Accelerator for America and Tolemi Launch the Inaugural “Data for Housing Solutions” Cohort
Accelerator for America and Tolemi Launch the Inaugural Data for Housing Solutions Cohort
Following up on our Clinton Global Initiative commitment, Accelerator for America (AFA) and Tolemi last week hosted the first convening of the 17 cities participating in the Data for Housing Solutions initiative, which leverages a data analysis tool and peer learning to provide insights into local real estate markets. The goal is to use those insights to help preserve and build affordable housing, keep families in their homes, combat predatory real estate investors, and ensure publicly-owned real estate is utilized for the greatest community benefit. The convening was the first in an ongoing series to share experiences and identify findings and strategies.
The program provides 12 of the cities with no-cost access to a custom version of Building Blocks, a technology platform developed by Tolemi that aggregates municipal data and applies proprietary analytics to deliver actionable, property-level insights on the challenges and opportunities in their local housing markets. Participating cities will be able to map the portfolios of publicly owned property across agencies and departments, identify site assembly opportunities, and understand where underutilized public property overlaps with redevelopment incentives and areas in need of affordable housing.
The tool will also help cities track which corporate owners control large portfolios of rental properties, what neighborhoods are rapidly shifting from owner-occupied to rentals, where the rise in corporate ownership coincides with areas seeing a rise in housing cost burden, and which corporate owners are common across AFA peer cities.
All 17 cities are participating in the initiative’s peer learning component to exchange on-the-ground insights and ideas, access research, and share best practices. The initial peer learning meeting included introductions and aspirations for this collaboration from each participating city, a case study featuring The Port (Cincinnati, OH) on data-driven strategies to address investor purchases, and an interactive question and answer session.
Through Data for Housing Solutions, AFA and Tolemi seek to change the status quo wherein cities have multiple data sets and systems related to real estate but too often lack the tools and capacity to aggregate information for strategic local action and investment.
The Data for Housing Solutions cities are:
Albuquerque, NM
Austin, TX
Birmingham, AL
Chattanooga, TN
Chicago, IL
Dayton, OH
Fort Worth, TX
Kansas City, MO
Lansing, MI
Montgomery, AL
Oklahoma City, OK
Philadelphia, PA
San Diego, CA
Scranton, PA
Tampa, FL
Tucson, AZ
Waterloo, IA
“Accelerator for America specializes in developing partnerships that create access to new tools and resources to our network of cities, as well as bringing cities together to share their expertise and experiences with each other. By combining data insights with peer learning and best practices, this initiative will help accelerate innovative solutions to support quality housing for all in our participant cities and beyond,” said Anne Bovaird Nevins, AFA’s Director of Economic Development.
“Tolemi is proud to deepen our relationship with Accelerator for America and support these innovative leaders as they confront the challenges around housing in their cities. Our shared goal is to enable local governments to understand where changing dynamics of ownership are impacting affordability and where underutilized properties can be leveraged to address this crisis,” said Andrew Kieve, CEO of Tolemi.
"I am proud to continue our strong partnership with Accelerator for America, which has helped Kansas City find solutions to issues most important to community, including increasing access to dignified and affordable housing. Our new partnership with AFA and Tolemi will help us better understand who controls vacant and underutilized properties throughout Kansas City and how we can more quickly activate them to address our housing deficit,” said Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, who also serves as Co-Chair of AFA’s Advisory Council. “The partnership will allow Kansas City government to develop a comprehensive strategy for our land resources and maximize the impact of city investments through programs including the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, ensuring those investments reach communities needing them the most."
Throughout his administration, Mayor Lucas’ housing priorities have included supporting redevelopment on vacant and underutilized land, accelerating the production and preservation of affordable housing through the city’s Housing Trust Fund, and providing direct support to help residents maintain their current housing. This initiative is allowing the city to look more holistically at its publicly owned land, develop a comprehensive strategy to make the most of its land resources, and better understand where privately-owned vacant land exists to inform its efforts to target infrastructure investments and other incentives to support redevelopment, and where corporate ownership and purchasing is on the rise, to help better target support for homeowners.
