2022 Spring Issue - 25

ments
people want to go is where businesses
have to go. If you want your
city to be successful, you need
to have housing at all levels that
people can afford, and certainly
housing at levels that people
can afford with the jobs they're
performing. That's really a critical
factor for the success of a city,
and I think it's become even more
so over the last five to 10 years.
Housing is getting more and more
expensive relative to incomes.
Kavindi Wickremage: I think
we, as the ULI governing trustees,
can help highlight for our members
how necessary attainable housing
is for the health of a city. Tech
workers with $150,000 jobs can
easily find housing. However, it's
the support workers-who make it
possible for those highly skilled,
highly paid workers to have a good
quality of life-who can't afford
housing. They're the ones who
lack attainable housing options,
and they are the focus for housing
authorities across the country.
Christopher Ptomey: I like to
use the word attainability because
the word affordable brings different
meanings and suggests that
it's a challenge only for a certain
segment of the population. And
increasingly, it's not just lowincome
households that are facing
affordability challenges. A big part
of the problem we see right now
is the missing-middle segment of
housing. You have people stuck
at the upper end who need to
get into less expensive housing,
and people at the lower end who
can afford to move up but have
nowhere to go.
Anne Kavanagh: In Europe,
over 80 million E.U. citizens are
overburdened by housing costs,
meaning that they're spending
more than 30 percent of their net
income on housing. And there are
75 million people in Europe who
are socially isolated. It's an issue
for society as a whole, not just the
real estate industry. This results
in inequality that doesn't lead to
equal opportunity. It's been a big
topic during COVID due to the
concept that working from home is
possible: not everyone is able to
do that effectively. During COVID
we have seen mental health issues
becoming more widespread. The
other impact of affordability is to
push people into smaller spaces,
demonstrated by the demand for
micro-apartments.
Faron A. Hill: I would describe
the challenge as a delicate balancing
act between a number of
important factors-demand, affordability,
design, and functionality,
as well. The interesting thing is
that these challenges are different
for each market. So, as a result,
it requires creative solutions to
address the challenges.
Khoo Teng Chye: I can roughly
put Asian cities into two categories.
There are the more developed
cities such as Singapore, Hong
Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, and Shanghai.
Then there are the less developed
cities, such as Jakarta, Bangkok,
Manila, [and] Ho Chi Minh City. But
they all have their own issues with
housing, both on the supply and
the affordability side. For the more
developed cities, the problem is
that with the lower cost of capital,
there's a huge influx of capital into
these cities, and many are buying
up housing. And that is to the
" At ULI, we are a neutral
observer, with the ability to
aggregate information from
all four corners of the world
about ways in which other
cities have tackled attainable
housing effectively, and
educate our members, who
sometimes tend to be local in
their perspective. "
-KAVINDI WICKREMAGE,
MANAGING DIRECTOR, BAIN
CAPITAL REAL ESTATE
detriment of the working class-the
middle-income residents. For the
lesser-developed cities, I think it's
really about a continuing problem
of lack of housing to accommodate
the new migrants who are attracted
to work in cities and moving in
from rural areas. They live on the
margins of cities, many of them in
very poor housing. That continues
to be a problem in some of the
more developed cities, too.
What do you see as the most
important opportunities for ULI
to support increased housing
production and attainability?
Hill: I've always felt that the model
in Singapore [where the public
sector built and leased apartments
to residents] is one that could fit
well in some U.S. cities. However,
there would be challenges from a
policy perspective. We have to view
this from a global perspective and
adopt the best ideas and concepts
from other cities and countries.
Khoo: Reflecting on what's been
done in Singapore, one could pull
out certain principles behind what
we did, even though it's largely
government driven. If one could
apply those principles in any city,
irrespective of the political or governance
system and whether the
public or private sector does it,
I think that would go a long way
toward tackling some of the more
difficult challenges. We can come
up with 10 principles for tackling
a housing problem in a city, along
with the index [the ULI Home
Attainability Index]. That's a useful
way for ULI to add value in any city
where we can convene a panel. We
can use the principles to bring the
right people together to see the
kind of interventions that can be
productive.
Walter: I think the benefit that ULI
can bring to this is that we are a
big tent. A lot of different groups
will focus on this sort of issue
but come at it with a fairly narrow
perspective. You're either all about
affordable housing or you are all
about increasing development.
As Teng Chye was describing, we
SPRING 2022
URBAN LAND
25
2022 Spring Issue

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of 2022 Spring Issue
