Monthly Columns Archives

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.

On his first day in office, President Trump issued a Presidential Action aimed at reducing the cost of living and increasing prosperity for American workers. This includes directives to lower housing costs and expand supply.

In a story worthy of Charles Dickens, last Christmas Eve, Malcolm (Mike) Peabody, a 20th-century titan of affordable housing, died at the age of 96, all but unnoticed except for the legacy of initiatives and entities that he and his forebears have stood up over the decades. As I read his obituary, and that of his ancestor George Peabody, ‘the father of modern philanthropy,’ the thought came to me, entities endure. 

If you’ve chosen to read this essay, your work environment is governed by platform, pipeline, and portfolio and the health and evolution of this triad foretell your future as a player on that platform. 

When the CTA went into effect on Jan. 1, 2024, both newly formed and previously established companies, large and small (but mainly small) were to provide certain information to FinCEN detailing: 1) “Beneficial Ownership” and 2) “Company Applicants.”

Dominating all policy headlines this year will be the tax bill as legislators seek to extend the expiring tax cuts from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) before increases go into effect in 2026. Senate confirmations, congressional spending and addressing the debt limit are the other must-do items on the list, which will likely happen in the first half of the year.  

Just as markets are the crowdsourced wisdom on values, insurance is the crowdsourced wisdom on risks.

For an affordable multifamily housing project to qualify for the maximum allowable amount of four percent LIHTCs, at least 50 percent of the project’s aggregate basis (consisting of eligible basis plus land) must be financed with the proceeds of tax-exempt bonds issued pursuant to an allocation of private activity bond volume cap by a state housing authority or another municipal issuer (the 50 percent test).

If you own an income-producing property, you have an equity partner hiding in plain sight.  Despite never signing a document with you, your municipality owns somewhere between one-eighth and one-quarter of your property’s economics, a slice it can increase without your consent, and will own longer than you’ll own the property.