The George Mason University Center for Regional Analysis (CRA) has just published a new report on population growth in the Washington Metro Area. The report is available for download here:
Many thanks to everyone one who helped reach the Exelon/Pepco proposed settlement agreement! Along with NHT, NCLC and MAHC, HAND members really showed up and successfully expressed the interests of multifamily owners and residents during the crucial negotiations.
However, we’re not done yet!
The agreement is just a proposal and Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) must still rule in favor of the settlement in order for our hard work to come to fruition. We are asking that you once again share our thoughts and send letters to PSC showing that multifamily owners and residents support the agreed upon terms.
By April 17th, please mail letters to PSC and include the following:
— Describe your mission and impact in Maryland;
— Discuss why energy efficiency is important to your mission; and
— State that you support the terms of the settlement agreement related to funding for low-income affordable multifamily housing and access to energy consumption data.
All letters should be mailed to the attention:
David J. Collins, Executive Secretary, Maryland Public Service Commission
William Donald Schaefer Tower
6 St. Paul Street, 16th Floor
Baltimore, Maryland 21202
Please reference “Case No. 9361 – Public Comment”
For further background on what the settlement entails, below are some of the proposed settlement agreement highlights:
Targeted Investments in Affordable Multifamily Housing:
– Earmarks $6.5 million for energy efficiency investments in multifamily affordable housing.
– Creates a $50 million Green Sustainability Fund and includes affordable multifamily housing as eligible for $10 million in zero interest loans (See description of the Fund below).
– Targets 20% of a $42 million energy efficiency fund to low‐ and moderate‐ income households, including renters.
A $50 Million Green Sustainability Fund to Stimulate Public and Private Investments in Clean Energy for Qualifying Projects, including Multifamily Affordable Housing. Additional funding for multifamily affordable housing will likely become available through a $50 Million Green Sustainability Fund to be allocated across Maryland, D.C., Delaware and New Jersey. The agreement targets at least 20% of the Fund for interest‐ free loans to 501(c)(3) organizations, similar charitable organizations, and, specifically, affordable multifamily housing, for Qualifying Projects. Financial assistance from the Fund will be extended to Qualified Borrowers through Sponsoring Organizations such as CDFIs in the form of low‐interest loans, interest subsidies, the purchase of participations in loans made by co‐investors, subordinated loans, partial loan guarantees, credit enhancements, and loan‐loss protection.
Improved Access to Energy Consumption Data and Support for Setting Accurate Utility Allowances. Exelon commits to provide building owners and managers of multifamily buildings in Pepco’s and Delmarva’s service territories with access to whole‐building energy usage data for benchmarking purposes at no additional cost. In addition, Exelon commits to identifying data protocols that will support the development of acceptable utility allowances in collaboration with representatives from the Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition and the Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers.
Debt Forgiveness for Low‐Income Utility Customers, including Renters. To help reduce the burden of long‐outstanding energy debt, Pepco and Delmarva Power will forgive all residential customer accounts receivable over three years old as of the date of the Merger closing. Exelon will ensure that appropriate representatives of Pepco and Delmarva engage in discussions with the National Consumer Law Center to develop an Arrearage Management Program (“AMP”) for low‐income customers in arrears, which would include the provision of credits or matching payments for customers who make timely payments on their current bills.
Enhanced Energy Efficiency Plans. Pepco and Delmarva will cooperate with Public Service Commission Staff and other stakeholders to develop and file a distinct set of milestones to accelerate and enhance Pepco’s and Delmarva Power’s EmPOWER Maryland plans, including proposed penalties for failure to meet Commission‐approved goals. This proposal will be filed with the Commission within six months after the close of the Merger.
After starting her legal practice in St. Louis, MO and then moving to D.C. to ultimately find her law home at (HAND member) Klein Hornig, LLP, Lauren Buckner is an emerging leader who’s learned a thing or two along the way.
“I really enjoy what I do, I feel like it matters and I know my work is making a meaningful impact on communities,” relays Lauren.
Who could ask for anything better?
Lauren worked for three years at a large firm in St. Louis in its real estate transactions department. While there, she represented commercial developers, lenders and construction companies before moving to D.C. to serve as an Assistant Attorney General for the District of Columbia’s Office of the Attorney General (OAG).
“During my time with OAG, I represented the Department of Housing and Community Development in the acquisition and disposition of abandoned, blighted and vacant properties,” shares Lauren, “this is also where I was introduced to the world of affordable housing”. “At Klein Hornig, I focus on real estate acquisitions and financing options for affordable housing and community development. I also, advise clients on a range of financing options, including low income housing tax credits, HUD insured loans, tax exempt bonds, local government funding and bridge loans.”
