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From Our Members: Observations & Opportunities
July 1, 2020
Join us every other week as ULI San Francisco members share their experiences and perspectives in this ever-changing world. Their views represent various real estate industry segments and delve into both professional and personal thoughts and ideas in this snapshot in time, and what positive opportunities can be found today, and in the future.
This time, we’ve asked our contributors to share their thoughts around three questions.
Meet this week’s contributors:
Nabihah Azim
Project Director, Mercy Housing, ULI Chamberlin Fellow
Q: After the last three months have brought dramatic change, what have you reflected on both personally and professionally during this time?
As I reflect on this time, it is abundantly clear the privileges I hold. I adjusted to working from my bedroom yet have remained securely employed. My profession easily transitioned to the virtual world and allowed me to stay in good health. This meant more time for mindfulness. During this time as people fought for our shared humanity, I reflected on how real estate has historically perpetuated racial inequality. However, I am in this field to shape more equitable development and create change. The people in this network are actively shaping human patterns through the built environment. We choose the retail that goes at the corner of a building and how many units get built. As real estate professionals we all hold norms and assumptions that go into these decisions, but I call on myself and peers to question how our professional decisions can undo past and future structural inequalities.
Q: What has surprised you during this time?
What surprised me the most is a health epidemic has become political. Rather than a unified national response to COVID, there has been fragmented enforcement of preventative action across cities. In this polarized climate, there seems to be a lack of empathy for those across the country.
As a result of many structural failures, communities of color have been disproportionately impacted by the virus. Similarly, during the Great Recession, neighborhoods in historically redlined communities had foreclosures at higher rates. As certain neighborhoods continue to struggle, in some places, Shelter in Place was viewed as a government overreach where masks were not worn, and life quickly returned to normalcy. Our living patterns and built environment represent a stratified society where those without the privilege of choice, lose.
Q: Where do you see the opportunities as we look to the future?
Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Stephon Clark, and George Floyd succeed an unfortunate list of names that we have cried, marched, and petitioned for before. These deaths have highlighted the many structural inequalities and injustices in communities. The demand for change can no longer be ignored by those that make decisions. Recently we have seen a shift where companies have issued statements of support for Black Lives Matter and have rolled out immediate action for inclusion and diversity. Although we are in uncertain times, I feel hopeful for real estate as an industry. I am hopeful that collectively we will reconsider who is at the table and how we define value when developing retail, residential, and neighborhoods.
Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Stephon Clark, and George Floyd succeed an unfortunate list of names that we have cried, marched, and petitioned for before. These deaths have highlighted the many structural inequalities and injustices in communities. The demand for change can no longer be ignored by those that make decisions. Recently we have seen a shift where companies have issued statements of support for Black Lives Matter and have rolled out immediate action for inclusion and diversity. Although we are in uncertain times, I feel hopeful for real estate as an industry. I am hopeful that collectively we will reconsider who is at the table and how we define value when developing retail, residential, and neighborhoods.
Nikki Beasley
Executive Director, Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc.
Q:After the last three months have brought dramatic change, what have you reflected on both personally and professionally during this time?
The last three months have shown how our organizations needs to be able to respond during a health crisis; we need to address an emergency plan. It has also reminded me about the importance and urgency of our work. The social unrest has be bubbling up since the 2016 election, and now has caused people to have to really revisit relationships and friendships. Personally, I’m trying to digest that with “white allies” affirming the injustices — it’s an issue that can’t be ignored, i.e., it’s going to take much more than making a Federal Holiday of Juneteenth (a 150-year-old unofficial holiday celebrated in the black communities). It hurts to know some are unaware of the significance of the holiday, and that there still a debate on the statement: Black Lives Matter.
Q: What has surprised you during this time?
The mobilization of people and the ongoing protest.
Q: Where do you see the opportunities as we look to the future?
As we look ahead, it is essential that we keep this momentum going, and have our “white allies” demand that the systems that have been contributing to systematic racism be torn down. As black people, we don’t have the control of the systems needed to tear it down and rebuild.
Libby Seifel,
Founder and President, Seifel Consulting
Q:After the last three months have brought dramatic change, what have you reflected on both personally and professionally during this time?
Just as we began to shelter in place, a friend sent me a link to “An Imagined Letter from Covid-19 to Humans” by Kristin Flyntz, which perfectly describes my reflections about the pandemic’s transformative power. “Stop. Just stop. It is no longer a request. It is a mandate….We will bring the supersonic, high speed merry-go-round to a halt…. Despite what you might think or feel, we are not the enemy… We are a balancing force. We are asking you: To stop, to be still, to listen; To move beyond your individual concerns and consider the concerns of all; To be with your ignorance, to find your humility, to relinquish your thinking minds and travel deep into the mind of the heart.”
