Advisory

Here to help.

Interested in staff housing, but not sure where to start? As a leader in workforce housing, Upward provides the expertise, resources, and market insight to help public employers determine whether staff housing is viable and what approach makes the most sense. We provide an objective assessment and a clear recommendation on the best path forward, whether that involves us or not.

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Rendering of a three bedroom Upward home with a covered front porch and private entryway

Before A DECISION

Three questions need to be answered.

Before a district, city, or public employer commits to housing, it needs to understand the demand, the economics, and whether the site can actually support the project.

01Is there enough demand?

Will employees actually live here?

We analyze employee interest, housing needs, rents, and local market conditions to determine what people actually want and can afford.

02Does the financial model work?

Can this be done without creating undue financial risk?

We evaluate development costs, rents, financing, operating assumptions, and the public partner's potential obligations.

03Can it actually be built?

Is the site viable?

We assess zoning, utilities, access, infrastructure, site constraints, and realistic unit capacity.

The point of the study is simple. Determine whether there is a viable project before you spend significant time or money pursuing one.

Surplus property

Do you have surplus or underutilized land?

Consolidation, reorganization, and shifting operations have left districts, cities, and counties holding property they no longer use. It costs money every year and returns nothing.

What this usually looks like

Aerial illustration of a public campus with an oversized parking lot outlined in orange as surplus land

Excess parking capacity

Lots sized for a peak that no longer happens.

Aerial illustration of a public campus with a large unused perimeter parcel outlined in orange

Unused perimeter land

Edge parcels doing nothing but getting mowed.

Aerial illustration of a vacant block across the street from a public campus, outlined in orange

Holdings off the main site

Surplus land does not have to sit on the campus.

Aerial illustration of an older support yard with portables and shops outlined in orange beside a public campus

Obsolete buildings & support areas

Schoolds, portables, shops, and yards that are being closed or could sit somewhere else.

Rendering of a shared green at an Upward Communities neighbourhood, with homes facing the open space

From land to program

The rendering is the last step, not the first.

The work

What does our feasibility study actually cover?

Employee demand

Who needs housing, what they can pay, and how much attrition traces back to housing cost.

Site and entitlement

Zoning, utilities, environmental history, and how many homes the parcel really holds.

Market analysis

Comparable rents nearby, and where yours have to land for this to work.

Program and unit mix

What to build and for whom, matched to the pay bands you actually employ.

Financial feasibility

Capital stack, pro forma, and the cases that show where the project breaks.

Execution path

Ownership structure, procurement, and the board or council actions it takes.

It ends in one of three answers

Build

The numbers hold. You move, with whatever structure fits.

Change something

A different parcel, mix, or structure. Then run it again.

Do not build

The site or the math does not support it. You have saved years.

Where a build answer can lead

General obligation bonds Certificates of participation Revenue or lease revenue bonds Ground lease to a developer Low income housing tax credits Nonprofit or public facility corporation Sell and redeploy the proceeds

A study that only ever recommends building is not a study. We work inside one of those routes. Most of them do not involve us at all.

Why teacher pay no longer covers housing What teacher turnover costs a district How districts finance teacher housing What district programs have delivered