Sun, F., Whittington, J., Ning, S., Proksch, G., Shen, Q., & Dermisi, S. (2023). Economic resilience during COVID-19: the case of food retail businesses in Seattle, Washington. Frontiers in Built Environment, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbuil.2023.1212244
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Abstract
The first year of COVID-19 tested the economic resilience of cities, calling into question the viability of density and the essential nature of certain types of services. This study examines built environment and socio-economic factors associated with the closure of customer-facing food businesses across urban areas of Seattle, Washington. The study covers 16 neighborhoods (44 census block groups), with two field audits of businesses included in cross-sectional studies conducted during the peak periods of the pandemic in 2020. Variables describing businesses and their built environments were selected and classified using regression tree methods, with relationships to business continuity estimated in a binomial regression model, using business type and neighborhood socio-demographic characteristics as controlled covariates. Results show that the economic impact of the pandemic was not evenly distributed across the built environment. Compared to grocery stores, the odds of a restaurant staying open during May and June were 24%, only improving 10% by the end of 2020. Density played a role in business closure, though this role differed over time. In May and June, food retail businesses were 82% less likely to remain open if located within a quarter-mile radius of the office-rich areas of the city, where pre-pandemic job density was greater than 95 per acre. In November and December, food retail businesses were 66% less likely to remain open if located in areas of residential density greater than 23.6 persons per acre. In contrast, median household income and percentage of non-Asian persons of color were positively and significantly associated with business continuity. Altogether, these findings provide more detailed and accurate profiles of food retail businesses and a more complete impression of the spatial heterogeneity of urban economic resilience during the pandemic, with implications for future urban planning and real estate development in the post-pandemic era.
Steven Bourassa is an H. Jon and Judith M. Runstad Endowed Professor and Chair in the Runstad Department of Real Estate, and is Director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research. Professor Bourassa was quoted in a Washington State Standard story entitled “Rents in Washington show signs of stabilizing,” as an expert in the field. Read the article here.
Gregg Colburn gave a talk to the Joint Center for Housing Studies, Initiative on Health and Homelessness, Government Performance Lab at Harvard University on November 3, 2023. The talk was recorded and is available on Youtube here.
Cai, M., Acolin, A., Moudon, A. V., & Shen, Q. (2023). Developing a multi-criteria prioritization tool to catalyze TOD on publicly owned land areas. Cities, 143, 104606-. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2023.104606
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Abstract
Public agencies can take a leading role in catalyzing TOD by making land available to developers (selling or leasing land, potentially below market prices). In particular, park-and-ride areas that are publicly owned can be leveraged to support TOD uses, such as affordable housing, office space, small businesses, and mixed-use buildings given their convenient access to transit systems and often large land areas. However, few previous studies have discussed the use of publicly owned park-and-rides, which are an important component of publicly owned land, as a catalyst for TOD. To fill the gap in the literature and effectively support TOD planning, this research developed a multi-criteria prioritization tool to identify the most promising locations for TOD and tested it at three park-and-ride sites owned by the Washington State Department of Transportation. The tool was developed through the Delphi process, which is an effective and inexpensive approach to evaluate relevant indicators by synthesizing the opinions of experts from various backgrounds. Five categories with a total of 14 TOD indicators, including transit supportive land-use zoning, job accessibility, land price, land-use mix, and household income, were selected as measures of TOD suitability. The importance of these indicators varied with three different TOD scenarios: (1) emphasis on affordable housing, (2) emphasis on market-rate housing, and (3) emphasis on mixed-use development. Using the calculated suitability scores, this tool can prioritize potential TOD sites for further review.
