We’re problem solvers
for cities.

The year is 1976. The economy has fallen flat for most Americans. An oil crisis abroad has strained budgets at home. Technology is rapidly changing work, and pollution is a growing threat. Racial and economic inequality is underlying all of it.

Cities are always in motion. For the past 50 years, HR&A has been part of that motion, working as problem solvers — helping cities unlock investment, advance opportunity, and invigorate places of every size. Cities today face a new set of defining challenges. How do we restore trust in government? Make cities affordable for everyone? […]

Financial inclusion—access to high-quality, low-cost, user-friendly financial services—is a fundamental building block of economic stability. Yet today, 62 million Americans are unbanked or underbanked, a figure equivalent to twice the population of Texas. The consequences are significant: lack of access to traditional banking often forces households to rely on expensive or predatory financial services, costing […]

Congratulations to the City of Austin, LifeWorks Austin, Travis County, and the many partners behind today’s release of Dismantling the Foster Care to Homelessness Pipeline in Austin, Texas—a landmark 10-point plan to create 2,000 new housing opportunities for young people in response to a significant increase in youth homelessness in Austin over the past five […]

Rural healthcare in America is at a pivotal moment. Earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services launched the multibillion-dollar Rural Health Transformation Program — one of the most significant federal investments in rural care delivery in decades. In a new Route Fifty op-ed, Principal Shawn Daugherty argues that its success depends on something often overlooked: reliable, affordable high-speed broadband.

  This blog post was originally issued by Waypoint Blog.   The Equitable Transit-Oriented Development (ETOD) Study, released this week, is the culmination of a multi-year effort to establish a framework for the equitable development of Austin’s growing transit network.   As Project Connect is moving forward with Phase 1 Austin Light Rail development, CapMetro and the City […]

Today, those same institutions are under pressure from every direction. Public funding remains uncertain. Enrollment costs are rising. Land values around many campuses are climbing faster than HBCUs can capitalize on them. In cities across the country, the neighborhoods HBCUs helped stabilize and shape are now targets of speculative development. That presents both financial and cultural uncertainty. Without intention, we risk watching history repeat itself as Black institutions are surrounded, displaced, or disconnected from the communities they were built to serve.

“We know parks are valuable assets that have a major return on investment, and the strongest park systems take a multifaceted approach to funding. This PNA offers a roadmap to funding the city’s park system that will help address current needs and improve our parks in the years to come.”   HR&A Advisors Managing Partner […]

We recently celebrated 10 years since opening our Texas office, so we sat down with Managing Partner Aaron Abelson to reflect on HR&A’s impact across the Lone Star State.   Can you share a bit about HR&A’s history in Texas? I joined HR&A in 2013 in New York, right when the firm’s work in Texas […]

 NJ TRANSIT, led by its CEO Kris Kolluri, agency leadership, and state and local officials, unveiled The LAND Plan: Leveraging Assets for Non-Farebox Dollars—a first-of-its-kind strategy to generate long-term, sustainable revenue from NJ TRANSIT’s extensive real estate portfolio.    HR&A Advisors, in collaboration with Arup, is honored to have supported NJ TRANSIT in developing this comprehensive plan, […]