams, we bring together versatile professionals to do work that interweaves public policy and economic development, or housing and public transit planning. As Erin pointed out, our projects encompass diverse components. What truly stood out for me was the exposure I gained. It wasn’t just about isolated industries or sectors; it was about understanding their interrelationships.

The chance to figure out how to implement affordable housing initiatives alongside Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) work was compelling. It offered a holistic view, allowing me to appreciate how these elements aren’t standalone entities but pieces of a larger, interconnected puzzle. HR&A is a space where the work isn’t confined to just one thing. It thrives on the synergy between various sectors.

Erin: Honestly, I didn’t plan on joining the company after my internship, but within days of stepping into the Fellowship, I changed my mind. I fell in love with the job, this company, and New York. That first day, I joined three different projects that were all kicking off at the same time. I loved the pace, the energy, and most importantly, the alignment of excitement among my colleagues. Ten years down the road, I’m still at HR&A, and I’m so happy I made the choice to build a career here.

How do you feel the summer fellowship set you up for transitioning into full time work in this industry?

Erin: Reflecting on my summer fellowship at HR&A, one invaluable takeaway was a holistic understanding of how all these pieces come together in this industry. This insight influenced and shaped my coursework during my final year of planning school. I shifted my focus, veering towards economics, real estate, and data analytics courses to expand my technical knowledge base.

My summer fellowship experience closely mirrors our current Summer Fellowship program’s Track One option, allowing me to complete the Fellowship and return to school before coming back Full Time after graduating.

Sierra: My summer fellowship allowed me to gain experience with technical competencies, while also honing soft skills. Technically, my time at HR&A provided invaluable exposure to various templates and models that hadn’t crossed my path during grad school. Looking back, if I had the chance to lean towards altering certain courses for that crucial exposure, I would.

Pertaining to soft skills, I had always prided myself on time management, navigating multiple jobs alongside a heavy academic load throughout undergrad and grad school. However, transitioning to the corporate world demanded a heightened level of efficiency. It pushed me to elevate my time management skills not just for meeting deadlines, but also making time for self-care. Within this growth, an unexpected skill surfaced: advocating for myself to make sure my project workload was balanced.

Luckily, HR&A offers an abundance of resources and a collective willingness to help me adjust to the pace of corporate life. The team’s readiness to extend support, allocating time to ensure understanding and setting up for success, was really essential in my professional development.

What role did mentorship play in your fellowship experience?

Sierra: I’m based out of one of the smaller offices (Atlanta), but the sense of mentorship extended far and wide. It felt like every individual took on an unofficial mentorship role, generously offering guidance and sharing their experiences and career trajectories, which have helped shape my own path. Surprisingly, what I initially thought might not interest me, like Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) work, has now become my favorite practice area — all thanks to insightful conversations with mentors like Christina De Guilio.

In addition to these informal mentors, the Summer Fellow Mentorship Program was invaluable. My mentor, Rachel Waldman’s flexibility, advocacy, and consistent support were instrumental in my growth. Additionally, the accessibility of partners within the firm for mentorship was remarkable. Despite their busy schedules, they graciously spared time for mentoring sessions, reflecting their genuine commitment to nurturing talent. Joining the workforce can be intimidating! And, when I started, I didn’t always feel comfortable sharing my ideas. But that dynamic changed quickly, especially when working closely with partners who were not only willing to listen to what I had to say but encouraged me to further expand on my ideas.

Erin: Before joining HR&A, I worked in other industries that could feel very hierarchical, where entry-level individuals rarely interacted with senior figures without a compelling reason. However, in just a few weeks, HR&A shattered my previous assumptions. I found a news article relevant to our project and shared it with my project manager. Their response surprised me: they encouraged me to send it directly to Candace Damon, the Partner leading the project. This seemingly simple gesture was eye-opening. It signified a culture where partners were invested in everyone’s success, regardless of tenure, and everyone’s ideas matter. It was a pivotal moment that reshaped my understanding of workplace dynamics and organizational culture.

The impact of these individuals extended beyond my summer experience. Kate Coburn, for example, helped me secure a scholarship when I returned to school .