“We’ve already begun to incorporate tools from Accelerator for America as we work to address our housing challenges and keep Albuquerque accessible for families. We are finding new ways to look at the data, helping us uncover valuable information about housing and other development opportunities in our city.” – Mayor of Albuquerque Tim Keller
The City of Albuquerque recently launched an emergency initiative to address the housing supply crisis. Housing Forward addresses immediate needs, including looking for all available conversion and construction possibilities in the city for housing, strengthening nuisance abatement laws, and expanding housing options in its land use code. The in-depth data analysis through this partnership will help the city get a better understanding of how all departments and agencies can best work together to provide and incentivize more housing quickly and effectively.
“With this unique tool of Building Blocks from Tolemi, we will be able to effectively collaborate with the City of Austin and other public entities on a shared public asset inventory to help facilitate and accelerate public policy outcomes on publicly owned land. We are grateful to Accelerator for America to help facilitate this opportunity.” – Theresa Alvarez, President and CEO, Austin Economic Development Corporation.
The Austin Economic Development Corporation (AEDC) was created by the City of Austin in 2021 as a local government corporation focused on strategic equitable real estate development. The organization has been charged with facilitating development of publicly owned assets and partnering with the development community to achieve community benefits, including addressing critical needs for affordable housing. The kind of comprehensive map-based data tool offered through this partnership is critical for AEDC and its partners, which also include the Austin Housing Finance Corporation, to evaluate land acquisition and development opportunities and implement smart and strategic decisions, and to demonstrate those recommendations to external stakeholders.
The City of Chicago, under the leadership of Mayor Brandon Johnson, aims to expand access and choice for residents and to protect their right to quality homes that are affordable, safe, and healthy. The city is planning several initiatives for implementation in its first year of the new administration, and participation in this partnership will help the City to make data-informed decisions as it pursues these important opportunities.
“The City of Dayton values this partnership with Accelerator for America and Tolemi to gain essential data insight that will facilitate informed land use and investment decisions.” – Dayton Mayor Jeffrey J. Mims, Jr.
“Analyzing real-time, aggregate data regarding property status, condition, and ownership can be a formidable challenge for cities, and this opportunity will allow us to be responsive and strategic in implementing asset-based development in Dayton.” – Dayton City Manager Shelley Dickstein
The City of Dayton has taken a data-driven and asset-based approach to developing and implementing its strategies. AFA supported the city in the development of its Dayton Recovery Plan, focused on the dissemination of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, and its new Comprehensive Plan. However, housing data has been more challenging for the city to access, aggregate, and analyze in real time. This initiative will allow the city to have a more proactive approach in understanding and responding to market dynamics and allocating resources, particularly as it moves forward with developing a formal housing strategy across all types and needs.
"Fort Worth is the fastest-growing city in the country, and without affordable housing and paths to affordable homeownership, we won’t be able to support the skilled workforce that we need to thrive. Our rapid growth shows no sign of slowing down, so we’re looking at solutions we can start implementing now to meet those growing housing needs. I am looking forward to the opportunity for Fort Worth to work with Accelerator for America, Tolemi, and cohort cities as we work to ensure that our city has that right mix of innovative, data-informed strategies that have long-term impact." – Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker
Under the leadership of Mayor Parker, Fort Worth recently adopted an Affordable Housing Strategy, which leverages a wide range of tools and strategies, including both public and private financing, to maximize available resources in order to preserve and develop housing that serves all income levels. Fort Worth is eager to better utilize data and geographic analysis through this partnership to better serve their residents’ needs, identify vacant properties for redevelopment, provide rehabilitation services in a targeted way to neighborhoods, and develop the city’s Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Areas plan.
