New York City has a unique and varied history developing mixed-income housing. As cities around the country grapple with a growing housing affordability crisis, state and local governments are increasingly experimenting with different programs and formats of producing mixed-income housing to address this challenge. This panel will provide a deep dive into the topic, exploring where mixed-income housing works and where it sits in the continuum of attainable housing solutions. Mixed-income housing has the potential to provide economic, social, and political benefits, including serving a wider range of incomes, improving social mobility, increasing production in supply constrained markets, and mitigating financial risk. Panelists will draw from the experiences of NYC projects such as Essex Crossing, Navy Green, and Hunter's Point South to shed light on the benefits and challenges, including NIMBYism (not in my backyard), levels of affordability, and resource allocation; demystify available financing vehicles; and identify the tools government can deploy to promote mixed-income housing.

Long Island City (LIC) is New York City’s fastest growing neighborhood. The city is engaged in multiple efforts to support the neighborhood’s long-term transformation into a mixed-use district. The Hunter’s Point South project is transforming the Long Island City waterfront with improved infrastructure, an 11-acre waterfront park, and 5,000 total residential units, including 3,000 affordable housing units. In 2018, the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) completed the waterfront park, featuring a green stormwater infrastructure, bicycle and pedestrian pathways, adult fitness equipment, a playground, and an art installation. In fall 2023, the city kicked off the One LIC neighborhood planning study, focusing on LIC’s northern Waterfront and the industrial business zone (IBZ) located between the Waterfront and Court Square. This project seeks to leverage city-owned sites for affordable housing, promote equitable economic development, add waterfront open space, and improve circulation around the neighborhood.

 

This tour will begin at Hunter’s Point South Park, move north along the LIC waterfront to Anable Basin, and conclude at the IBZ. 

Building owners, investors and tenants grapple with the costs of reducing carbon footprints while cities set aggressive goals towards achieving net zero. Meanwhile, the capital markets must determine how to finance these "green" initiatives and quantify the value and risk associated with transitioning to net zero. Join us as we explore the real costs of going to net zero, who bears the burden and the financial drivers behind this push.

The seminal ULI 2022 publication "10 Principles for Embedding Racial Equity in Real Estate Development" highlights the need for real estate practitioners to recognize the power of language and lifts up an imperative for a shared language around racial equity in real estate. A new ULI report, "Racial Equity Terms for Real Estate Leaders," aims to elevate widely accepted definitions and help specific terms come alive for real estate professionals by demonstrating applications in real estate and development practice. In this session, learn more about the new resource and hear how real estate leaders are building their understanding of and advancing action on core concepts including antiracism, equitable development, inclusion, and more.

In response to the pandemic and the global push for racial justice, the Freedom West team and future development is prioritizing equity in the built environment. This panel explores an "Equity by Design" framework to design and development, uncovering a community's needs and aspirations—including underserved voices—and tying design solutions to what is heard. Freedom West 2.0 will exemplify an Equity by Design approach through the revitalization of Freedom West Homes in San Francisco, the largest and oldest co-op in western North America. Spanning four city blocks, the project encompasses 382 existing homes and 2,000 new ones. Its primary objective is to provide a sustainable future for the predominantly African American and East Asian population in the area. The master plan and conceptual design revolves around restoring the city grid and urban neighborhood character, as opposed to the current forced suburban layout, driven by the city's density reduction agenda, particularly affecting ethnic communities. MacFarlane Partners, Legacy First Partners, and Avanath Capital Management have fully committed to community equity. This approach not only considers the co-op's spatial requirements but also its values.

This session will cover the opportunities and challenges in developing mixed- or middle-income, infill multifamily development—often referred to as "missing middle" housing. Using real development case studies presented by three developers, the panel will cover both rental multifamily and homeownership development models. The case studies will show how we can deliver housing more affordably than typical market-rate development and more efficiently than typical affordable housing development, using creative financing tools that blend private impact equity with strategic public financing sources.

This panel will explore the challenges and opportunities cities face with a focus on the U.S./North American context from a variety of different perspectives—economic, social, and governance. Many cities are incredibly desirable and expensive places to live. However, they are struggling with perceptions about safety, quality of life, underlying and persistent inequities, the economic health of city centers, and balancing budgets. What are the major shared challenges cities are confronting and how are they grappling with them? What new opportunities does this moment present? New York City has returned to pre-Covid unemployment levels (as of September 2023) but is grappling with a deepening affordable housing crisis, strained municipal budgets, and long-term climate risks, among other challenges. Is there an emerging playbook for addressing this moment? How is NYC handling these challenges? And, more optimistically, where are the opportunities?