Can Empty Offices and Hotels Help Alleviate the Housing Crisis?
Across the country, the pandemic is spurring the adaptive reuse of buildings as homeless services, affordable housing, and even micro-schools.
Across the country, the pandemic is spurring the adaptive reuse of buildings as homeless services, affordable housing, and even micro-schools.
Adaptive reuse has long been deployed to turn warehouses into city lofts and abandoned churches into historic homes, but the ongoing pandemic has created opportunity for a more seismic shift in the way we repurpose and rethink all types of spaces—from workspaces and hotels to homes and schools.
Over the past six months, COVID-19 has both exacerbated the preexisting housing crisis and created an unexpected glut of empty offices. Back in August, Moody’s Analytics reported that "national vacancies [in commercial real estate] will rise past historic highs within the next few years," with the vacancy rate hitting a whopping 19.9% in 2021.
Many cities are finding that their urban cores, typically packed with offices, need to be reconsidered to serve changing needs.
Courtesy of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau
Other sectors, like recreational and hospitality real estate, are facing a similar reality. A late-August analysis from the American Hotel and Lodging Association reveals that about 65% of hotels remain at or below 50% occupancy—not to mention the economic fallout of four out of 10 hospitality workers being out of a job. And most worryingly, international nonprofit The Aspen Institute reports that some 30 to 40 million Americans may be facing eviction in the coming months.
So the million-dollar question is: Can vacancies in the commercial and hospitality sectors be leveraged for other needs?
The Hearst Tower in Manhattan, designed by Foster + Partners.
Image copyright Chuck Choi, courtesy of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Of course, the solution won’t be as simple as that, but a growing number of initiatives do aim to convert disused buildings into desperately needed housing. In late June of this year, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced Project Homekey, a continuation of the state’s efforts to protect the homeless population during COVID-19. It allocates $1.3 billion for the state and counties to purchase hotels, motels, vacant apartment buildings, residential care facilities, and tiny homes to serve those experiencing homelessness.
"We’ve long dreamed about scooping up thousands of motel rooms and converting them into housing for our homeless neighbors," says Governor Newsom in a release. "The terrible pandemic we’re facing has given us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy all these vacant properties, and we’re using federal stimulus money to do it. Hand in hand with our county partners, we are on the precipice of the most meaningful expansion of homeless housing in decades." In late September, Governor Newsom announced an additional $137 million in funding for Project Homekey.
Plato's Cave in Branson, Missouri, is an example of a motel converted into affordable housing.
Courtesy The Repvlik
See the full story on Dwell.com: Can Empty Offices and Hotels Help Alleviate the Housing Crisis?
