Jonathan Rose Companies, a New York–based real estate development and investment management firm with a focus on affordable housing, views housing as an essential solution to improving health and social equity. The work of Jonathan Rose Companies is underpinned by an understanding that there is a moral obligation to health and social equity, and also an ability to improve the financial performance of properties by investing in it. That mission has been further propelled by the alignment of private equity investors. By simply adjusting certain elements of housing, such as decreasing utility bills with energy-efficiency upgrades or increasing access to grocery stores in low-access areas, the level of stress and insecurity in low-income communities decreases, and financial security increases.
In 2013, Jonathan Rose Companies acquired Grace West Manor in Newark, New Jersey, a 429-unit Section 8 affordable housing development. The firm rolled out $4 million worth of upgrades between 2013 and 2018 while it sought a tax credit transaction for the property. These renovations included modernized elevators in the senior tower, energy-efficient boilers in the townhomes, and construction of a new community center.
With Grace West Manor, Jonathan Rose restructured financing to ensure more access to capital to make health and social equity–focused upgrades. Affordable housing properties have limited rental revenue streams and cannot easily increase rents, so developers and owners must be savvy to reduce operating costs. Part of Jonathan Rose Companies’ strategy is to implement energy- and water-saving measures that reduce operating expenses for the property and its residents.
The company recognizes investments in health and well-being as an opportunity to bring value to residents, the surrounding community, and the underlying property—even if the payback is not currently as clearly measurable as investments in energy efficiency are. For example, investing in the physical, mental, and financial health of residents brings benefits to the community and also serves to stabilize occupancy and income at properties because residents can continue to live in the units.
Jonathan Rose Companies, in partnership with Community Opportunity Fund and Westchester Public Private Partnership, was successful in securing funding through Fannie Mae’s Innovation Challenge, to run a Telehealth Intervention Program for Seniors (TIPS) at Grace West. TIPS is an award-winning model that has proven that regular remote patient monitoring of vital signs, together with “wraparound” social services, can act as an early warning preventive strategy that enables participants to remain in their community, significantly improves individual/community health, prevents hospitalization/ER incidents, and reduces individual/health system costs. TIPS uses technology innovatively, combining it with face-to-face contact to offer “high tech/high touch” services.
The Jonathan Rose team works collectively with residents and surrounding community assets at each property to determine the design and programming that will bring the most benefit to a particular community by addressing the community’s specific needs and tapping into its existing assets and connections. Jonathan Rose Companies is drawing on its work in the affordable housing space to begin to quantify the impact of this investment strategy, including the following metrics:
> Participation in education and community-building events such as voter registration drives held on site > Number of voters registered—over 31 voter registration events held in seven states > Police, fire department, and emergency medical service call rates > Number of meals served—over 20,000 meals served to underserved residents to date
In 2018, Jonathan Rose Companies secured financing for Grace West Manor using the low-income housing tax credits program, which allowed for an additional $18 million worth of upgrades, bringing the total upgrade costs to $22 million. The next set of upgrades aimed to focus on improving the quality of life for residents through energy efficiency and resiliency upgrades as well as the implementation of “Communities of Opportunity,” which uses design and programming interventions to improve the social determinants of health in a community. Improvements at Grace West Manor included upgrades to the bathrooms, kitchens, and windows to increase accessibility for disabled residents; new lighting, flooring, roofing, and painting; and upgrades to the central building mechanical systems. As part of the Communities of Opportunity package, Jonathan Rose added a gym for seniors, a medical exam room, and an all-season room extension to the community room. All of these upgrades to energy efficiency, resiliency, and health and wellness have been shown to improve the quality of residents’ lives as well as their overall satisfaction with their residence.