You know what else she does? She solves problems.
“I assist clients with the requirements associated with Federal and District of Columbia funding and advise them on regulatory matters as they arise. I get to be a problem solver, I enjoy that!”
She also enjoys getting “from behind the desk.”
“I wish someone would have told me when I started practicing that a good attorney learns to step away from the desk to interact with the rest of the world. You can’t meet new clients behind a desk. You can’t learn about new trends in the industry behind the desk. You can’t meet the developers, lenders and partners that we conduct business with behind a desk. You have to get out into the community to explore the community and its players.”
Relationship building is a strong reason to get out from behind the desk. In addition to getting to know others and creating strong working bonds, Lauren also finds it an opportunity to refocus on how she presents herself without the protection of a computer screen or a telephone to act as a shield.
“You get to be authentic and for me that energies me and pushes me to do my best. I have begun to build some very organic relationships from real raw interactions and a smile…you just gotta get from behind that desk!”
In addition to the professional highlights she has enjoyed over the years, Lauren has also faced some big challenges, too.
“I often work with people who have been in the industry for many years and who have helped to create and shape the programs and tools that we use. One of the challenges that I face is that on both the legal side and the development side, there are teams that have worked together for years and who have a way of structuring a deal which has become familiar and comfortable to them. As a young attorney it is often a challenge to work on transactions with these established teams because they often start from a position that is based on a prior deal and right out the gate you can find yourself at a huge disadvantage.”
…but there are ways to overcome practically every obstacle…
“To combat this learning deficit, I make an effort – both formally and informally – to shadow seasoned attorneys. I have also become more of a sponge, open to constructive feedback and soaking up as much institutional knowledge as possible. The key is to be alert, every moment has the opportunity to be a teachable moment and if you blink, you might miss it,” says Lauren.
Lauren also shares another helpful practice that might be best practices for everyone, not just those who are up-and-coming:
“One of my goals is to develop strong relationships with at least one seasoned person in each area that touches my practice. I am accomplishing this and am slowly building pivotal relationships by reaching across the table to the veteran developers, contractors, architects, title agents and lenders involved in transactions. It’s crucial for me to gain knowledge from all view points of the transaction, not solely the legal perspective. People are more than willing to share what they know if you just ask, and so I make a point of asking questions and trying to push myself into a less familiar, uncomfortable space.”
Lauren finds that her HAND membership has helped her further her goal of building a network of both seasoned and up-and-coming leaders in the industry.
“The HAND trainings are the best because they bring all the players together. I’ve had the opportunity to interact with local government officials, architects, contractors, non-profit developers, marketing consultants…the list goes on. HAND also has afforded me the opportunity to work with other emerging leaders as a member of the HAND Brain Trust Committee. Through this committee I am proud to be part of the launch of HAND’s new initiative, Generation HAND, which will focuses on identifying and developing emerging leaders within the affordable housing and community development industry. The initiative will bring together specialists from all areas and serve as a platform for growth.”
HAND is pleased to spotlight emerging leader Lauren Buckner, who certainly contributes to our organization’s COLLABORATION, INNOVATION and TRANSFORMATION within the metropolitan area!
Arlington County has released a draft Consolidated Plan for review. The Consolidated Plan is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and provides the strategic framework for Arlington’s housing, homeless, community and economic development activities supported through federal Community Development Block Grant, HOME Investment Partnerships, and Community Services Block Grant funds. The Consolidated Plan covers the five year period of Arlington’s Fiscal Years 2016-2020. Arlington County is the direct recipient of federal CDBG and HOME funds, and partners with the City of Falls Church as a subrecipient agency through a cooperation agreement. Citizen participation is key to the development of the Consolidated Plan, please provide any comments you have in writing to Joel Franklin.
A consultant who uses his special skills to help develop supportive and mixed-income affordable housing communities, Chapman Todd’s ultimate goal is to end homelessness. By partnering with non-profit and for profit companies throughout the development process and helping them identify available resources that will provide capital, operating and services funding for supportive housing projects, Todd is doing his best to see homelessness ended in our region.
“I am particularly focused on ensuring that projects have sufficient and sustainable social services in place to provide the support necessary for all residents, especially for those that are exiting homelessness,” said Todd. “Additionally, I also specialize in helping community and government leaders by educating them on successful permanent housing models for people we are currently homeless.”
Todd successfully put these skills to work last year when construction began on the John and Jill Ker Conway Residences on North Capitol Street in NE Washington DC. The 124 unit apartment building is being developed by partners Community Solutions and McCormack Baron Salazar and designed by Sorg Architects with the ardent support of Todd, who has been Lead Consultant on the project since it was first considered several years ago. When the building is complete, the property will include 60 units specifically targeted for formerly homeless veterans, 47 units for individual households making 60% of the area median income or less and 17 units for residents referred by the District’s Department of Behavioral Health.
