February 4, 2020
Request for Proposal
The Urban Land Institute is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the institute has more than 40,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines. More than 1,400 members represent the Boston/New England District Council.
The ULI Boston Policy Committee seeks to leverage the thought leadership of our members to position the land use industry to be a leading voice in creating a multiple-solutions approach to housing affordability and transit mobility challenges that are threatening the region. Our research effort will focus on housing production that enhances affordability and fosters mobility-oriented communities throughout the region.
Research Project
ULI Boston/New England is seeking a research consultant to create a readiness framework that will define a “city/town type” of communities that can expand mobility infrastructure and accessible multifamily housing development in their municipalities. These communities will be designated as Mobility Oriented Development (MOD) communities.
To identify a MOD community, the consultant will develop a framework that will evaluate community readiness for such development. This could include, but not be limited to, an initial literature review, evaluation of the cost to construct, determination of the rent required and market rents, and assessment of current and future mobility investment (which includes walking and bike trails, existing mobility infrastructure) land-use policies and existing zoning codes, current and planned housing development, development-ready sites, and cross-border municipal collaborations. In addition, the consultant will work with ULI partner Massachusetts Housing Partnership’s Center for Housing Data in the collection and review of data for the project.
The consultant will work in collaboration with the ULI Boston Policy Committee under the guidance of the Director of Policy and Outreach and Executive Director to shape the MOD readiness framework. During the research process, the framework will be reviewed and adopted during a pilot phase of the project to ensure ULI Boston/New England is identifying indicators that will accurately identify MOD communities.
ULI Boston defines mobility through a framework outlined by the Commission on The Future of Transportation in The Commonwealth Report, Choices for Stewardship: Recommendations to Meet the Transportation Future. The report highlights the variety of transportation infrastructure needs for Massachusetts, which include land use evaluations and traditional transit infrastructure as well as active transit and autonomous vehicle technology. Accessible multifamily housing is defined as a market-rate newly constructed or current unit, that is accessible to middle-income workers with or without subsidies.
The research project will provide a framework for ULI Boston/New England to identify MOD communities that will have access to ULI resources such as Technical Assistant Panels (TAPs), UrbanPlan for Public Officials and Communities, and structured relationships with key ULI Boston members to support their communities’ efforts to expand housing production and mobility investments.
The final product for this project will include:
A report that defines the MOD readiness framework and recommended communities and the metrics that determined the MOD framework.
Budget
RFP Evaluation Criteria
Proposals should be structured as follows:
Interviews with prospective contractors will be required.
Proposals should be submitted by February 29, 2020, to John Wilson at [email protected]
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