News | August 26, 2019
‘The lack of affordable housing is actually costing us’: Cantwell promotes affordable housing bill in Spokane
Had U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell stood at 1 S. Madelia St. just a few years ago, she would have been in a used car lot. But on Tuesday, she was in the the lobby of an affordable housing complex now home to more than 100 residents. Cantwell was joined by Spokane leaders on Tuesday as…
News | March 10, 2023
“Hacking Inequity” Event Discusses Barriers for Women and BIPOC Developers
Last month, housing finance professionals, community members, and University of Washington faculty, staff, and students met in Founders Hall for “Hacking Inequity in Access to Real Estate Capital: Best Practices and New Options.” This event, hosted by Foster School of Business, Runstad Department of Real Estate, Urban@UW, and ULI Northwest, sought to present strategies of…
News | February 7, 2023
582,462 and Counting
Last year, the Biden administration laid out a goal to reduce homelessness by 25 percent by 2025. The problem increasingly animates local politics, with ambitious programs to build affordable housing getting opposition from homeowners who say they want encampments gone but for the solution to be far from their communities. Across the country, homelessness is…
Course | R E 466/565
Advanced Housing Studies
Advanced survey of housing. Students select a housing-related topic that serves as the basis of a quarter-long project. Also, students read key texts and articles on a range of housing-related topics and participate in seminar discussions on these readings.Course | R E 464/564
Affordable Housing
Introduction to the field of affordable housing. Addresses policy issues inherent in planning, finance, design, construction, and management of affordable housing in the United States. Role of federal, state, local, non-profit, and private sector agencies and participants.Scholar
Al Levine
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Amit D. Ranade
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Arthur Acolin
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As Downtown recovers, Seattle reimagines what it could be
Office-to-residential conversion has its share of skeptics in the real estate world. It is expensive, in part because office interiors are so much deeper than apartment interiors, meaning it’s hard to get natural light. It’s also expensive to retrofit HVAC systems and other residential necessities that offices don’t need. Not all office buildings are created…
Course | R E 518
Best Practices in Sustainable Real Estate
Analyzes, at a macro level, the importance of sustainability in urban areas introducing best practices for various environmentally friendly and financially feasible interventions in the US and abroad. At a micro level focuses on adoption of environment5ally friendly improvements at building level with various pay-back periods but long-lasting economic benefits.Degree Program
Built Environment (PhD)
Three fundamental areas of specialization in built environment knowledge and practice are offered within the BE Built Environment Doctoral Program: 1) sustainable systems and prototypes; 2) technology and project design/delivery; 3) history, theory, and representation studies. Each student will select one of these areas, within which she or he will take their advanced and specialized…
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Burke Shethar
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Central WA Home Prices Spike Amid Influx of Seattle-Area Transplants
When the pandemic limited travel and forced many professional workers to work remotely, many city-dwellers sought retreat in the mountains, trails and waterways of Central Washington. Chelan and Kittitas counties were a short car ride away. In the same places Seattleites found recreation and retreat, demand for second homes — and even permanent single residences…
Scholar
Christopher Campbell
Visit scholar websiteNews | October 15, 2020
Cities dropping out of King County sales tax could strip more than $18M from homeless housing plan
A $400 million proposal to house 2,000 people who have been chronically homeless in King County through a new sales tax is losing millions of potential dollars as suburban cities adopt their own version of the tax instead. So far, Issaquah, Renton, Kent, Snoqualmie and Covington have voted to adopt their own .01% sales tax, a mechanism authorized…
News | June 8, 2022
College of Built Environments’ unique Inspire Fund aims to foster research momentum in underfunded pursuits college-wide. And it’s working.
