Welcome to NAR's Center for REALTOR® Development podcast. I'm Monica Neubauer, your host. We welcome back to the show Dr. Rodney Harrell from the AARP. In our last episode, we discussed the AARP Livability Index™ and what is important to our mature buyers and sellers. Dr. Harrell is also a policy specialist, so that's what we're going to focus on today. I love a little government and advocacy things going on! Welcome back!

 

Rodney Harrell, PhD, is the Vice President of Family, Home, and Community at AARP, where he leads national work on housing, livable communities, and aging in place. He created the AARP Livability Index™, guiding how we evaluate and design neighborhoods that truly work. With a PhD in Urban Planning from the University of Maryland and a deep background in public policy and community development, Dr. Harrell brings data-driven actionable insights on how real estate intersects with longevity, lifestyle, and liveability.

 

[:42] We welcome back to the show Dr. Rodney Harrell from the AARP. In our last episode, we discussed the AARP Livability Index™ and what is important to our mature buyers and sellers. Dr. Harrell is also a policy specialist, so that's what we're going to focus on today. Welcome back!

[1:08 ] Monica introduces Dr. Harrell and describes his role with the AARP and his focus on livable communities for mature adults and future mature adults. Dr. Harrell has a PhD in Urban Planning and a deep background in public policy and community development.

[1:47 ] As REALTORS®, we work primarily with people who are buying and selling properties. The nuances of policy may not feel like they directly affect us… until they do! When we do run up against these things, it can be a frustrating wakeup call. By the time we know about it, it may be hard to fix.

[2:37 ] Dr. Harrell says the AARP's Future of Housing initiative considers a range of trends that are impacting needs. One trend is that the population is aging faster than was expected, with 10K people turning 65 every day.

[2:58 ] Since we have not built the types of housing in our communities that support aging, we don't have a lot of housing that meets people's needs at any age and any level of physical ability.

[3:09 ] Simultaneously, we just don't have enough supply of housing. As a country, we are short many millions of units of housing. We don't have enough housing, and housing is too expensive.

[3:40 ] Dr. Harrell notes that we don't have enough housing at different price points. If we get housing that will meet our needs as we age, and it is affordable, is it in the right place? You might not find housing that meets your needs, that you can afford, and that is where you want it to be.

[4:12 ] Housing that has the accessibility features that people might need as they're aging, housing that's affordable, and housing in the right location that meets all our other needs are the three pieces of the puzzle to create the housing that aging adults need.

[4:48 ] Dr. Harrell discusses zoning. Zoning is a huge barrier. It can prevent communities from having the types of housing options that folks need. Communities want to create more flexibility in their neighborhoods.

[5:20 ] The AARP Livability Index™ looks at neighborhoods with options other than a single-family home. Roughly 80% of the neighborhoods in the country only have single-family zoning and nothing else. That means there aren't a lot of options in those places. That's a huge barrier.

[5:43 ] Zoning is just an early step in the process. There are additional barriers in the process of building some of the housing we need, which is part of the reason we have a supply shortage.

[6:06 ] Monica has been looking at government and zoning. Going through the whole process with a development community can take years. If people make decisions based on current needs and not future needs, they may miss something.

[6:31 ] Dr. Harrell says that's why his team at the AARP Public Policy Institute pulled together this Future of Housing initiative. Thinking ahead is required. If you want to buy in a neighborhood, that neighborhood needs to have the housing options that you need.

[7:19 ] It's required to have a long-term thought process when it comes to our housing community choices in this country. Problems that we have today come from not having a long-term approach in the past, and will continue to hurt us if we don't have a long-term outlook for the future.

[8:11 ] One of the challenges with single-family housing zoning across the country is that it prevents people from having some of the options that might work for them. Dr. Harrell loves Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). He calls them the Swiss Army Knife of policy solutions.

[8:32 ] You don't need to completely change a neighborhood to allow ADUs. You don't have to build in a green space that might not work for folks.

[8:41 ] In the neighborhoods where people already are and want to be, we can create more housing options by making it easier to build a garage apartment, an apartment in the backyard, or an attached apartment; all the different kinds of housing that are under the label of ADU.

[9:02 ] Dr. Harrell said we've seen that explode over the last few years. People are looking more for those solutions. He loves that you have control over your property to make this home that may work for you for a while, work better for you in the future with a one-level ADU in the backyard.

[9:32 ] Maybe you need a place to help take care of an aging relative. Maybe you're the aging relative in the house and want to have somebody in an ADU who can help take care of you. Maybe you need to build one because you want to have some more income coming in.

[9:51 ] You can do so many things by giving homeowners the ability to do what they need to with their property to make it work for them. ADUs are a big way to do that.

[10:03 ] Monica lives in a newer neighborhood, and the lots are too small to support a backyard unit. Monica loves the uses Dr. Harrell described for an ADU. If you have an option to rent out a portion of your house or a second dwelling on your property, that can be huge. 

[10:43 ] Dr. Harrell says that even with small lots, there may be ADU options. We have too many people who are limited in housing choices. We don't need to have all things everywhere in this country, but the more we have of these options we're going to talk about, the better off we all are.

[11:25 ] Dr. Harrell says it may take multiple bites of the apple. It may be baby steps before we run. Almost every community can add more options in and the more options we have, the better off people will be.

[11:38 ] The community Monica lives in, South of Nashville, is "growing, growing, growing." Unfortunately, it has become quite expensive. The developers are recognizing that people want to have some commercial properties near them. They want to have some walkability.

[12:01 ] Monica says a lot of "New Urbanism" communities are popping up in various parts of the county.

[12:10 ] Dr. Harrell sees different varieties of that in other places around the U.S., whether it's transit-oriented development (TOD) or the more general category of mixed-use development. Communities that only have homes on large lots can be limiting and isolating.

[12:46 ] Dr. Harrell has talked to so many people whose dream house several decades ago was a large house on a cul-de-sac, but who are now isolated there, and have no other option in their community, and they want to be able to walk to the shop or to their religious institution.

[13:04 ] We're forcing people to adapt to the limited options that are available to them, instead of providing the options that people want.

[13:17 ] There's a pent-up demand for these mixed-use communities and neighborhoods where you can get to different things that you might want to be near, not thinking of your home and family as isolated, but as part of a community.

[13:29 ] Monica suggests that if they're isolated and have a large lot, that goes back to the ADU conversation. That would be a prime neighborhood to consider for that zoning.

[13:49 ] Dr. Harrell highlights missing middle housing, between single-family homes and high-rises. These can be duplexes, triplexes, townhouses, courtyard apartments, or cottage housing grouped on small lots.

[14:50 ] All of these options may have been illegal according to the limited single-family zoning of your community. This frustrates urban planners and potential homeowners because they can't get into a community or find a home that works for them.

[15:08 ] Making it easier to build different types of homes in a larger community allows folks to have what they need. Dr. Harrell sees it as part of a range of solutions that help people become better able to find housing that might work for them.

[15:22 ] Monica mentions community investment programs that help people get into houses.

[15:35 ] Monica likes the concept of the missing middle. The housing is mid-sized, and it can be priced for middle-income families. "Affordable" has become nebulous and hard to define.

[16:10 ] Dr. Harrell says we need all types of housing, whether it's subsidized housing or smaller units; we need everything in this country. This is a zoning-related solution that communities can do, alongs