Shellan Rodriguez

Owner, SMR Development and ULI Idaho Advisory Board Member

How has COVID-19 affected your industry’s perspective on sustainability? How has it impacted your day to day business?
COVID-19 has affected everything. Period. The public private partnership projects I’m involved with are generally moving forward, though perhaps at a slower pace as communities across the state (and country) are grappling with unforeseen budget deficits.  Meanwhile, more and more households are, and will continue to be, facing the threat and stress of housing instability and homelessness. 

From a sustainability perspective, the innovative approaches to sustainable and energy efficient building that public support (and financing) often requires may, unfortunately, start to diminish as the public sector is forced to re-prioritize spending. However, many multifamily developers and owners will maintain a commitment to sustainability as they have seen attractive returns on their sustainable investment strategies.  I believe, indoor air quality and healthy interiors will gain momentum and become ever more important to owners and tenants. 

Day to day is crazy. Working remotely is not difficult for me given that so much of my projects are located out of the area. My biggest challenge is working from a home office with youngsters and a spouse all sharing space and trying to work and learn. There are lots of moving parts every day and my work is just one of those. It is challenging, but my sincere hope is that our post COVID world will provide working parents a lot more flexibility in the future to create effective work life balances. One can hope….   

What long- or short-term changes do you expect to see in affordable housing as a result of the need for social distancing and a greater awareness of the built environment’s impacts on health?
It’s a great question. Short term – affordable housing is going to be more critical post COVID than our country and state has seen in a long time. The need for rental assistance, eviction relief, supportive services coupled with a need to increase supply of affordable housing will continue to grow. Long term – my fear is that dense, smaller (i.e. often more affordable by design) products may become less attractive due to fear and habits formed around social distancing. As owners, managers and housing authorities struggle to track and maintain ever-changing health protocols, protect employees, provide quality customer service and maintain assets, I expect many stakeholders will be taking hard looks at how buildings affect the physical and mental health of their residents and their communities.  

How has COVID-19 affected your plans for 2020 and business in your pipeline?
I think it is exceptionally hard to know how COVID 19 will affect my business because it is not a typical downturn such as a financial or real estate-based downturn like we’ve all seen and planned for to some extent. Obviously, my business is nimble so my pipeline will reflect new and needed services.  

What opportunities have you identified, if any, as a result of this crisis?
I see a few things. First, given that communities are going to be faced with tough decisions regarding spending priorities, affordable housing needs to remain in the forefront of leadership. There are opportunities around that issue. This crisis creates an interesting intersection between healthcare and housing, so I think there are some exciting opportunities to collaborate. Lastly, there are a lot of opportunities to lead… essentially leadership at the local, state and federal level may create opportunities for developers to handle substantial reductions in income while continuing to create units and take risk. Programs that aim to address these issues will provide opportunities for both developers and those that need homes. 

Lance Davisson

Owner / Principal Consultant, The Keystone Concept and Coordinator for The Treasure Valley Canopy Network 

How has COVID-19 affected your day to day business? How has it affected your industry’s perspective on sustainability?
COVID-19’s impact on our day-to-day business has been fascinating. We’ve been amazed at the resiliency of our community and industry, both locally and across the world. It’s also been fun to see a window into the personal lives of our clients through the virtual meeting platform. I believe this “social distancing” has actually enriched our relationships with our clients and partners. 

In the sustainability field it’s been interesting to watch the value of “green” rise. I see our urban green infrastructure being valued as an essential service like never before. When people are staying at home and avoiding human contact, we realize the value of our trees, parks and open spaces. Our landscapes are key to our physical and mental health.  I believe all of this positions sustainability and the green industry for a more resilient future ahead as we navigate our world post COVID-19.  

What long- or short-term changes do you expect to see for public space and design as a result of the need for social distancing and a greater awareness of the built environment’s impacts on health?
How we navigate the economic impacts of COVID-19 short-term in the green industry is critical for our long-term sustainability. We must be smart & strategic to create a vibrant network of green infrastructure that can truly deliver a healthy environment and healthier people. We all knew that a market correction was coming after over 10 years of a booming economy, but I don’t think anyone predicted it would come by way of a pandemic. Short-term we must be smart about how we subsidize our economy at the Federal level so that we maintain high quality local small businesses that deliver high quality and sustainable infrastructure. I know it’s complicated, but locally we can help! 

In the long-term, I’m optimistic that we can come together and build a more resilient economy that supports liveable communities, a healthy environment and healthy people. I’m excited about what’s ahead for our generation and our kids’ generation moving forward. 

How has COVID-19 affected your plans for 2020 and future forecasted business in your pipeline?
To steal a term from our friend, Kristin Armstrong, we have seized the opportunity to pivot since early March 2020 when the reality of COVID-19 hit Idaho. Together with a collaborative of public and private partners we built the Treasure Valley Canopy Network back in 2013. Literally a few days before the pandemic became a reality, we released our Network 2019 Impact Report and were ready to start fundraising after 2 years of donating over $100,000 worth of volunteer time to this effort. We quickly realized that now was our opportunity to help our local green industry and not a time to go solicit financial support – so we adapted and mobilized to help. We began using our resources and creativity to help local green industry small business. This has resulted in some very enriching relationships that are delivering results! A great output from this is our week-long virtual celebration for the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, Shade City 2020. We encourage you all to join in the fun, get outside and enjoy our environment and support our small business community.   

Because we planned ahead for a rainy day, we are able to live on our reserves today, while providing leadership and hope with new partners toward a full pipeline into the future. 

What opportunities have you identified, if any, as a result of COVID-19?
The opportunities are immense! Our community is coming together like never before around a vision of hope and resilience. We are excited to play a part in providing the leadership and creativity that is needed for us to survive today and be more resilient into the future. Through enriched relationships and new business partners and friends the opportunities post COVID-19 are exciting. This pandemic has created the economic course-correction that our generation needed to be more resilient after a prosperous, but unsustainable period of growth since the 2008 Recession. We know there are many challenges ahead, but with each challenge comes an opportunity – we just need to keep our eyes open and seize that opportunity.