Q: What has surprised you during this time?
How quickly we have been able to reinvent how we work and “distance socialize” together. How quickly businesses and people have created, produced and donated PPEs to hospitals and health care workers across the country. How quickly Bay Area residents have adapted to wearing masks and social distancing. How quickly citizen activists have come together to catalyze local, State and federal legislation to combat police misconduct and systemic racism, and the rapid response of many organizations to take specific actions to improve diversity, equity and inclusion. Like many Americans, I’m continually amazed by our resilience, compassion, creativity and sheer determination, which makes me optimistic that this pandemic will ultimately make us stronger, while recognizing this will be a very difficult 2020.
Q: Where do you see the opportunities as we look to the future?
The ability for us to do an immediate reset to reimagine and reinvent public spaces. We’re already seeing how “slow streets” are transforming how we walk, bike and march together, and public streets and parking spaces are rapidly becoming outdoor dining rooms. The emerging recognition that female-led cities, states and nations have been particularly successful at minimizing deaths and safely navigating through the coronavirus. This will propel more women to elected public office. The growing awareness of nature and the importance of sustainable development and the green economy. Governments/organizations across the globe are developing new technologies and programs that will transform how we produce energy, construct buildings, and preserve natural resources, while driving economic recovery post-Covid.
The ability for us to do an immediate reset to reimagine and reinvent public spaces. We’re already seeing how “slow streets” are transforming how we walk, bike and march together, and public streets and parking spaces are rapidly becoming outdoor dining rooms. The emerging recognition that female-led cities, states and nations have been particularly successful at minimizing deaths and safely navigating through the coronavirus. This will propel more women to elected public office. The growing awareness of nature and the importance of sustainable development and the green economy. Governments/organizations across the globe are developing new technologies and programs that will transform how we produce energy, construct buildings, and preserve natural resources, while driving economic recovery post-Covid.
Sean Whitfield
Vice President of Real Estate, Washington Capital Management
Q: After the last three months have brought dramatic change, what have you reflected on both personally and professionally during this time?
Working from home these past few months has reset priorities and confirmed the importance of family and health (both physical and mental). The extra time with my wife and kids has been wonderful (yet crazy at times) and I look forward to more family walks, game nights, etc. Professionally, I have never been busier and am so fortunate to be able to do my job remotely (thank you essential workers!). Video calls have become the norm and transactions are taking longer to come together as people become more risk averse in this uncertain environment. And yet, productivity remains high, I think much to everyone’s surprise. Offices aren’t going away as people need face-to-face interaction (I do!), but how we use them will change and I expect a hybrid model to prevail with more satellite offices and work from home days.
Q: What has surprised you during this time?
The thing that has surprised me most during this time is how quickly the appeal of the city, particularly San Francisco, has dissipated. Not long ago, vacancy for all product types (retail aside) was at record lows and businesses needed to be in the city to attract talent. Now, vacancy in apartments is surging to double digits and office sublease inventory is approaching dot-com levels. It remains to be seen if this is a transitory thing or the beginnings of the perpetual pendulum swing back to the suburbs that pundits have been touting for years with the aging of Millennials. Hopefully, it is the former as society needs a vibrant, transit-rich urban core, but city governments need to do more to facilitate business and community, not alienate it with finger pointing and ever more taxes.
Q: Where do you see the opportunities as we look to the future?
Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) investing was gaining steam prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. Many large institutional advisors have raised funds around those objectives. Our firm which advises mostly pension funds has been looking into it as well. As our world continues to struggle with generational issues such as global warming, systemic racism, economic inequality, etc., the need for those funds has never been greater. Prior to Covid, the investment targets were pretty limited in scope and mostly centered around the environment. The demonstrations of the past few weeks have highlighted that the S (& G) part of the acronym are equally, if not more, important, and more should be done to invest in struggling communities and provide opportunity and living wages.
Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) investing was gaining steam prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. Many large institutional advisors have raised funds around those objectives. Our firm which advises mostly pension funds has been looking into it as well. As our world continues to struggle with generational issues such as global warming, systemic racism, economic inequality, etc., the need for those funds has never been greater. Prior to Covid, the investment targets were pretty limited in scope and mostly centered around the environment. The demonstrations of the past few weeks have highlighted that the S (& G) part of the acronym are equally, if not more, important, and more should be done to invest in struggling communities and provide opportunity and living wages.