All posts in “News”

Principal Greta Byrum Named Marjorie & Charles Benton Opportunity Fund Fellow

April 19, 2023 / No Comments

Congratulations to HR&A Advisors Principal Greta Byrum on her appointment as a member of the inaugural cohort of Marjorie & Charles Benton Opportunity Fund Fellows, announced this week by the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society. Greta, along with six other broadband practitioners, advocates, and researchers, is leading efforts to close the digital divide and ensure broadband is accessible and equitable for all communities.

 

“It’s clear that access to the internet and digital services is critical for full participation in our society, democracy, and economy—yet as we expand access to computers and data-driven services, we must also ensure that new and marginal internet users are safe, supported, and
protected online,” said Greta.

 

Learn more about the fellows and the communities they’re impacting here.

 

 

Principal Callahan Seltzer Serves as Panelist for ULI Advisory Services Report for Steamboat Springs, Colorado

April 13, 2023 / No Comments

HR&A Advisors Principal Callahan Seltzer served as a Panelist for a ULI Advisory Services Report for Steamboat Springs, CO. The report offers insights and recommendations for unlocking the potential of this mountain resort town that, like many of its peers, struggles to build housing affordable to low and moderate income households. The Yampa Valley Housing Authority invited ULI’s Advisory Services team to assess the Brown Ranch Community Development Plan, funding concepts, strategy working with the private sector, as well as stewardship and governance.

 

The resulting report highlights the unique characteristics and assets of Steamboat Springs, including its natural beauty, strong sense of community, and diverse economy. It also identifies key challenges and opportunities facing the town, such as increasing affordability challenges, a lack of housing supply, managing growth, preserving historic resources, and enhancing transportation and mobility. HR&A’s Infrastructure Funding Navigator is listed among various funding tools and funding prospects for Steamboat Springs to explore.

 

One of the key findings of the report is the need for strategic planning and collaboration among various stakeholders to ensure a sustainable and vibrant future for Steamboat Springs. Panelists also recommended implementing innovative land use and zoning strategies, promoting affordable housing options, and investing in transportation infrastructure to address current and future needs.

 

To read the full report and learn more about the findings and recommendations at ULI’s website. You can also find additional coverage of the Advisory Services Report here.

 

Photo: Matt Noble via Unsplash

HR&A Principal Greta Byrum Speaks at FCC Roundtable on Broadband Access, Affordability and Deployment

March 28, 2023 / No Comments

 

 

HR&A Principal, Greta Byrum was invited to speak at this roundtable discussion hosted by the Federal Communications Commission’s Communications (FCC)’s Equity and Diversity Council (CEDC). Alongside stakeholders spanning community organizations, internet service providers (ISPs), federal agencies with emergency broadband funding, and state agencies, Greta shared lessons learned from the pandemic.

 

When building solutions to close the digital divide, Greta stressed the importance of working with organizations on the ground that might not be considered technology providers at first glance — for example, churches, food banks, schools, libraries, and community organizations. These connections can be the key to getting digital access to people who need it most.

 

You can learn more about the Roundtable discussion on the FCC’s website.

Video: FCC

A Simple Housing Fix for Wake County: Buy the Building, Cap the Rent

March 20, 2023 / No Comments

This opinion piece by Phillip Kash was originally published in INDY Week.

 

Change is a natural phenomenon in any neighborhood – families move in and out, businesses come and go, new immigrant groups bring different languages, cultures, and cuisines. When rents begin to grow faster than the incomes of residents, however, the resulting economic pressure can force people from their homes before they are ready to leave. The result is displacement that harms individuals, families, schools, and communities.

 

Displacement, sometimes called gentrification, is primarily driven by affordability, the difference between the cost of housing and a household’s income. As rents rise far faster than incomes, long-time residents are forced to leave and are replaced by higher-income newcomers.

 

In North Carolina, unprecedented population growth and limited housing development over the past decade has eroded housing affordability.

 

The most powerful tools to prevent displacement require systemic changes to the housing market – building more housing in desirable areas, dedicating more public funding, and adopting legislation that balances tenant and property owner interests. Even in an optimistic scenario, these reforms will take years to adopt and decades to create a healthy, equitable housing system.

 

Wake County is one of a small handful of local governments around the country that are taking on a more direct solution to affordability: buying existing apartment buildings and imposing limits on future rent increases.

 

The benefits are myriad – the purchases can be targeted to neighborhoods facing displacement pressure, limited public or grant capital can be leveraged to create far more affordability, and, most importantly, the impact of these policies is immediate. Current residents can stay in their homes with the confidence that their rent will only rise in relation to income.

