Editor’s Note: The following transcript captures the closing remarks delivered by Rachel Hodgdon, President and CEO of the International WELL Building Institute, at the conclusion of ULI Washington’s 4th Annual Future Forum held on December 4, 2025. In her powerful address, Hodgdon synthesized key insights from all of the day’s speakers and activities, distilling the forum’s central themes into actionable takeaways. Remarks have been abridged and edited for posting.

As someone born and raised in the DMV, someone who started their career in DC, and someone who bought their first home in DC, I am so moved by today’s dialogue and the work each of you is doing to breathe new life into the market.

When Will asked me to close the day with you and inject a sense of hope, optimism, and possibility, I’ll admit that I wondered if I would be up to the task. I do not profess to have the answers, but, having spent the day listening and learning from all of you, I can confidently say one thing: collectively, we are the ones we have been waiting for.

And today, as Senthil Sankaran of Amazon reminded us, we have so many more “tools and resources at our disposal” to elevate our awareness and think about “action-oriented solutions” for equitable outcomes for all. Josh Olsen of Monument Realty reminded us that “we come to today’s challenges with sharper tools. We have the capacity for innovation,” and Lily Goldstein from LEO Impact Capital implored us “to take a clear-eyed look at where we stand” and “to pivot from analysis to action, not some day, but now.”

Nina Albert, Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development in Washington, DC, expressed a similar sentiment when she said, “We are in a mode of innovation and the time to respond to what the last year has been, is now.”

So how do we respond? How do we— in moderator Ken Biberaj of Savillls’ words— “get America Building Again?”

So many solutions have surfaced in today’s conversations, so many best practices, case studies, and stories to learn from, failures to inform future successes.

Nina Albert reminded us that the talent base here is unparalleled and that we need to retain it. As a real estate community, let’s embrace teleworking. Let’s be a region where people telework. Let’s give people a reason to stay. Let’s show them that you can work from here and get your job elsewhere.

Secretary Jake Day, Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, introduced us to the three C’s: community, courage, and communication. He told us we have to recognize that we are in an untenable situation… we have to take this moment so seriously and convince all in leadership to share that same sense of urgency. We have to convince people in power that we have a plan to build places that improve quality of life by incentivizing off-site construction, through more innovative financing tools, and by expanding upon the creative strategies that local government has successfully deployed.

As a business community, Yoni Applebaum of The Atlantic emphasized that our continued engagement matters, specifically our involvement in the jurisdictions in which we are active… because “the progressive disengagement of American business leaders from local government has been an enormous blow”

Jerusalem Demsas of The Argument implored us to “have more intellectual humility to learn from cities that are choosing to run their cities better than us, especially those outside of the US.”

Monique Johnson of Virginia Housing and her colleagues have been learning from others as they launch the Virginia Zoning Atlas, inspired by the National Zoning Atlas, to increase transparency, position themselves as a convener, and help jurisdictions operationalize these insights to create more housing units and drive affordability across the Commonwealth.

To more quickly deploy solutions and seize opportunities in the commercial sector, Evan Regan-Levine of JBG SMITH Properties noted during the Commercial Real Estate Industry Action Lab that we need greater flexibility, transparency and efficiency across our government processes, from codes to permitting, zoning, and planning.

In that same Action Lab, there was widespread agreement that the larger real estate community needs to make more direct, coordinated, and consistent efforts to educate policymakers, ensuring decision-makers understand how the collective ULI membership supports economic development, community connectivity, placemaking, and smart, sustainable growth.

Miti Figueredo of Montgomery Parks and Planning reminded us that communities value and prioritize the essentials – our schools, parks, and public safety – reinforcing the idea that the communities that rise fastest are the ones designed to help everyone to rise.

On a similar note, in the Large-Scale Placemaking Industry Action Lab, one attendee implored us to focus not just on placemaking but also place-KEEPING. Preserve the people who are there and the place that attracted them in the first place.

