Four socioeconomic factors will significantly influence the way housing companies do business in Los Angeles and Orange counties over the next five to 10 years, according to one of the most seasoned public relations advertising executives in the Southland's real estate industry. Education, transportation, security and an increasingly litigious society will have major impacts not only on marketing, but also on the entitlement process, said N. Richard Lewis, whose firm, Lewis & Associates, has been engaged in the marketing of more than 35,000 homes and 16 million square feet of commercial-industrial space over the past four decades.

More and more, developers will find it necessary to be involved in social issues that affect home buyers, just as corporate America has had to assume responsibilities for employee health care, day care for children and workers'investment and retirement programs, Lewis said.

For example, as concern with education grows in virtually all income groups, builders will have to respond to this reality because home buyers will be placing a higher premium on the caliber of local schools, Lewis said, adding: "This situation will compel greater builder participation in political and civic educational organizations serving their communities." Another anticipated builder concern involves burgeoning security problems due to gang-related crime — particularly as urban development intensifies, said Lewis, a former Army intelligence officer and newspaper reporter.

Urban developers may well have to band together to form the equivalent of business improvement districts (BIDs) to augment police efforts, he said. As for the impact of mounting traffic problems on commuters, Lewis said he believes developers in certain suburban areas may find it necessary to collectively provide alternative transportation to lure buyers who face more and more congested freeways.

This overarching turbulent situation is also being exacerbated by mounting litigation

"It will ultimately spill over into other areas in which builders and home buyers interface because when fraud or misdeeds occur in one sector of an industry, they invariably induce litigation in related segments," he said.

All of these factors are going to result in new impacts on the entitlement process, said Lewis, who was among the first to forecast the implications of consumerism on the housing industry in the early 1970's.

"In the prevailing social scenario, astute communications and total corporate transparency ‐ from the CEO to the sales representative — will best serve developers," Lewis said.

Lewis has been recognized by Adweek Magazine as one of the pioneers in the concept of integrated marketing communications. His approach to strategic marketing has greatly influenced his firm's work over the years for such high-profile projects as Big Canyon, Fox Plaza, the Wilshire Thayer, Terra Vista and Pacific Design Center, as well as for numerous leading developers and architects.

Lewis has garnered a wide array of advertising and public relations awards — including MAME and Elan awards — from the housing industry, the Public Relations Society of America and the Society For Marketing Professional Services, which honored him with its Leonardo Award.