“The City of Lansing is ready to use every tool available to ensure we address the affordable housing issue facing our community. We are thankful for Accelerator for America and Tolemi and we know that we can work together to focus on neighborhoods with greater needs and know exactly where to focus energy and resources to plan for future growth and development. Access to good, solid information will be key as we work on our Build Lansing initiative.” – Lansing Mayor Andy Schor
The Build Lansing initiative aims to dispose of and meaningfully develop publicly owned property within the city. This is part of a larger effort to maximize the city's existing assets and leverage them for additional growth that will support residents, visitors, and businesses alike. The City of Lansing team seeks to approach this from a holistic perspective and to re-envision developable properties for new builds or adaptive reuse, including vacant sites owned within the existing land bank. As with many of the City's initiatives, this project recognizes the positive ripple effect that's created from intentional investment in Lansing's diverse network of neighborhoods. In particular, the City is looking to address the needs of those neighborhoods which have been historically disinvested, to ensure that community assets are supported, maintained, and positioned for future success.
"We are excited to work on this pilot program with Tolemi and Accelerator for America through our new Office of Innovation. The partnership represents an innovative opportunity to use new technology to enhance our property data analysis processes. This pilot program streamlines operations and provides better access to relevant data for informed decision-making and planning. Partnerships like this help us shape a smarter and more efficient future for Oklahoma City. I’m grateful to Accelerator for America and Tolemi for working with our innovation team on this effort." – Mayor of Oklahoma City David Holt
Oklahoma City has recently invested more than $70 million from various federal and local sources to support the acquisition, building, rehabilitation, and preservation of affordable housing units. The city is now in the process of developing a Housing Affordability Implementation Plan (HAIP) that prioritizes actionable strategies based on the recommendations of a Housing Affordability Study that was conducted in 2021 in response to rapid population growth and rising housing costs. At the same time, the city is working on a comprehensive Data Governance program, which will greatly improve the ability of staff to analyze and make use of city data in a timely manner. Through this initiative, the city will accelerate and reduce the staff burden of their property data analysis processes, providing their internal and external stakeholders with higher quality data faster to inform decision-making and planning.
"In a time of unprecedented federal climate investment, we are excited to partner with AFA and Tolemi to use the Tolemi Building Blocks tool to target properties with the greatest need that best align with funding opportunities. This partnership will accelerate our efforts to drive equitable clean energy investments in Philadelphia." – Emily Schapira, Board Member, President and CEO, Philadelphia Energy Authority
“Our borrowers will benefit tremendously from access to this resource, as will the City of Philadelphia. Reliable information and curated data analytics are essential for small developers working to build affordable housing. As rising interest rates make it challenging to finance the housing construction we need, this kind of analytic tool is more critical than ever. This partnership will help our borrowers find the right properties and put together the resources needed to execute on the essential work of expanding the supply of affordable housing throughout Philadelphia.” – David Langlieb, Executive Director, Philadelphia Accelerator Fund
The Philadelphia Energy Authority (PEA) and Philadelphia Accelerator Fund (PAF) are taking a unique approach to leveraging this initiative. PEA will use the tool to support new construction and retrofit projects for houses of worship and community-based nonprofits, using tools available in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). This collaboration will help PEA to identify the right strategy and technical and financial resources to support this hard-to-reach sector. At the same time, PAF will access this resource to gain insights to support their strategic investments in affordable housing.
“We are thankful for the partnership with Accelerator for America and Tolemi in our mission to create more affordable homes across San Diego,” said San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria. “Learning from other municipalities and housing experts is going to be a great asset in helping our city put together our Affordable Home Development Master Plan, a key part of finding new opportunities to develop more housing options for all San Diegans. I look forward to seeing the positive results of this collaboration in the months and years ahead.”
