The finalists for this year’s ULI Robert C. Larson Housing Policy Leadership Awards include Arlington County, Virginia, the City of Chicago, Illinois, New York City, and the State of Iowa.

Small apartment buildings are often overlooked or underserved by housing policy and traditional housing and commercial real estate finance mechanisms. Because this housing type is so prevalent in New England and important in the state’s housing stock, the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority has created a three-pronged program to address rental needs at a scale that works for the state’s smaller communities.

With the trend toward urbanization increasingly pricing families out of housing in cities, one solution to the problem would be to simply construct more affordable multifamily housing stock in the suburbs.

Panelists at the recent ULI Housing Opportunity Conference discussed the impediments to low- to moderate-income wage earners achieving homeownership, saying that most large lenders and many regional and smaller lenders have lost their ability to originate layered mortgages, due to the increased complexity of the new regulatory environment.

In February, Enterprise Community Partners unveiled an ambitious policy platform that is intended to improve the lives and outcomes of housing-insecure families.

Japan welcomed just under 20 million visitors last year and is targeting 40 million arrivals by 2020, the year Tokyo holds the Summer Olympics. ULI members attending the event at the Tokyo Midtown conference center heard that the Japanese government is having trouble keeping up with the pace of change in the tourism industry. For example, due to licensing requirements, 99 percent of Airbnb apartment owners in Japan are breaking the law.

Improving energy efficiency in low-income households could create a ripple effect of health, economic, and environmental benefits for individuals, families, and communities, says a new report on low-income households in 48 of the largest U.S. cities.

Real estate developers around the world are responding to increased consumer interest in cycling and walking as preferred modes of transportation by building projects adjacent to trails, bike paths, bike-sharing stations, and other infrastructure that supports human-powered mobility, according to
Active Transportation and Real Estate: The Next Frontier, a new ULI report.

With arts, office, and recreational offerings, Philadelphia’s Center City is drawing new residents—of various ages—to downtown living.

According to a report by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, the United States has seen an unprecedented increase in those living in rental housing, with nearly 9 million rental households added since 2005. While private lending has increased in the sector, new construction is largely focused on the higher end of the market.