Independent Urban Planning Consultant
Amba Gupta
GIS & site feasibility, development finance, housing policy research, and scope design — available remotely on a project or fixed-fee basis, with morning Pacific-time overlap.
Independent Urban Planning Consultant
GIS & site feasibility, development finance, housing policy research, and scope design — available remotely on a project or fixed-fee basis, with morning Pacific-time overlap.
6+ years across U.S. public institutions — Metropolitan Transportation Commission, UC Berkeley's Terner Center, California Housing Partnership Corporation — and India's development sector. At MTC, managed a $13.6M public planning portfolio across 30+ concurrent projects and led the Priority Sites Technical Assistance program across 33 Bay Area jurisdictions. Partners with small planning and consulting teams on the analytical and financial work behind their deliverables — site feasibility, proformas, policy research, and scope design.
Core Technical
Parcel-level screening using QGIS — zoning and development constraints, transit access, ownership overlays. Housing element and rezoning site analysis, TOD feasibility, spatial due diligence.
Core Technical
Proforma construction and stress-testing for affordable and mixed-income housing — subsidy layering, loan underwriting, land-residual analysis, scenario testing.
Quick-Turn Advisory
Comparative research on how programs are implemented across jurisdictions, where gaps exist, and what precedents apply — delivered as concise memos for proposals, grant applications, or internal strategy.
Quick-Turn Advisory
Drafts and reviews scopes of work — identifying the analyses and studies needed to move a project forward, and shaping deliverables to align with what funders and reviewing agencies expect.
Advancing Public Lands for Affordable Housing Development
Policy brief — spatial analysis of 2,500+ parcels, Surplus Land Act evaluation, original findings on exempt surplus data gap. UC Berkeley Terner Center, 2024.
Romnes Commons — HUD Competition Proforma
Development proformas and underwriting for a 487-unit, ~$127M phased redevelopment — RAD/Section 18 conversion, 4% & 9% LIHTC, tax-exempt bonds, and a rent-to-own homeownership product. National finalist (Top 4), 2024 HUD Innovation in Affordable Housing Competition.
Palo Alto Dedicated Affordable Housing Site — Scope of Work
MTC Priority Sites TA program. Structured a $200K TA engagement to avoid duplication of prior master plan studies and produce a financially grounded RFP for a 100% affordable housing site.
Are California's Opportunity Area Incentives Placing Equity and Climate Goals in Conflict?
Co-authored with Dan Rinzler. Spatial analysis of 49 LIHTC sites, pre/post incentive period comparison. Published by California Housing Partnership Corporation, December 2023.
Homeless Encampments & Opportunity Zones — West Oakland Spatial Study
Choropleth and correlation analysis overlaying encampment service calls against TCAC opportunity zones, rent, income, and eviction data. Independent spatial study, UC Berkeley.
Climate Resilient Affordable Housing for North San Joaquin Valley
Real coalition client. Assessed 37,000+ low-income renters, proposed financing and governance strategies for climate-resilient affordable housing. UC Berkeley CP 220, Fall 2023.