 

This year, Wake County has established its own loan fund to purchase existing apartment buildings, preserve their affordability and prevent the displacement of current tenants. With an investment of $10.5 million, the county is leveraging over $40 million from banks and the City of Raleigh, and is expected to preserve over 1,000 affordable homes in the next two years.

 

Buying apartment buildings is the most effective tool available to Wake County – and potentially hundreds of other counties and municipalities nationwide – to protect residents from rapidly rising rents and forced displacement.

 

Amazon has already taken up this strategy as a corporate stakeholder. The company’s Housing Equity Fund was created to preserve affordable homes in communities where Amazon has a significant employee base. Part of its $2 billion commitment to preserve or create 20,000 affordable homes, in less than 21 months since launch, the fund has committed financing for the purchase of more than 20 existing apartment buildings, representing nearly 5,000 rental homes.

 

In cities like Arlington, VA and Bellevue, WA this represents a 20%+ increase in the number of long-term affordable homes. Rents in these apartments will now remain permanently affordable, rising only as an area’s median income rises. More than half of those investments have gone to minority-led developers and thousands of those units have easy access to public transit.

 

Amazon’s story in Seattle and Arlington is one that can be replicated across the country – and local governments like Wake County can take action without the support of a major private backer like Amazon.

 

Housing affordability and displacement require solutions that provide immediate relief to give time for longer-term solutions that rely on grinding zoning fights and policy reform. Stakeholders with financial means, both public and private, can have a near-immediate impact by buying and preserving affordable housing options.

 

Photo: Unsplash

HR&A named New York Urban League Recruitment, Retention, and Belonging Champion

February 22, 2023 / No Comments

We are proud to announce that HR&A Advisors has been named a 2023 New York Urban League Champion!

 

“Champions are considered to be one of the highest accolades for individuals and organizations committed to diversity, equity and inclusion. As one of the oldest civil rights organizations in the country, the New York Urban League seeks to celebrate companies and individuals who embody the pillars of our mission for equity.”

 

We are honored to be included amongst an impactful group of fellow Champions working to foster anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion in their industries, and we are even more honored to have been nominated by HR&A Analyst Ejiro Ojeni.

 

Time to Create a Fast Lane for Zero Emissions Vehicles 

February 21, 2023 / No Comments

 

This opinion piece by Eric Rothman, Ignacio Montojo, Hayley Prim was originally published in the Gotham Gazette.

 

In late January, Mayor Adams announced a bold and exciting goal to require New York City’s for-hire vehicle fleet to reach zero emissions by 2030. This was a welcome step forward, considering the goal is shared by major for-hire platforms, including Uber, as well as the City Department of Transportation, who recognize the climate crisis is an existential threat to our city and our planet. 

 

​​​While these shared goals are a North Star, getting there is another matter. It will require coordination across the public and private sectors to make the changes necessary to reach zero-emissions. 

 

Uber has already committed $800 million in resources globally to help support drivers’ transition to electric, covering an array of EV and charging discounts and incentives around the world to make the switch. Last year, Uber hired HR&A Advisors to help them assess what strategies and policies need to be implemented in order to help spur such a transition​ in New York City​, and whether the City’s current plans for charging infrastructure could support a full adoption of Electric Vehicles (EVs) in New York. The resulting report found that critical gaps in New York City’s infrastructure will pose significant challenges to achieving this transition in the next seven years. 

 

While there are currently critical gaps in the infrastructure needed to achieve these goals, by taking direct and clear action now, we believe the City, utilities, EV charging companies, and mission-driven landowners can work together to accelerate the path to a 100% zero-emissions future. 

 

Supercharging NYC’s EV Infrastructure 

Despite rapid growth in EV sales, today, New York City is currently lagging far behind other U.S. cities in adoption among for-hire drivers. EVs represent fewer than 1% of for-hire vehicles on city streets, compared to 9% in San Francisco and 11% in San Diego.  

 

To transition to EVs, many ride-hailing drivers need access to overnight and off-shift charging at or near their homes. Given their high daily mileage, for-hire drivers also need convenient, low-cost, and fast public chargers in areas where they make most of their trips. 

 

New York City has only 2,000 public chargers, of which only 200 are the direct current fast chargers that drivers can depend on throughout their day. The trend in the ratio of new public chargers to new registered EVs also poses challenges. 

 

The highest concentrations of public chargers are in high-cost business and residential districts in Manhattan, Downtown Brooklyn, and Long Island City and are often behind a paywall in for-profit parking garages. Those chargers are convenient for commuters or high-income residents, but not for the for-hire drivers who drive more miles than residents do and disproportionately live in neighborhoods throughout Queens, Southern Brooklyn, and parts of the Bronx, where there is currently minimal access to charging — let alone high-speed charging. 

