WASHINGTON, D.C. – February 13, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — The Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Robert C. Larson Housing Policy Leadership Awards submission period is currently open. The awards, named after a former ULI trustee and ULI Foundation chairman, aim to honor local and state initiatives, programs, and policies that support and promote the production, rehabilitation, or preservation of affordable housing. Applicants for the awards must be a state (or a department or office within a state) or a unit of a local jurisdiction. The programs or policies submitted for the awards must have at least 25 percent of the units dedicated to households earning up to 120 percent of the HUD area median income (AMI). Exceptions can be made to the AMI requirement for programs and policies based in very high-cost areas if the applicant demonstrates the need for the initiative.
Award submissions are evaluated based on the following criteria:
• The extent to which the jurisdiction can demonstrate that its efforts have resulted in the production, rehabilitation, or preservation of affordable or workforce housing;
• The number of units that have directly resulted from these efforts (affordable and workforce units that would not have been produced or preserved were it not for these efforts);
• The comprehensiveness of the tools and programs employed by the state and/or locality in support of the production of affordable and workforce housing;
• The use of innovative strategies and tools by the state or locality;
• The involvement of public/private partnerships;
• The ability to leverage private and nonprofit funds, including financial investment by major local employers;
• The quality of the housing resulting from these efforts, including, but not limited to, the quality of the design and site planning;
• The incorporation of energy efficiency and use of green and sustainable construction and land development practices, as well as the demonstrated cost-effectiveness of these efforts;
• The extent to which the housing resulting from these state and local efforts is located near major centers of employment and/or transportation hubs; and
• The extent to which the efforts of the jurisdiction are worthy of replication or can serve as models for other jurisdictions.
The deadline for award submissions is March 16, 2015. Winners will be announced at the ULI Fall Meeting in San Francisco beginning on October 6, 2015. To apply for the Robert C. Larson Housing Policy Leadership Awards or to review eligibility and criteria please click here.
