Bart Harvey, Enterprise Share ULI J.C. Nichols Prize for Accomplishments in Affordable Housing Development

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew York–Extraordinary accomplishments in affordable housing development and investment are being recognized through this year’s Urban Land Institute (ULI) J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development. F. Barton Harvey III, former chairman and CEO of Enterprise Community Partners Inc., and former chairman of the board of Enterprise Community Investment Inc., is sharing the 2008 prize with Columbia, Md.-based Enterprise, provider of affordable rental and owner-occupied housing. The ULI J.C. Nichols Prize recognizes a person or a person representing an institution whose career demonstrates a commitment to the highest standards of responsible development. The $100,000 prize honors the legacy of Kansas City, Miss., developer J.C. Nichols, a founding ULI member considered to be one of America’s most creative entrepreneurs in land use during the first half of the 1900s. Enterprise has operations in 17 regions across the United States, working with local community development corporations, other nonprofit organizations, developers, investors and elected officials to build affordable housing that is integrated into the greater community. Harvey attributes the success of Enterprise to committed and able colleagues and an endless demand for affordable housing. “Enterprise has been so successful in good and bad economic times because of the large need in this country for affordable housing, obviously for those with very low incomes, but also for working-class people who have been priced out of the housing market,” he says. The demand, he notes, shows no signs of diminishing, due to the lack of new supply and the persistent nationwide loss of low- to moderate-income units that either have been torn down or converted to higher-priced, market-rate housing.“Enterprise represents the more altruistic aspect of the development community,” says ULI Nichols Prize Jury Chairman Jeremy Newsum, group chief executive for the Grosvenor Estate in London. “What it brings (to the land use industry) is an understanding of the less-advantaged society, and of the need for affordable housing and expertise in how to create it.” Harvey says, “When people have a stake in the community, they want to see better things happen. They fight for better schools; they look out for their neighbors; they try to make sure crime is diminished. It’s a tremendous positive for the whole community.”