Practice Area Archives - Page 2 of 10

City of Boston Downtown Office Conversion Study

November 20, 2024 / Comments Off

HR&A supported the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) in studying the feasibility of converting vacant downtown offices to residences through subsidies, tax incentives, and expedited permitting, which resulted in the City launching an office conversion pilot program. Since its launch in October 2023, the program has received applications proposing 400 new homes, and in 2024 the City extended the pilot with $15 million in new funding from the State.

This study is part of an ongoing effort by the City of Boston to generate strategies and initiatives that can revitalize Boston’s Downtown in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Shifts in how we work, office space utilization and commuting patterns have resulted in lower tax revenue for the City of Boston as well as less foot traffic to support retail options and a safe and active street-level experience. HR&A analyzed potential new uses for vacant and underperforming office buildings, the costs associated with conversion, incentives for spurring conversions, and the impacts of repositioning office buildings on the city, its workers, residents, and visitors.

Based on our findings, HR&A recommended an actionable tax abatement to successfully convert vacant Downtown office spaces to viable uses. The project entailed data review and market analysis; building type inventory and reuse assessment; stakeholder interviews; financial analysis; funding strategies; and policy recommendations.

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Read the full Study

Learn about the Program

Mayor Wu Announces Extension of Office to Residential Conversion Program with Partnership From The State

Press

Converting Boston’s offices to housing is tricky, but it’s starting to happen — WBUR

Boston’s downtown office to residential conversion program gets $15M state boost — Boston Herald

Boston extends office-to-housing conversion program until 2025 — Axios

Why converting Boston’s empty offices to homes is harder than it looks — Axios

State of Maine Housing Study

November 20, 2024 / Comments Off

HR&A worked with the Maine Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation to develop a study to understand housing needs and deficits along with their impacts on Maine’s economy. Our study found that 76,400–84,300 new homes need to be built within the next 7 years to maintain Maine’s economic growth.

After the plan helped establish a deeper understanding of housing needs across the state, we launched a public data portal, which maps the housing crisis across the State to help highlight each region’s specific needs and measure progress toward the study’s recommended housing production goals.

HR&A engaged stakeholders through a Technical Working Group that provided input and feedback throughout the analysis. The study analyzed existing housing production gaps across the state and projected future housing needs based on job and population growth. We explored different regions across the State of Maine, and our Study functions as a municipal planning tool to support Maine’s LD 2003 legislation, which aims to reduce barriers to housing production across the state.

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Mills Administration and MaineHousing Announce Launch of New Statewide Housing Data Portal

Maine Housing Data Portal

Press

“This is how much new housing Maine needs to fix crisis” — Bangor Daily News

“Maine needs 84,000 new homes in the next 7 years, report finds” — Portland Press Herald

“Maine needs at least 84,000 new homes within seven years, study says” — Maine Public

 “Housing crisis worse than ever: New study calls for 80,000+ new homes in Maine” — 13 WGME

Honolulu Climate Financial Risk Assessment and Funding Strategies

October 16, 2024 / Comments Off

HR&A is supporting the City and County of Honolulu to assess the City’s climate-related financial risks and define strategies for funding and budgeting vital adaptation measures. As climate hazards like coastal erosion, flooding, and hurricanes become more frequent and severe, this initiative marks a significant opportunity for Honolulu to safeguard its future by investing in resilient infrastructure and long-term solutions.

Communities in Honolulu are already contending with the impacts of climate change due to sea level rise, heat, drought, wildfires, hurricanes, and storm surge. Meeting the scale of this challenge requires systemic change in approaches to funding, financing, policy, and procedures. The City and County of Honolulu engaged HR&A to build an understanding of the city’s financial risk and develop a proactive, strategic approach to prioritizing investments in climate solutions. This includes preserving existing revenue streams for climate solutions and identifying additional funding and financing sources.

Through this process, HR&A will develop a comprehensive roadmap and toolbox to ensure the City and County of Honolulu and its constituents understand the scale of fiscal risk; who is responsible for specific risks (whether it’s the City, County, State, Federal government, or private sector); the magnitude of needed investments and the City and County’s ability to manage their cost, and actionable strategies to develop a budget and financial approach to address and mitigate risks.

Los Angeles County Rent Stabilization Ordinance Study

August 27, 2024 / Comments Off

Amid high inflation, rising costs, and the ongoing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, HR&A collaborated with Los Angeles County to address the critical issue of rental housing costs by developing six potential rent increase formulas for the County Board of Supervisors’ consideration. These options integrated real-world scenarios and input from renters and owners alike, aiming to address market realities, mitigate overburdensome costs, and support the needs of all parties in the rental market.

Nearly all low- and moderate-income renters in unincorporated Los Angeles County are housing cost-burdened, which means they spend more than 30% of their income on rent. Consequently, any rent increase will exacerbate housing instability for these renters and could potentially lead to evictions.

HR&A was proud to support the County Board of Supervisors in exploring and refining its approach to stabilizing rents and protecting tenants. As part of this work we engaged with diverse stakeholders, including tenants, advocates, and property owners, to ensure that our analysis reflected the real-world experiences and challenges of impacted groups. Our engagement supplemented analyses of rental market trends, operating costs, ongoing pandemic impacts, and the policy environment for rent stabilization in California. Based on this work, we developed six potential rent increase formulas for the Board’s consideration, and carefully evaluated each for its impact on all parties involved.