“For a small college, CBE has a broad range of research paradigms, from history and arts, to social science and engineering.” — Carrie Sturts Dossick, Associate Dean of Research Upon taking on the role of Associate Dean of Research, Carrie Sturts Dossick, professor in the Department of Construction Management, undertook listening sessions to learn about…
News | April 3, 2020
Coronavirus: Homeless families lose key support as schools close
In a typical year, homeless shelters experience the biggest surge in demand not during the cold winter months, but rather during the summer. In the summer, schools close and parents lose the usual daily eight hours of childcare and meals. With the additional burden of sleeping on the streets, parents seek out shelter more often, research…
Scholar
Dan Whitaker
Visit scholar websiteNews | February 24, 2022
Fight over homeless hotel shelters arrives in Kirkland
Homeless hotel shelters continue to be difficult sells for those living in cities outside of Seattle, with Kirkland residents now expressing concerns over the potential purchase of a vacant La Quinta Inn. Snohomish County Councilmember pushes back against hotels for homeless residents King County is reportedly considering the La Quinta Inn — located near SR 520 on…
News | December 4, 2020
Final Report: Impact of Hotels as Non-Congregate Emergency Shelters
A King County initiative that moved people out of homeless shelters and into hotel rooms earlier this year helped slow the transmission of the coronavirus SARS-CoV2, according to the final report from a study of the intervention. The study is co-authored by Gregg Colburn and Rachel Fyall, faculty co-leads of Urban@UW’s Homelessness Research Initiative, and the…
News | March 15, 2021
From crisis to community: Homeownership access with Assistant Professor Arthur Acolin
Arthur Acolin, an Urban@UW Affiliate sat down with CBE to talk about his work. College is a time of exploration and discovery for all students. It is a time that often shapes how we view the world. Going through this transition during a moment of turbulence in the world can shape that experience significantly, which…
Degree Program
Graduate Certificate in Housing Studies
Quality, affordable, and well-connected housing is an essential component of strong and healthy communities. Housing markets are constantly evolving and there is an increasing collaboration among public, private and nonprofit actors in addressing various housing issues. The Graduate Certificate in Housing Studies (GCHS) offers graduate students an opportunity to learn the fundamental concepts and tools…
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Gregg Colburn
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H. Pike Oliver
Visit scholar websiteNews | May 29, 2019
Home construction continues to rise in north Snohomish County
The sounds of hammering, sawing and heavy equipment are echoing across the area these days. It’s in stark contrast to five years ago when few new homes were being built. “Back in 2014, we were one-at-a-timing it to eke our way through,” said Anthony Holbeck of Holbeck Construction & Design on Camano. “Now, it’s a…
News | December 7, 2022
Homelessness Research Initiative convenes homelessness scholars from across the UW
Last Tuesday, faculty, staff, and students from across the University of Washington met in the Hans Rosling Center for Population Health for a convening of the Homelessness Research Initiative. Led by faculty co-chairs Rachel Fyall, associate professor in the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, and Gregg Colburn, assistant professor in the College of…
Course | R E 401/563
Housing Markets and Policy
Aims to provide students with the tools to assess housing problems. Studies housing markets in a dynamic context, with emphasis placed on demand and supply drivers. Examines the justifications for and the basis of public sector involvement in the housing market and describe and evaluate the main policy mechanisms used such as regulation of private renting or the provision of affordable housing.News | February 6, 2020
How a Strong Regional Economy is Effecting the Snohomish Housing Market
Economic growth doesn’t come without some burden. “We are suffering from our own successes,” said economist and UW lecturer Matthew Gardner. “We have a robust economy, and that means growing pains.” The solid economy equates to more jobs — and more people — moving to the region, putting continued pressure on infrastructure and housing markets, he said….
News | January 16, 2021
How much will homelessness rise? Grim study shows possible ‘impact of doing nothing,’ researchers say
A recession following the coronavirus pandemic could cause twice as much homelessness nationwide as the Great Recession did more than a decade ago, says a grim study released Tuesday by Economic Roundtable, an L.A. research group. Using detailed data on unemployment and homelessness from L.A. County social services, authors of the study project that people at the…
News | July 29, 2024
How Tiny Homes Could Help Solve America’s Homelessness Crisis
Reported by Giulia Carbonaro for Newsweek Shelter villages of tiny homes have popped up across the U.S. in recent years, as the small structures have started to be seen by many advocates as a promising solution to solve homelessness. Perhaps unsurprisingly at a time when mortgage rates are still hovering around the 7-percent mark and…
News | September 21, 2021
Interdisciplinary course helps empower the local community
Professors in the University of Washington’s College of Built Environments have created an interdisciplinary, graduate-level course, the McKinley Futures Nehemiah Studio, that combines architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning and design, and real estate principles into a groundbreaking opportunity for the local African American community as well as the students who participate in it. The studio…
