We are tackling the housing crisis head on
At HR&A, we believe everyone should have access to a roof over their head. As housing costs rise more rapidly than incomes, a growing number of households across the nation are struggling to afford their monthly rent, much less buy a home. And this crisis isn’t just about housing — it impacts the economic development of entire communities. If families can’t afford their homes, they’re less able to contribute to the economy. Often these pressures reinforce existing inequities, with a particularly harmful impact on communities of color. Housing affordability is one of the most pressing challenges facing our cities, and HR&A is committed to working across the public, private, and advocacy sectors to meet the housing needs of each community.
Housing Plans
To effectively address housing affordability challenges, you need to understand the problem and create a roadmap to solve it. Our housing experts assess and quantify housing needs to support local economies, identify gaps in existing housing programming, and diagnose where the greatest potential impact is at state, regional, and local levels. Then, we bring together the right stakeholders to develop actionable recommendations that are tailored to local feasibility and community priorities. Once we’re done, we help our clients tell their housing affordability story and get the word out.
Stamford Housing Affordability Plan
The City of Stamford, which has grown over 10.5% in the past decade, partnered with HR&A to address its affordable housing needs with the Stamford Housing Affordability Plan, which updated zoning policies and launched a Housing Trust Fund. Recognized for excellence in community engagement by the Connecticut Chapter American Planning Association and as the best among 17 local housing plans by Fairfield County’s Center for Housing Opportunity, the plan aims to create or renovate 1,000 affordable apartments by 2025. Learn more…
Charlottesville Affordable Housing Plan
HR&A developed an Affordable Housing Plan for the City of Charlottesville that centers racial equity and regional collaboration to guide the city’s investments in affordable housing programs and policies. Charlottesville has made significant progress on the Plan’s three major initiatives including: dedicating $10M a year to affordable housing, building inclusive governance throughout the City’s housing ecosystem, and adopting progressive, inclusionary zoning reforms — all of which are shaping a denser, more economically diverse Charlottesville. Learn more…
State of Maine Housing Study
HR&A worked with the Maine Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation to develop a study to understand housing needs and deficits along with their impacts on Maine’s economy. Our study found that 76,400–84,300 new homes need to be built within the next 7 years to maintain Maine’s economic growth. Learn more…
Housing Tools and Policies
Having the right tools and policies in place is essential to foster housing affordability in any community. We work with states, counties, and municipalities to design successful housing programs and policies that achieve community goals. We understand what tools — from office to residential conversions, zoning ordinances, preservation strategies, and everything in between — will work for local contexts. Working with public and private entities across the country, we help our clients create their own customized toolkits to drive housing solutions in their backyard.
New Haven Inclusionary Housing Framework
In response to input from residents, affordable housing advocates and developers, the City of New Haven engaged HR&A to develop an inclusionary zoning policy that ensures long-term affordability, inclusive growth, and thriving neighborhoods. Over 50 affordable homes have been approved since the ordinance’s approval in 2022. Learn more…
California Dream for All
HR&A helped designed a statewide shared appreciation revolving loan fund in California to provide down payment assistance for lower income borrowers by analyzing housing and homeownership trends across 10 regions in the state and set the potential lending parameters, resulting in over 2,000 new homeowners benefitting from the program. Learn more…
San Diego Housing Commission Affordable Housing Preservation Study
Recognizing the opportunity the City has to invest in its existing housing stock to preserve affordability, the San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) engaged HR&A and National Housing Trust (NHT) to create the Affordable Housing Preservation Study — a robust inventory and projections of San Diego’s existing affordable housing and a policy framework designed to preserve affordability. Learn more…
City of Boston Downtown Office Conversion Study
HR&A supported the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) in studying the feasibility of converting vacant downtown offices to residences through subsidies, tax incentives, and expedited permitting, which resulted in the City launching an office conversion pilot program. Since its launch in October 2023, the program has received applications proposing 400 new homes, and in 2024 the City extended the pilot with $15 million in new funding from the State. Learn more…
Florida Apartment Association Housing Scarcity Dashboard
HR&A developed an interactive dashboard for the Florida Apartment Association to track Florida’s rapidly growing housing needs at the county and metro-area level and showcases cost drivers and benefits of incentive tools to highlight housing gaps for lower-income renters. Learn more…
Housing Funds and Transactions
As a national leader in housing fund design, HR&A stands apart with our expansive range of integrated services — from initial capital strategy to fund design to deployment and underwriting. With this full circle understanding, we design innovative funding products for public sector partners and impact investors and help them evaluate financial risks and identify feasibility to maximize public benefit. In the last three years, we have underwritten over 30 loans for affordable housing and over $1B in housing transactions.
