Despite COVID-19 and the recession, the housing industry is seeing unexpected resilience in certain segments of the market, speakers said at the Housing Trends and Outlook session at the ULI Virtual Fall Meeting.

The ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing has created a Home Attainability Index, designed to support ULI district councils, local municipalities, and members of the development community who are working to address longstanding challenges related to home affordability. Attainable housing and income segregation remain major challenges for families and communities across the United States.

Public subsidies, persistence, and innovative design decisions helped create homes for some of the poorest residents of San Francisco.

At a ULI Austin event, speakers said that government, nonprofit, and business initiatives are tackling Austin’s homelessness predicament by, among other things, proposing temporary structures known as Sprung shelters and seeking to convert motels into longer-term housing.

At ULI South Carolina’s Capital Markets Conference, panelists outlined strategies that are leveraging the strengths of the private sector to create and preserve affordable housing in areas experiencing rapid growth.

According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the population of Washington, D.C., topped 700,000 residents last year, the first time since 1975. But the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments estimates a shortfall of more than 200,000 housing units by 2025 to meet the projected job growth and transportation system performance in the urban core of the D.C. region. A ULI Washington Impact Task Force report addressed two main barriers to opportunities for supply growth and attainability: navigating the entitlement and approval processes, as well as gaining community acceptance through engagement and participation.

Public and private investment reclaimed the area’s cultural heritage. Increased tourism now challenges its authenticity.

Flush from Amazon’s selection of Arlington County, Virginia, for a new headquarters facility, three “titans” of the real estate scene in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region took a moment to celebrate at the ULI Washington Trends Conference. To put all of this into perspective were John “Chip” Akridge III, founder and chairman of Akridge; Thomas “Tom” Bozzuto, chairman and cofounder of the Bozzuto Group; and Bryant Foulger, chairman of Foulger-Pratt.

Homeownership is still the American dream, but the home Americans are dreaming about does not look like yesterday’s traditional house with its formal living and dining rooms, large yard, and price that is out of reach for many people. A panel of industry experts addressed the U.S. shortage of housing during the ULI Spring Meeting, prompted by a new report, Attainable Housing: Challenges, Perceptions, and Solutions, from ULI’s Terwilliger Center for Housing and RCLCO.

Speaking at a recent ULI event in Fort Lauderdale, Dean Trantalis, mayor of Fort Lauderdale, was joined by Broward County Mayor Mark Bogen and Jenni Morejon, the president and CEO of the Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority, on a panel discussing some of the short-term policies being implemented to make major strides for local residents, tourists, and companies alike.