Exploring the ideas that shape community development. Join fellow community builders for an engaging exploration of how geography, culture, and economics intersect in place-based development.

Facilitated by Ryan Terry

Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) are powerful tools for addressing disinvestment and building stronger, more equitable communities. Whether you’re a new or experienced developer, understanding how to work with a CDFI can unlock critical financing for your affordable housing, mixed-income, or mixed-use project. In this session, ANDP, a U.S. Treasury-certified CDFI based in Atlanta, and Incremental Development Alliance (IDA) Faculty will walk you through what it takes to prepare your organization and your project to access CDFI funding.

Presented by Sara Haas and Eric Kronberg

Join us for an in-depth exploration of the “Yes in God’s Backyard” (YIGBY) pilot program, a faith-based initiative aimed at addressing the growing need for attainable housing in Midwest communities. This session will showcase the development of a YIGBY pilot in Michigan, offering an inside look at how faith-based organizations, local governments, and community stakeholders are coming together to reimagine the use of church-owned land as a platform for housing solutions.

Presented by Jenifer Acosta

This session will cover the history and unique functions of land banks and how to evaluate if a land bank is right for your community. Participants will hear about land banks of various sizes and geographies that have built partnerships to support affordable housing, uplift racial equity, and address community priorities.

Presented by Brian Larkin

This session will give a brief overview of a 2024 county-wide (Van Buren) housing study in SW Michigan. Then expect a deeper review of a Housing Strategic Plan with implementation or action items. This study may be especially of interest to aspiring and practicing small scale developers living in Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, and Holland.

Presented by Sharon Woods and Carmine Avantini

Managing environmental liability is certainly not the most thrilling part of a redevelopment success, but if not incorporated into the project from the very beginning, this critical element may hamstring your project before you get started.  This Small Bites topic will highlight common environmental issues confronted in small site redevelopment.

Presented by Chris Harrell

Starting in 2025, Small Bites sessions are a membership benefit for Associate and Charter Members. Become a member today!

You’ve probably been in this situation: A great lot is available on a prime corner at a seemingly fair price… should you buy it for your next project? Join us for this session on how to navigate zoning regulations to increase your potential for success.

Presented by Dan Zack

Starting in 2025, Small Bites sessions are a membership benefit for Associate and Charter Members. Become a member today!

Savvy entrepreneurs look for market segments where latent demand is high and competition is low. Learn to shrug off conventional thinking and spot real estate opportunities that others miss.

Presented by Jennifer Krouse

A deep dive into the art and science of designing facades that are both practical and visually striking. Learn how to enhance streetscapes and community identity while staying budget-conscious.

Presented by Lew Oliver

Starting in 2025, Small Bites sessions are a membership benefit for Associate and Charter Members. Become a member today!

The affordable housing crisis affecting many areas of the United States requires the creativity and participation of a number of important partners working to solve the problem. Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) can play an important role in helping complete the financing puzzle for housing projects.

Presented by John Zody

Starting in 2025, Small Bites sessions are a membership benefit for Associate and Charter Members. Become a member today!

This session is tailored for property owners, managers, and developers who aim to streamline operations, enhance tenant satisfaction, and boost their bottom line. Whether you're managing your first property or seeking innovative ways to scale, this training is your roadmap to achieving exceptional results. Don’t miss out—transform your property management approach today!

Presented by Bruzenskey Bois

Starting in 2025, Small Bites sessions are a membership benefit for Associate and Charter Members only. Become a member today!

The more a project costs, the less profitable it will be. Or will it? This session explores a common belief that can diminish a project's returns, if we let it. Learn how to improve the viability of your projects by deploying value drivers that are often overlooked.

Presented by Jennifer Krouse

Major new employers like General Motors are creating new jobs in this local market, spurring developers to launch new housing developments, with the risk of collectively over-building. Meanwhile, the town is afraid of "apartments" and beginning to promote alternative formats. What are the possible implication of new job creation, and how does that translate into realistic market opportunities?

Presented by Sharon Woods

We will walk through the latest Incremental Housing Toolkits put together for Chattanooga thanks to generous support by the Lyndhurst Foundation.

Presented by Elizabeth Ward Williams

Codes, markets, and financing can make small mixed-use buildings complicated. This session will explore strategies for creating successful projects that mix housing and commercial uses.

