2024 Summer Issue of Urban Land - 20

developments
developments
Shared housing, including
situations in which a homeowner
cohabits with a renter.
Grandfamilies-households
led by grandparents that
include young children without
their parents in residence-confront
specific housing availability
and attainability challenges,
but there is an opportunity to
develop housing that meets
their needs.
One such example is the
Plaza West Apartments in
Washington, D.C.-a multifamily
development that opened in
2018 with 223 affordable rental
units, 50 of which are devoted
to grandfamilies. Developed by
Mission First Housing Group,
Plaza West is estimated to be
one of only nine affordable
housing developments in the
country to embrace grandfamilies.
The development includes
a " grandparent library, " a fitness
room with exercise equipment
for seniors, and a youth
activity room. Partnerships
with local organizations, including
the YMCA, provide services
for residents, and members of
the Howard University School
of Social Work lead support
groups for grandparents and
teens.
More information on various
housing categories that support
multigenerational living
can be found at uli.org/multigenerationalcommunities.
Making
multigenerational
communities happen
Multigenerational living calls for
something beyond a one-sizefits-all
approach to housing
and communities. In fact, the
very basis of it revolves around
housing that evolves and
changes over time according
to people's needs.
As cities move to enable and
encourage the development
of multigenerational models
20
URBAN LAND
Collete English Dixon
SUMMER 2 024
and categories, they will better
meet the growing demand
for housing and places that
support multigenerational
households, while also meeting
a variety of broader housing
needs. Multigenerational living
requires making housing and
communities work for more
families and more people, and
in doing so, allows people to
thrive at every stage of their
lives.
MATT NORRIS is a senior director with
the ULI Building Healthy Places Initiative.
their applicability for real
estate practitioners, ULI has
developed a new resource,
Racial Equity Terms for Real
Estate Leaders.
The interactive glossary
Words Matter: ULI's
New Glossary of
Racial Equity Terms
for Real Estate
Leaders
How we use words is important.
Words can describe
both racial inequities and the
efforts to remedy them. As
the real estate industry continues
the work to dismantle
systemic racism, it's critical
to be intentional about language.
To
highlight the importance
and complexity of
words used regularly in our
industry, and to demonstrate
provides widely accepted
definitions for 14 essential
terms, from antiracism to
underserved, and provides
real estate-focused quotes
and examples for each.
Graphics help define some
terms, and there is a short
list of suggested further
reading. Because language
shifts over time, the resource
was designed to be a living
document that can be
expanded and updated as
new concepts and case studies
emerge.
The glossary can be used
by all real estate professionals-executives,
administrative
staff, and anyone
else-to help us be more
intentional in how we talk
about race, and to deepen
our understanding of how to
take action on key ideas and
concepts.
Developing and sharing
the glossary
I chaired the process to
develop the glossary, which
was created by ULI members
and for ULI members
and informed by a member
workshop in October 2023.
I encourage every ULI
member to read and interact
with it.
The glossary is an outgrowth
of work done for
ULI's 2022 report 10 Principles
for Embedding Racial
Equity in Real Estate Development.
Principle 7 calls
upon real estate leaders to
" Recognize the power of language "
as a critical component
in the fight for equality:
Language matters, and by
using terms in a thoughtful,
inclusive, and actionable
way, real estate professionals
can more accurately talk
about and more effectively
work toward a vision of
racial equity. This report
does not develop a shared
language or framework for
racial equity, but it does
highlight the need for a
common understanding of
racial equity, particularly
as it applies to real estate.
Although creating such a
shared language and framework
will probably take an
industry-wide effort, individual
practitioners can seek
to accomplish this end on a
smaller scale, including within
their companies and their
projects.
As ULI members crafted
the 10 Principles report, it
became clear that certain
essential terms, such as
equitable development and
privilege, were understood
by different people in different
ways. These discussions
laid the groundwork for
further discussion and what
eventually became the Racial
Equity Terms for Real Estate
Leaders resource.
The need for progress
I have been encouraged by
recent efforts and progress
toward equity in commercial
real estate. Many events now
make a point to be more
inclusive, there has been an
increase in programs meant
to help diverse developers
and owner/operators/investors
gain access to capital,
and there are more efforts
to bring more people of
color into the field and retain
them. Still, there's a losng
way to go.
Commercial real estate is
stronger when we acknowledge,
talk about, and work
to solve the racial inequities
in, and caused by, our industry.
To do so, we need to be
honest and clear about the
challenges we face and our
aspirations for a better, more
just, and more equitable
world. That clarity starts with
having a more complete and
deeper understanding of the
language we use.
COLLETE ENGLISH DIXON is executive
director of the Marshall Bennett Institute of
Real Estate at Roosevelt University.
http://www.uli.org/multi
2024 Summer Issue of Urban Land

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