Tax Credit Advisor Article Archives

Mixed-use housing is poised for a huge expansion in the post-COVID era, as at-risk populations, especially seniors, are going to want more goods and services available to them under one, health-secure roof.

For examples in world history of grand changes to urban planning, look no further than a health crisis.

“Once you’re home, you’re safe.”

That is the essence of Health Secure Housing as defined by our colleague and TCA columnist David Smith, founder and CEO of the Affordable Housing Institute (AHI) of Boston, MA.

Working with this organization for 11 years, I have devoted a good deal of my time addressing the needs of older adults along with many of you.

A few weeks ago, I drove my family up to Connecticut to visit my parents (my first real trip since COVID-19 struck) and found myself shucking some local oysters one evening with my dad. My shucking technique is only so-so and the oyster knife I was using was a bit of an antique. The knife slipped more than a few times and, while I managed to avoid a trip to the emergency room, I felt a bit like Beetle Bailey enduring punishing KP duty.

The future seems to have arrived on our doorstep. Robots have been employed to construct multifamily homes. If you’re a SciFi fan, you no longer have to go to the movies, you can visit a prefab housing factory instead.

“I’ve been developing in the Bay Area for quite some time. It got to the point where the costs were so high that building became very difficult. I’ve worked with modular construction for about 15 years, but there is a limited number of modular suppliers in the West. So, I knew I had to do something myself.”

Affordable housing developers and property managers have adapted to COVID-19 through innovation, flexibility, patience and open lines of communication. A good example of this is Boston-based Beacon Communities Development.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created some thorny property insurance problems for owners/managers: Increased premiums. Lawsuits backed by deep pockets. The need to factor force majeure into costs. A spike in multifamily severity claims.

Entire building sections shipped in on trucks. Walls keeping cold air in during the summer and warm air in during the winter with virtually no leakage and minimal energy costs. These are all components of a modern story of low-income affordable housing in Washington, DC.

California is famous for its low-budget lodging. I stayed in some while traveling the state – little hotels and motels on the roadside that, mixed with the palm trees and desert backdrop, had a noirish feel. They’re a part of California lore, even profiled in that infamous Eagles song.

Once it starts, a thunderstorm is unstoppable: the sunny seeming equilibrium of a moment before becomes a torrent whose cooling reinforces itself, reversing in a few minutes what took hours to build up.