Now, as a Principal at HR&A, it’s incredible to have built my career alongside these familiar faces who mentored me when I was a Fellow ten years ago, who are now my colleagues and friends. Their commitment to my professional growth sparked my own passion for mentorship, and I love “paying it forward” by mentoring staff and our new classes of Summer Fellows.

Connie Chung joins MICD’s 78th National Session in Boston for Visionary Urban Leadership

December 21, 2023 / No Comments

The 78th National Session of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design (MICD) recently convened in Boston, MA, under the leadership of Mayor Michelle Wu. Seven mayors and a team of experts — including HR&A’s Connie Chung —gathered to tackle pressing urban challenges and exchanged insights on design and development. The session equipped these leaders with strategies for equitable revitalization, community engagement, and fostering vibrant public spaces.

We were inspired by each of these mayors’ commitments to centering equity in their work, uplifting local culture, and engaging the community in the design process for public spaces. Their efforts are essential for building more resilient, inclusive futures for their constituents.

Moreover, the insights from the session underscore the critical importance of connecting implementation to visioning. These urban leaders understand that the work is not just about envisioning positive change; it’s about ensuring a viable path toward making that vision a lived reality. How you design the steps along the way matters.

As our company leaders continue contributing to these impactful discussions and initiatives, it’s clear that there’s significant work ahead, but there’s also great leadership ready to roll up their sleeves and tackle challenges head on.

Related Articles

Inergency “Boston, MA Mayor Michelle Wu Welcomes The Mayors’ Institute On City Design For Its 78th National Session – Mayors’ Institute On City Design”

Beyond the LIHTC: Unveiling a Holistic Approach to Addressing the Nation’s Housing Puzzle

December 14, 2023 / No Comments

While the federal and state Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Program has created over 3 million homes since its creation in 1986, and is one of our most powerful tools in addressing our nation’s housing crisis, even the LIHTC isn’t a silver bullet for solving the housing puzzle. HR&A Principal, Callahan Seltzer recently shared her thoughts in this Shelterforce article alongside other national housing experts on some of the unintended consequences of the program and what other tools we need in our ‘housing strategy toolkits’ to provide housing options tailored to community needs.

The LIHTC offers State and local agencies around $9 billion a year in tax credits for the acquisition, rehabilitation, or new construction of rental affordable housing, but the financial infrastructure required to receive these credits often only pencils out for larger-scale affordable housing projects of 100 units or more. “It is really tough to do projects less than 100 units,” Callahan Seltzer shares, “It’s tough for those to even score well [on applications to the state to receive tax credits]. Oftentimes, syndicators, and then, de facto, the investors, aren’t as interested.” Yet, 20- or 30-unit buildings are often what are needed, especially in rural areas.

Callahan also shared an anecdote from an project in Denver, Colorado, which was originally envisioned as a 40- to 60-unit development but was reimagined into a 125- to 160-unit development to secure LIHTC funding.

HR&A is working with visionary clients who want to build new, innovative strategies in addition to the LIHTC, such as the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, Southern California Association of Governments, and the Housing Equity Fund, to name a few. Together, we’re exploring a range of options in addition to the LIHTC program that will streamline the production of desperately needed housing for communities around the country. We see this work as essential in the housing industry’s evolution.

Click here to read the full Shelterforce article.

Empowering Municipal Excellence: League of Cities of Puerto Rico (La Liga) Launches the Municipal Innovation Laboratory for Transformative Local Governance

December 11, 2023 / No Comments

League of Cities of Puerto Rico, also known as La Liga, a non-partisan organization focused on working with local governments to improve the lives of their constituents, is partnering with PolicyLink with support from the Magic Cabinet and Ford Foundation to unveil ‘The Municipal Innovation Laboratory.’ HR&A Advisors has been proud to support La Liga in creating and launching this powerhouse resource center fostering advocacy and bolstering municipal capacity across Puerto Rico.