“Conway Residences is the result of strong partnerships between local and federal government leaders, philanthropy, services provides, faith community, neighbors and a number of other stakeholders committed to finding innovative ways to creating affordable housing, especially for people at low-income levels,” commended Todd. “I couldn’t be prouder to be part of this phenomenal team.”
Being a HAND member has certainly supported Todd in his consultancy work in a multitude of ways. Over the years, HAND has offered a number of trainings that have allowed him to gain information and knowledge of financing opportunities available in the metropolitan area. Additionally, now that the industry has an enhanced awareness of the challenges existing to create homes for individuals and families with very low-income levels, particularly those who are exiting homelessness, HAND has provided a needed forum for interested members to share experiences – and solutions – on how to meet this need head-on.
HAND is pleased to spotlight Chapman Todd, who certainly contributes to our organization’s COLLABORATION, INNOVATION and TRANSFORMATION within the metropolitan area!
HAND Members, take advantage of your member benefits by participating in our Annual Nonprofit Salary & Benefits Survey. Upon completion of this survey, the data and information provided will ensure HAND nonprofit members are competitive and offering their employees fair and lucrative salaries for their respective roles. Only members who complete the survey and are current on their FY2015 membership dues will be given the results. Information identifying the individual/organization responding to the survey will be kept anonymous. If you have any questions, please contact Julie Kieffer at jkieffer@handhousing.org or 202-384-3764. Survey results are due Friday, May 8, 2015. For your convenience, we are providing a PDF version of the survey you can use to collect information before completing the survey online. Click here to begin the survey.
As a result of strong demand and relatively high wages, the Washington DC region is one of the most expensive areas in the country. Recent arrivals have driven up rents dramatically in the District of Columbia over the past decade, as the increase in the number of renter households has far outpaced overall population growth. A report by GOVERNING magazine reports that only the city of Portland is gentrifying faster than DC. Rents in some of the region’s suburban neighborhoods rival those in the District’s in-demand neighborhoods. According to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, in 2013, the median rent in Arlington County was over $1,800 and the median rent in Fairfax County was not far behind at $1,764.
The Washington DC region has become increasingly unaffordable to many of the workers who serve the community. There can be repercussions for persistent high housing costs and a lack of a sufficient supply of affordable housing. Recent reports have demonstrated that more young workers are deciding to pick up and move from high cost cities to places with more affordable housing. Insufficient housing that is affordable to the workforce puts at risk the sustainability of the economy as the region has increasing difficulty attracting and retaining workers.
One key reason rental affordability remains a challenge in the region is that we are not building enough overall housing. Indeed, recent research and commentary have suggested that limited housing development has propped up housing costs in high cost cities. A plethora of reasons—including high land costs, local zoning and land use regulations, NIMBYism, and insufficient federal and state resources—contribute to the difficulty of producing enough affordable rental housing in places like the Washington DC region.
The region’s growing population and shortage of available land in desirable locations means that it is difficult to build housing that is priced at levels affordable to low- and moderate-income households. As federal subsidies for affordable rental housing continue to fall short of the need, the role of local governments in the development and preservation of affordable housing has become increasingly important. High cost regions—like the Washington DC metro area—need to be particularly innovative and strategic to find ways to evolved considerably.
Are there lessons to be learned from other high-cost markets around the country? Below are seven approaches that have been adopted by some high-cost jurisdictions to increase the supply of affordable housing. Some of the policies described below also have been implemented by some jurisdictions in the Washington DC region, but there may additional guidance from other cities and counties about how to design programs to make them more effective.
1. Tie affordability requirements to increased density
To accommodate the demand for housing in the growing Washington DC region, it is becoming increasingly important to allow for the construction of more housing, in taller, denser developments. Many of the regions suburbs—including much of Arlington, Bethesda, and Tysons Corner—already have already become more “urban” than “suburban” and this trend will continue over the coming decades. In many places around the region, height and other zoning restrictions could be relaxed to expand housing supply, and these development incentives should be linked to the provision of affordable housing. “Inclusionary upzoning,” which links affordability requirements to increased density, is a policy used in jurisdictions across the Washington DC region, including Arlington and Fairfax counties, and other high cost markets have adopted policies that aggressively push for the development of affordable housing as market of re-zonings, including New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
2. Make use of public land for affordable housing
Reducing the land costs of a residential project can be a valuable way to foster housing affordability for lower-income residents in high cost areas. Across the country and in the Washington, DC region, local jurisdictions are taking a broad view of public land development opportunities, exploring the potential for affordable housing on not just vacant publicly held sites but also under-utilized parking lots, sites where no-longer-needed public facilities are located, and—increasingly—as part of the development of new public facilities such as community centers, libraries, fire stations, and police stations.
