Services
1. Housing Market Assessment
Availability of Housing in the Market
The Oldivai Process begins with a systematic evaluation of housing availability within an employer’s surrounding labor market.
Markets are categorized as tight when rental vacancy rates fall below 8% or when for-sale inventory drops below 2%, indicating a constrained balance between supply and demand.
In such conditions, limited housing availability can directly hinder employers’ ability to attract and retain talent, creating operational and workforce stability challenges.
This assessment forms the basis for employer engagement, helping quantify how housing constraints affect business performance and identifying potential opportunities for collaboration in developing new housing solutions.
2. The Oldivai Index Evaluates Employee Housing Burden
The Cost of Housing for Employees
The Oldivai Process next assesses how housing costs affect specific occupational groups as well as the broader labor market.
The Oldivai Index is applied to compare prevailing housing costs in a metropolitan area against employer-specific salary data.
An index value below 1.0 (shown as red indicators) signifies that employees are spending more than 30% of gross income on housing—exceeding the HUD-defined threshold for housing cost burden.
This analysis informs discussions with employers about how housing affordability impacts their workforce and helps identify the most appropriate housing solutions required in the local market.
3. Defining Potential Development Solutions
Leveraging Underutilized Land
In markets where constrained housing supply is a primary challenge, the Oldivai Process advances to identifying viable development solutions.
This phase involves the rapid identification and evaluation of potential development sites within the local market.
Employers often control underutilized assets—such as vacant land, surface parking, or idle buildings—that may be suitable for residential redevelopment.
Contributing surplus land at below-market cost can significantly reduce total project expenses, improving overall feasibility for workforce housing initiatives.
Oldivai applies standardized design templates to quickly test-fit these sites, quantifying development potential and generating preliminary cost estimates to support employer decision-making.