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Workforce Housing
ULI considers finding solutions to working families' need for affordable housing to be a vital part of better growth patterns for the nation's urban areas. ULI's Community Outreach and Policy and Practice departments work collaboratively to organize forums and produce publications on ways to address the shrinking supply of housing that is affordable to moderate-income households. 

For more information on this topic visit the ULI J. Ronald Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing

Priced Out: Persistence of the Workforce Housing Gap in the Boston Metro Area
This report examines the availability of for-sale and rental housing near six major employment hubs in the Boston area, specifically in terms of housing that is affordable to workforce households, or those with incomes ranging from 60 percent to 100 percent of the area median income (AMI). Approximately 23 percent – or more than 600,000 households fall in this income range. The analysis was based on proximity of workforce housing within a 30- to 45-minute in-traffic commute of the employment centers of downtown Boston, Route 128 North, Route 128 West, Framingham, Route 128 South, and Route 3 North.


The Boston Regional Challenge
The report analyzes the combined costs of housing and transportation for neighborhoods, cities, and towns throughout a Boston regional study. Our analysis finds that the typical household in the study area spends upwards of $22,000 annually on housing, which represents roughly 35 percent of the median household income ($68,036). With transportation costs for the typical household reaching nearly $12,000 annually, the combined costs of housing and transportation account for roughly 54 percent of the typical household’s income.


Priced Out: Persistence of the Workforce Housing Gap in the San Francisco Bay Area
Housing in the San Francisco Bay Area is persistantly and pervasively unaffordable despite the recent economic and housing market downturn.  If current trends are any indication, housing production between 2009 and 2025 will leave unmet demand for at least 6,000 for-sale housing units appropriate for workforce households.


Bay Area Burden: Examining the Costs and Impacts of Housing and Transportation on Bay Area Residents, Their Neighborhoods, and the Environment
Bay Area Burden provides a comprehensive analysis of the "cost of place" in nine counties located throughout the San Francisco region by examining the costs and impacts of housing and transportation on Bay Area residents, their neighborhoods, and the environment.


Priced Out: Persistence of the Workforce Housing Gap in the Washington, D.C., Metro Area
Despite recent shifts in the regional housing market, land values and home prices in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area remain unattainable for a large potion of workforce households.  While the metro area as a whole experienced an increase in affordability over the past few years, this study finds the workforce households-those with incomes 60 to 100 percent of the area median income (AMI)- are priced out of rental and for-sale housing proximate to major employment centers.


Beltway Burden: The Combined Cost of Housing and Transportation in the Greater Washington DC Metropolitan Area
The Terwilliger Center's most recent report documents the challenges faced by area working families who are forced to "drive 'til they qualify" for housing, incurring higher transportation costs that eventually erode their housing cost savings.


Challenges to Developing Workforce Housing
Examines the barriers and shortage of housing that is affordable to moderate-income households, especially in urban areas.


Encouraging Workforce Housing in the Chicago Region, Atlanta, and the District of Columbia 
ULI, with funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), assisted three cities in 2000 through 2003—Chicago, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C.—in developing and implementing strategies for producing new private-market housing that is affordable to workforce households. The purpose of this project was to provide each city with information and practical assistance that would help it take specific actions to overcome barriers to the production of more affordable housing. This report describes how the project has been implemented in each city, what each city has accomplished to date, and what has been learned that may be applicable to other cities seeking to increase their supply of workforce housing.


Workforce Housing: Barriers, Solutions, and Model Programs
Examines the barriers to the construction of housing that is affordable to moderate-income households and outlines potential solutions as well as model programs that have been enacted throughout the United States.