We’re making sure everyone has a roof over their head.

HR&A worked with United Way to develop an implementation plan for their initial strategic framework for a continuum of issues related to affordable housing and homelessness in Charlotte-Mecklenburg County.

We work on behalf of local governments, housing authorities, impact investors and other institutions to source, negotiate and underwrite investments in affordable housing. Our focus is on maximizing the public good achieved with every public, or mission-driven, dollar invested.
This includes designing innovative financing products and funds that fill gaps in the market and allow homes that meet the needs of the community to be built. As well as advising municipalities, housing authorities and others on selecting a development partner and structuring a deal when the make public land or funds available to create affordable homes. We are experts in affordable housing finance and put that expertise to work to advance the public good of affordable housing.

To address the housing crises impacting nearly every community in our country communities those communities need a clear understanding of scale and nature of the housing challenges and a roadmap to address those challenges. Our housing experts conduct housing needs assessments to assess and quantify how many homes, at what prices, are needed to support residents and local economies. Then, we identify gaps in existing housing programs, policies and funding and explore options to build a stronger set of housing tools, grounded in local feasibility. We specialize in bringing communities together to set clear priorities and build strategies that are tailored to local needs. Once there is a strategy, we help our clients tell build support for the strategy and drive forward adoption and implementation.

HR&A works with communities across the country who are experiencing residential or commercial displacement, and we help them quantify this difficult-to-measure and often nuanced problem and identify major pressure points. We understand that displacement doesn’t happen in a silo, so we integrate anti-displacement strategies into larger local plans and programs and ensure real estate development and growth benefits current residents.

Having adequate capacity and the right tools and policies in place is essential to foster housing affordability in any community. We help our clients stand up new housing programs and entities to build a stronger housing ecosystem that is positioned to address local needs and support the development of affordable housing.
We also work with states, counties, and municipalities to assess and design successful housing programs and policies that achieve community goals. We understand what tools — from office to residential conversions, inclusionary zoning ordinances, preservation strategies, and everything in between — will work for local contexts. Working with public and private entities across the country, we help our clients create their own customized toolkits to drive housing solutions in their backyard.

Homelessness and the housing crisis are inextricably linked, and we work with clients in a myriad of ways to address both — by leveraging significant affordable housing finance and real estate expertise to get housing built, engaging with communities that are most impacted by homelessness to create effective programs that improve people’s lives, and helping our clients shape better housing policy. We believe in placing the user experience at the center of permanent supportive housing solutions for our unhoused community members. Our interdisciplinary team has a track record of working inside and outside of local government to advance innovative solutions that promote racial equity and economic justice.

HR&A has developed a proprietary housing platform, HousingWeaver, to help our clients access best-in-class analysis on an ongoing basis and keep decision-makers and community members informed. We also work with clients to develop custom digital tools to analyze policy impacts and communicate their tradeoffs. For more information about HousingWeaver and our custom digital tools, visit https://www.housingweaver.com/app.