A center at the Syracuse University School of Architecture is coordinating a newly started nationwide competition to lower costs in affordable-housing developments.
The school’s Upstate: center for design, research, and real estate is coordinating the competition, which is known as the Lowering the Cost of Housing Competition. Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) and a nonprofit development-capital provider, Enterprise Community Partners, Inc., launched it today.
The competition will award a total of up to $300,000 to proposals that improve neighborhoods, reduce developmental costs, and cut building costs. Up to $250,000 will go to the competition’s winning proposal, while another $50,000 in grant funds will be available for proposals showing innovation, progress toward cost lowering, or quality research.
(Sponsored)

Recent Court Decision Supports Requiring Employees to Be In the Workplace
A recent Federal Court decision confirmed that the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) does not require employers to allow employees to work remotely. In Kemp v. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,

New Sexual Harassment Policy and Training Requirements. Does Your Policy Comply?
New York State requires all employers to provide annual sexual harassment prevention training and a harassment policy to its employees. This requirement applies to all employees, including hourly and salaried,
Deutsche Bank and Enterprise are encouraging teams of architects, developers, and policy professionals to enter. The deadline for proposals is Jan. 15, and submitted projects need to be able to be completed by December of 2014. Other guidelines and materials are available at www.loweringcost.com.
A panel of housing-design, development, finance, and policy professionals is slated to pick the winning proposal.
Contact Seltzer at rseltzer@cnybj.com