Resiliency at Greystar

At Greystar, we understand the complex and dynamic forces affecting life around the world. As the global leader in rental housing and with a presence on nearly every continent, Greystar is particularly sensitive to the effects of climate change, market forces, and pandemics. As the frequency and impact of global events accelerate and become more devastating, Greystar is actively taking steps to meet these challenges head-on. Our belief is that proactive resilient design will result in better buildings that provide higher quality homes for our residents and greater value for their communities. 

We believe that a resilient approach to building design and management will not only account for climate risks but also weather the storms of transitional risks, economic uncertainty, and waves of epidemiological outbreak. According to the Resilient Design Institute (RDI), resilience is "the capacity to adapt to changing conditions and to maintain or regain functionality and vitality in the face of stress or disturbance.” [1] At Greystar, we see resiliency as the ability for people, buildings, and organizations to recover after a trauma. 

Multifamily buildings provide shelter, foster community, and celebrate life and wellness. They are also uniquely sensitive to shocks and acute impacts. In a single-family home, the effects of a disaster – fire, flood, drought, illness – are localized to the single-family. In a traditional apartment building, without resilient planning, disruptions to power, the enclosure, structure, or air quality can have far-reaching impacts to entire communities. A flooded basement can darken hundreds of homes; a sneeze can quickly spread through surfaces and ventilation systems. 

We understand the importance of keeping the lights on, ensuring the safety of our communities, and ultimately the importance of proactive design and operational practices. Buildings play a critical role in disaster prevention and response. Regardless of whether we are talking about climate risk, transition risk, or pandemic risk, resilience requires a combination of preparedness, dedication, response, and action. However, in order to be truly successful, resilience must work hand in hand with sustainability. Our sustainability efforts are focused on reducing our global impact and improving the communities in which we operate in hopes of being part of the solution to slow down the effects of climate change. While these efforts are critical, it is also key to ensure we are prepared and ready to respond to climate risks that will continue to arise through resilient design and practices. 

At Greystar, we are preparing our communities to meet the demands of the future by understanding our increasingly dynamic and unpredictable environments and developing innovative ways of living in these unique times. 

Understanding Climate Risk 

Greystar currently operates over 515,000 multifamily units across the contiguous US, predominately in urban areas. Within the continental United States, Greystar operates in over half of Level 2 ecoregions with a majority of properties in the Northeast, South Central, and Southwest Coasts.

Greystar Properties in US Eco-Regions

Greystar operates in multiple climate zones in the US. Operations are predominately located in coastal areas characterized by humid and temperate climates.

Climate projections show steadily increasing and volatile climate events across a range of regions. Areas along the coastal margins will be impacted by rising sea levels, with certain areas experiencing increased rates of inundation due to the local topography. Many of these same areas, especially along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, will experience more powerful coastal storms. [2]

Our communities are not just dots on a map, they are filled with people who experience the realities of their climate zone daily. These changing weather patterns are not unique to the United States and are observed across our global footprint. Urban areas around the world represent the highest concentration of people most vulnerable to climate events. Multifamily communities within these areas are likely to bear the brunt of any major disaster. Climate risk will continue to be a concern in cities around the globe where specific risks and proper response remain unique to each location.[3]

Greystar Properties in a Changing Climate

Committed to Long-Term Value

While our focus is primarily on our residents’ health and wellbeing, the economic case for climate preparedness is significant. Economic losses from weather events are currently causing an average of $152.2 billion of damage a year in the United States alone [4] - or about 18% of the 2019 economic growth of the US economy. [5]

Greystar understands the potential impact of climate risks within specific eco-regions along with the importance of resiliency measures to mitigate these risks. Smart, resilient buildings with up-to-date systems and equipment are easier to maintain and more efficient to operate creating long term value to our communities’ health and bottom-line. Sustainability and climate preparedness are critical to our business and critical to our capital partners. Organizations that are actively working to minimize their footprint, as well as the operational impacts of their buildings via resilient design and efficient operating practices, will begin seeing greater interest from seasoned investors if they have not already. [6] These are not simply buzz words but are truly about doing good business.  

Resilient Design Practices

At Greystar, we are developing and implementing best practices and policies with respect to resiliency and sustainability across our global platform. The breadth of our footprint and vertically integrated business model creates the ability for multiple divisions of the company to provide feedback and direction into design, construction, management, and investment. Internally, we have established dedicated teams to create design guides and standards, operational efficiencies, and innovative solutions aimed at addressing today’s dynamic and related challenges head-on. We are also building out and deploying new ways of collecting data to monitor progress towards our goals across the globe and foster a culture of continuous improvement at every level of the business. 

We are certainly living in an unprecedented time. It is hard to recall a period in history when our lives have been so quickly upended or when the world has been so uniformly impacted. It will likely be many years before we understand the true global impact of Coronavirus but can say with almost certainty that some aspects of all our lives will change. Understanding the lessons of today will better prepare us for the storms of tomorrow. We are resilient. We are taking what we have learned thus far and continuing to ask critical questions to begin planning for the future of residential housing. 

Greystar Authors: Ned Dodington, Director, Development + Design and Lexie Goldberg, Director, Global Sustainability

Sources:

[1] Resilient Design Institute, Defining Resilience. http://www.resilientdesign.org/.

[2] US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Climate Change Adaptation Plan, (2012). https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/SSP2012_APX_CCADAPTPLAN.PDF

[3] The Global Markets Institute, Taking the heat - Making cities resilient to climate Change (2019). https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/pages/gs-research/taking-the-heat/report.pdf

[4] NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters (2020). https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/, DOI: 10.25921/stkw-7w73

[5] Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), Gross Domestic Product, Fourth Quarter and Year 2019 (Advance Estimate) (2020). https://www.bea.gov/news/2020/gross-domestic-product-fourth-quarter-and-year-2019-advance-estimate

[6] Harvard Business Review, The Investor Revolution (2019). https://hbr.org/2019/05/the-investor-revolution