For 20 years, the American housing debate was an argument over permission – who gets to build what, and where. That argument isn't over. But it is no longer who or what decides whether homes get built. Now, cost drives the conversation.

When the private market fails to deliver fresh, affordable food to the communities that need it most, local government has to step in. That was the shared conviction behind a recent conversation hosted by HR&A Advisors, the Mayors Innovation Project, Mayors for America, and Local Progress Impact Lab.

Thanks to everyone who joined the conversation hosted by HR&A Advisors, Local Progress Impact Lab, Mayors for America, and the Mayors Innovation Project on public grocery and what it means for cities navigating affordability and food access.

The year is 1976. The economy has fallen flat for most Americans. An oil crisis abroad has strained budgets at home. Technology is rapidly changing work, and pollution is a growing threat. Racial and economic inequality is underlying all of it. 

As states have begun to nominate the next round of Opportunity Zones, Franklin County, Ohio offers a useful lesson about how to use this federal tax incentive to address housing needs.

We’re excited to share a newly published white paper from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, co-authored by HR&A Senior Principal Ignacio Montojo, Senior Analyst Harman Singh Dhodi, and Juan Sebastián Moreno. This study examines how six Colombian cities use tools that allow local governments to participate in property value increases following public investments like roads or transit, to support new and existing public services and infrastructure.

Today, those same institutions are under pressure from every direction. Public funding remains uncertain. Enrollment costs are rising. Land values around many campuses are climbing faster than HBCUs can capitalize on them. In cities across the country, the neighborhoods HBCUs helped stabilize and shape are now targets of speculative development. That presents both financial and cultural uncertainty. Without intention, we risk watching history repeat itself as Black institutions are surrounded, displaced, or disconnected from the communities they were built to serve.

Millennials — Americans born between the early 1980s and late ’90s — are about to become the nation’s wealthiest generation. Estimates of assets that will move from baby boomers to millennials over the next two decades range from $84 trillion to $124 trillion, a transformation that will have a profound impact on how cities look and function.

Last week, HR&A’s Andrea Batista Schlesinger joined mayors from across the country at the Mayors Innovation Project winter meeting—a gathering that served as both an antidote to the current moment and a reminder of the real, tangible work happening in cities across America.

For too long, the office has been shaped by rigid zoning laws, inflexible lease structures and outdated underwriting standards. These frameworks were designed for a world where work meant sitting in an office from 9 to 5, five days a week.

For 20 years, the American housing debate was an argument over permission – who gets to build what, and where. That argument isn't over. But it is no longer who or what decides whether homes get built. Now, cost drives the conversation.

When the private market fails to deliver fresh, affordable food to the communities that need it most, local government has to step in. That was the shared conviction behind a recent conversation hosted by HR&A Advisors, the Mayors Innovation Project, Mayors for America, and Local Progress Impact Lab.

Thanks to everyone who joined the conversation hosted by HR&A Advisors, Local Progress Impact Lab, Mayors for America, and the Mayors Innovation Project on public grocery and what it means for cities navigating affordability and food access.

The year is 1976. The economy has fallen flat for most Americans. An oil crisis abroad has strained budgets at home. Technology is rapidly changing work, and pollution is a growing threat. Racial and economic inequality is underlying all of it. 

As states have begun to nominate the next round of Opportunity Zones, Franklin County, Ohio offers a useful lesson about how to use this federal tax incentive to address housing needs.

We’re excited to share a newly published white paper from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, co-authored by HR&A Senior Principal Ignacio Montojo, Senior Analyst Harman Singh Dhodi, and Juan Sebastián Moreno. This study examines how six Colombian cities use tools that allow local governments to participate in property value increases following public investments like roads or transit, to support new and existing public services and infrastructure.

Today, those same institutions are under pressure from every direction. Public funding remains uncertain. Enrollment costs are rising. Land values around many campuses are climbing faster than HBCUs can capitalize on them. In cities across the country, the neighborhoods HBCUs helped stabilize and shape are now targets of speculative development. That presents both financial and cultural uncertainty. Without intention, we risk watching history repeat itself as Black institutions are surrounded, displaced, or disconnected from the communities they were built to serve.

Millennials — Americans born between the early 1980s and late ’90s — are about to become the nation’s wealthiest generation. Estimates of assets that will move from baby boomers to millennials over the next two decades range from $84 trillion to $124 trillion, a transformation that will have a profound impact on how cities look and function.

Last week, HR&A’s Andrea Batista Schlesinger joined mayors from across the country at the Mayors Innovation Project winter meeting—a gathering that served as both an antidote to the current moment and a reminder of the real, tangible work happening in cities across America.

For too long, the office has been shaped by rigid zoning laws, inflexible lease structures and outdated underwriting standards. These frameworks were designed for a world where work meant sitting in an office from 9 to 5, five days a week.