WASHINGTON (July 13, 2020)

Four different affordable and workforce housing policies and programs put in place by the governments of Massachusetts; Houston, Texas; Tempe, Arizona; and Vail, Colorado have been selected as finalists for the 2020 ULI Larson Housing Policy Leadership Award. The annual award, presented by the ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing, recognizes innovative ways the public sector is addressing the nation’s affordable housing crisis. This year’s winner will be announced in October.

The finalists are:

• Massachusetts Housing Partnership: The Massachusetts Housing Partnership was created through an act of legislation in 1985 to increase the overall rate of housing production in Massachusetts. It does this by working with towns and cities to demonstrate new and better ways of meeting the need for affordable housing. The Community Technical Assistance program helps to build municipal capacity and understanding of how local decisions contribute to regional economies. The program’s four key components are: 1) public land disposition for affordable housing; 2) zoning to support affordable housing, including multi-family and inclusionary; 3) building local housing infrastructures; and 4) community engagement. MHP’s program is cost effective because it tailors the support to meet the unique challenges of each community;
• Houston, Texas, Housing and Community Development Department: The City of Houston has set a new strategy for leveraging public and private resources to create more affordable homes for low- and moderate-income residents. Through the Multifamily Program Equitable Distribution Policy, developments are selected using a new set of criteria, which will provide maximum choice and opportunity for residents. The city created a new method for deciding how to rank applications based on access to the urban core, transit corridors, work centers and high-ranked school districts for mixed-income communities and regions of the city that are underrepresented in terms of affordable options;
• City of Tempe, Arizona, Human Services – Housing Services Department: The City of Tempe has been suffering from a stagnant state of new, affordable and diverse housing strategies and opportunities. City officials looked outside the “federal funds” box to start developing and creating policies and programs that take best practices from federal programs; they then create boutique programs to provide a wide range of services and rent subsidies. The Master Plan was developed for smart growth and to make development more predictable for developers and residents. It includes creating a new non-profit entity that can pursue affordable objectives outside the traditional Housing and Urban Development (HUD) limitations of income and rent; and
• Town of Vail/Vail Local Housing Authority: Vail InDEED is an innovative and one-of-a-kind deed restriction purchase program aimed at protecting and preserving existing homes in the community for occupancy by local residents through the recording of a deed restriction. In doing so, the program positively impacts affordability, availability and builds community in a uniquely different way. Since Vail InDEED’s inception, a total of 134 net new deed restrictions have been acquired by the Vail community, a 28% increase in the total number of deed-restricted homes in Vail resulting in an estimated 271 Vail residents being assured the availability and affordability of homes in the community.

“It is a privilege to honor the memory of a great leader in housing and development through the ULI Terwilliger Center’s Robert C. Larson Housing Policy Leadership Award,” said Christopher Ptomey, executive director, ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing. “The finalists of this award have demonstrated unique and creative affordable housing strategies, and in the process have created models that other cities can use as a template for their own needs.”

The Larson Awards recognize exemplary state and local programs, policies, and practices that support the production, rehabilitation, or preservation of workforce and affordable housing. The program was created in 2011 to honor the legacy of the late Robert C. Larson, a former ULI Foundation chairman and a longtime ULI trustee. The Larson Awards are part of the ULI Terwilliger Center’s housing awards program, which honors developments and programs that provide affordable, well-designed, and accessible housing choices for people with a mix of incomes, including families earning up to 120 percent of an area’s median income.

The program recognizes states and localities that undertake a broad range of policy and administrative initiatives to support housing affordability. They can take the form of regulatory or administrative changes such as allowing higher densities and waiving fees, or programs that provide grants or financing assistance. Policy programs are judged on a variety of factors, including impact on the supply of workforce housing, comprehensiveness of the tools and programs employed, involvement of public/private partnerships, and the ability to leverage private and nonprofit funds, among other criteria.

ULI Terwilliger Center founder Ron Terwilliger, chairman, Terwilliger Pappas Multifamily Partners, chaired the jury. In addition, this year’s other jury members are Alan George, executive vice president, Equity Residential, Chicago, Illinois; Nina Janopaul, president and chief executive officer, Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing, Arlington, Virginia; Mick Nelson, founder and chief executive officer, Nelson Community Partners, Nashville, Tennessee; Pam Patenaude, former deputy secretary, United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Vienna, Virginia; Phillip Payne, co-founder and chairman, the Lotus Campaign, Charlotte, North Carolina; Jonathan Rose, president, Jonathan Rose Companies, New York, New York; Stacy Silber, principal, LerchEarlyBrewer, Bethesda, Maryland; Margaret Wylde, chief executive officer, ProMatura Group LLC, Oxford, Mississippi; and Bob Youngentob, president, EYA, Bethesda, Maryland.

NOTE TO REPORTERS AND EDITORS: Courtesy images of the Robert C. Larson Housing Policy Leadership Award finalists are provided by ULI for use by members of the press upon request. For more details on the awards and previous winners, visit the Larson Awards homepage.

About the ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing

The ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing conducts research, performs analysis, provides expert advice, and develops best practice recommendations that reflect the residential land use and development priorities of ULI members in all residential product types, with special attention to workforce and affordable housing. The center was established in 2007 with a gift from longtime member and former ULI chairman J. Ronald Terwilliger.