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  will 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, which will include case studies from Portland and Seattle, will be 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.

Speakers:

David Paul Rosen, PhD, is the founder and principal of DRA, an internationally recognized authority in the fields of redevelopment, affordable housing finance, policy, land use, analysis, negotiation, lending, and investment strategic planning. He is expert in deal structuring, renewable energy and energy efficiency, value capture analysis, and asset management. He was invited on numerous occasions to provide briefings to the White House and senior Administration officials in half a dozen agencies, presenting policy recommendations for sustainable community development, capital formation, and financial regulation on more than $7 trillion in federal investment in real estate, housing, and economic development. DRA, a consultancy which combines public policy expertise with a $9 billion track record in development finance transactions and advisory services, has helped more than 60 jurisdictions adopt inclusionary housing and housing impact fee programs.  He is a widely published author and frequent international speaker on economic development, redevelopment, housing, and energy policy and practice. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and his doctorate in public policy from the Union Institute.

Nora Lake-Brown, principal of DRA’s Irvine office, has more than 30 years of experience in the fields of affordable housing finance and real estate market and financial feasibility analysis. She has served as a financial consultant on more than $3.5 billion of affordable and market-rate housing and commercial, industrial and mixed-use real estate transactions and financings. She is a nationally recognized authority on inclusionary zoning and land value capture, using residual land value analysis to quantify the land value increment associated with government actions including zoning, land use changes, and the provision of development incentives, so that a portion of the value can be recaptured for public benefit. She has led more than 40 assignments for US cities and counties seeking to adopt and amend inclusionary housing policies.  She holds bachelor’s degrees in economics and environmental studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a master’s in city and regional planning from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

David Bryan Glascock has served three mayors for the City of Boston as commissioner of the environment, commissioner of inspectional services and currently, with the Boston Planning and Development Agency as senior advisor for regulatory reform, where he is focused on Boston’s zoning code and current planning initiatives. He has worked on a wide range of environmental and land use issues, developing and implementing many new programs over the years including Boston’s parking freezes, the Environmental Strike Team, and the city’s Rental Housing Registration and Inspection Program. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, a JD from the New England School of Law, and a master’s in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he was a Rappaport Urban Fellow.