Shea Davis, an MBA candidate at Georgetown University, said her lunch table discussed the importance of exploring strategies beyond retail for placemaking.

At the lunch table on Community Engagement and Equity, Jason Sartori of Montgomery County Planning Department: when it comes to engagement and equity we need to have other tools and methods to deploy to hear from people who aren’t traditionally engaged with the process, meeting people where they are, not just physically where they are in their communities, but also technologically so we connect with different age groups.

Similarly, on the topic of transit-oriented communities, Faith Cerny, a recent MIT grad, summarized a conversation about the importance of creating a more inclusive process and engaging people who, though they will likely benefit most from mass transit, often don’t have a voice in the process.

On Economic Development in the suburban context: Tanya Washington of Prince William County Planning Office called for the need for political courage in the face of opposition, especially when it comes to revisiting and repairing well-intended legislation that is having unintended, negative consequences.

A few insights from the Fishbowl: [Editor’s Note: The Fishbowl was a facilitated conversation where all attendees were invited to join a revolving panel discussion to share their thoughts and insights in response to questions from moderator Deborah Kerson Bilek of Georgetown BID. Below are the summarized themes discussed by participating speakers.]

• More sticking to deadlines and timelines.
• Less zero-sum game of pitting one region against another.
• More mixed-use, walkable, bikeable communities to attract younger generations.
• Less regulation.
• More data-driven decision making.
• Less bureaucracy.
• More housing. More affordable housing.
• Fewer mandates, more allowances.

The final session of the day was particularly inspiring because Josh Bernstein of Bernstein Management Corporation and Tom Bozzuto of Bozzuto have such longevity and wisdom to share. Their chat took me back to the pandemic, when I, and others in my organization, clung to the words of the elders in our midst, reassuring us: This too shall pass.

But Josh [Bernstein] also reminded us that we shouldn’t let this moment pass us by! His best investments have been made in moments of distress. And as Tom [Bozzuto] quoted from another:

The pessimist finds challenge in opportunity, and the optimist finds opportunity in the challenge.

There will be, as Tom [Bozzuto] reminded us, a tomorrow. Be patient. Be bold. Be willing to do things differently than you have before. This moment of stress and strain is also an opportunity. Bold investments, Josh [Bernstein] advised, are what’s needed, and those who do are poised to win BIGLY. We need to reimagine real estate.

Lead with conviction! Be willing to tick people off along the way. Solve for the gap in communication between leaders with vision and staff who are responsible for reviewing proposals and making decisions. Relentlessly redline zoning and building codes. Strive for beauty in our buildings. Be opportunistic. Rebrand our region, attract new jobs. Focus on the low-hanging fruit.

So what comes next? Where do we go from here?

Today is not the end of the conversation. In fact, when we adjourn, the real work begins. You heard from Adam Ducker and Amy Friedlander with RCLCO and co-chairs of the CRED Council, about their commitment to translating everything we discussed today into action. Adam [Ducker], Amy [Friedlander], and members of the CRED Council will gather later this month at the National Building Museum’s City Action Hall to coalesce around today’s takeaways and begin shaping a shared vision for the region’s future.

You also heard from Senthil Sankaran about Amazon’s continued commitment to ULI Washington’s Technical Assistance Panels (TAPs). Two upcoming housing-focused panels, funded by Amazon’s Housing Fund and directly informed by the takeaways of the previous Future Forum this past February, will take place this February and panelist recruitment is underway.

Yoni Applebaum called the housing challenges that we are facing in the region “an eminently reversible problem,” and Jerusalem [Demsas] encouraged us not to overcomplicate what is quite literally one of the easiest problems to solve.

In her Introduction to “We are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For,” Alice Walker writes: We have wanted all our lives to know that Earth, who has somehow obtained human beings as her custodians, was also capable of creating humans who could minister to her needs, and the needs of her creation. We are the ones.

Look around the room, you are the change, you are the hope, you are the ones. In the words of Nina Albert, “It’s go time!”