Catherine Buell- Designing Communities for Longevity and Connection (#134)

Catherine Buell is founder of Wellness Real Estate Innovations. Previously director of Amazon Housing Equity Fund, president/CEO of Atlanta Housing Authority, chair of DC Historic Preservation Review Board, and executive director of St. Elizabeth's East Campus Redevelopment. Harvard Kennedy School Loeb Fellow. (00:00) Introduction to second interview. Former Amazon Housing Equity Fund director, Atlanta Housing CEO, Harvard Kennedy School Loeb Fellow. (03:14) New company Wellness Real Estate Innovations - bringing wellness real estate solutions to diverse urban audiences at intersection of health and housing. (03:42) Personal motivation: mother's dementia/loneliness during COVID highlighted lack of aging options even in expensive continuum care facilities. (05:33) Philosophy: housing is healthcare and building with care. Traditional housing continuum has cracks - expensive senior housing, limited diverse options. Beautiful places impact how you feel through social connection, walkability, vibrancy. (09:05) Amazon lessons: Corporate investments influence markets but can't solve entire spectrum. Healthcare organizations increasingly investing in affordable housing targeting high-cost patients. Innovation gap for aging demographic - need co-housing, shared living, wellness communities. (15:23) Combat loneliness through intentional community design - new urbanist model plus different housing types, oversized green spaces, shared amenities for organic connection. (17:06) Alternative models: co-housing, shared living, ADUs. PadSplit's tech approach for $27K income essential workers - streamlined access to furnished shared rooms. Shared models add people without changing community character, help aging in place. (21:26) Key challenge: lack of documented data on wellness community benefits. Need to document outcomes from 1990s/2000s wellness communities. (23:37) Global Wellness Institute trends: Wellness as Infrastructure (WAI) - Bhutan mindfulness city Wellness as Service (WAAS) - integrated cleaning, nursing, caregiving Wellness ROI (WROI) - significantly higher returns Longevity Economy (WRELE) - aging population focus (27:38) Gap: middle-income households with $80-120K retirement income can't afford elite wellness solutions ($400K-$1M deposits), don't want to leave social networks. (32:48) Policy needs: data on health/housing intersection, true cost of "do nothing" strategy, economic benefits. Fastest growing DC population is 55+. Loneliness epidemic costs $6.7B annually to Medicaid. (37:20) Example: dementia village in Ward 7 - 13% of DC seniors have dementia (16% east of river). Netherlands-inspired model with store, pub, church, arts room for quality of life vs traditional memory care. Chapters (00:00:09) - Interviewing Icons of D.C. Real Estate(00:00:45) - The Iconic Journey and CRE: Expanding Our Reach and Impact(00:02:47) - In the Elevator With Katherine Buell and Kathryn Bue(00:05:15) - Catherine Polley on Wellness Real Estate(00:08:22) - Seniors' Housing: Health Care(00:11:33) - Alex Jones on Wellbeing and Housing Innovation(00:17:50) - How Co-Housing and Shared Living Can Help Reduce Social Eng(00:24:00) - What's the Wellness Real Estate?(00:26:02) - Will Wellness Real Estate Impact?(00:31:58) - Sip and Solve: Wellbeing and Housing(00:35:24) - Washington DC Mayor on Wellbeing and Intergenerational Communities(00:39:34) - Real Estate News: Wellbeing and Intergenerational Housing(00:47:39) - Wellness Real Estate Innovation(00:50:21) - Wellness initiatives in real estate(00:53:01) - The Need for More Data on Aging and Housing(00:57:07) - Amazon's $2 Billion Housing Fund(01:00:31) - Jeff Bezos on Large-Scale Housing Investments(01:03:47) - The Harvard Loeb Fellowship(01:06:17) - Teaching at Harvard: Health and Housing Innovation(01:07:29) - Will Wellness Real Estate Be an Investment?(01:12:48) - Is Wellbeing a Driving Factor in Hotel Branding?(01:15:44) - Office and Retail: Wellbeing in the Office(01:17:44) - Have We Seen Innovation in Retail for Wellness?(01:20:20) - Wellness in the Real Estate Market(01:23:16) - Top Real Estate Book recommendations for the Wellness Industry