Course | URBDP 552 / R E 510
Introduction to Real Estate
Provides a basic overview of the participants, processes, workings of different components of the real estate industry (including a variety of uses spanning from residential, office, retail and industrial to specialized) as well as the quantitative components of the real estate decision-making. Additionally, students are introduced to an overview of construction management, sustainability, corporate services, property law and ethics.Course | R E 416/516
Introduction to Real Estate Economics/Market Analysis
Introduces students to the urban land market in which sites and properties are embedded Covers five areas: basic economic concepts critical in the understanding of real estate markets; urban economy; land rent theory; locational analysis and decision making; and market analysis.Scholar
James Young
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Julie Howe
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King County wants to buy motels for emergency, affordable housing
On a chilly Monday afternoon, case manager Richard Gibson walked through the courtyard at Martin Court in the southwest corner of Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood. The weather in the days before had taken a cold turn, and the colorful children’s playground he strode past sat vacant. Lining either side of the courtyard and parking lot were…
News | May 31, 2019
King County’s condo prices continue to fall as market gets new inventory
Though home prices in the region are not climbing as dramatically as they once were, that doesn’t mean that they’re falling. According to the latest Northwest Multiple Listing Service report, home prices for completed sales in April (the last month for which they have data) rose 2.4% across the 23-county system. Eight counties reported double-digit gains, as the hot market…
Scholar
Kurt E. Kruckeberg
Visit scholar websiteCourse | R E 512
Leadership in the Built Environment
Focuses on leadership principles applicable to the real estate and the built environment and helps students conduct self-assessments to understand their strengths and ways they can apply them. Addresses both organizational leadership and leadership of construction processes.Scholar
Melissa Best
Visit scholar websiteCourse | R E 514
Negotiations and Conflict Resolution in the Built Environment
Overview of negotiation theories, approaches and tactics. Application of deal making procedures for various aspects of real estate decision making processes and audiences (e.g. government, community groups, real estate organizations and partners). Analysis of conflict resolution techniques, mediation, arbitration, etc.News | September 6, 2023
New York Is Full. And It’s the Housing Market’s Fault
Since last spring, roughly 100,000 asylum seekers have arrived in New York City. This is a city of immigrants, welcoming to immigrants, built by immigrants. People who were born abroad make up a third of New York’s population and own more than half of its businesses. Yet the city has struggled to accommodate this wave…
Scholar
Nicole DeNamur
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PCE Certificate in Commercial Real Estate
Commercial real estate is the raw material of a region’s economy. The Seattle market is experiencing huge growth, which means both increased opportunity and heightened competition. Staying current and getting an insider’s perspective on the industry can give you the edge you need to succeed. In this three-course program, we’ll explore commercial real estate as…
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Pete Stone
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Population Health Initiative announces award of 21 COVID-19 rapid response grants
The University of Washington Population Health Initiative announced the award of approximately $350,000 in COVID-19 rapid response grants to 21 different faculty-led teams. These teams are composed of individuals representing 10 different schools and colleges. Funding was partially matched by additional school, college and departmental funds, bringing the total value of these awards to roughly $820,000. “A…
Course | R E 542
Private – Public Project Finance
Explores creative ways of project financing through public and private partnerships in the form of incentives (e.g. TIF, LIHTC, Brownfield development incentives, etc.) currently offered by different government levels throughout the USA. Prepares to identify the incentives for a project and structure a deal package based on a project's parameters.Degree Program
Real Estate (BS, MS, Minor, Cert, PCE)
Our mission is: To be one the world’s leading academic centers in real estate, through the promotion of excellence in research and educational programs in an intellectually stimulating, creative and innovative environment and that engages with and empowers real estate leaders and the community to transform our built environment To achieve this we aim to:…
Visit program websiteCourse | URBDP 551 / R E 517
Real Estate Asset Management
Focuses on the fundamentals and structure of asset management from a value improvement perspective. Students are educated on the proactive manner asset managers need to respond to changing tenant needs and competitive market condition, while focusing on the asset appreciation throughout the ownership cycle (acquisition, leasing and disposition).Course | R E 550 / URBDP 578
Real Estate Development
Introduction and survey of processes and people involved in developing real estate, including issues of site control, public/private approvals, feasibility analysis, project financing, design/construction, marketing, and asset management.Course | R E 363
