Tax Credit Advisor Article Archives

Finding Financing

3 min read

Affordable housing finance is an ever evolving discipline and, as a result, an evergreen topic for this publication. This month’s issue highlights a number of interesting financing opportunities, tools, niches and programmatic changes that will be of interest to our readers. Keeping with this theme, I’d like to explore and expand on a few topics that are trending in our office following the NCHMA Spring Meeting on March 31 and the PTEE Roadshow in Indianapolis on April 9.

What’s Next?

4 min read

As of Tax Day, at least four major candidates have declared they are running for President. By the time we get to NH&RA’s Summer Institute, we could have a baker’s dozen or more candidates.

icon Blueprint for April

Staying Ahead of the Curve

3 min read

Early in the 1980s, when I was earning my keep as a freelance journalist, my brother Peter asked if I would write a newsletter for a fairly new organization he was managing called the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association. The assignment came with a great perk—attending the organization’s conference on Martha’s Vineyard. It was there that I first had the privilege of observing the creativity in strategic financial thinking that (IMHO) has characterized NH&RA throughout its history.

Talking Heads:  Geoff Brown, USA Properties, Inc.: Advocate and Innovator

11 min read

In Geoff’s 26 years, USA Properties has grown from seven employees to 400 and developed, through construction or acquisition and rehabilitation, over 11,000 units of affordable housing for families and seniors throughout California and Nevada. In addition, its subsidiary, USA Multifamily Management, manages its own projects in a portfolio consisting of over 10,600 units—two-thirds of it senior housing. Tax Credit Advisor sat down with Brown to discuss his passions and priorities.

The Economics of Solar Power:  Purchase or lease, operate or outsource?

6 min read

Solar power is becoming more of an economic and technological possibility for developers of multiunit affordable housing—the cost of solar panels, for example, has been dropping exponentially since 2008.

Partnering with Housing Authorities: Public Housing Joint Ventures Present Opportunity

8 min read

In February, for the first time ever, NH&RA hosted a Public Housing Joint Venture Symposium in Key Largo, Florida where it convened HUD representatives with more than 100 developers, syndicators, lenders, and other members of the affordable housing community. The one-day event preceded the 2015 NH&RA Annual Meeting.

Our Team in Havana: NH&RA Mission Explores Rebuilding Old City

8 min read

To a group of American housing developers and financiers, four days in Havana is a tall mojito loaded with both spices and bitters. Make that a pitcher of mojitos, for walking the streets of a city frozen in the ‘50s surrounded by turquoise and lavender cars with protruding fins that your grandfather used to drive, you cannot help but feel a bit inebriated.

icon The Guru Is In

Affordable housing in post-rural America

5 min read

What then is the business model of 21st century rural America? Though you may not realize it, finding the answer is absolutely critical for the affordable housing industry. It stumped me for years, but now I think I’ve figured it out.

Weathering the “Forced Sale” Storm: Strategies for avoiding Year 15 conflict

9 min read

The formation of tax credit financial partnerships to build affordable housing can be a joyous occasion. Both general and investor limited partners are optimistic. Regrettably, years later, the exit can be mayhem.

Lowering the Cost of Financing: Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae Offer New Loan Products

7 min read

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have recently created new affordable housing products that provide borrowers with ways to access low-cost loans that finance affordable housing for the 15-plus years of the building’s compliance life.

Four Tax Credits Complicate Cumberland

5 min read

The rehabilitation of Cumberland Arms in Cumberland, Md., mixes housing, historic and energy tax credits. To get the maximum tax credit award, the developers committed to meet tough standards for energy efficiency. That meant creating significant energy cost savings even though energy costs are now low – a challenge that almost derailed the project.

Next Gen Leadership

3 min read

I find it inspiring that many of the communities developed by the first generation of NH&RA members in the 1960s are still prospering 50 years later. Indeed, many of these firms, and even a few of the founders, are still actively developing new or preserving existing affordable housing around the country today.

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