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In 1976, many Americans had given up on cities. HR&A was founded that year as a small California firm analyzing public budgets and grounded in the belief that cities were worth investing in. In the decades since, cities have proved the skeptics wrong, and they have kept us busier than ever. For 50 years, HR&A […]

Flip a switch in New York, and the light comes on. Almost no one thinks twice about it. But that reliability powers an economy. HR&A is proud to have partnered with Con Edison on its 2025 Economic Impact Report: → $24.8 billion in economic output, about 1% of New York State’s GDP → 39,700 jobs […]

Adaptation is not only a climate question. It requires finance, design, engineering, and policy to come together around infrastructure investment, land use, housing, and economic development. That is why our climate practice is built as a cross-disciplinary group rather than a specialty bench. Similarly, our decarbonization work charting effective pathways to reducing emissions also requires cross-sector expertise.

HR&A is supporting the Maine Governor's Office of Policy Innovation and the Future to build a proactive, durable funding and financing strategy for climate resilience in Maine. As flooding, sea level rise, and severe storms grow more frequent and costly, this initiative furthers Maine’s leadership in climate resilience and develops an opportunity for strategic, long-term investment to protect its communities, infrastructure, and progress.

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.

Affordable housing doesn’t always need a subsidy — sometimes it just needs an owner willing to lower the rent. The New York Times recently profiled Ascent Housing, a for-profit fund preserving affordable apartments in Charlotte and Charleston, two of the fastest-growing rental markets in the country. Instead of raising rents after a purchase, Ascent lowers […]

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.

New York City has more jobs today than at any point in its history. And yet, one-third of its workers are earning less than they were before the pandemic. That tension sits at the heart of Making Growth Matter, a new report and interactive data dashboard HR&A Advisors released today with Association for a Better […]

This press release was originally posted by ABNY. NEW YORK, NY — June 11, 2026 — The Association for a Better New York (ABNY) and the New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCETC), with analysis by HR&A Advisors, today released Making Growth Matter: The Trends Shaping New York City’s Future of Work, a new […]

HR&A’s Summer Internship is a 10-week program that welcomes young professionals committed to tackling the complex challenges facing cities. Interns are active members of our project teams, contributing to a range of critical workstreams for our clients, including market analysis, case study research, economic modeling, and real estate pro forma preparation. Based across our offices, […]

At a time when cities across the country are facing an affordability crisis and communities are struggling to find healthy, culturally relevant food options for their families, a new solution is gaining momentum: public grocery stores.   With recent headlines celebrating Atlanta’s opening of Azalea Market, Chicago’s plans to develop a network of publicly-supported markets, and […]

This op-ed was originally published by Crain’s New York Business and authored by Partner Kate Wittels and Principal Sulin Carling. Elected officials and business leaders describe New York City as the most resilient city in the world, bouncing back stronger from every shock and adapting to a new normal. Today, the shock is AI. AI promises unprecedented productivity gains, but […]