Amazon Housing Equity Fund
HR&A is supporting program design and implementation for Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund, a $2 billion commitment to preserve existing housing and create inclusive housing developments through below-market loans and grants to developers, public agencies, and minority-led organizations. HR&A led negotiation and underwriting efforts for over 9,000 new affordable homes in the Washington DC area and will continue to support Amazon with their additional commitment of $1.4 billion. Learn more…
Westchester County’s Housing Flex Fund
On behalf of Westchester County’s Department of Planning, HR&A Advisors designed and implemented a new $90M fund to allocate the County’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The Flex Fund is projected to support the development of approximately 1,500 new affordable homes across the county. Learn more…
Los Angeles County Housing Loan Program
Since 1999, HR&A has helped the LA County Development Authority refine and administer its annual affordable housing developer Notice of Funding Availability (“NOFA”) loan programs. HR&A has provided financing reviews, loan underwriting, and project coordination, and other advisory services that have contributed to over 100 affordable housing developments across the county, including nearly 1,000 new affordable homes since 2021. Learn more…
Energy & Housing
Housing has a key role to play in mitigating the impacts of climate change, and HR&A understands how to navigate the intersection of owners, tenants, and energy needs to create effective programs with utility incentives that align with owner and tenant needs as well as policy goals. HR&A can work across scales, from system-wide needs to on-the-ground financing. We know that to achieve effective energy policies, you need to understand effective housing policy. We also leverage federal funding sources and assess gaps in the market to help our clients understand tradeoffs.
State of Washington Weatherization Program
The State of Washington engaged HR&A Advisors to conduct a Needs Assessment for energy assistance to better serve thousands of low-income households that face high energy costs and unhealthy living conditions at home. HR&A presented 15 recommendations and a roadmap to achieve equitable decarbonization by 2050, informed by voices of environmentally burdened communities across the state. Learn more…
New York Solar for All Program
To accelerate New York City’s equitable clean energy transition, HR&A helped the NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC), Office of the Comptroller, and the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice (MOCEJ) to assess the feasibility of a variety of solar program options and successfully apply for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF)’s “Solar for All” funds. The City’s new solar program will contribute to a more climate-resilient and equitable NYC. Learn more…
Nationwide Initiative to Accelerate Energy Upgrades for Affordable Housing
R2E2 aims to jumpstart energy upgrades for affordable housing in frontline communities by lowering utility bills, reducing emissions, improving health, creating local jobs, and mitigating racial inequity. The initiative is a partnership among ACEEE, Elevate, Emerald Cities Collaborative, and HR&A Advisors, with People’s Climate Innovation Center advising on equity and community-driven planning processes. Learn more…
Homelessness
Homelessness and the housing crisis are inextricably linked, and we work with clients in a myriad of ways to address both — by leveraging significant affordable housing finance and real estate expertise to get housing built, engaging with communities that are most impacted by homelessness to create effective programs that improve people’s lives, and helping our clients shape better housing policy. We believe in placing the user experience at the center of permanent supportive housing solutions for our unhoused community members. Our interdisciplinary team has a track record of working inside and outside of local government to advance innovative solutions that promote racial equity and economic justice.
Charlotte Mecklenburg Housing and Homelessness Strategic Framework Implementation Plan
HR&A worked with United Way to develop an implementation plan for their initial strategic framework for a continuum of issues related to affordable housing and homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg County. HR&A conducted extensive stakeholder outreach and analysis to create actionable and innovative strategies to reduce housing instability and homelessness across the region. Learn more…
Los Angeles Mental Health Services Act Housing Program
HR&A collaborated with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health to design and implement the County’s Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) Housing Program. Within 12 months, the original MHSA funds were committed to 30 projects, and together with $131 million of supplemental funding added during subsequent years, the County deployed a total of $243 million to fund 92 developments with 5,400 units, 1,700 of which were targeted to vulnerable populations. Learn more…
Displacement
When housing supply doesn’t keep up with demand, displacement results. HR&A works with communities across the country who are experiencing displacement, and we help them quantify this difficult-to-measure and often nuanced problem. We understand that displacement doesn’t happen in a silo, so we integrate anti-displacement strategies into larger local plans and programs and ensure real estate development and growth benefits current residents.
St. Paul, Minnesota Anti-Displacement Strategy
Facing housing affordability pressures after an increase in real estate development, the City of St Paul engaged HR&A to develop an anti-displacement and community wealth-building strategy. HR&A provided the City with tools and strategies to mitigate displacement while supporting new development. Learn more…
Los Angeles Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA): Tenant Protection Study
The Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs selected HR&A to provide recommendations for a potential Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) policy for unincorporated areas in LA County, which aims to prevent displacement, preserve affordable housing, and increase homeownership opportunities for renters. HR&A developed a set of preliminary recommendations on program design and implementation strategies, including the required ecosystem, funding support, staffing costs, and data tracking needs. Learn more…
New Urban Mobility Alliance (NUMO) Transit Infrastructure and Displacement
HR&A supported the New Urban Mobility Alliance (NUMO) to leverage the historic influx of federal infrastructure funding as an opportunity to champion a paradigm shift in how communities approach infrastructure investment. As part of this effort, HR&A supported 15 cities to design projects that reconnect communities, led workshops on measuring and mitigating displacement, and developed the Good Start Toolkit, which offers guidance for working with communities on similar efforts across the country. Learn more…
Careers
We’re hiring! Explore open roles within our housing affordability team. 