West Coast Archives

Los Angeles Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA): Tenant Protection Study

November 20, 2024 / Comments Off

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.

The Department of Consumer and Business Affairs (DCBA) engaged the HR&A Advisors team, which included LISC LA and Change for Good Consulting. The team facilitated workshops with County stakeholders to discuss program goals and policy priorities, as well as external stakeholders, including tenant advocates, property owners, and real estate and affordable housing industry experts, to gather information and conduct desktop research and interviews with jurisdictions with precedent programs. Incorporating these inputs along with best practices, HR&A summarized a set of preliminary recommendations on program design and implementation strategies.

The final report provides a summary of the context and needs for a potential TOPA program, along with preliminary program design and implementation recommendations on how the policy could support tenant protection, anti-displacement, and expand ownership access for L.A. County unincorporated areas.

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Read the TOPA Report

Learn more about TOPA

Amazon Housing Equity Fund

November 20, 2024 / Comments Off

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.

HR&A Advisors has been working with Amazon since 2020 to help develop and implement the Amazon Housing Equity Fund, which was founded to help increase affordable housing opportunities in locations where Amazon has a significant presence. In cities like Washington D.C., Nashville, Austin, and Seattle, among others, we have helped Amazon address affordable housing shortages via subsidized loans, grants, and partnerships with local governments and nonprofits. Since helping design and then launch the program in January 2021, we have supported Amazon’s efforts to preserve 21,000+ homes and have underwritten and closed over $1B in housing transactions for the public sector and impact investors. A key tenant of the AHEF is also to provide access to capital for minority-led developers, resulting in 62% of these transactions supporting BIPOC-led developers. 

To develop a large-scale portfolio investment strategy for housing affordability, HR&A created an affordable housing finance summary of potential investment strategies, conducted a landscape analysis of peer investments in housing, worked with Amazon to refine investment goals and priorities, and developed a clear and concise financial framework to evaluate potential investment options. HR&A conducted an initial market scan in target geographies, assessed the housing need in those geographies to evaluate programmatic components, and conducted high-level financial analysis to test investment portfolio scenarios.

After the first phase leveraging Amazon’s initial $2 billion investment to preserve 21,000+ homes and positively impact 46,000+ residents, Amazon committed an additional $1.4 billion for a second phase.

Explore

Check out the Amazon Housing Equity Fund’s website

Learn about Amazon’s second round of $1.4 billion in funding

2024 Amazon Housing Equity Fund Impact Report

Press

Q&A with Senthil Sankaran, Managing Principal, Amazon Housing Equity Fund — UrbanLand Magazine

Amazon Promised to Deliver Affordable Housing. How’s It Doing? — Bloomberg

Everything you need to know about Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund—a $3.6 billion commitment to help people access affordable housing — Amazon

Op-Ed: A Simple Housing Fix for Wake County —  INDYweek

San Diego Housing Commission Affordable Housing Preservation Study

November 20, 2024 / Comments Off

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.

With government subsidies to preserve existing affordable housing set to expire in the near future, SDHC needed our help understanding what naturally-affordable housing exists throughout the city in order to identify properties that could benefit from those programs. In response, HR&A developed a parcel-level inventory of all available subsidized and naturally affordable multifamily housing in San Diego.

To create this detailed inventory, HR&A developed a regression algorithm — using indicators like location, building age, size, and school district — that estimated the likelihood that parcel included naturally-affordable units. Based on this analysis, we developed typologies for the most common kinds of multifamily buildings with the most naturally-affordable units and mapped the city’s NOAH inventory. We then developed financial analyses for each of the typologies to estimate the subsidy required to preserve each unit.

The typology definitions informed the development of targeted policy recommendations for preservation, developed in collaboration with the National Housing Trust. The recommendation framework detailed policy tools, capacity-building, and financing sources to support preservation activities, as well as a review of nationwide best practices for preservation in comparable jurisdictions. SDHC will use these recommendations to form the basis of their preservation strategy for their general plan update and to guide policy in the coming year.

California Dream for All Program

November 20, 2024 / Comments Off

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.

HR&A was part of a team that designed a statewide shared appreciation revolving loan fund in California that would provide up to 17% down payment for lower income borrowers, helping make homeownership possible for borrowers who have traditionally been excluded in one of the most difficult housing markets in the country. We created a financial model of the potential program to test the impact of changes in home prices, distribution of loans across the state, and repayment rates. Then we adjusted our results based on feedback from local, regional and state-level stakeholders. This process helped us build support for the program and test local viability of the new lending product.

We supported our client, the State Treasurer’s Office, as they presented the concept across the state to advocate for initial funding for the program. Our final report laid out all the potential risks and options for various design decisions to provide a roadmap for future policy makers and program administrators. The California State Assembly provided an initial $300 million in funding to move the program forward in 2023 which resulted in 2,000 new homeowners across the state along with an additional $220 million in 2024. The program proved to be so popular that the initial funding in 2023 was exhausted within a few weeks of its public availability.