Keywords
TOD; Delphi method; Multi-criteria planning tool; Multi-sources geospatial data; Publicly owned land
The Federal Reserve Board of Governors hosts the ongoing “Keys to Opportunity in the Housing Market” seminar series, and in September 2023 featured 2 panel discussions. CBE’s Vince Wang (Real Estate) participated in the panel discussion entitled “Regulatory and Programmatic Strategies to Increase the Supply of Lower-Cost Rental Units.” The other panel topic was “Challenges for Rental Affordability in the Pandemic Era and Beyond.” Assistant Professor Wang discussed inclusionary zoning (IZ) programs and their impact on creating affordable housing. Read…
Khan, A. S., Aurand, A., Hamideh, S., Vickery, J., Walter, R. J., & Errett, N. A. (2023). Assessing the roles and responsibilities of public housing authorities in state-level disaster plans. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 98, 104074–. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.104074
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The College of Built Environments Office of Research has completed the fiscal year 2023 Annual Report. This report highlights outcomes, accomplishments, and steps for future development related to research at CBE. The report features metrics on grants and contracts funding, along with other types of funding including internal UW support. Additionally, the report highlights spotlight stories that were published on the research portal, and other portal metrics such as publications added. The full report is available on the CBE Intranet…
Shang, L., Dermisi, S., Choe, Y., Lee, H. W., & Min, Y. (2023). Assessing Office Building Marketability before and after the Implementation of Energy Benchmarking and Disclosure Policies—Lessons Learned from Major U.S. Cities. Sustainability (Basel, Switzerland), 15(11), 8883–. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15118883
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Abstract
An increasing number of U.S. cities require commercial/office properties to publicly disclose their energy performance due to the adoption of energy benchmarking and disclosure policies. This level of transparency provides an additional in-depth assessment of a building’s performance beyond a sustainability certification (e.g., Energy Star, LEED) and may lead less energy-efficient buildings to invest in energy retrofits, therefore improving their marketability. However, the research is scarce on assessing the impact of such policies on office building marketability. This study tries to fill this gap by investigating the impact of energy benchmarking policies on the performance of office buildings in four major U.S. cities (New York; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; and Chicago). We use interrupted time series analysis (ITSA), while accounting for sustainability certification, public policy adoption, and property real estate performance. The results revealed that in some cities, energy-efficient buildings generally perform better than less energy-efficient buildings after the policy implementation, especially if they are Class A. The real estate performances of energy-efficient buildings also exhibited continuously increasing trends after the policy implementation. However, due to potentially confounding factors, further analysis is required to conclude the policy impacts on energy-efficient buildings are more positive than those on less energy-efficient buildings.
Keywords
building energy benchmarking and disclosure policies; building energy efficiency; office buildings; time series modeling
Arthur Acolin & Rebecca J. Walter (2023). Mortgage Loan Costs: Magnitude and Drivers of Variation. Housing Policy Debate, DOI: 10.1080/10511482.2023.2236984
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Abstract
This article uses national data disclosed as part of the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) to examine variations in loan costs based on type of loan, borrower, purpose (purchase, improvement, or refinance), and neighborhood characteristics. Loan costs are generally higher for nonconventional conforming loans with higher levels of credit risks (loans with higher combined loan-to-value, higher debt-to-income ratios, and for investment properties). This implies that product and borrower risk impact loan costs. However, borrower characteristics such as income and race/ethnicity are also associated with differences in loan costs even after controlling for loan characteristics, location, and lender fixed effects. Total loan costs are higher both in dollar terms and as a share of the loan amount for Black borrowers and Hispanic borrowers, and total loan costs represent a higher share of the loan amount for lower income borrowers. These disparities are larger in neighborhoods with higher levels of lender concentration and implicit racial bias. These findings suggest that in addition to access to mortgages and interest rates, loan costs can represent a barrier for access to homeownership with a disparate impact for Black and Hispanic borrowers, which contributes to perpetuate the homeownership gap.
Keywords
Mortgage loan costs; homeownership; borrowing constraints; homeownership gap
Five projects were awarded Inspire Fund awards in February 2022. They have completed various stages of work and have provided a report on their progress and products. Below, excerpts from these reports are highlighted to showcase the work that has been “Inspired” in 2022-23. Rick Mohler: “One Seattle: Leveraging Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan Update to advance housing diversity, affordability, livability and racial equity” This funding supported products from the Architecture 594 research seminar and Architecture 508 design studio, which tasked students…