When Innovation Meets Affordable Housing | President's Message - September 2025

By Danielle DiLeo Kim, AIA
President, AIA Philadelphia

When it comes to affordable housing, innovation has too often been left out of the conversation because the barriers to creating it are often very challenging. That has been true for a long time. Early in my career, I received an alumni fellowship from Virginia Tech to study affordable housing typologies on the West Coast. I set out to see what innovation in affordable housing looked like on the ground.

Some of the most innovative work was being done in Oakland, CA, by Pyatok Architects. Many of their projects have won national awards for cultural responsiveness, creative massing and urban design, equity building strategies, and lively courtyards. However, the true innovation often was hidden in the residential units’ floor plans. Rooms with oversized sinks, tiled floors, and walk-in showers were designed to flex as workrooms—though zoning prohibited labeling them as such. In those instances “flex rooms” could be used for multiple purposes, particularly as a means of creating additional wealth for the family by renting it out or using it as an office, workshop, or studio. Sometimes even overhead doors were incorporated onto the unit fronts allowing residents to roll them up and sell food, crafts, or goods directly from home. In these projects the architects worked around limitations to best serve an entrepreneurial immigrant community, embedding income-generation into the very fabric of the design. 

That’s what innovation within a regulated system looks like.

Fast forward to today: the affordable housing crisis is far worse. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s 2025 report, three-quarters of U.S. renters with extremely low incomes spend more than half their income on rent. For decades, we simply haven’t built enough housing. Regulations, bureaucracy, and community resistance have left us with a severe nationwide shortage.

Innovation must step in again—this time in Philadelphia—to help address Missing Middle housing.

I’m pleased to share that the Chapter’s Housing Committee is relaunching under new leadership and if you’d like to get involved sign up here. At the same time, the Advocacy Committee is exploring the potential of Point Access Block Buildings—also known as single-stair residential buildings—in Philadelphia. These mid-sized, four- to six-story buildings (capped at 4 units/floor) provide one egress stair, enhanced life safety features, and a footprint that fits comfortably on combined rowhouse lots. They provide a scale of housing between single-family homes and large apartment buildings that Philadelphia, and many other cities, desperately need to meet the housing demand. If you are excited about this topic, consider joining the Advocacy Committee. Stay tuned for more details coming soon.

Seattle has allowed this typology since the 1970s, and states like Colorado and Tennessee have already adopted it. While we do have many exceptional housing projects in Philadelphia, as a “City of Firsts,” we still lag behind when it comes to big innovation moves in housing. As we approach the nation’s 250th anniversary in 2026, I hope our Chapter will honor our city’s revolutionary legacy by pushing both innovative ideas and well-supported legislation—in how we house our city.