Kinzer’s Initiative
A private-sector solution to one of Seattle’s most pressing challenges — upscale downtown housing at half of market rates, without a single dollar of subsidy.
HRAH Defined
“Upscale rental units and condos in the downtown core, developed by the private sector, affordable at ½ of market rates without the use of any subsidies.”
Visit HRAH Website →
The Concept
HRAH creates non-subsidized, upscale, affordable housing utilizing new elements and reengineered components of real estate development. It takes advantage of potential “arbitrage” by combining a unique ownership structure, creative financing, and government cooperation to entice credit tenants into the urban core.
Unlike traditional affordable housing programs that rely on government subsidies, tax credits, or below-market land, HRAH is engineered from the ground up to make the economics work at half of market rents — entirely through private-sector innovation.
A reengineered ownership model that fundamentally changes how the economics of urban high-rise development pencil out, making below-market rents viable without sacrificing quality.
Innovative capital stack arrangements that unlock value unavailable to conventional development, allowing the project to deliver market-quality units at half the rental cost.
Strategic alignment with city and regional interests — not dependency on subsidies — to remove regulatory friction and attract credit tenants back into the urban core.
The Problem
“When people are priced out of living in the city, a region’s quality of life and economic future is threatened.”
Seattle’s downtown core has become increasingly inaccessible to the workforce that sustains it. Teachers, healthcare workers, city employees, and young professionals — the people essential to a thriving urban environment — are being pushed further and further from the city center, increasing commute times, reducing community cohesion, and undermining the economic vitality of the region.
Existing affordable housing programs address only a fraction of this need, and they rely almost entirely on public subsidy. HRAH is designed to operate at scale, in the market, without waiting for government funding cycles or political will. It is a real estate solution to a real estate problem.
Provides much needed affordable housing in the downtown core along with funding for low-income housing and the unhoused
Delivers an economically sustainable solution in perpetuity
Provides community, civic, and environmental benefits
Advances a much needed, positive narrative supporting public/private cooperation
On HRAH
Craig Kinzer
Founder, Kinzer Partners
“I have been working on this concept for years. I know it’s a complicated concept but I believe what can be accomplished will fundamentally change the way we think about urban housing.”
Craig has spent years developing the HRAH framework, drawing on four decades of commercial real estate expertise, his background as a CPA and attorney, and his deep experience structuring complex, unconventional deals. HRAH is the culmination of that work — a concept that uses the same creative problem-solving that defined his career, applied to one of the defining challenges of our time.
The goal is not incremental improvement. It is a fundamentally different model that makes high-quality urban living accessible to the people who make cities work.
Craig is actively developing the HRAH concept and welcomes conversations with developers, investors, policymakers, and anyone who wants to be part of the solution to urban housing affordability.
Get in Touch Visit the HRAH Website →