 

Strategies to Electrify New York 

If the City and its public and private stakeholders, including rideshare platforms like Uber, work together, we can meet the moment. This is an ideal time to be engaging in this work, and leveraging unprecedented federal legislation, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, to support EV infrastructure and help drivers purchase new and used EVs. The work has already begun with the City’s Department of Transportation “Electrifying New York” plan, which includes a goal of 40,000 low-cost chargers and 6,000 fast chargers by 2030, through a combination of public and private investment, and the recent electrification recommendations of the Taxi and Limousine Commission in their “Charged Up” report. 

  

Our report recommends 10 strategies that will support enhanced access and affordability to EV charging infrastructure, build the processes and systems to support for-hire driver needs, and help achieve the 2030 zero-emissions goal: 

 

  1. Identify high-need neighborhoods that overlap with where for-hire drivers live to prioritize where to place low cost and fast chargers.
  2. Work with utilities to identify high-volume pick-up and drop-off areas in which the grid currently has capacity to support new fast chargers.
  3. Develop a comprehensive EV infrastructure deployment plan to strengthen coordination with utilities, optimizing the City’s ability to achieve its emission reduction and environmental equity goals, and electrify the for-hire vehicle fleet. 
  4. Aggressively pursue new federal funding opportunities to direct investment to target neighborhoods.​ 
  5. Streamline the permit process for EV charging as part of the City’s ongoing efforts to improve land-use processes. 
  6. Leverage real estate assets owned/managed by public or faith-based entities to provide land for accessible, affordable chargers in targeted neighborhoods and near high-volume trip areas. 
  7. Explore land use incentives for private developers to integrate public chargers with no gate/parking fees into new developments. 
  8. Continue targeted outreach and engagement specific to the for-hire vehicle industry. 
  9. Support EV charging operators in communicating electricity prices and charger availability with drivers, as well as in developing driver-centric incentives to reduce charging during peak load times.   
  10. Further develop a new pricing structure for the cost of power for charging operators that makes charging more affordable. 

 

Working Towards 2030 Zero-Emissions 

There is unprecedented momentum and alignment among the various players in the mobility and for-hire vehicle industry in New York City. For government, regulators, public utilities, Uber, Lyft, and the taxi industry, the zero-emissions target for 2030 is a North Star. Meeting this goal will require coordination among all parties and achieving success means creating an accessible, affordable, and ubiquitous ecosystem of charging solutions. The time to act is now. 

 

Hayley Prim is a Senior Policy Manager at Uber based in New York City. Uber’s mission is to create opportunity through movement. We started in 2010 to solve a simple problem: how do you get access to a ride at the touch of a button? More than 36 billion trips later, we’re building products to get people closer to where they want to be. By changing how people, food, and things move through cities, Uber is a platform that opens up the world to new possibilities. 

 

Eric Rothman is CEO of HR&A, and a former official at Transport for London and Ignacio Montojo is a Principal in HR&A’s Infrastructure Practice based in New York. HR&A Advisors, Inc. (HR&A) is an employee-owned company advising visionary clients on how to increase opportunity and advance quality of life in cities. Their work focuses on creating vital places, building more equitable and resilient communities, and improving people’s lives. 

  

 

The People Make the Place: Announcing a New Class of Leaders

January 25, 2023 / No Comments

Celebrating the people making an impact at HR&A

 

The old adage is true — the people make the place. At HR&A, we come from diverse backgrounds, have a breadth of lived experience, and share a passion for creating places, systems, and tools that help people thrive. While the problems we tackle are often complex, the driving force behind our work is radically simple. We care. You can see this care in the mission-driven culture we have built across six offices and in the places and impact we’ve helped our clients create.

Principals

 

Arjun Gupta Sarma

Arjun leads product development and data science at HR&A — focusing on the intersection of quantitative methods and policy for clients across the country.

 

 

Jared Press

Jared helps local government agencies leverage public investment in infrastructure and place-based economic development to catalyze the private sector in support of long-range planning initiatives.

 

 

Lydia Gaby

Lydia leads projects that promote equitable economic development and resiliency and manages large-scale participatory planning processes.

 

 

 

Thomas Simpson

Thomas advises clients on devising feasible programs, building public-private partnerships, and infusing equity and innovation into visionary real estate developments.

Directors

 

Amelia Taylor-Hochberg

Amelia’s work focuses on organizational and governance design, sociopolitical analyses of place, and building technological infrastructure that combats disenfranchisement.

