The Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority has been selected by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Terwilliger Center for Housing as a winner of the 2019 Robert C. Larson Housing Policy Leadership Award, which is an annual recognition of the innovative ways the public sector is addressing the country’s affordable housing crisis.
The winners, selected by a jury of nationally renowned housing industry leaders, were announced during ULI’s 2019 Fall Meeting in Washington, D.C. Terwilliger Center Founder and former ULI Chairman J. Ronald Terwilliger served as the jury chairman. “These policies demonstrate the hard work, creative thinking, and leadership that is necessary to provide affordable housing for those who so desperately need it,” Terwilliger said. “They are fine examples of what is achievable, and it is my hope that they inspire more creativity and more solutions in more of our communities.”
The Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority was recognized for its proactive actions in creating affordable housing before it becomes a problem in the city. The goal of the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority’s Workforce Housing program is to identify clusters of publicly owned land, bundle them, sell them to a developer at the highest possible sale price to the public sector. The program requires developers to ensure the properties are owner-occupied, homeowners are income certified, and that resales are made at an affordable price-point for up to 30 years, and create a credit enhancement program that matches a land and credit subsidy. The first workforce housing project went to settlement in 2015 and has led to 13 projects with 148 units of workforce housing, along with an additional 62 market rate units in mixed-income projects.
The award recognizes exemplary state and local programs, policies, and practices that support the production, rehabilitation, or preservation of workforce and affordable housing. It was created in 2011 to honor the legacy of the late Robert C. Larson, a former Terwilliger Center advisory board member, former ULI Foundation chairman, and a longtime ULI trustee.
The Larson Award is part of the ULI Terwilliger Center’s housing awards program, which honors developments and programs that provide affordable, well-designed, and accessible housing choices for people with a mix of incomes, including families earning up to 120 percent of the area median income.
The program recognizes states and localities that undertake a broad range of policy and administrative initiatives to support housing affordability. This can take the form of regulatory or administrative changes such as allowing higher densities and waiving fees, or programs that provide grants or financing assistance. Policy programs are judged on several factors, including impact on the supply of workforce housing, comprehensiveness of the tools and programs employed, involvement of public/private partnerships, and the ability to leverage private and nonprofit funds, among other criteria.
To read the full announcement, click here.