Real Estate Development Process
Real estate development sits at the heart of the built environment, interacting with urban planners, landscape architects, architects, financiers, construction managers and end users. An understanding of the key decision making that underpins development is a vital part in understanding what is developed, where and when.Course | URBDP 513 / R E 551
Real Estate Development Studio
The Real Estate Development studio is a required for the MSRE option in RE Development. The focus of the course has been traditionally on competitions. The course will continue to focus in commercial real estate competitions (NAIOP) and projects in the autumn quarter, however a focus on affordable housing will be the emphasis while pursuing the Bank of America's affordable Housing Challenge in the winter and spring quarter.Course | URBDP 554 / R E 513
Real Estate Finance and Investment
Introduces students to basic real estate finance and institutional analysis allowing them to quantify the financial implications of real estate decisions. Topics include: basic time value of money, financial leverage, discounted cash flow analysis (properties and institutional portfolios), assessment of various real estate investment classes and distribution of proceeds to investorsCourse | URBDP 557 / R E 515
Real Estate Law
Provides overview of legal frameworks applicable to the real estate industry with specific focus on three principal types of real estate transactions: (1) buying and selling real estate; (2) commercial leases; and (3) financing secured by real estate. Includes discussion of governmental regulation of real estate (land use controls, environmental concerns, and housing regulation).Course | R E 360
Real Estate Market Analysis
The course is designed to introduce students to basic elements of real estate markets studies for different uses. It begins with an overview of the basic steps regardless of real estate use followed by the analysis of data sources, public policy issues affecting cities and their economy and software available to analyze different market patterns.Scholar
Rebecca J. Walter
Visit scholar websiteNews | December 23, 2020
Reimagining how we house the homeless beyond the shelter model
Originally written by Daniel Malone for The Seattle Times. Forty-one years ago, the Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) opened a large disaster-style homeless shelter in the former ballrooms of the Morrison Hotel in downtown Seattle. Every single night since, the Morrison shelter provided refuge to approximately 250 of Seattle’s most vulnerable people. That is…
News | November 29, 2022
Seattle’s cooling real estate market widens budget shortfall
City officials had to rework the budget this month after new forecasts showed Seattle will likely bring in tens of millions of dollars less than previously expected over the next two years, including a significant drop in real estate-related tax revenue. As inflation persists, interest rates remain high and many people find themselves locked out…
Scholar
Shannon Affholter
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Sofia Dermisi
Visit scholar websiteCourse | R E 597
Spatial Analysis of Real Estate and Housing Markets
Spatial analysis of real estate and housing market data. Methods in quantitative analysis of spatial data. Methods are applied to a variety of housing and real estate data sets to inform business decisions and policy making. Exploratory data analysis, spatial interpolation, and spatial regression.Scholar
Steven Bourassa
Visit scholar websiteNews | February 16, 2024
Student Housing Has a New Mantra: Bigger Is Better
Written by Kevin Williams for The New York Times Off-campus complexes are getting larger, with some being home to more than 1,500 students, and being built on prime parcels of land as close to campus as possible. When the Standard, an off-campus student housing complex, opened in the fall in Bloomington, Ind., welcoming its first…
News | August 14, 2019
Tech companies step up to fund affordable housing, but experts say it’s not enough to curb shortages
Microsoft pledged $500 million for affordable housing in January. Five months later, Google said it would invest $1 billion to help the Bay Area housing crisis. Amazon and Salesforce also announced contributions of their own this year. Major tech companies are stepping up to help mitigate affordable housing shortages, caused in part by the influx of high-income labor they have imported to the…
News | December 16, 2019
The Central District has lost over a dozen of its Black churches. The rest may still be saved
There’s little doubt that The Nehemiah Initiative faces an immense challenge combating the displacement of African Americans from central Seattle. When you drive through the Central District today, you see gentrification in its stark reality. New market-rate buildings line the intersections of 23rd Avenue and East Union Street, as well as 23rd and South Jackson…
News | February 22, 2021
The downsides of being a tech hub: Housing disruption and inequality
With the technology sector’s astronomical growth over the past two decades, there has been no shortage of cities vying to be the next Silicon Valley. But while there are many benefits to being a tech hub – from increased wealth to inflows of talent – there are downsides, too, including polarised inequality and increased pressure on…
News | December 20, 2022
The Obvious Answer to Homelessness