Presented by Richard Price

Actionable ways small towns can be proactive in their development. We'll discuss the hurdles as well as the opportunities from both the community stakeholder and the developers standpoints.

Presented by Jenifer Acosta

We'll walk through the background of Finley Street Cottages and how Atlanta's zoning ordinance was leverage to allow more attainable housing choices without subsidy.

Presented by Eric Kronberg

In 2019, Durham North Carolina passed a novel zoning reform that permits homes on 2000 SH lots, less than 1/3rd the traditional minimum lot size. Houses can be no larger than 1200sf. Builders immediately shifted towards building these smaller, more affordable homes, in greater quantity. Despite Durham being a red hot market, it's one of the only cities in the America to bend the affordability curve and re-start start home markets. We will walk through the code reform, real world development examples, explain how the reform was done, and how you can copy it to your city.

Presented by Aaron Lubeck

Let's face it: Real estate's number one tool for calculating financial feasibility can be hard to digest. If you struggle to make meaning from the sea of numbers in a pro forma, this session is for you.

Presented by Jennifer Krouse

When small developers or people who want to support small development in their community get together there are a number of common topics that get hashed over and complained about. Things your place does, or doesn’t do, that make it a tougher climate for the small operator, and especially for the first time developer. So what’s the solution, since crying in our beer over them isn’t improving anything?

Presented by Ivy Vann

This topic focuses on the significance of fostering positive relationships with tenants in small-scale developments to minimize turnover, reduce vacancy rates, and enhance property value. Attendees will gain insights into proactive communication strategies, conflict resolution techniques, and tenant engagement initiatives.

Presented by Bruzenskey Bois

Real estate developers can accelerate projects and deliver lovable architecture at an economical price point with the help of stock plans (a/k/a "house plans"). But how is it done? Join us as we lead you through a sample project drawn from real life.

Presented by Jennifer Krouse

In this session we’ll start with the very basics: what do you need to know to start looking for a project. We’ll talk about likely rents; how to find out who owns a building; zoning codes and why they matter; who can tell you no and who can tell you yes. If you’ve been resisting the call to small development, this session’s for you.

Presented by Alli Thurmond Quinlan

A crash course in winning hearts and minds towards the concrete steps your leaders have to make to allow you build solvent, livable, and lovable places. Join Strong Town’s Edward Erfurt in a rousing run through Strong Ethos, policy platforms, and most convincing arguments.

Presented by Edward Erfurt

People start to think about maybe buying a building for all sorts of reasons. Maybe your town is desperate for more housing and you think, well, I could create a triple out of that house. Maybe you know someone with a great idea for a small business but they can’t afford to buy a building and start a business and there’s nothing downtown that will work for them. Maybe you keep walking by an empty building and thinking somebody ought to do something with that place before it falls down. Maybe you’d like to create a permanent income stream for your household in case of income droughts.

Presented by Ivy Vann

Fire sprinklers have been required in multifamily housing since 2000, giving us plenty of data from the NFPA to assess how they've impact the health, safety, and welfare of housing occupants. Let's talk through relative fire danger and risk in multi family vs single family housing, how to improve safety without incredible cost, and what some municipalities are doing to find solutions to affordable housing without fire sprinklers.

Join us with Urban Strategies | LandUseUSA for a quick refresher on the Target Market Analysis (TMA) approach to housing and retail studies, plus a 2023 example from Downtown Lansing, Michigan (30 minutes). Then, learn from Shophouse Studio on how to apply STEP Cards © and translate local opportunities into attainable building formats for small scale developers. We will show you how to STEP beyond the analytics with creative strategies for building small scale projects and achieving incremental success (30 minutes). This session will include time for questions and answers (30 minutes), plus TMA takeaways for participants who complete a survey afterwards.

Converting vacant second floor spaces in existing main street buildings can be exceedingly challenging and expensive.  It often seems that building codes (and sometimes zoning ordinances) conspire to limit cost effective solutions. This course will be helpful for small developers looking for strategies to tackle projects like this and Planning or Building Officials looking to encourage development in these main street locations.

In this session, we will explore the design principles behind the most photographed residential streets in America - the highest valued retail real estate in Palm Beach, and learn that the design principles of these inner-block urban spaces are primed for incremental developers.