Product Profile: Equity Residential

 

INDUSTRY

housing

Category

apartment management and development

product Profiled

apartments managed by Equity Residential

 

H-Score

 

78

ranked 2nd of 13 within the housing industry

ranked 4th of 76 overall

 

product description

 

Equity Residential is a real estate investment trust that owns and operates over 300 properties consisting of over 80,000 apartment units across Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Seattle, San Francisco and Southern California, Denver, Atlanta, Dallas/Ft. Worth and Austin.(1)

 
 

who’s affected

 

Equity Residential serves people living in urban areas who rent apartments. Their renters tend to be younger and more affluent than many Americans: the median age is 32 and the average annual household income is $161,000 (as compared with the US average of $91,000).(2) Fifty-seven (57) percent of apartment renters in the US have household incomes of less than $50,000 per year.(3)

 
 

influence on health-related behaviors

 

EATING

moderate postive influence

 

Proximity to grocery stores with healthy food options can positively influence eating habits. One metric of a neighborhood’s food environment is whether it is characterized by the USDA as “low access to food stores.”(4) In a sample of 30 Equity Residential locations reviewed by Building H, not a single one was in a low-access neighborhood.

Equity Residential has developed space for community gardens, a feature that could provide residents with fresh produce, at two of its properties.(5)

 

opportunities:

  • Review the food environment – both access to fresh foods and prevalence of unhealthy food outlets – as part of the decision of where to locate future properties. Use the potential of aggregated demand that a new apartment property would create to encourage investment in local fresh food outlets like grocery stores.
  • Facilitate home cooking through:
    • experimentation with provision of indoor hydroponic gardening appliances
    • establishment of community gardens within more of its properties
    • partnerships to provide discounted memberships to local community-supported agriculture (CSA) farms
    • partnerships to provide discounted grocery delivery services or meal kit subscriptions
    • experimentation with the promotion of food sharing apps to help residents share excess groceries
 
 

PHYSICAL ACTVITY

moderate to strong positive influence

 

The walkability of a geographic location has an influence on the physical activity of its residents. In a sample of Equity Residential locations reviewed by Building H, approximately 87% were in neighborhoods rated as “very walkable” or better by Walk Score.(6) Seventy-three (73) percent were rated as “walker’s paradise.” Only 7% of locations were in neighborhoods rated “car-dependent” by Walk Score. Mean Walk Score was 86.8; the median was 94. A higher Walk Score rating for a given neighborhood has been associated with increased physical activity among neighborhood residents.(7)

Equity Residential explicitly considers building locations based on considerations of walkability, accessibility, neighborhoods and parks.(8) 

Equity Residential provides a number of amenities that facilitate physical activity in their communities. They offer fitness centers at 96% of a sample of apartment communities reviewed by Building H, swimming pools at 32%, and bike storage facilities at 43% of their communities.

 

opportunities:

  • Publish data on the walkability, bikeability, and access to transit of property locations.
  • Provide bike sharing and scooter sharing services at properties.
  • Provide bike storage and bike repair facilities at more of its properties.
  • Provide amenities such as fitness centers, playgrounds, swimming pools, parks and walking paths at even more of its properties.
 
 

Sleeping

neutral to slight positive influence

 

Equity Residential notes that its design standards include emphasizing access to natural light and outdoor spaces,(9) both of which can promote healthy circadian rhythms, which can lead to better sleep.

To the extent that Equity Residential’s locations and property designs influence physical activity and time spent outdoors, they could indirectly influence sleep as both of those behaviors are positively correlated with better sleep.

opportunities:

  • Promote healthy circadian rhythms by installing circadian LED lighting systems that adjust color temperature to mimic natural light throughout the day.
  • Monitor indoor air quality, as it has shown to influence sleep(10) and mitigate where it is poor.
  • Provide smart thermostats and appropriate instructions in order to optimize nighttime temperatures for better sleep.
  • Use soundproofing and other acoustic design techniques, such as sound-absorbing materials, to reduce noise that could interfere with sleep.
 
 

Engaging Socially

slight to moderate postive influence

 

Equity Residential states that they “strive to provide all residents opportunities to meet friends, engage with community teams and other residents through local and on-site events.”(11)

Equity Residential offers amenities at many of its properties that can facilitate social interactions among its residents. These include lounges or other social gathering areas (in 71% of a sample of communities reviewed by Building H), swimming pools (32%) and outdoor grills (79%).

