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Living in Los Angeles and paying $1,000 a month for rent seems like a fantasy for many cash-strapped tenants, or a rental figure from decades ago. But a new proposal from architecture and design firm Gensler and the Pew Charitable Trusts underscores the idea that more affordable urban living can be found in old, vacant office buildings. The analysis, which was initiated and funded by Pew and nonprofit Arnold Ventures, looks at the potential of a new kind of building conversion in Houston and Los Angeles, two U.S cities where this type of conversion would currently be legal. The aim is to build a better version of single-room occupancy units, or SROs, that have private rooms, shared bathrooms, and partial kitchens. The low-cost, no-frills housing was prevalent during most of the 20th century as a kind of housing-of-last-resort. Once immensely common in cities, their reputation for seediness, deserved or not, led to zoning and policy shifts that made them functionally extinct. An estimated one million such units were closed in the 70s and 80s. Numerous studies have blamed their demise on the modern rise in homelessness. In recent years, as homelessness and affordability have become crises, theres been a push to bring this concept back: since 2023, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii have all passed laws to re-legalize them. Los Angeles floor plan. [Image: Gensler/The Pew Charitable Trusts] The U.S. is only about 50 years removed from having very little homelessness, said Alex Horowitz, project director of the housing policy initiatives at Pew Charitable Trust and coauthor of the report. As recently as the mid-’70s, there was very little homelessness nationally, and most evidence points to SROs as the primary driver. Genslers vision would ring the outer layer of an office floor with small, studio-style rooms with microwaves and fridges, roughly the size of a modest hotel room. The plans call for 190-square-foot units in L.A., and up to 227-square-foot units in Houston, about half the size of a typical studio apartment. The center of each floor would contain shared living rooms, kitchen, and bathrooms. These layouts would be designed with private keycard entry by floor, and what designers call a more concerted focus on safety, privacy, and security. Los Angeles unit sample [Image: Gensler/The Pew Charitable Trusts] It offers a compelling blueprint for expanding the housing stock in a nation where office vacancy is above 20% in most cities29% in LA and 32% in Houstonand homelessness nationwide just reached a record 770,000 people. Such conversions make sense for dozens of buildings, 88 in downtown Houston and 42 in L.A.s central business district, according to the report. These upgrades can also be done with relatively little subsidized public funding, and could create low-cost units renting for roughly half the median rent in both cities: $700 in Houston and $1,000 in Los Angeles. The microunits could be built for $240,000 each in L.A., less than half what it costs to build a typical studio apartment. Theres currently a post-pandemic boom in office-to-residential conversations nationwide; new RentCafe research found 70,700 residential units will be created in 2025 alone by transforming offices left partially vacant and undervalued by remote work. Gensler has helped spearhead this push by developing an algorithm that can quickly figure out which offices made good conversion candidates. Houston floor plan [Image: Gensler/The Pew Charitable Trusts] Thats a huge jump in activity, since developers completed just 23,100 in 2022. But despite the boom, these conversions still represent a fraction of the units needed to bridge the housing shortage, and such conversions still remain expensive, complicated, and financially infeasible for many offices. Genslers new research found that this SRO-style conversion opens up new opportunities. Traditional office-to-residential conversions, which create individual units with their own kitchens and bathrooms, require extensive plumbing and infrastructure work. This new proposal concentrates new plumbing and piping in the middle of each floor. In addition, standard conversions mean long, stretched out apartments with few windows and natural light. The SRO option contains big windows in each of the small studios (although no natural light in the shared spaces). Research conducted by Gensler and Pew last fall found this type f layout cuts conversion construction costs by up to 35%. Locating the right building, which the authors did using CoStar data, was a challenge, since it needed the right-size floor area and infrastructure, but just a single conversion could add 800-plus units; buildings of 20-plus floors can fit up to 60 units on each level. Depending on the estimates you look at, just a few percentage points of the office stock could work for traditional office-to-residential conversions, said Gensler principal and economist Wes LeBlanc. But theres a much larger percentage of highly vacant office stock that works in this case, and makes those unlivable floor plates in play in a way they weren’t before. Horowitz sees this type of housing filling a key gap in the market, giving single, working class renters, such as students, seniors, and immigrants, an option that wont leave them cost-burdened. Approximately 40% of U.S. renter households consist of a single person, and these units could be perfect for people making $40,000 to $50,000 a year. This housing strategy also offers ancillary benefits for cities. In downtown Los Angeles, for example, an area boasting 280,000 jobs, just 1% to 2% of residents who live downtown also work there. Providing more housing opportunities in that neighborhood could help lessen long commutes. No developer has yet signed on to build such a project. Horowitz said hes been getting positive responses from real estate groups, and Gensler and Pew presented these proposals to city officials in L.A. and Houston on January 31. They believe they can build momentum for conversions, and cheaper housing, soon.
