Stuart Gabriel is the Arden Realty Chair, Professor of Finance and Director at the UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate.

Several markets in the country, including California, are suffering a severe housing affordability crisis. In response, industry leaders have stepped forward to look for solutions to the problem, from social impact investors to architects. Now, the Richard S. Ziman Center for Real Estate at UCLA is launching an affordable housing program, which will serve to educate and train more professionals in the complex affordable housing niche.

“We are in a severe crisis of housing availability and housing affordability in many parts of the nation and notably in coastal California,” Stuart A. Gabriel, Arden Realty chair, professor of finance and director of the Richard S. Ziman Center for Real Estate at UCLA, tells GlobeSt.com. “If you go up and down the coast of California, you find very expensive land, very limited housing development, very high regulatory constraint on housing production and plunging levels of affordability with severe constraints on workforce, including teachers, firefighters, doctors, nurses and so on. There are consequential issues to this problem. The lack of affordable housing is associated with the exit of jobs, lack of arrival of jobs and ultimately it will threaten economic growth.”

The depth of the affordability crisis was the primary motivator to launch the program, which kicked off in the fall semester to great success. It is the first nationwide program and teaches zoning, finance, design and permitting in affordable housing. “The crisis has become more pronounced. There have been more people coming into the sector that are interested in addressing issues of housing supply,” says Gabriel.