55 Hudson Street with Asian CDC, 110 affordable housing units and a new home for the BPL Chinatown branch. Photo credit: Stantec

Taking Another Look at Affordable Housing Design

With the rising interest rates across multiple markets, it has become increasingly challenging to develop market-rate multi-family housing. Despite this larger climate, affordable housing development funding sources remain surprisingly steady, prompting us to think more systematically and methodically about the design and development of this housing product.

As a firm that has decades of experience designing both market-rate and affordable housing in urban conditions, we have found out that affordable housing necessitates specialized approaches. It requires creative problem solving that utilizes limited resources and turns them into functional homes. Unlike market-rate projects where the housing product is positioned to compete against others to win over residents, affordable housing tends to shed many luxury features, while examining what’s essential for urban living: well-designed and efficient living areas, durable but aesthetically pleasing interior finishes, and intentionally placed and multi-functional social spaces. Many affordable projects in urban areas even forego parking to save cost and take advantage of the existing public transit network.

With longer term tenancies and reduced turnover, affordable housing projects must foster a profound sense of belonging and permanence. In our projects, we look to create a narrative that resonates with the project’s urban context, the history and identity of its neighborhood, as well as the mission and values of the often-non-profit developer. Concept-driven design is not unique to affordable housing, but these narratives can be particularly powerful in bringing people together in a unified vision that continues to be referenced throughout the life of the project—and beyond.

It is not solely the design aspect that warrants special attention. The imperatives of sustainability and climate resilience have evolved from being luxuries to necessities. From July 2023 onwards, cities in Massachusetts have embarked on adopting the Specialized Stretch Code, mandating stringent energy conservation measures. This holds special significance for affordable housing projects, as heightened energy efficiency directly translates to reduced energy bills for residents. While the incorporation of electrification and high-performance exterior facades introduces additional costs, funding from the utility company’s Mass Save incentive program can step in to bridge some of the financial gap, ensuring that these affordable housing endeavors remain economically feasible.

The lessons drawn from affordable housing design extend beyond the confines of this specific segment. These insights hold the potential to reshape the larger multi-family housing market, compelling us to maximize limited resources such as space and budget. By redirecting our focus towards essential needs and shunning surface-level trends, we unearth a more profound understanding of design that goes beyond aesthetics. Affordable housing teaches us that true design innovation lies in crafting spaces that stand the test of time and serve the core needs of the community they shelter.