Our analysis and recommendations empowered the County to make an informed decision on changes to their Rent Stabilization and Tenant Protections Ordinance, with the goal of reducing housing instability and prevent evictions, while also considering the needs of landlords. This work not only supports the County’s vision for more equitable affordable housing access but also helps address a pressing community need with housing prices continuing to rise across the State.

Supporting Municipal Power in Puerto Rico

July 11, 2024 / Comments Off

HR&A was instrumental in the formation of La Liga, an organization that equipped Puerto Rican mayors with unprecedented communication channels in the wake of Hurricane Maria, and we continue to provide strategic and analytic support to help the organization build collective action, resilience, and more effective local government on the Island.

La Liga is a first-of-its-kind, community-focused, collaborative vehicle for Puerto Rico to address fiscal, economic, rebuilding challenges and gain deserved visibility and support from the U.S. mainland — work that emerged from necessity in the wake of a climate disaster and continues to build a more resilient and prosperous future for the people living there.

In the years since La Liga was formed, HR&A helped design and execute La Liga’s Municipal Innovation Laboratory, which offers a tailored, comprehensive curriculum to promote equity-driven community power, transparency, fiscal responsibility, and economic well-being for local governments in Puerto Rico. HR&A also designed La Liga’s Federal Funding Navigator, an online platform that streamlines municipalities’ access to funding opportunities provided by the Investment in Infrastructure and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). This tool simplifies the process of accessing over $107 billion for which Puerto Rico is eligible for climate change and infrastructure projects.

Supporting Trinity Church Philanthropies to End Mass Homelessness and Mass Incarceration in New York City

July 11, 2024 / Comments Off

For the past several years, HR&A has provided strategic partnership to Trinity Church Philanthropies to help them advance their goals of ending mass incarceration and mass homelessness in New York City.

HR&A supported Trinity Church Wall Street to launch Faith Communities for Just Reentry (FCJR), a coalition of over 40 faith leaders across New York State demanding that City leaders take action to ensure that New Yorkers leaving city jails transition home effectively during the COVID-19 pandemic. HR&A supported the development of the coalition’s policy platform, which includes keeping people safe during the pandemic, ensuring justice-involved families can access housing, and calling for the creation of a coordinated reentry system.

HR&A also provided direct support to Trinity’s grantees, including helping Fountain House — a national nonprofit that serves and advocates for people living with serious mental illness — plan for the expansion of its effective clubhouse model, which has been shown to dramatically reduce homelessness and improve health outcomes for its members. To support Trinity’s goals, HR&A analyzed how public hospital real estate assets could be repositioned to address the needs of patients experiencing homelessness and on the workforce it will need over the next decade to implement evidence-driven, community-based programs — such as permanent supportive housing — that have been shown to reduce homelessness, hospitalization, and jail admission.

Transition for Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato

July 11, 2024 / Comments Off

Starting the morning after Sara Innamorato was elected as the first female County Executive in Allegheny County, HR&A provided intensive daily project management and strategic guidance to her transition and helped create an Action Plan to guide her Administration.

First, we structured and supported a Transition Committee of over 200 diverse community leaders, organizers, local employers, academics, and government experts. With this committee, HR&A sourced, vetted, and recommended appointments to critical leadership positions in County departments and the Executive Offices. We also designed and implemented All In Allegheny, the largest community engagement initiative in County history. Nearly 19,000 residents responded to the All In community issue survey, sharing the actions they would like County government to take on topics including housing affordability, infrastructure projects, neighborhood safety, small business support, reducing pollution, and supporting young people. HR&A project managed the development of the All In Action Plan, in which the Innamorato Administration lays out the 91 actions it will take over the next several years to deliver on the community priorities articulated in the survey findings and workshops held across the County. This Action Plan was released on County Executive Innamorato’s 100th Day in Office, in mid-April 2024.

HR&A’s proven ability to translate newly elected leaders’ campaign promises into tangible reforms has been enshrined in a playbook prepared for Local Progress, a movement of elected municipal officials who activate the powers of local government to advance racial equity and economic justice.

Supporting the Creation of a San Francisco Public Bank

July 11, 2024 / Comments Off

After soliciting extensive input from community members, city officials, banking experts, and business stakeholders, HR&A developed a Business and Governance Plan for the City of San Francisco’s public bank to support affordable housing, small businesses, and green investments.

The banking ecosystem in San Francisco, like many cities across America, has historically failed to serve everyone and leaves significant gaps in the capital available to develop and preserve affordable housing, support small businesses, and ensure the rapid adoption of decarbonization technologies. An HR&A-led team helped the San Francisco Reinvestment Working Group (RWG) identify unmet financing needs and craft a Plan with tailored lending products to fill these banking gaps. As part of our analysis, we determined the viability of a public bank and developed detailed pro forma financial statements and governance plans to guide the City’s efforts to establish this new entity. In September 2023, the City’s Board of Supervisors voted to adopt the Plan, positioning San Francisco at the vanguard of the growing public banking movement with a critical step towards the establishment of California’s first municipal public bank.

