Municipal Property Advisors

The wider adoption of the Municipal Property Advisors approach could yield substantial housing benefits across multiple timeframes. Technical assistance for government leaders can accelerate this process. The Task Force supports the PAW Initiative as a valuable intermediary that can standardize and expand Municipal Property Advisor procurement and practice across the nation. The expansion of this work to more places will require five core elements:

Create Successive Cohorts of Adopters: The PAW Initiative proposes working with multiple cohorts of cities annually (five to ten cities per cohort) that commit to using a common approach for asset mapping, MPA procurement, and affordable housing production. Cities must have commitments from local elected officials as well as key corporate and civic leaders.

Routinize Core Elements: The scaling of an innovative practice starts with the sharp distillation of its core features and components. Repetition requires codification, which is best accomplished using a common template that is flexible enough to accommodate places with different governance structures, market conditions, and institutional capacities.

Routines Matter: They reduce risk, lower costs and simplify replication. Common term sheets. Common capital stacks. Common metrics. Common analytics. Common technologies.

To reach more places, we need to create and make widely available sample RFP and RFQ agreements, making these easily accessible for any city wanting to go down the Municipal Property Advisor path.

It will also develop a catalogue of potential financing options and performance metrics. Success could be measured by the provision of affordable housing options, tailored to the specific needs of each city, county and metropolitan area.
Municipalities can enhance the impact of Municipal Property Advisors by establishing right-to-build policies. Cleveland has, for example, adopted (a) as-of-right zoning for 1- to 4-unit housing; (b) as-of-right accessory dwelling units; and (c) pre-approved housing designs.

Peer Learning and Knowledge Dissemination

As MPA utilization grows, PAW aims to foster collaboration among municipalities, facilitating exchange of best practices and innovative solutions. By publishing common agreements and performance metrics and documenting successes and lessons learned, PAW will build a knowledge repository supporting localities in addressing common challenges and maximizing housing impact. Making practical information widely accessible will empower local governments to optimize their assets for economic, social, and environmental community benefits.

Professionalize Municipal Property Advisor Industry

We anticipate natural evolution of a Municipal Property Advisor industry as more cities adopt this approach. Beyond convening city cohorts, the PAW Initiative plans to bring together firms and nonprofit entities serving as MPAs across multiple engagements or communities. This collaboration will establish practice standards that become industry norms. As the field matures, professional certification should be considered, with PAW potentially providing initial quality assurance and standards development.

There are many steps that local — and even state — governments can take today at no or little cost to better put their public assets to work and begin the process to implement a Municipal Provider Advisor approach that builds more affordable housing. The fuller scale implementation, including cohorts, knowledge center, templates, and professionalization of the positions, will require additional funding.

The PAW Initiative is grateful to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Schmidt Futures, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and other local and national foundations that have seeded this important work.