In their book, Homelessness Is a Housing Problem, the University of Washington professor Gregg Colburn and the data scientist Clayton Page Aldern demonstrate that “the homelessness crisis in coastal cities cannot be explained by disproportionate levels of drug use, mental illness, or poverty.” Rather, the most relevant factors in the homelessness crisis are rent prices…
Scholar
Tim Overland
Visit scholar websiteNews | October 7, 2020
Turning hotels into emergency shelter as part of COVID-19 response limited spread of coronavirus, improved health and stability
A King County initiative that moved people out of homeless shelters and into hotel rooms earlier this year helped slow the transmission of coronavirus, according to early findings from a study of the intervention. The study, part of Urban@UW’s Homelessness Research Initiative, is co-authored by Rachel Fyall and Gregg Colburn, HRI faculty co-leads. Their research is…
Course | R E 553, URBDP 553
Urban Land Economics
Introduces urban economics, land markets, and locational decision making; and examines urban spatial structure and the economic, political, social, technological, and historical forces that shape land values and uses. Uses applied spatial analytical tools including geographic information systems and geodemographic software.Course | URBDP 553 / R E 553
Urban Land Economics
Introduces urban economics, land markets, and locational decision making; and examines urban spatial structure and the economic, political, social, technological, and historical forces that shape land values and uses. Uses applied spatial analytical tools including geographic information systems and geodemographic software.News | October 1, 2019
Urban Scholar Highlight: Rachel Berney
Rachel Berney is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban Design and Planning, Adjunct Assistant Professor in Landscape Architecture, an Urban@UW Fellow, and author of Learning from Bogotá: Pedagogical Urbanism and the Reshaping of Public Space. Her primary interests include community sustainable design, public space, and international development in the Americas, as well as…
News | March 29, 2022
UW professor’s new book presents opportunity to ‘rethink housing’
Not all U.S. major cities are grappling with homelessness at the scale of say, Seattle or San Francisco. And it’s not because some cities have more people in poverty, or more people in crisis. Gregg Colburn, assistant professor of real estate at the University of Washington, believes housing market conditions — specifically, high housing and…
News | September 6, 2022
Vancouver Considers 2 New ‘Safe Stay’ Sites for Homeless People After Initial Successes
Less than a year after its launch, Vancouver officials are expressing optimism about the city’s newest approach to helping unhoused people, and hope to see more of it in the future. A report card released Monday shows Vancouver’s first “Safe Stay Community,” which provides shed-like housing units and around-the-clock case managers, housed 14 of its…
News | March 28, 2023
WA’s Homeless Population Is Increasing, New HUD Report Shows
Washington’s homeless population is on the rise, according to a recent report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and it’s largely driven by Seattle and King County. The number of Washingtonians who are unsheltered, in vehicles or in temporary shelter grew by 10% from 2020 to 2022, increasing by 2,288 people. Slightly…
News | April 20, 2022
Washington maker of shed-sized homeless shelters has thrived since the pandemic
Ty Charnicky gripped a broom and smiled as he swept the floor. It wasn’t dirty. He swept it often. “When I was in the car, I did this to the car too. I cleaned it out at least once a week. I did my laundry once a week,” Charnicky said, before straightening some of his…
News | September 20, 2022
What Would It Take to Bring Seattle Home Prices Down to Earth?
However you slice it, Seattle homebuying is wildly expensive. The median sale price for all homes is $840,000, according to Redfin. If you look only at stand-alone single-family homes, the median is $975,000. The median condo is selling for over $500,000. Supply and demand isn’t the only factor in Seattle’s housing costs — 50-year-old bungalows…
News | July 12, 2023
Where Do County’s Homeless Come From?
After five years of Project Homeless, the Seattle Times asked readers to share their pressing, unanswered questions about homelessness. Although there are historical examples of a homeless migration narrative–think of families moving in mass during the Dust Bowl or of men “riding the rails” during the Great Depression–today, there’s a lot of data that shows…
News | May 3, 2022
Why are condos in Seattle so rare and expensive?
The average home in Seattle costs over a million dollars. And now, rising interest rates have made mortgages more expensive. Homebuyers just can’t seem to get a break. Condominiums used to be a gateway to homeownership. Even if you didn’t have a big nest egg, you could get your foot in the door and own…
News | June 4, 2020
Will the Spokane housing market weather the storm? Homebuying during the pandemic remains competitive and continues to favor the seller
Beth and Larry Belcher found the perfect home in Spokane, but it wasn’t easy. The couple was aware of Spokane’s housing market dynamics: low inventory, rising prices and high demand. But they didn’t expect to overcome an additional hurdle of searching for a home during a pandemic. “Looking for homes during COVID-19 was a little…
News | April 14, 2020
Zillow and Redfin’s guesswork has changed how we see prices
In 2016, Spencer Rascoff sold one of his homes, a Madison Park three-story, for $1.05 million. Days later, Seattle-based Zillow estimated the value of that house at $1.75 million. Here’s the real estate rub: Rascoff was Zillow’s CEO. If an extreme example of an errant “zestimate,” the PR debacle points to a curiosity. Zillow and Redfin…