 

opportunities:

  • Engage with residents to understand social interests and develop social programming to foster social interaction and bonding over common interests.
  • Offer indoor and outdoor common spaces – such as lounges, clubhouses, playgrounds, swimming pools, sports fields/courts and outdoor cooking facilities – that facilitate both planned community events and casual social interactions among neighbors at more of its properties.
  • Offer an app for residents to engage with each other and to coordinate plans.
  • Experiment with buddy programs, where longtime residents welcome new residents and help them get situated.
  • Create arbitration/mitigation plans for neighbor disputes.
 
 

Getting Outdoors

moderate postive influence

 

Neighborhood walkability is a key driver of spending time outdoors. The walkability of Equity Residential’s locations (discussed above in physical activity) has an influence on how much time its residents spend outdoors.

Access to public parks can also encourage people to go outdoors. In the sample of Equity Residential locations reviewed by Building H, 90% were within a 10-minute walk from a public park.(12)

The natural environment around one’s home can influence how much time people spend outdoors. In the sample of Equity Residential locations reviewed by Building H, 13% were rated “Nature Rich” or “Nature Utopia” by NatureQuant, an organization that characterizes the natural environment around any location.(13) Eighty-seven (87) percent of Equity Residential’s locations were rated “Nature Light” or “Nature Deficient.” Mean NatureScore was 20.0; the median score 10.7. A higher NatureScore for a given neighborhood has not been directly correlated with more time spent outdoors by its residents, but it has been correlated with many improvements in health outcomes that are consistent with more time spent in nature.(14)

The company explicitly considers building locations based on walkability, accessibility, neighborhoods and parks. It also notes that it incorporates biophilia and access to outdoor spaces in its design standards for the purpose of promoting health and wellness.(15)

Equity Residential offers a number of amenities that can facilitate outdoor activities. These include playgrounds (in 7% of a sample of communities reviewed by Building H), swimming pools (32%), outdoor grills (79%) and bike storage facilities (43%).

 

opportunities:

  • Pursue opportunities noted above related to neighborhood walkability, bikeability and access to transit.
  • Pursue opportunities noted above related to outdoor amenities such as playgrounds, community gardens and walking paths.
 
 
 

Notes

 

  1. Investor Relations. Equity Residential website, accessed November 16, 2023.

  2. Equity Residential. 2021 Annual Report.

  3. Household Incomes. National Multifamily Housing Council website, accessed November 10, 2023.

  4. The “low-access to food” designation means that a significant portion of residents of the Census tract are more than one mile (if urban) or more than 10 miles (if rural) from the nearest supermarket or large grocery store. See U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Food Access Research Atlas: Measuring Access to Food.

  5. Equity Residential. Creating Communities Where People Thrive: 2020 Environmental, Social and Governance Report. p. 51.

  6. Walk Score is a methodology for assessing the walkability of a location, using a proprietary algorithm that factors in walking proximity to amenities and pedestrian friendliness. Walk Score is based on a scale of 0-100. Locations scoring 49 or under are considered “car-dependent;” Locations scoring 70 or more are rated “very walkable.” Those scoring 90 and above are labeled “walker’s paradise.” See https://www.walkscore.com/methodology.shtml for more on the Walk Score methodology.

  7. Erica Twardzik et al. Walk Score and objectively measured physical activity within a national cohort. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Volume 73, Issue 6 (June 2019), pp. 549-556.

  8. Creating Communities Where People Thrive (2020), p. 51.

  9. Equity Residential. Creating Communities Where People Thrive: 2022 Environmental, Social and Governance Report. p. 24.

  10. Jianhong Liu et al. Air pollution exposure and adverse sleep health across the life course: A systematic review. Environmental Pollution. Volume 262 (July 2020).

  11. Creating Communities Where People Thrive, p. 51.

  12. Based on a geographical analysis using ParkServe, a tool provided by the Trust for Public Land.

  13. NatureScore is a methodology for measuring the amount and quality of natural elements of any location developed by NatureQuant. NatureScores are on a 0-100 scale and are translated to descriptive assessments using the following code: 0-19.9: “Nature Deficient”; 20-39.9: “Nature Light”; 40-59.9: “Nature Adequate”; 60-79.9: “Nature Rich”; 80-100: “Nature Utopia.” See Delivering Technology to Assess and Promote Nature Exposure. NatureQuant White Paper. 2020.

  14. NatureQuant (2020).

  15. Creating Communities Where People Thrive (2022), p. 24.