Affordable Housing – Lessons From Singapore and Los Angeles

The pressing topic of affordable housing is a matter of global import. Singapore and the City of Los Angeles have developed approaches to ameliorate housing insecurity and to address related land use issues.

Join Asia Society Southern California for a conversation on affordable housing and land use in Singapore and Los Angeles. The panelists will include Los Angeles’ Director of Planning, Vince Bertoni, Chair of the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities at Singapore University of Technology and Design as well as the Centre for Livable Cities under the Ministry of National Development, Koon Hean Cheong, and Chair of the Urban Planning Faculty Executive Committee at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, Michael Manville. Among the topics they will discuss are Transit-Oriented Communities (TOCs) in LA, Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), the By-Right Housing Ordinance, and Singapore’s model for affordable housing and planning. The Director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, Richard Green, will moderate.

This program is part of ASSC’s U.S.-Asia Real Estate Initiative (USAREI), which was launched in May 2020, in collaboration with the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate and the UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate. USAREI is a comprehensive, multi-year initiative to promote a deeper understanding of real estate issues that are of shared importance to Southern California and urban areas in Asian countries, and is underwritten by OUE, a prominent Singapore-based real estate development firm.

For previous USAREI programs, we invite you to watch or revisit them.

1. In May 2020, Asia Society Southern California hosted the first USAREI event entitled COVID-19: The Implications for Real Estate on Both Sides of the Pacific, which discussed the effect of the pandemic on the real estate sector and the world we inhabit. The program featured Vincent Lo, Goodwin Gaw, Jaime Lee, Reon Roski, Adriel Chan and was moderated by the Director of UCLA’s Ziman Center for Real Estate, Tim Kawahara.
2. In July 2020, Asia Society Southern California hosted the second USAREI event titled Navigating the Economy in a Time of Troubles: U.S.-China & COVID-19, which discussed Transpacific commercial opportunities amid mounting political tensions in the U.S.-China relationship and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The program featured Ronnie Chan, Adriel Chan and USC’s Lusk Center Director, Professor Richard Green.
3. In May 2021, Asia Society Southern California held its Annual Gala and honored  Shui On Group founder Vincent Lo, who received ASSC’s inaugural USAREI "Real Estate Visionary" honor. The fireside chat was moderated by USC Lusk Center Director Richard Green.

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Speakers:

Vince Bertoni is the Director of Planning for the City of Los Angeles. With over 30 years of professional planning experience, Bertoni leads the largest city planning department in the nation. He is charged with developing policies that shape the future of the City and guide development decisions for a diverse and dynamic metropolis of over 4 million people. Prior to arriving in Los Angeles, Bertoni was the Director of Planning and Community Development for the City of Pasadena where he successfully managed Pasadena’s city planning program through a General Plan update.

Koon Hean Cheong is the Chair of the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities and Practicing Professor at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (from 15 June 2021). She is also Chair of the Centre for Liveable Cities under the Ministry of National Development. Prof. Cheong was formerly the CEO of the Housing and Development Board (HDB) from 2010 to 2020, overseeing the development and management of some 1.1 million public housing flats. At the HDB, she introduced a new generation of well-designed, community-centric, sustainable and smart public housing. An active participant in international fora on cities, Prof. Cheong helped conceptualize The China-Singapore Tianjin Eco City master plan and serves on numerous advisory panels including the World Economic Forum. She is a current Council Member and former Deputy President of the International Federation of Housing and Planning, former global board trustee of the Urban Land Institute and currently chairs the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize’s Nominating Committee.

Michael Manville is Associate Professor of Urban Planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Both his research and teaching focus on the relationships between transportation and land use, and on local public finance. Much of his research concerns the tendency of local governments to hide the costs of driving in the property market, through land use restrictions intended to fight traffic congestion. These land use laws only sometimes reduce congestion, and can profoundly influence the supply and price of housing.

Dr. Manville’s research has been published in journals of planning, economics, urban studies, and sociology. He has received research funding from University Transportation Centers, from the John Randolph Haynes Foundation, and the TransitCenter, among others. He has consulted for developers, environmental groups, local governments, and the United Nations.

Dr. Manville has an MA and PhD in Urban Planning, both from UCLA Luskin. Prior to joining Luskin as a faculty member, he was Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning at Cornell University.

Moderator:

Richard Green is the Director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate. He holds the Lusk Chair in Real Estate and is a Professor in the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy and the Marshall School of Business.

Prior to joining the USC faculty, Green spent four years as the Oliver T. Carr, Jr., Chair of Real Estate Finance at The George Washington University School of Business. He was Director of the Center for Washington Area Studies and the Center for Real Estate and Urban Studies at that institution. Green also taught real estate finance and economics courses for 12 years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was Wangard Faculty Scholar and Chair of Real Estate and Urban Land Economics. He also has been principal economist and director of financial strategy and policy analysis at Freddie Mac.

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