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Learn more about the program

Press

Just Days Left to Apply for California Program That Helps Pay for Your First House — KQED

Honolulu Climate Financial Risk Assessment and Funding Strategies

October 16, 2024 / Comments Off

HR&A is supporting the City and County of Honolulu to assess the City’s climate-related financial risks and define strategies for funding and budgeting vital adaptation measures. As climate hazards like coastal erosion, flooding, and hurricanes become more frequent and severe, this initiative marks a significant opportunity for Honolulu to safeguard its future by investing in resilient infrastructure and long-term solutions.

Communities in Honolulu are already contending with the impacts of climate change due to sea level rise, heat, drought, wildfires, hurricanes, and storm surge. Meeting the scale of this challenge requires systemic change in approaches to funding, financing, policy, and procedures. The City and County of Honolulu engaged HR&A to build an understanding of the city’s financial risk and develop a proactive, strategic approach to prioritizing investments in climate solutions. This includes preserving existing revenue streams for climate solutions and identifying additional funding and financing sources.

Through this process, HR&A will develop a comprehensive roadmap and toolbox to ensure the City and County of Honolulu and its constituents understand the scale of fiscal risk; who is responsible for specific risks (whether it’s the City, County, State, Federal government, or private sector); the magnitude of needed investments and the City and County’s ability to manage their cost, and actionable strategies to develop a budget and financial approach to address and mitigate risks.

State of Washington Low-Income Housing Energy Efficiency Strategy

September 23, 2024 / Comments Off

The State of Washington engaged HR&A Advisors to conduct a Needs Assessment for Equitable 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.

While existing energy efficiency programs assist many households in affording utility bills and receiving home weatherization assistance, meeting the true scale of need and fulfilling Washington State’s climate goals to achieve full decarbonization by 2050 requires transformative changes. The Washington State Department of Commerce enlisted HR&A to conduct a needs assessment, which involved evaluating current programs, mapping the energy assistance ecosystem, identifying gaps in existing services, and setting goals. The gap analysis was based on granular estimates of the need for weatherization and energy bill assistance across the state to demonstrate the gap between existing deployment and estimated need.

To center the voices of historically environmentally burdened communities, HR&A partnered with Firelands Workers Action — a community-based organization active in rural Washington advocating for healthier homes and livable wages. Firelands conducted a campaign to interview more than 600 participants to understand the challenges of energy efficiency services from the perspectives of low-income tenants and workers.

Through existing conditions analysis, literature review, stakeholder interviews, and program analysis, the HR&A-led team developed 15 recommendations to improve the State’s energy efficiency programs and achieve the State’s equitable decarbonization goals, followed by a detailed roadmap and implementation plan to realize these transformative changes. The State has been implementing many of HR&A’s recommendations within a year of the report being completed.

Los Angeles County Rent Stabilization Ordinance Study

August 27, 2024 / Comments Off

Amid high inflation, rising costs, and the ongoing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, HR&A collaborated with Los Angeles County to address the critical issue of rental housing costs by developing six potential rent increase formulas for the County Board of Supervisors’ consideration. These options integrated real-world scenarios and input from renters and owners alike, aiming to address market realities, mitigate overburdensome costs, and support the needs of all parties in the rental market.

Nearly all low- and moderate-income renters in unincorporated Los Angeles County are housing cost-burdened, which means they spend more than 30% of their income on rent. Consequently, any rent increase will exacerbate housing instability for these renters and could potentially lead to evictions.

HR&A was proud to support the County Board of Supervisors in exploring and refining its approach to stabilizing rents and protecting tenants. As part of this work we engaged with diverse stakeholders, including tenants, advocates, and property owners, to ensure that our analysis reflected the real-world experiences and challenges of impacted groups. Our engagement supplemented analyses of rental market trends, operating costs, ongoing pandemic impacts, and the policy environment for rent stabilization in California. Based on this work, we developed six potential rent increase formulas for the Board’s consideration, and carefully evaluated each for its impact on all parties involved.

Our analysis and recommendations empowered the County to make an informed decision on changes to their Rent Stabilization and Tenant Protections Ordinance, with the goal of reducing housing instability and prevent evictions, while also considering the needs of landlords. This work not only supports the County’s vision for more equitable affordable housing access but also helps address a pressing community need with housing prices continuing to rise across the State.

Supporting the Creation of a San Francisco Public Bank

July 11, 2024 / Comments Off

After soliciting extensive input from community members, city officials, banking experts, and business stakeholders, HR&A developed a Business and Governance Plan for the City of San Francisco’s public bank to support affordable housing, small businesses, and green investments.

The banking ecosystem in San Francisco, like many cities across America, has historically failed to serve everyone and leaves significant gaps in the capital available to develop and preserve affordable housing, support small businesses, and ensure the rapid adoption of decarbonization technologies. An HR&A-led team helped the San Francisco Reinvestment Working Group (RWG) identify unmet financing needs and craft a Plan with tailored lending products to fill these banking gaps. As part of our analysis, we determined the viability of a public bank and developed detailed pro forma financial statements and governance plans to guide the City’s efforts to establish this new entity. In September 2023, the City’s Board of Supervisors voted to adopt the Plan, positioning San Francisco at the vanguard of the growing public banking movement with a critical step towards the establishment of California’s first municipal public bank.

