• Changes in demographics which include Generation Y will increase the amount of mixed use development and easily accessible transit
• Demand for suburban housing is expected to decrease
• Boomers are seeking out city living versus suburbs (smaller homes, shorter commute)
• The Generation X population is more likely to prefer suburbs and to not support increased transit options

To read the article on UrbanLand, click here.

To read the full Americans’ Views on their Communities, Housing, and Transportation report prepared for ULI, click here.

To read the MinnPost article, click here.

To learn more about the Soul of the Community Project, click here.

Dr. Arthur (Chris) Nelson, Director Metropolitan Research Center, City and Metropolitan Planning, University of Utah, a renowned researcher whose work focuses on the changing demographics of urban real estate markets

Melina Duggal, Senior Principal, RCLCO, a real estate expert on mixed use land development and the changing implications of rental housing

Following  Dr. Arthur and Melina Duggal, a local responder panel, moderated by Steve Cramer, President and Executive Director, Project for Pride in Living, will include:

• Mary Tingerthal, Commissioner, Minnesota Housing
• Dr. Bruce Corrie, Associate Vice President for University Relations and International Programs, Concordia University
• Bill McKinney, Vice President of Talent and Long Term Development, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
• Beth Pfeifer, Director of Development, The Cornerstone Group

To RSVP, click here.

To read Richard Florida’s post and for a link to read How Housing Matters: Americans’ Attitudes Transformed By The Housing Crisis & Changing Lifestyles, click here.

The most recent post by Amy Chung is titled Critical Factors to Making Equitable TOD a Reality and discusses the goals of equitable TOD, which are:

• creating more livable communities where individuals of all income levels have access to the jobs, housing and community amenities and facilities that they require while also minimizing the burden of housing;
• lowering transportation costs for everyone, especially low-income residents.

…and provides recommendations on how to achieve those goals, which include:

• Equitable TOD Needs New Forms of Collaboration and Partnerships Between Unlikely Bedfellows
• Conventional Financing Products Need to Evolve to Support Equitable TOD
• Clarity of Intent is Critical

Read Amy Chung’s post and more here.

1. What You Didn’t Know about Mortgages – discusses a Fair Mortgage Collaborative to work towards expanding affordable mortgages for manufactured homes.
2. Research Highlights the Power of Homeownership Counseling – talks about the importance of pre-purchase counseling and a study that found significant benefits to new homeowners who take advantage of this type of counseling prior to purchasing a home.
3. Incorporating Energy Efficiency Into The Mortgage Equation - discusses a study that was able to but the benefits of energy efficiency into measurable terms.

To read the newsletter in its entirety, click here.

In the report, Nowak provides a practitioner’s reflection on the use of subsidy in real estate development and finance. The paper presents a three-pronged argument:

• Community development bridges economic development and social inclusion. As a result the use of subsidy requires the consideration of unique costs.
• Desirable application of project level subsidy adheres to a one of a set of principles.
• Smart subsidy requires the use of strong analytical tools to distinguish between levels of desirability.

Jeremy Nowak is the President of J Nowak and Associates, LLC, a consulting firm. He is the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Board of Directors and has served as a director since 2008. He served as the President of the William Penn Foundation from 2011-2012. Prior to that he acted as the founding CEO of The Reinvestment Fund, a Philadelphia-based community development financial institution.

To read the full report, click here.

The report takes a look at five specific issues and then details out options to overcome these challenges.  The issues include:

• “Land acquisition process is expensive and cumbersome, especially when adjacent to a valuable piece of infrastructure.”
• “There exist a multiplicity of voices and government funding sources for TOD, each with its own set of priorities.”
• “Parking Ramps are expensive and may be constructed, potentially in the wrong place or with the wrong design for TOD use, before development plans are known.”
• “When investments are planned to be made in areas surrounding a transit stop, there is no tool to ensure fair and secure methods of spreading and collecting costs of parking ramp maintenance, public space maintenance, and higher levels of service around a transit station.”
• “It is difficult to establish TIF districts and to finance TIF bonds due to several uncertainties.”

To read the options presented for these issues and the full report, click here.

To read the full report, click here.