How Value Capture Can Create Affordable Housing

Public investments in infrastructure and government actions, including regulatory reform and zoning, convey value to private landowners. In the US and around the world, particularly in Latin America, experimentation in value capture has demonstrated how a portion of such increases in value can be harnessed for public benefit. In this lecture, the second in the 2016-2017 series, David Rosen and Nora Lake-Brown of DRA show how value capture is being used to create more affordable housing in a range of communities both in the US and abroad, through inclusionary housing and other policies. Requirements to provide a portion of affordable homes in new residential development can be based on a framework of basic economic assumptions, often combined with incentives such as density “bonuses,” increases in building envelope, fee waivers and exemptions. The presentation includes case studies from Portland and Seattle, and is followed by remarks by Bryan Glascock, senior advisor for the Boston Planning and Development Agency (formerly the Boston Redevelopment Authority), as the city forges ahead with the Imagine Boston 2030 planning process.