In New Rochelle, New York, a comprehensive zoning and permitting framework has accelerated mixed-income housing production.
The city’s Downtown Overlay Zone, form-based codes, and streamlined 90-day approval process for compliant projects have catalyzed the creation of approximately 4,500 new homes since 2020, making it one of New York’s fastest-growing cities while its median rent declined as rents surged nationally, according to officials.
The zoning and permitting innovations have been named one of the winners of the 2026 Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability. Presented by Ivory Innovations, a foundation and research center based at the University of Utah, the awards recognize innovative, feasible, and scalable solutions that address the nation’s affordability crisis.
There are three categories—construction and design, policy, and finance.
New Rochelle’s zoning innovations were a co-winner in the policy category along with the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee’s affordable housing payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) program.
In 2024, Chattanooga redesigned its PILOT program to directly tie the value of a property tax abatement to the actual cost of providing affordable units, a first-of-its-kind approach that transformed the program from a gap filler for federally subsidized projects into a standalone local incentive for mixed-income housing. A publicly available online calculator makes the exchange of tax abatements for affordable units transparent for every applicant.
The Boston Acquisition Fund (BAF) is this year’s winner in the finance category. It is a public-private revolving loan fund that provides rapid, low-cost acquisition financing to help mission-driven developers preserve naturally occurring affordable housing and prevent displacement. Administered by the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corp. and backed by a coalition of public agencies, hospitals, and philanthropies, BAF offers below-market-rate loans with streamlined underwriting, enabling nonprofit developers and community land trusts to compete with speculative investors. The fund is targeting the acquisition of 500 homes and the protection of more than 1,500 residents from displacement in its first five years.
The construction and design category winner is TradesFuture, a national workforce nonprofit that supports the country's largest network of construction pre-apprenticeship programs through a standardized, board-approved curriculum aligned with apprenticeship readiness. TradesFutures prepares young people and transitioning adults to enter and succeed in registered apprenticeship programs across the building trades, with a focus on recruiting women, veterans, and individuals from underserved communities. By expanding the skilled labor pipeline, TradesFutures addresses one of the most persistent drivers of rising construction costs.
The Ivory Prize winners and runners-up were selected from a field of more than 200 nominations and 25 finalists representing some of the most promising housing affordability solutions in the country.
This year’s runners-up are Type Five and BoulderMOD in construction and design; Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta: TogetherATL and GoATL Funds and Illinois Housing Development Authority: Access Plus in finance; and Colorado: Innovative Housing Incentive Program and Philadelphia and Housing Initiative at Penn: PHL Housing+ in policy.