3. Establish commercial linkage fees to fund affordable housing development
Commercial linkage fees are a form of impact fee assessed on new commercial developments or major employers based on the need for housing generated by new and expanding businesses. Revenues generated by the fee can be used to help fund the development of affordable housing opportunities within the locality. A variety of methods can be used to determine appropriate linkage fees; many jurisdictions have adopted as Jobs-Housing Nexus Analysis approach.
Seattle is debating the suitability and specific design features of a commercial linkage fee policy, which advocates claim could produce five to 10 times the amount of affordable housing the city gets under its current incentive program. In Boulder, Colo., city leaders are considering a commercial linkage fee—on top of their existing capital facilities impact fee—to mitigate the upward pressure on home prices and rents resulting from strong job growth. It is estimated that the fee could bring in between two and three million dollars a year for affordable housing in the city of Boulder.
4. Require mixed-income developments near transit
In many cases, investments in transit and other infrastructure catalyze increases in the values of properties that are well-located near the new amenities. While this growth can be positive for the overall neighborhood, it can also threaten the continued availability and opportunities for the construction of new affordable housing, especially for families with very low incomes.
Chicago recently amended its affordable housing ordinance to provide incentives to developers that build more than half of a project’s required affordable housing units in transit-served locations. The new incentives would result in a greater number of mixed-income properties near transit and would benefit lower-income households, who are more likely than higher-income households to use transit.
5. Revise and/or streamline the development review and re-zoning process
A recent report by the Urban Land Institute and Enterprise Community Partners offers a set of recommendations for how to make the development review process more efficient to make it easier and less costly to produce below market rate housing. Some of the key recommendations related to the development review process include coordinating steps in the review process, creating clarity in the public engagement process, and making explicit the incentives associated with affordable housing provision.
In Los Angeles, the Planning Department is rewriting the city’s 70-year old zoning code to better reflect the community’s needs and the market realities developers face. The goal is to create clearer standards and more focused community plans that will help expand the supply of affordable housing in the city
6. Review and revise parking requirements
Minimum parking standards can make it more difficult to build affordable housing by increasing the overall cost of the development and by reducing the amount of housing that can be built on site. To help ensure that parking requirements do not impeded new affordable housing construction, local jurisdictions can revise parking standards for all new development or reduce or waive standards for certain types of housing (i.e. affordable or housing for older adults, or units located near public transit) on a discretionary basis. Short of making changes to parking requirements, jurisdictions could consider studying the current parking policies and local parking demand to better understand residents’ parking needs, particularly in developments located near transit.
The city of San Diego conducted a parking study in 2011 that analyzed local parking needs, reviewed best practices from other places around the country and made recommendations for how to modify the city’s parking requirements. Key considerations from the report include differentiating parking requirements based on building type and with consideration of access to transit and walkability of the neighborhoods.
7. Experiment with new building types
As housing needs grow and change, there are opportunities to encourage experimentation around building types. Many high-cost jurisdictions have adopted accessory dwelling unit (ADU) ordinances, which outline the requirements for creating small housing units set aside either within or attached to a single-family home or located on the same lot.
Portland, Oregon is just one example of an ADU ordinance that has successfully create smaller, less expensive housing units throughout the city. Other jurisdictions have explored zoning changes that would allow for the construction of so-called “tiny houses,” which have gained popularity in recent years.
In San Francisco, one way that has been suggested to spur affordable housing development is to provide developers with an opportunity to experiment with different housing models, including co-housing and other shared housing models. While not allowed under typical zoning regulations, the experimental projects can offer some evidence about the viability of new housing models to expand affordable housing options.
Watch the Video Response:
Next month: Federal Spending and the Effects of Sequestration on the Regional Housing Market
Payments: Orders placed on the event registration page are not confirmed until payment is received. A confirmation email will be sent to the email address listed in your registration. If you paid by credit card, a receipt will be sent to the email address listed in your registration. If you mail a check, all payments must be received within seven days of completing your registration form. Checks should be remitted to: HAND, PO Box 48386, Washington, DC 20002
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Cancellations & Changes: If you wish to cancel or change your registration for the Annual Meeting & Housing Expo, please send a request in writing to annualmeeting@handhousing.org. All cancellation requests made prior to April 27th will receive a 50% refund. For cancellation requests made after April 27th, no refund will be provided.
Door Prizes: Are you interested in donating a door prize to this year’s Annual Meeting? Email annualmeeting@handhousing.org to coordinate with our team.