Housing+: Building Communities, Not Just Units

Cities across the country are navigating a complex scenario of challenges: surging housing demand, limited supply, soaring costs, and mounting community needs. Traditional development models that often silo housing from the institutions that serve public life—schools, clinics, community centers—are proving inadequate.

We must ask a new set of questions: What if every piece of urban land could do more? What if housing could be more than just its core use—what if it became the backbone of thriving, integrated, and equitable communities?

At Perkins Eastman, we call this approach Housing+. It lies in strategic partnership—with communities, institutions, and across disciplines. We are seeing how to unlock new potential by aligning housing with public benefit. It’s not just about building more units—it’s about building smarter, more connected neighborhoods.

Housing+ is our way of rethinking housing as essential infrastructure. Rather than treating housing as a standalone solution, we integrate it with community assets to create vibrant, resilient neighborhoods. By pairing essential services with much-needed housing, we design to promote long-term affordability, health, and social connection.

A New Urban Imperative

The housing crisis is not just an indicator of a challenging time in the market; it reflects how we have historically underutilized urban land. Across cities, single-use sites—libraries, schools, clinics—occupy valuable real estate yet often fail to meet the full breadth of community needs. Housing+ turns this challenge into an opportunity. It is a call to action: embedding housing with the catalyst places in our communities, creating shared value in places that matter.

In Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood, the redevelopment of the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church site is an emblematic example addressing underutilized spaces, a model where faith-based land stewardship meets urban housing needs. Our approach reimagines a centrally located but underutilized property as a mixed-use enclave that includes market-rate and affordable housing, alongside new facilities that will support the church’s ongoing outreach. By integrating community services and public open space, the development exemplifies how sacred sites can serve broader civic goals while still preserving their mission.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church is transforming its Ballard campus into a mixed-income community that embodies the “Yes in God’s Backyard” movement. The design honors neighborhood context while addressing urgent housing needs, and will create a new permanent home for the Church.

Our approach to projects such as St. Luke’s acknowledges a simple truth: housing is about people, and Housing+ is about designing beyond the building. It’s about creating places where housing is not isolated but woven into the essential infrastructure of daily life—transit, parks, culture, and retail. When residential spaces are integrated with these elements, we reinforce the social fabric that makes urban neighborhoods livable, inclusive, and resilient.

By placing housing next to core community elements, we ensure that essential services and spaces are within reach, making it easier for people to live near their support systems, workplaces, and community life. When we design this way, we’re not just responding to a housing crisis; we’re investing in the long-term vitality of our cities.

The St. Luke’s proposed development frames Ballard Commons with a complementary west-facing façade (above, left) and creates a thoughtful sequence of outdoor spaces (above, right) that buffer residential edges, enhance park activation, and transition sensitively to surrounding scales and uses.

Designing for What’s Next

Our approach is about recognizing every parcel of land as an opportunity to advance equity, community connection, and affordability. It means:

• Maximizing land through thoughtful density that respects neighborhood character.
• Blending uses that were traditionally separate to create synergy between housing, services, and public life.
• Designing with community input, not just for it—ensuring projects reflect local priorities and cultural identity.

Envisioned as a Talent Village, Western Supply is transforming a former industrial site in the Tulsa Arts District into a vibrant hub for Tulsa’s growing creative and innovative workforce. The development will deliver attainable workforce housing alongside maker spaces, arts studios, and local retail, cultivating an ecosystem where residents can live, work, and create within walking distance. The project supports Tulsa’s broader strategy to attract and retain talent by pairing affordable housing with culture and community.

The urban character of the Tulsa Arts District is carried over in the dynamic change of the block both outside and within Western Supply. Emphasis on windows for daylight and connection, as well as a material palette informed by orientation to the city, reflects a strong sense of cultural connection.

Making it Work: A Cross-Disciplinary Model

Housing+ projects are complex—they require a deep understanding of policy, partnerships, design, community engagement, and access to financing. Our interdisciplinary teams bring together expertise in housing, healthcare, education, senior living, and civic design. We collaborate with city planners, mission-driven developers, community boards, and capital partners to design and shape ecosystems that make a positive impact.

With Housing+ we view urban land not as a constraint, but as a canvas. Together, we can turn the housing crisis into a catalyst for integrated, inclusive, and lasting community change.