HR&A Advisors led a team consisting of banking experts Gary S. Findley & Associates and community engagement consultants Contigo Communications to define the vision, mission, and structure of the public bank with an emphasis on transparent and community-driven operation and economic opportunity for all San Franciscans. Throughout the process, we engaged a variety of stakeholders including community members, small businesses, nonprofits, housing and environmental justice advocates, financial experts, City agencies, and more to gain insights around what services would be most impactful. Now the City has a robust roadmap to create a public bank that will help address financial needs and more equitably serve the needs of lower-income and marginalized communities who have been excluded from access to reliable, affordable capital for far too long.

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Check out the full San Francisco Public Bank Business and Governance Plan and Viability Study
San Francisco Board of Supervisors Unanimously Accept Plan to Implement the First Municipal Bank in the Nation

Press

San Francisco Green-Lights Nation’s First City-Run Public Bank — KQED
What’s next for San Francisco’s public bank plan — Axios
San Francisco given go-ahead to start creating nation’s first municipal bank — CBS News Bay Area
Proposed S.F. public bank gets first review by supervisors — San Francisco Chronicle

Photo via: Shen Pan

Supporting SEIU State Public Banking Legislation

June 8, 2023 / Comments Off

HR&A Advisors worked with a coalition of racial and economic justice organizations, financial access advocates, and labor unions, including the California Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the California Public Banking Alliance, to provide analysis of the financial and social impacts of unfair banking access to support advocacy for the California Public Banking Option Act (AB-1177). Our findings showed how inadequate and disparate access to free and safe banking accounts results in billions of dollars lost to the California economy annually, contributes to people remaining in poverty, and increases the use of taxpayer dollars towards providing social services.

In October 2021, the California Assembly and Senate passed the California Public Banking Option Act and Governor Gavin Newsom signed it into law in a move that sets the foundation for providing universal access to banking that will benefit households, local economies, and taxpayers. This is the first bill in the nation guaranteeing universal banking access, paving the way towards giving all Californians access to high-quality, low-cost financial services. 80.7% of unbanked Californians earn less than $15 per hour, and nearly half of Black and 41.1% of Hispanic households in California are unbanked or underbanked. Unbanked communities lack access to basic financial services — like checking and savings accounts — that are critical to financial stability.

HR&A Advisors novel analysis examined who is not being served by the formal banking system, where they live, what the financial costs are to individuals and to the economy of un- and under-banking, and the economic benefits of the legislation to California. AB-1177 established a framework to study the feasibility and implement the CalAccount public banking option program, an alternative to the high fees that many Californians face from existing predatory banking options that stand as a barrier to wealth accumulation.

Our analysis delineated how the CalAccount program could offer critical services to Californians and become self-sufficient within the next five years. CalAccount could draw on existing state programs to reach a customer base of millions of Californians resulting in an estimated $3.3 billion in savings for low-income households, potentially creating 22,000 jobs, and boosting the California economy by an estimated $4.2 billion by redirecting spending away from costly interest and fees.

Photo: Louis Velazquez

NYC Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Assessment for For-Hire Vehicles

February 14, 2023 / Comments Off

In 2022, Uber engaged HR&A to assess the current state of electric vehicle (“EV”) charging infrastructure available to New York City’s for-hire drivers and what is needed to reach the Mayor’s goal for zero emissions by 2030.

The report revealed critical gaps in the New York City’s infrastructure that will pose significant challenges to achieving this transition in the next 7 years and identified a set of strategies that bring together the City, utilities, EV charging companies, and mission-driven landowners to work together to accelerate the path to a cleaner, greener future.

The report recommends 10 strategies that will support enhanced access and affordability to EV charging infrastructure, build the processes and systems to support for-hire driver needs, and help achieve the 2030 zero-emissions goal:

Identify high-need neighborhoods that overlap with where for-hire drivers live to prioritize where to place low cost and fast chargers.
Work with utilities to identify high-volume pick-up and drop-off areas in which the grid currently has capacity to support new fast chargers.
Develop a comprehensive EV infrastructure deployment plan to strengthen coordination with utilities, optimizing the City’s ability to achieve its emission reduction and environmental equity goals, and electrify the for-hire vehicle fleet.
Aggressively pursue new federal funding opportunities to direct investment to target neighborhoods.
Streamline the permit process for EV charging as part of the City’s ongoing efforts to improve land-use processes.
Leverage real estate assets owned/managed by public or faith-based entities to provide land for accessible, affordable chargers in targeted neighborhoods and near high-volume trip areas.
Explore land use incentives for private developers to integrate public chargers with no gate/parking fees into new developments.
Continue targeted outreach and engagement specific to the for-hire vehicle industry.
Support EV charging operators in communicating electricity prices and charger availability with drivers, as well as in developing driver-centric incentives to reduce charging during peak load times.
Further develop a new pricing structure for the cost of power for charging operators that makes charging more affordable.

The report findings were announced within this Op Ed in the Gotham Gazette on February of 2023.

Read the report here.