In February 2022, the San Diego City Council approved Mayor Gloria’s first Housing Action Package, which includes streamlining incentives to build housing alongside city facilities such as libraries, fire stations, police stations, and other administrative buildings. Now, the city has launched an Affordable Home Development Master Plan to study and assess the viability of more opportunities for homes on city property, along with addressing impacts to city operations. Through the process, city property located within regionally defined smart growth areas and most suitable for middle-income home development will be identified. This partnership will help the city access, analyze, and visualize the data it needs to understand the opportunities and potential impacts.
"Taking data out of silos is critical to making impactful decisions, which is one of the reasons that I am so excited about the City of Tampa's partnership with Accelerator for American and Tolemi." – Tampa Mayor Jane Castor
Under Mayor Jane Castor’s leadership, the City of Tampa is undertaking a comprehensive housing needs assessment, as it continues to implement immediate strategies to partner with large developers to place affordable and workforce housing on city-owned land, work with small developers on city-owned single-family lots, and prevent evictions through housing assistance programs. As the city moves forward with the assessment, this partnership will be an invaluable resource that will save a significant amount of time and public funding. The city will leverage this program to make data-based decisions on where best to locate affordable housing that will not only address housing needs but also look at long-term outcomes by considering everything from the quality of schools, diversity of the residents, and access to grocery stores and transportation options.
“In response to the unprecedented increases in housing cost, we took action in passing the Housing Affordability Strategy for Tucson. By participating in Accelerator for America, we will have the opportunity to compile the right data, and put it in the right hands to help Tucson make informed, data-driven decisions and advance our housing affordability goals. We look forward to sharing innovative approaches to addressing our collective housing crises among the BuildingBlocks peer cities.” – Tucson Mayor Regina Romero
Tucson has experienced unprecedented increases in housing prices in recent years and is taking bold action to address the need. In 2021, under the leadership of Mayor Regina Romero, the City adopted its Housing Affordability Strategy for Tucson (HAST) and formed a new entity the following year to begin developing more affordable units. The HAST is a comprehensive affordable housing strategic plan with an emphasis on actionable goals, including 10 policy initiatives to support the preservation and construction of housing units. Access to this partnership will support the City of Tucson’s affordable housing strategy by integrating various datasets into one tool to help track and maintain existing public housing assets that the City of Tucson owns and operates and make more informed, real-time decisions on city-owned properties as well as private properties for acquisition to target new public housing or affordable housing development, making sure that development is occurring in the communities most in need.
“Data-driven solutions make our communities stronger, and this new public-private partnership will give Scranton further insights into local real estate markets,” said Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti. “Our team looks forward to leveraging these resources to address Scranton’s housing crisis and invest in affordable housing.”
"For Waterloo, prioritizing housing isn't just a goal, it's a commitment to our future. By embracing Tolemi’s Building Blocks and Slate softwares, we're not just investing in technology; we're revolutionizing how we share and utilize data across departments,” said Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart. "This partnership marks a pivotal turn in our journey, ensuring data-driven decisions that benefit every corner of our community. With Tolemi, we're not just keeping pace, we're setting the standard in innovative municipal management. This is the game-changer Waterloo has been searching for, a leap into a future where our potential is matched only by our data's power. This is another example of the Accelerator for America bringing the best and the brightest together to get things done in our cities.” The City of Waterloo is putting forward a contract with Tolemi for approval by City Council on December 18.
"One of my top priorities as mayor is to ensure that all Chattanooga residents have access to high-quality and safe housing that allows them the opportunity to thrive and prosper. As a member of Accelerator for America's Advisory Council, I was excited to see this partnership with Tolemi that will allow more cities to better understand and respond to the dynamics of their housing markets in this rapidly shifting environment. The City of Chattanooga looks forward to sharing the innovative solutions that we are advancing for our residents, and to learning from this network of peers across the country who are facing similar challenges." – said Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly
“We are excited to partner with AFA and Tolemi to obtain and decipher much-needed housing data to inform our new intentional equitable housing strategy.” – Darryl Washington, MPPM, Director of Economic Development, City of Montgomery