Jun 04, 2019
When something iconic fades away, is there a way to bring it back? In El Paso, TX, a figurative and literal flame was gradually extinguished as the historic Blue Flame building, built in 1954, sat mostly empty over the past quarter century. The building had served for decades as the natural gas company’s headquarters, its…
Jun 04, 2019
Los Angeles is facing an unprecedented affordable housing crisis. High rents are forcing many low-income residents to move out of the city in order to avoid succumbing to homelessness. According to homelessness counts between 2010 and 2017, the number of homeless people across Los Angeles County has gone up 42 percent from 38,700 to more…
Jun 04, 2019
While luxury apartment and condo living continues to rise as the largest multi-family construction boom ever continues into its 10th year, the United States faces a critical shortage of homes that are affordable to low- and moderate-income households. This is a crisis made even more severe when accounting for the number of affordable units in…
Jun 04, 2019
In 1943, Dr. Abraham Maslow advanced a theory for understanding human motivation: his eponymous Hierarchy of Needs. Several decades later, he would quietly amend the punchline of his original theory. The capstone of his initial pyramid, self-actualization, would instead become self-transcendence, reckoning that the highest form of actualization isn’t about “me”, but rather “we.” With…
Jun 04, 2019
The housing crisis is global in scale. An estimated 3 billion people will need new housing by 2030, with some experts estimating we will need to build as many houses as have ever been built in human history. Yet, every new house has a carbon footprint that stretches the length of the supply chain and…
Jun 04, 2019
With 8.5 million people, New York City’s population is at an all-time high, and projected to increase to 9 million by 2040. It is a sign of the city’s health and vitality that a growing number of people want to come to New York City, choose to stay and raise their families or grow old…
Jun 04, 2019
By 2050, the world’s urban population is expected to nearly double. To account for this increase, an estimated 25 million new dwellings will need to be built every year for the next 30 years. Housing the world’s population is quickly becoming one of humanity’s most pressing problems. And a home is far more than a…
Jun 04, 2019
Last year, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) launched a new corporate strategy centered around an audacious goal – by 2030, everyone in Canada will have a home they can afford and that meets their needs. This aspiration, truly a stretch, requires us to think differently about what we do. Dreaming big will motivate us…
Jun 04, 2019
For decades now, cities have been perplexed by how to create affordable housing in a city where land and labor costs are high. While federal government funding was a source for affordable housing in the past, today cities have to come up with their own funding and their own solutions. Seattle made headlines earlier this…
Jun 04, 2019
Fast changing lifestyles, major demographics shifts, user-centric expectations, unprecedented use of digital systems, growing citizen awareness of sustainable challenges are just someof the factors impacting the places we live, the design of our homes as well as the role of housing. What are the trends that illustrate these and their potential impact on the urban…
Jun 04, 2019
American politicians—both Republican and Democratic—hold up homeownership as a cornerstone of middle class success. No surprise, then, that U.S. housing policies, from federal tax law to local zoning, tilt the playing field in favor of homeownership. Rather than viewing homeownership as a goal in itself, policymakers should create more pathways to economic opportunity and financial…
Jun 04, 2019
The housing providers of the 21st century have a lot of work to do. As the world becomes increasingly more convenient, connected and accessible, with a fast-accelerating shared economy, the housing market has barely evolved in meeting the ways we live and consume. Work and cultural opportunities continue to increase demand for living in big…