HR&A Advisors led a team consisting of banking experts Gary S. Findley & Associates and community engagement consultants Contigo Communications to define the vision, mission, and structure of the public bank with an emphasis on transparent and community-driven operation and details on a range of products and services to promote economic equity across the city. Throughout the process, we engaged a variety of stakeholders including community members, small businesses, nonprofits, housing and environmental justice advocates, financial experts, City agencies, and more to gain insights around what services would be most impactful from a public bank.

With this inclusive approach, the City has a robust roadmap to create a public bank that will help address financial needs and more equitably serve the needs of lower-income, BIPOC, and marginalized communities who have been excluded from access to reliable, affordable capital for far too long.

Explore

Check out the full San Francisco Public Bank Business and Governance Plan and Viability Study
San Francisco Board of Supervisors Unanimously Accept Plan to Implement the First Municipal Bank in the Nation

Press

San Francisco Green-Lights Nation’s First City-Run Public Bank — KQED
What’s next for San Francisco’s public bank plan — Axios
San Francisco given go-ahead to start creating nation’s first municipal bank — CBS News Bay Area
Proposed S.F. public bank gets first review by supervisors — San Francisco Chronicle

Photo via: Shen Pan

Supporting SEIU State Public Banking Legislation

June 8, 2023 / Comments Off

HR&A Advisors worked with a coalition of racial and economic justice organizations, financial access advocates, and labor unions, including the California Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the California Public Banking Alliance, to provide analysis of the financial and social impacts of unfair banking access to support advocacy for the California Public Banking Option Act (AB-1177). Our findings showed how inadequate and disparate access to free and safe banking accounts results in billions of dollars lost to the California economy annually, contributes to people remaining in poverty, and increases the use of taxpayer dollars towards providing social services.

In October 2021, the California Assembly and Senate passed the California Public Banking Option Act and Governor Gavin Newsom signed it into law in a move that sets the foundation for providing universal access to banking that will benefit households, local economies, and taxpayers. This is the first bill in the nation guaranteeing universal banking access, paving the way towards giving all Californians access to high-quality, low-cost financial services. 80.7% of unbanked Californians earn less than $15 per hour, and nearly half of Black and 41.1% of Hispanic households in California are unbanked or underbanked. Unbanked communities lack access to basic financial services — like checking and savings accounts — that are critical to financial stability.

HR&A Advisors novel analysis examined who is not being served by the formal banking system, where they live, what the financial costs are to individuals and to the economy of un- and under-banking, and the economic benefits of the legislation to California. AB-1177 established a framework to study the feasibility and implement the CalAccount public banking option program, an alternative to the high fees that many Californians face from existing predatory banking options that stand as a barrier to wealth accumulation.

Our analysis delineated how the CalAccount program could offer critical services to Californians and become self-sufficient within the next five years. CalAccount could draw on existing state programs to reach a customer base of millions of Californians resulting in an estimated $3.3 billion in savings for low-income households, potentially creating 22,000 jobs, and boosting the California economy by an estimated $4.2 billion by redirecting spending away from costly interest and fees.

Photo: Louis Velazquez

FLOW Youth Center

October 10, 2022 / Comments Off

HR&A has been working with a coalition of advocacy groups including JusticeLA (JLA) and Designing Justice+Designing Spaces (DJDS) in their efforts to advance projects around L.A. County’s transformative Care First Community Investment (CFCI). JusticeLA is a collaborative of several L.A. based organizations organizing with communities to disrupt where and how L.A. County incarcerates justice-involved individuals. DJDS is the nation’s foremost design nonprofit working to build and transform communities through restorative Justice. DJDS will steward an authentic, ground up engagement effort with community to design, build and operate new infrastructure that challenges the traditional paradigm around justice and incarceration. HR&A developed a concept plan for a pilot campus in Long Beach that builds on DJDS’s argument: that community-based solutions including mental health, substance abuse treatment, jail diversion, and quality design can disrupt the revolving door for justice-involved individuals. In 2022, DJDS, JLA, and HR&A released a concept paper, proposing the development of a piece of the FLOW (For the Love of Well-being) Youth Center.

The FLOW Youth Center will be a new prototype for juvenile restorative justice, designed to break the cycle of investing in punishment by reinvesting in spaces and programs focused on care and healing. The Center will proactively address the root causes of youth incarceration and the lack of physical infrastructure and associated programming for holistic health services, education, and employment. Our concept paper describes an innovative and replicable process for radically inclusive, equitable, community-engaged design for restorative justice.

HR&A worked with JLA and DJDS to develop a robust engagement strategy and the estimated time and budget to complete the work outlined within the concept plan. With this concept paper as a guide for development, DJDS is currently looking for partners in government and philanthropy to invest in their concept development fund and inspire grass roots efforts to design and build these centers throughout Los Angeles and the country. We look forward to continuing this partnership as DJDS and JusticeLA work with communities to transform the built environment and L.A.’s criminal justice system.