 

 

Christina De Giulio

Christina draws from a decade of community and economic development experience to guide clients from visioning to implementation of place-based strategies to advance their goals.

 

 

Erman Eruz

Erman works with state and local governments on accessing once-in-a-generation federal funds and assists with the development and implementation of broadband and clean energy projects.

 

 

Gail Hankin

Gail focuses on crafting strategies that support equitable economic development, creating vibrant and inclusive open spaces, and advising a wide array of clients on pressing urban policy issues.

 

 

Garrett Rapsilber

Garrett supports the development of sustainable, context-specific real estate and economic development strategies.

 

 

Hannah Glosser

Hannah draws on her experience in climate adaptation, stakeholder and community engagement, and economic development to support equitable and resilient practices.

 

 

Jamison Dague

Jamison advises clients through complex planning and development projects with a focus on public-private partnerships that leverage innovative funding and financing tools to create thriving and sustainable places.

 

 

Landry Doyle Wiese

Landry uses economic and strategic analysis to bridge the gap between vision and implementation — designing operating models and governance structures to put ideas into action.

 

 

Rachel Waldman

Rachel advises public, private, and non-profit clients on leveraging their existing assets, funding, and influence to promote mission-aligned real estate and affordable housing development.

Senior Analysts

 

Ana Licona

Ana provides guidance to government and community leaders on closing the digital divide and implementing an equitable broadband future.

 

 

Aram Kamali

Aram performs economic and policy analysis in support of efforts that advance equitable development and build community wealth.

 

 

Ariel Dames-Podell

Ariel supports real estate and economic development strategies for public and private sector clients that enable equitable growth and create transformative destinations in cities across the country.

 

 

Benjamin Cole

Ben helps local governments and nonprofits leverage funding and drive policy change. He specializes in criminal justice reform, equitable economic development, and fair housing policy.

 

 

Geon Woo Lee

Geon Woo leverages data analysis to advance climate mitigation strategies, promote transit equity, and encourage equitable development across the country.

 

 

Laura Semeraro

Laura specializes in real estate advisory, housing affordability, and economic development, supporting financial analysis and strategic advisory for public, private, and institutional clients.

 

 

Madison Morine

Madison works at the intersection of developing cultural institutions, urban open space, and comprehensive plans to help clients improve opportunities for communities.

 

Analysts

 

Adina Jahan

Adina works on projects to create more inclusive cities, build digital equity, and advocate for criminal justice reform. She is guided by the principle that where you live should not determine your quality of life.

 

 

Alejandra Cabrales

Alejandra provides research and analytical support to advance sustainable and equitable placed-based solutions through economic development policy, transit-oriented development, community engagement, and governance design.

 

 

Anna Gallicchio

Anna specializes in housing affordability and economic development policy, working with city governments and non-profits to implement community-centered and data-driven solutions.

 

 

Clark Ricciardelli

Clark provides financial and data analysis for real estate development, asset repositioning, and workforce development projects across the U.S.

 

 

Lauren Kim

Lauren works on place-based projects that bring people joy. Grounded by community insights, she advocates for food justice, parks and open space, and neighborhood revitalization.

 

 

Marco Rodriguez

Marco specializes in knowledge economy, transit-oriented development, and economic development strategy, helping cities across the country become engines of innovation, inclusivity, and prosperity.

 

 

Sophia Campbell

Sophia provides research and analytical support for projects ranging from affordable housing and transit-oriented development to parks and open space.

 

 

Sophia Clark

Sophia provides analysis for real estate development, economic development strategy, and knowledge economy projects across the country.

 

 

Zada Smith

Zada works to advance equitable economic development through placemaking, strategic planning, and policy to drive better outcomes for communities.

Building Momentum in 2023

January 12, 2023 / No Comments

2023 is kicking off with strong momentum and high expectations in cities.

 

Working with some of the most innovative clients and collaborators in the world, we’re focused on building comprehensive solutions that address the complex, interconnected challenges facing urban communities. The unifying theme across this work is our passion for building more prosperous, resilient, and equitable cities for the people who live in them. We’re looking forward to great things in 2023 — building on the work we did in 2022 across 500 projects with clients in 180 cities, six countries, and three continents.

 

Our work includes:

Closing the Digital Divide & Leveraging Technology
Addressing the Housing Crisis
Developing Inclusive & Equitable Cities
Building Resilience in the Face of a Changing Climate
Revitalizing Downtowns & Exploring Adaptive Re-Use Strategies
Rebuilding Economies & Accessing Historic Investments in Infrastructure
Enhancing Community Assets
Living Our Values

 

 

Closing the Digital Divide & Leveraging Technology

 

Middle-Mile Broadband Initiative
State of California