How ROSI™ Creates Value in Real Estate

ROSI™ helps real estate owners and operators quantify the financial value of investments that positively impact residents, improve operations, and build asset resilience.

Developed by the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business, the Return on Sustainability Investment (ROSI™) framework maps sustainability and social-impact practices to the financial outcomes they can create. In real estate, this means examining how investments in resident stability, health and well-being, and climate resilience can affect net operating income, operating costs, and long-term asset performance.

CSB’s current research focuses on affordable housing. With support from the Multifamily Impact Council (MIC), CSB assessed how MIC’s social and environmental impact principles can create value for housing providers, while creating impact for residents.

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Affordable Housing

The United States has a shortage of 7.2 million affordable and available rental homes. Affordable housing has been proven to be a solid investment, in part because there is a persistent and unmet need, and supply is highly constrained. With the support of the Multifamily Impact Council (MIC) CSB analyzed a broader set of MIC impact principles, including resident engagement, housing stability, economic health and mobility, health and wellness, and climate and resilience, to determine how social and environmental sustainability principles affect net operating income (NOI). 

CSB research demonstrates that practical interventions such as flexible rent splitting programs, housing support plans, telehealth access, resident service provision, and partnerships with housing placement organizations can measurably improve financial outcomes by extending resident lengths of stay, reducing turnover and eviction costs, lowering vacancy rates, and shrinking bad-debt expenses. On the capital side, retrofitting existing buildings with solar panels yielded payback periods of roughly 5–10 years and meaningfully cut operating costs.

Five Affordable Housing Impact Areas

The financial benefit achieved by stacking multiple practices across MIC framework principles (housing stability, health and wellness, economic mobility, resident engagement, and climate resilience) can deliver more than optimizing any single intervention in isolation.

Affordable Housing Research

Explore CSB’s research on how social and environmental sustainability practices can strengthen financial performance in affordable housing.

DOWNLOAD THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING REPORT →

Case Study: Creating Value by Increasing Housing Stability

This case study shows how Mercy Housing creates financial value by engaging residents who are in default in longer-term Housing Support Plans. By helping eligible residents maintain stable housing, the organization can reduce costs associated with eviction, vacancy, turnover, and unpaid rent while improving resident outcomes.

READ THE HOUSING SUPPORT PLANS CASE STUDY →

Put the Research Into Practice

Housing Support Plan Value Creation Calculator

Built using the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business (CSB's) ROSI™ framework, this ROSI Housing Support Plan Value Creation Calculator computes the financial impact of supporting defaulting residents who are eligible for Section 8 assistance with Housing Support Plans.

ACCESS THE CALCULATOR →

This paper was developed as a part of a study funded by The Multifamily Impact Council, by Tensie Whelan, Distinguished Professor of Practice Emerita at NYU Stern, Chisara Ehiemere, Senior Research Lead of Return on Sustainability Investment (ROSI) and Divya Chandra, Senior Associate Research Scholar. CSB would like to thank our funders for their financial support for the study. CSB would also like to acknowledge each of the six participating MIC members for sharing their data and insights that made this study possible.