Monthly Columns Archives

Guru David Smith joins two colleagues to present a joint concept note for a structural approach to reforming federal rental assistance in ways that can steer the discussion of HUD reform in a more productive direction.

Housing guru David A. Smith gives historic context for the current shutdown, and provides guideposts for what housers should expect in the coming weeks.

Bond expert R. Wade Norris explores the potential proceeds impacts that new LIHTC rules may have on both the debt side and the LIHTC pricing side.

A new program from Utah-based Arrive Home aims to make home buying more accessible.

Housing supply and affordability have now been recognized as significant problems throughout the nation. The issues are vast and complex, and the solutions are expensive and controversial. The financial and political implications are widely recognized by both parties in urban, suburban, and rural communities to an extent not seen in decades.

Five years after COVID disrupted real estate markets, America’s highest real estate priority is housing, and in particular, affordable housing.

On May 21, with his flair for the bombshell, President Trump, in a post on Truth Social, stated his strong interest in privatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – and I flashed back to October 2008.

California’s vast and diverse landscape leads to significant housing demand. Housing production meets only about 15 percent of the needed 3.5 million units by 2030.

After having chronicled how entities endure for better, for a long time, and for worse, we arrive, belatedly, at the nastiest question of them all: When an organization has gone past the tipping point and its consumption of resources exceeds the impact it delivers with those resources, what happens then? 

House passage of the reconciliation bill with three Low Income Housing Tax Credit provisions included is a significant win. Yet the successful implementation of these measures hinges on adequate appropriations for HUD programs.  

Entities are perpetual ecosystem changers, initially growing and sustaining, but eventually, their purpose can fade.

The journey to economic sustainability is just the beginning for mission-driven entrepreneurs, as they face new challenges and transformations.