Cherry Creek Perspective

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

What Can Be Done About the Global Housing Crisis? Plenty

There are issues with the central European model, but in general, the countries that have made their housing markets work best are those that incentivize cheap rental prices or easy home ownership, while dissuading those who look to invest in properties as solely a revenue-generating source of income. “There’s no reason we [the rest of the world] can’t have that,” says Wilson Craw. “But practically, getting from here to there, we need to think about what barriers the political system presents.”

https://www.wired.com/story/housing-crisis-rental-idea/

Assessing the Impact of Affordable Housing on Nearby Property Values in Alexandria, Virginia

Stable, affordable housing provides benefits to both people with low incomes and local economies overall. Despite these benefits, property owners who live near proposed affordable housing developments often oppose such projects, citing fear that the developments will cause their property values to decline. However, empirical research provides little evidence that subsidized housing depresses neighborhood property values.

https://www.urban.org/research/publication/assessing-impact-affordable-housing-nearby-property-values-alexandria-virginia

Opportunity Zone Funds Boosting Surge in U.S. Multifamily Construction

There was some expectation at the outset that OZ investing might be directed at impoverished and beaten-down inner-city tracts in desperate need of redevelopment. It hasn’t worked out that way. In Chicago, the Habitat Co. has been dedicated to affordable housing for decades and was a key player in the redevelopment of the city’s public housing. Habitat is a partner in a $200 million mixed-use project called Ogden Commons that will include 350 mixed-income housing units in the North Lawndale neighborhood. Ogden is in an OZ, and the hope had been that OZ funding would be a key component in the capital raise. But as it turned out institutions, including PNC Bank, have stepped in and underwritten the project largely with Low Income Housing Tax Credits instead. Jeff Head, vice president for development with Habitat, had once harbored some hope that OZ and LIHTC investing could occur side-by-side in urban projects. “These tax-credit developments are viable long-term assets for banks with tax credit investing platforms. But the real estate doesn’t appreciate a lot and doesn’t bring high returns,” Head says. “One thing we have found is that OZ investors do care about yield. Banks have lower yield expectations, by comparison.”

https://urbanland.uli.org/capital-markets/opportunity-zone-funds-boosting-surge-in-multifamily-construction/

Study: Inclusionary Housing Policies Deliver More Affordable Homes

The first in a series of policy briefs, Missed Opportunities: Assessing and Leveraging Requirements, Incentives and Trade-Offs in Affordable Housing Development, examines how establishing set-aside and affordability pairings without careful calibration rooted in current housing market economics can create missed opportunities to both maximize the number of affordable units produced and ensure lasting affordability by adjusting offsets.

https://newslink.mba.org/cmf-newslinks/2022/april/mba-commercial-multifamily-newslink-april-21-2022/study-inclusionary-housing-policies-deliver-more-affordable-homes/

Understanding America’s homelessness crisis

By 2015, one quarter of all homeless people were suffering from a serious mental disorder such as schizophrenia. Drug and alcohol use is also often a factor: More than a third of homeless shelter residents struggle with substance-abuse disorders. But researchers say that the role of economic factors — particularly the cost and availability of housing — should not be underestimated.

https://theweek.com/briefing/1013082/living-on-the-streets?utm_campaign=afternoon_newsletter_20220501&utm_source=afternoon_newsletter&utm_medium=email&refid=380C984223CEF78256DD49790F72258A

Denver’s Housing Surge Successful

Denver City Council Member Kendra Black reports that in a second 100 day surge to house people experiencing homelessness, Denver’s Office of Housing Stability (HOST) has successfully rehoused 146 households in the first 50 days. HOST expects to house another 246 households—a total of 400—by May 11. During Denver’s first 100-day housing surge last fall, a total of 340 households, including 576 individuals, were placed into housing. The effort far exceeded its goal of placing 200 households.

https://www.denvergov.org/Government/Agencies-Departments-Offices/Agencies-Departments-Offices-Directory/Department-of-Housing-Stability

MOBILITY

New Research Shows That E-Bikes Are Outpacing Electric Cars Sales in the U.S.

Georgia’s 11Alive station just investigated and verified the claim that more e-bikes were sold than electric cars last year. Their research team estimates that while 608,000 electric cars and trucks were sold in 2021, more than 880,000 e-bikes were also purchased. That’s almost double the estimated 450,000 e-bikes that were sold in 2020.

https://www.bicycling.com/news/a39838840/ebikes-are-outpacing-electric-car-sales-in-the-us/

The Smallest New Yorkers Join the Pandemic Biking Surge

As in many cities around the world, biking in New York surged during the pandemic as residents sought alternatives to public transportation. The city’s bike-share program, Citi Bike, recorded nearly 28 million rides last year, an increase of about 32 percent from the 21 million rides in 2019, before the pandemic. No reliable bike ridership data is available that focuses on the age of riders or people riding together, making it difficult to gauge the popularity of parents carrying children on bikes. But companies that manufacture bikes and local bike store owners say the uptick in New York seems undeniable.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/15/nyregion/electric-bicycle-new-york-pandemic.html