Cities around the country are retooling housing policies and programs in an effort to cauterize the affordability bleeding from their markets.
Ivory Innovations, a nonprofit research center based at the University of Utah, recognized three cities on Tuesday for innovative housing programs that are seeing results.
The organization’s Ivory Prize for finance went to Boston for a public-private revolving loan program that provides low-interest loans to “mission-driven” developers to purchase multifamily housing in an effort to prevent displacement and maintain affordability.
New Rochelle, New York, earned a prize in the housing policy category for a zoning overhaul that enables 90-day approvals for new housing. Chattanooga, Tennessee’s tax abatement program, which incentivizes mixed-income housing, also won in the housing policy category.
“The solutions we are honoring this year each identified a specific barrier to housing affordability and created a practical way to break through it,” Ivory Innovations co-founder Clark Ivory said in a news release.
Boston
The Boston Acquisition Fund helps certain developers purchase tenant-occupied housing ahead of speculative cash buyers. A deed restriction is added after purchase to maintain the housing’s affordability in a city where rents are on the rise. Administered by the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation, funds from repaid low-interest loans are reinvested into new housing acquisitions, according to the city. The program has preserved nearly 400 homes so far, with closing times ranging from eight to 12 weeks. The BAF creates a “unique financing model that supports developers who care about the community and helps residents stay in their homes,” said Mayor Michelle Wu, who called its impact a testament to the city’s financial and philanthropic partnerships.
New Rochelle
A downtown development initiative approved in 2015 in New Rochelle featured zoning and permitting reforms that spurred the construction of thousands of new apartments, according to Ivory Innovations, with at least 10% of them affordable at 70% of the area’s median income, which is around $109,000, according to 2024 U.S. Census data. Housing projects in the city’s downtown overlay zone that meet criteria can be approved within 60-90 days, speeding up development. So far, the city has increased its apartment stock 37%, approving 11,000 units with 4,500 units built.. The effort has also slowed rent increases in the city compared with surrounding areas. “We’ve approached the housing crisis with urgency and intention — demonstrating that forward-looking tools can increase supply, stabilize costs, and strengthen communities,” Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert said in a news release.
Chattanooga
Chattanooga took the concept of a tax abatement program to incentivize mixed-income housing and customized it to fit a midsized city, where it can be more difficult for developers to recoup costs, according to Ivory Innovations. While traditional payment-in-lieu-of-taxes programs reduce property taxes in exchange for a fixed number of affordable housing commitments, the city’s Affordable Housing PILOT program uses a flexible per-unit formula that allows developers to receive an abatement that is equal to the difference between a market-rate unit’s rent and an affordable unit’s rent, plus 10% to cover additional expenses. The program is the first of its kind, according to Ivory, and has resulted in 278 units in development, with 42 of them below market rate. The recognition from Ivory Innovation “affirms that even mid-sized cities with limited resources and a challenging policy environment can move the needle by using the tools they have creatively and strategically,” Nicole Heyman, chief policy officer and former chief housing officer for the city, said in a statement.