Category:
E-Commerce
In todays fast-paced, tech-driven world, commanding attention during meetings or presentations is an increasingly complex challenge. Attendees are often preoccupied with emails, notifications, or social media, turning valuable discussions into background noise. To overcome the issue, presenters must intentionally foster engagement that goes beyond just delivering information. The importance of engagement Engagement is the bridge between delivering information and fostering collaboration. When people feel actively involved in a conversation or presentation, they are more likely to pay attention, retain information, and contribute meaningfully. Think about meetings where youve been fully invested. What made those moments different? Often, it comes down to feeling connected to the material and the speaker. Engagement is built upon four key ingredients that must play together to bring about the collaborative benefits mentioned above: Focus your message Relevance Empathy Be present So, how can we combine these ingredients and infuse engagement into our organizations and teams? The answer lies in fostering interactions that are low stakes, yet purposeful. In other words, play. Purposeful play: A key to engagement One of the most effective ways to break down barriers and foster meaningful, engaged communication is through purposeful play. Playfulness in professional environments might seem counterintuitive, but it can unlock creativity, encourage participation, and lower defenses. When people feel at ease, they are more open to new ideas and solutions, creating an atmosphere of trust and collaboration. Below, we delineate each of the four engagement building blocks and provide a playful activity that helps build the skill. Focus your message Start with clarity. Boiling down complex ideas into digestible key points helps to sustain audience focus. An effective exercise for sharpening your messaging is to condense a pitch or concept into shorter versions repeatedly. Activity: Long Story Short Begin with a one-minute explanation of a project or challenge. Then, condense that explanation to 30 seconds, 15 seconds, and finally a single sentence. This practice not only sharpens clarity but also highlights the essence of your message. Tailor communication for relevance Connecting with your audience involves understanding their needs and perspectives. Personalizing messages to resonate with different stakeholders fosters interest and investment. Activity: Sell a BLANK to a BLANK This playful exercise involves creating pitches for random products to random personas. For example, try selling a plunger to a police officer or a piano to a circus clown. This encourages empathy and creativity, helping you frame messages in a way that resonates with diverse audiences. Build empathy through storytelling Stories humanize communication. Sharing personal anecdotes or inviting participants to share theirs deepens connections and builds mutual understanding. Activity: Memory Lanes Using a random word as a prompt, participants share true, short stories inspired by the word. Each story connects to a new prompt word drawn from the previous narrative, fostering relatability and camaraderie. Be present in the moment Presence is about fully engaging with your surroundings and audience. Practicing mindfulness and tuning into the physical space and its details can ground you and enhance your delivery. Activity: I Love My Spot Explore your surroundings, identify three elements you appreciate, and articulate why you value them. This practice helps center your focus and reinforces your connection to the environment, preparing you to connect with your audience authentically. Harnessing engagement True engagement requires collaboration born out of connection with and comfort around others. Play can catalyze this connection and comfort. By prioritizing concision, relevance, empathy, and attentiveness, you can create interactions that resonate. These are not stand-alone techniques; they are interconnected tools that work together to enhance engagement. When these methods are integrated into communication practices, people will focus and pay attention. Even mundane exchanges are transformed into opportunities for significant impact. Whether youre leading a team meeting, delivering a keynote, or facilitating a brainstorming session, small adjustments in how you engage can lead to major gains in understanding, remembering, and enjoying. Play is a powerful unlock for engaging communication.
Category:
E-Commerce
Los Angeles landlords are being named and shamed in an online effort to combat illegal price gouging following Southern Californias historic wildfires. A grassroots effort to track price gouging has emerged in the form of a Google Sheet thats now circulating on social media. Community members have reported Zillow listings of rental properties with substantial price increases upwards of thousands of dollars just as 150,000 California residents found themselves displaced.
Category:
E-Commerce
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