Last week, the La Liga proudly introduced the Municipal Innovation Laboratory as a new program focused on building capacity within municipal governments via a robust curriculum of strategic consulting, community-focused planning, technical assistance, and specialized workshops. With a focus on inclusivity and equity, La Liga prioritized non-metropolitan communities and is working with the towns of Aguada, Barceloneta, Gurabo, Hormigueros, and Florida as the first cohort of municipalities to benefit from this meticulously crafted initiative. Over a year in development, this laboratory represents a pivotal part of the La Liga’s municipal agenda.

This launch is a model for what is possible when public, private, and philanthropic organizations come together to tackle complex challenges facing communities outside of metropolitan centers. Substantial contributions from Policy Link and Magic Cabinet, totaling $1.8 million each over four years, as well as forthcoming contributions from the Ford Foundation, have been instrumental in launching the Innovation Laboratory to help create sustainable change in the region.

As part of the year-long Innovation Laboratory program, La Liga will work with each municipality to: a) Conduct an assessment to identify opportunities and gaps, b) Identify specific technical assistance needs, c) Develop a tailored, comprehensive curriculum to promote equity-driven community power, transparency, fiscal responsibility, and economic well-being, d) Co-create an action plan, which will include a dynamic, customized framework defining not only what “success” looks like for each community but also establishing milestones to measure progress along the way. Following this curriculum, La Constructora, the next step in La Liga’s support, will assist municipalities in identifying a specific quick win or project to translate this work into tangible impact for the municipality’s residents. This involves identifying federal funds, co-creating proposals, and further supporting the implementation of the chosen initiatives.

This initiative comes at a crucial time, offering a lifeline to municipalities grappling with fiscal challenges, the devastating impacts of climate change, and more. The mayors emphasize the invaluable support La Liga will provide amidst critical cuts in the Municipal Equalization Fund. For the mayors and municipal leaders involved, commitment and willpower are the key criteria for participation. La Liga envisions these five mayors as catalysts for wider participation, inviting other leaders to partake in this transformative initiative.

While the towns of Aguada, Barceloneta, Gurabo, Hormigueros, and Florida lead the charge, La Liga will be extending its services to other municipalities seeking assistance through El Instituto de Capacitación Municipal (ICAMU): an academy for all municipalities to access resources and benefit from learning exchange opportunities.

The Municipal Innovation Laboratory isn’t just about reengineering processes; it’s a testament to collective action, resilience, and a commitment to building stronger, more effective local governments. HR&A Advisors looks forward to continuing supporting this work empowering communities and fostering a brighter future for Puerto Rico!

La Liga’s Official press release

HR&A Advisors Supports Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund to Underwrite a $22.5M transaction for 80 Affordable Homes at Howard University

December 1, 2023 / No Comments

HR&A Advisors is pleased to announce the closing of $22.5 million in acquisition financing through the Amazon Housing Equity Fund (HEF) for the creation of 80 affordable homes at Howard Manor. Howard Manor is a historic building located on Howard University’s campus in Washington, DC. Howard University, in partnership with Provident Resources Group Inc. (PRG), is acquiring the building and, with the support of the Amazon Housing Equity Fund, converting the entire residential portion to affordable housing.

HR&A worked with Amazon, Howard University, and PRG to underwrite and close the transaction on behalf of the Amazon HEF. 100% of the homes will be affordable to households making 60% of area median income and will remain affordable, through rent restrictions, for 99 years. This project is part of a larger commitment from Howard University in 2017 to utilize best efforts to create 50 – 100 affordable units near its main campus. Howard Manor will immediately fulfill the University’s 2017 commitment at closing.

Rendering: Urban Investment Partners

The Amazon Housing Equity Fund is providing more than $2 billion to preserve and create over 20,000 affordable homes in Amazon’s home communities of Washington State’s Puget Sound region; the Washington, DC area/Arlington, VA; and Nashville, TN. Since its launch in 2021, the Amazon Housing Equity Fund has committed more than $1.8 billion to create or preserve more than 14,400 affordable homes for renters across the company’s hometown communities, including more than $1 billion to create or preserve more than 7,500 affordable homes for renters and homeowners in the Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia region.

HR&A works with Amazon as a credit underwriter for transactions in the Washington DC Metro Area and Nashville.