Last month, LOCUS Director Christopher Coes joined The Hill for a policy discussion on Real Estate & the U.S. Economy at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, PA. Coes joined a panel of real estate thought leaders from across the nation to discuss public policy changes that can incentivize development that generates opportunities and wealth in low-income neighborhoods.
Here are some of the highlights from his discussion:
On LOCUS:
“Our general premise is this: we are developers who are responsible. We are triple bottom line and we care about profit, but we also recognize that real estate has a major impact on our local communities and our environment.”
On changes in public policy:
“Future policy has to be place based. It’s not one size fits all. Every community is not the same. There are broad dynamics and we have to have a public policy that allows those dynamics.”
On creating opportunities for residents in low-income areas:
“The question is how do we create new wealth generating opportunities for those local residents to not just be the new cashier, but to actually be the new builder, be the new merchant, be the new real estate developer who is now creating new opportunities. That is the challenge that we have and the government has to figure out ways to incentivize the industry to be the leader that it should be.”
On climate change and walkable, urban development:
“If you live in a walkable, urban area, you have a 52% to 60% lower green house gas footprint than someone who lives in a drive-able suburban area We can not solve climate change by retrofitting every car. We solve climate change by changing how we live and where we live.”
Watch the full policy discussion below: