Archive for category: Member Events & Success Stories

Five Minutes With Gregory Hare

January 27, 2022
January 27, 2022

The HAND network is hard at work to address the growing housing affordability challenge across the Capital Region. Five Minutes With is a series highlighting these members and other stakeholders. This informal conversation delves into their recent projects, the affordable housing industry, and more. In this edition, we had a conversation with Gregory Hare, who has recently transitioned to his new role as the Assistant Secretary and Director, CDA, for Maryland DHCD. Check out our dialogue below to learn about Gregory’s journey in the affordable housing space, what he believes is the “secret sauce” to addressing housing affordability, and his views on how leaders of color in the real estate industry can tip the scales differently.

HAND: Congratulations on our new role as the Assistant Secretary and Director, CDA, for the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development! What excites you about your new role? Do you foresee any challenges?
GH: Thank you, I appreciate all the well wishes. There are so many things that excite me about coming into this role. First, I have the opportunity to work with talented and high-performing people – who’ve I’ve grown and learned alongside since I’ve been with the Agency. This position gives me the freedom to incorporate new perspectives into CDA’s approaches. I realize the potential and the opportunity in front of us – to intentionally do more – and knowing how we can positively transform communities excites me. 

Like any organization, if you want to be effective in today’s environment, you have to be innovative, open to new ways of doing and new ways of thinking; and that’s not just from an operations perspective; it has to be deeper, which takes time with any organization, but especially in State government.

HAND: You have extensive experience in the affordable housing space – can you tell us about your journey to this point?
GH: Like many things in life, your spark is often your frustration. I wanted to impact the community, so after college, I joined Baltimore Housing, working in various capacities before ultimately serving as the Administrator for the Rental and Assisted Housing division. Early in my career, I recognized the power of policy and its impact on our communities. When I joined DHCD in 2014, I quickly realized that if you listen to people, they’ll tell you what’s at the heart of problems, and, in most cases, they’ll also share how to fix them if you keep an open mind. So, my journey has really centered around what people say their needs are and creating or improving programs to respond to those.

HAND: What is one thing you wish you would have known at the beginning of your career?
GH: At the beginning of my career, I wish I’d known to narrow myself before looking to expand. Being really good at one thing will serve one well throughout an entire career. So, taking my time to reach mastery in one space has been significant. Subject matter expertise will serve you for a lifetime.

HAND: Keeping in mind the history of racism and its impacts on housing. How can leaders of color or in the real estate industry tip the scales differently?
GH: I think we’re fighting a trillion-dollar problem with a one-hundred-dollar mindset. Leaders often take what is happening in the world today, and they don’t look back. They look at the surface-level ways to help disadvantaged people and think they’ve fixed the problem, but the deeper issue to solve is why they are disadvantaged. And when you start to understand those institutional issues, you realize this work won’t move until we work intentionally and collectively to tip the scales.

HAND: Do you believe there is a “secret sauce” to addressing housing affordability and creating more equitable communities in our region? If so, what do you think that is? What do you think is the largest obstacle?
GH: The activist Jane Jacobs’ quote, “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” If you have a goal you can do by yourself, it’s not big enough, so we must change our mindset and come together on solutions as big as our problem.

HAND: What is your “why”? What keeps you motivated to continue your work in this space?
GH: People are my why. Everything I do is to serve people in a way that makes circumstances better for them.

HAND: If you weren’t working in this industry, what might you be doing?
GH: If I weren’t working in the affordable housing industry, I would probably be an inventor. Over twenty years ago, I built a device to measure “how well” one was driving, like today’s insurance devices that reward good driving. During a presentation of the concept, I glanced down at the executive’s notepad and realized he was drawing stick figures, so I canned that idea.

Five Minutes With Evelyn Immonen

November 22, 2021
November 22, 2021

The HAND network is hard at work to address the growing housing affordability challenge across the Capital Region. Five Minutes With is a series highlighting these members and other stakeholders. This informal conversation delves into their recent projects, the affordable housing industry, and more. This month, in honor of November being American Indian Heritage Month, we are excited to share this special edition of Five Minutes With. In this edition, we had a conversation with Evelyn Immonen, a Program Officer for Enterprise Community Partners’ Rural and Native American Programs. Check out our dialogue below to learn more about the importance of having Native Americans in places of leadership, the recent movement to reauthorize NAHASDA, and advice on how you can help support the continuing of this important work beyond November!

HAND: Can you tell us about Enterprise Community Partner’s Rural and Native American Programs and about how you landed in this space? 
EI: Enterprise Community Partner’s Rural and Native American Programs provides resources, capacity building support, and technical assistance to organizations to help create safe, decent, green, affordable homes in both rural and Native communities. Enterprise is one of several national intermediaries in the affordable housing space, and I joined them from the Housing Assistance Council which focuses exclusively on rural America. I’m proud to see the work Enterprise does in these geographies growing.

HAND: Can you speak on how you approach your work in this space? Also, can you touch on the importance of having Native Americans in positions where they affect the issues facing their communities?
EI: My family has heritage with the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, and we have family ties on Standing Rock as well. I have always felt a connection to that history and sought to give back when I went to grad school for public policy. In my career, it wasn’t so important what issue I was working on so long as it was improving Native communities: I had an opportunity to work in affordable housing and now I’m happy to dive deeper into that. There are so many professionals in this sector that are incredibly knowledgeable, especially on the Rural and Native American team. Still, it’s rare to see organizations support Native people who have really been raised on the reservation and in ceremony—but that ought to be their core constituents, since it’s the communities who are most remote and most entrenched in generational poverty that need the greatest resources. There should be more Native Americans in positions where they can make a change simply because we will always hold a flame under the issues and not let anyone off the hook. That’s often what it takes in these spaces. Coastal elitism is quite real and it’s easy to tokenize without doing real work. I hope that I’m able to effectively bridge those two cultures, but at the same time I consider it a great obligation and responsibility.

HAND: Do you believe there is a “secret sauce” to providing both affordable and culturally relevant housing on tribal lands? What do you think is the most significant obstacle?
EI: Well, every housing development on tribal lands should start with the tribe themselves. If not the elected tribal council, then the housing authority they have appointed in their place. This is probably the clearest path to an affordable housing development that’s culturally relevant: by stepping aside to allow leaders from the community make decisions and direct priorities. Tribes are the most likely to be their own developers on their own lands, but even in cases of partnership with another developer, its not only respectful to defer to the tribe, but often they will have access to additional funding or be able to expedite approvals that make the project’s success possible. That leads me to the obstacle, though, because Native tribes are overburdened with many obligations and staff capacity is constantly an issue. Of course, these issues are quite complex and its difficult to make generalizations about all the different circumstances, but I think bringing more resources and assistance to a tribe-directed project is really the secret sauce.

HAND: Last month, in an article you reflected on how the Native American Housing and Self-Determination Act (NAHASDA) has transformed the landscape of Indian Country. Can you discuss the recent movement to reauthorize NAHASDA in both the House Financial Services Committee and Senate, and how the affordable housing community can continue to support the NAHASDA for the next 25 years?
EI: Reauthorizing NAHASDA and funding it in full is absolutely critical. Without authorization, there is nothing holding Congress accountable to funding the program each year, despite the over 40,000 single family and 25,000 rental homes developed over the last 25 years that prove how effective the legislation is. Reauthorization bills would also move the Tribal HUD-VASH program out of demonstration, and restructure HUD to better prioritize Native Housing. There has been legislation introduced to reauthorize NAHASDA in every Congress since it expired in 2013, and this year there is movement in both the House and Senate, but I don’t think it will ever come to fruition without pressure from advocacy organizations.

I’m optimistic to see that NAHASDA was funded at $875 million this last round of appropriations, which is the highest it has ever been. At the same time, if we consider inflation over the years, this still does not set up the program with the same resources it had in the first year of its existence. Now the cost burden of homeownership is rising, the population of Native Americans are rising, and the cost of construction materials post-2020 are rising. Every policy actor who works in the affordable housing space should be applying pressure to our legislators to prioritize NAHASDA.

HAND: Enterprise Community Partners recently completed the first Native Homeownership Learning Communities Cohort (NHLCC). What are some of the lessons learned from this?
EI: While I didn’t get the chance to work with the cohort while it was ongoing, I was really optimistic about what I saw in the Impact Report, which I helped put together. Enterprise’s team has really built up their expertise in homeownership in Indian Country over the years, through the Enhancing and Implementing Native Homeownership curriculum. What was different about NHLCC was that it was not geared just towards one tribe’s homeownership program but worked with 18 different groups for over a year. I think participants really valued the peer-learning component and the chance to learn from more experienced tribes as opposed to disengaged federal agencies. There was also a unique emphasis on collaboration with CDFIs, and groups expressed that they learned more about each other through NHLCC than working together on the same reservation for years. I would recommend checking out the Impact Report for more information, which also includes a profile of each tribal housing organization’s accomplishments over the cohort period.

HAND: What are you most looking forward to at the Rural and Native American Program over the coming months? Are there any projects or programs you are particularly excited about?
EI: I just mentioned Enterprise’s expertise in tribal homeownership, but I’m really looking forward to being a part of expanding our Native expertise into multi-family and rental as well. Enterprise is authoring a Native Developers Guide which will assist developers of multi-family and rental homes on Native land. It’s going to be comprehensive and include every stage of development so that TDHEs, Housing Authorities, and Non-profits have all the information they need in one place. At the same time, I’m excited to make this about more than just one publication and to hopefully have a hands-on, collaborative approach to making sure this is a useable and useful document for tribes.

Enterprise has a lot more on the horizon as well, and our team is continuing to educate the organization as a whole on working with tribes, including through a new Native American Advisory Council that’s forming with other Native nonprofits. We’re also expanding out of the lower 48 with new work in Alaska and Hawaii, so stay tuned!

HAND: We want to help support the continuing of this work beyond November, so what advice would you give someone who doesn’t know where to start and is seeking to make an impact? On the other end of the spectrum, what are some next steps for someone looking to advance the work they’re already doing work in this space
EI: First, you have to know your history, especially working in Native spaces. That doesn’t mean just the history of genocide and displacement, but also the legal history. The law is a living and breathing entity, and Indian Law has a number of complicated twists and turns in the fight for recognition of tribal sovereignty—several of these are covered in this blog post by my colleague Dustin Baird.

Then, its important to make change in your organization so that that history is recognized today. Land acknowledgements are a good way to start doing that, because it sets the intentions of any given meeting to focus on the land, its original inhabitants that still to this day consider it sacred, and our obligations to be good stewards to that land and to each other.

Finally, my advice to anyone currently working with Native communities: if you’ve been to one reservation, you have been to one reservation. Every Native Nation has their own land, treaty, history, culture, and government, and no two are the same. Make no assumptions, stay humble, and show up consistently. We need more of you.

DC Green Buildings: The 2021 Market Leaderboards

November 2, 2021
November 2, 2021

Building Innovation Hub Released its 2021 Market Leaderboards 

Lowering building energy use is a key component to meeting local and global climate action goals. DC’s housing development community has produced some of the country’s most sustainable buildings and continues to model what’s possible. With support from Yardi Matrix, the Building Innovation Hub (Hub) took publically available benchmarking data and information from private industry to identify which buildings and companies lead in performance based on their ENERGY STAR score. The Hub’s team used that data to create the 2021 Market Leaderboards and identified the top 10 performers in each of the following categories: Top Office Buildings Overall, Top Office Buildings Class B & C Office, Top Office Buildings Built Prior to 1970, Top Office Buildings Larger than 400,000 Square Feet, and Top Multifamily Residential Buildings.

The full 2021 Market Leaderboards are now public at www.buildinginnovationhub.org/local-leaders/market-leaderboards. All the data is from 2020 and this information will be updated annually or as required.  It is an accomplishment to be recognized for being a contributor in helping the District’s buildings lead the way in improving their building energy use and reducing associated emissions. Congratulation to the HAND members who were recognized by HUB for having the highest performing buildings in DC:

  • Bozzuto Group
  • JBG Smith Properties

For additional details, view Hub’s press release. To view an interactive map of all buildings in the District’s benchmarking program, visit EnergyBenchmarkingDC.org. An array of additional benchmarking resources for property owners and operators is available on the Hub website at www.buildinginnovationhub.org

Five Minutes With EagleBank

September 27, 2021
September 27, 2021


Pictured:Rich Devaney and Dara Koller 

The HAND network is hard at work to address the growing housing affordability challenge across the Capital Region. Five Minutes With is a series highlighting these members and other stakeholders. This informal conversation delves into their recent projects, the affordable housing industry, and more. In the latest edition, we have a conversation with EagleBank‘s Rich Devaney, Senior Vice President and Dara Koller, SVP & Deputy Director. They chatted with us about their extensive experience in the affordable housing and community development industry and how they landed in this space. Rich highlights past challenges, lessons learned, and his advice to emerging leaders seeking to make an impact. Dara shares key takeaways from her experience, what she is bringing into her new role, and other her interest outside of affordable housing. Check out our dialogue below:

HAND: Both of you have extensive experience in the affordable housing and community development industry  – Can you tell us about your professional journey and how you landed in this space?
DK: I have 20 years of industry experience, working in leadership roles at Freddie Mac and agency lenders supporting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac multifamily executions, primarily focused on affordable rental housing executions for both agencies, including new construction and preservation of affordable rental housing properties.  While at Freddie Mac, I was also involved in the development and roll-out of  a few new products supporting the affordable rental housing industry as well.  When I first began working on affordable rental housing transactions, it was not the most well understood or popular asset type in the industry compared to market rate rental housing, but I always believed it was extremely important and I was excited to be part of an industry focused on solving the growing need for affordable rental housing in the U.S.  
RD:  I began my career just after the passing of the CRA legislation and immediately prior to LIHTC legislation being rolled out, working with and for some of the most respected and innovative industry icons in the DC market.  It was an exciting time, fusing the tension between regulatory pressure in the banking industry and innovation and expansion of and in the community development and non-profit sector intent on increasing its impact in significantly underserved neighborhoods.  My focus and vision was grounded in building high-impact community development and affordable housing businesses within and with large institutions (Bank of America, Fannie Mae, top 5 Life Companies) under the rubric of profitability, sustainability and scalability.  My experiences took me through the capital stack and from neighborhoods to national presence.  Throughout, my greatest experience to date was setting up this FHA business within EagleBank, coupling the best of financial strength, innovation and flexibility in its ability to deliver capital within the community it serves. 

HAND: Rich, you launched EagleBank’s FHA Multifamily Lending Division in 2015, in addition to several other investment initiatives for the bank. Can you tell us about one of your largest challenges over the past six years and what you have learned?
RD: Our FHA Multifamily business is a product line that falls squarely within the Bank’s commercial real estate span of lending.  As such, our task was to integrate this business in a collaborative way, not competitive, with the balance sheet lending activity, getting the buy-in from the line lenders and alignment in goals and objectives…..”Enlightened self-interest”.  Having set up multiple businesses over my 35- year career, this one presented unique challenges, including how to integrate.  It took a solid 3 years of repetition, “proving the thesis” and trust building to get to the point where the value chain is clear and tangible.  Presently, every single transaction within the FHA pipeline will touch the Commercial Real Estate balance sheet.  Lesson learned was that you can get buy-in strategically at the highest level, but you must get buy-in tactically where the rubber hits the road with the people who make the business happen. 

HAND: Dara, you are fairly new to the bank – what key takeaway(s) from your experience thus far are you bringing into your new role?
DK:

  • There is a continuing need for safe, decent affordable rental housing and supportive services in our local communities and EagleBank has made a significant contribution to the growth across the Washington D.C. market and in communities throughout the Mid-Atlantic over the last 20 years. EagleBank continues to play an important role in financing affordable multifamily rental housing, which has helped build and maintain safe and economically stable communities which significantly improve the quality of life for its residents. 
  • We have a tremendous opportunity to continue to make a contribution to the local community to provide much needed affordable rental housing through our deep relationships with affordable housing developers and investors, as well as EagleBank’s FHA multifamily business, which allows us to do business anywhere in the U.S. We are a community bank, with national capabilities with our FHA multifamily licenses.  I think that is a powerful combination.
  • My strong affordable housing and multifamily experience will augment EagleBank’s growing FHA multifamily business. In this new role, I will be dedicated to FHA loan originations, business development as well as serving as a resource for the Bank’s focused efforts on affordable rental housing. 

HAND: Rich, do you believe there is a “secret sauce” to addressing housing affordability and creating more equitable communities in our region? If so, what do you think that is? What do you think is the largest obstacle?
RD: I believe the private financing vehicles and resources are readily accessible and in sufficient amounts to have great impact.  There needs to be, and always has been, focus on equity in the delivery and availability of affordable housing.  One of my greatest mentors emblazoned in my mind “you are what you measure”, so to solve issues related to equity, we need goals, transparency and accountability….period!  My perspective is that the largest obstacles in the production of affordable housing are the public entitlement process, zoning, planning, and permitting.  Some municipalities have processes that take up to 3-5 years which infuses risk, uncertainty and viability to the process. 

HANDRich, what advice would you give to emerging leaders who are seeking to make an impact in this space?
RD: Be flexible – issues are rarely binary choices, every situation is a learning experience – accept set-backs as a gift and surround yourself with diversity – holistically.

HAND: Rich and Dara, what are you most looking forward to over the coming months at EagleBank? Are there any projects or programs that you are particularly excited about?
RD & DK: Furthering the synergies within the Bank, our investment in the Washington Housing Initiative and further coupling our balance sheet and FHA business. 

The FHA Multifamily Group is an emerging contributor to the strategic goals and objectives of the CRE Group and EagleBank. 

EagleBank financed a handful of key affordable housing projects in the Washington D.C market including:

  • More than $81 million in financing to support a key affordable housing project in Bethesda MD, which includes 401 multifamily housing units situated on five separate land parcels.
  • Phase I of Addison Row Apartments, Capital Heights, MD a planned community consisting of a 321 unit multifamily building. The project is currently in lease-up. The community caters to workforce housing needs and in addition to affordability, offers large unit sizes compared to new construction in Washington, D.C. Phase II will add 327 units. 
  • A construction loan used in conjunction with 4% LIHTC to rehabilitate a 60 unit LIHTC affordable community located in the Barry Farms neighborhood of Southeast Washington, DC. After completion, a HUD FHA Section 223(f) refinance application to exit the bank construction loan.
  • A $50 million construction loan for a to-be-built low income housing project above retail space located in the Capital Hill area of Washington, DC. The project will utilize 4% LIHTC and a long-term rental subsidy contract with the DCHFA.
  • EagleBank is currently working on a few notable affordable housing transactions, including the renovation and recapitalization of a project-based Section 8 property located in the Anacostia neighborhood in Southeast Washington DC utilizing 4% LIHTC.

HAND: Rich and Dara, if you weren’t working in this space, what might you be doing?
DK:  I have always been interested in architecture and design, focused on creating and transforming spaces to meet the needs of a building’s occupants and looking for solutions to present and future issues, such as climate change.  Incorporating sustainable and green building design in construction projects is increasingly important to reduce the carbon footprint and use our energy and water resources more efficiently.
RD: I have been consistent in responding to this question when asked over the past 30 years.  I would be dedicating 100% of my time working in programs that focus on disadvantaged youth, focusing on education and financial literacy.  To me, one of the biggest gaps we have racially and socio-economically is knowledge of and access to financial tools, products and services. 

Five Minutes With Suman Sorg

September 27, 2021
September 27, 2021

The HAND network is hard at work to address the growing housing affordability challenge across the Capital Region. Five Minutes With is a series highlighting these members and other stakeholders. This informal conversation delves into their recent projects, the affordable housing industry, and more. In the latest edition, we have a conversation with Suman Sorg, Founder of A Complete Unknown. Sorg chatted with us about her extensive experience in the architecture and design space and her journey to this point. She tells us the origin and explains why she starting A Complete Unknown. She highlights what separates A Complete Unknown from other architecture firms. Check out our dialogue below:

HAND: You have extensive experience in the architecture and design space – can you tell us about your journey to this point?
SS: For over 26 years I grew my first firm, Sorg Architects, into one of the largest woman-owned architectural firms before its acquisition. During that time I was fortunate to have worked on projects in over 30 countries and was recognized with Fellowship in the American Institute of Architects (AIA). However, when I looked back the most meaningful work that I completed during that time were those that made the most impact on its occupants and the surrounding community. With this realization, I have now channeled my energies into this new non-profit design firm A Complete Unknown.

HAND: Tell us about how A Complete Unknown came to be. What prompted you to start this firm?
SS: With my previous firm, I did a lot of work in underserved communities or for people in need. They weren’t the largest or most glamorous buildings or the ones that made the most money but are the ones that I carry in my heart the most.

When we finished the John & Jill Ker Conway Residences in Washington, D.C., 120-units of permanent supportive housing, I was so touched by meeting the people who moved in and hearing about the impact that having this kind of housing has had on their lives. In fact, the first person to moved into the building was a guitarist in Elvis Presley’s band. After Elvis died, this gentleman joined the army and served in Vietnam. Hooked on heroin, and unable to connect with family, he landed in Washington DC after the war and was homeless ever since. At a computer room in the building, donated in part by my own family foundation which helps residents acquire basic computer skills, the staff was able to help locate his family. The joy on his face to learn that his sister lived just a few blocks away, was indescribable.

Now I want to only do buildings like these and serve communities, people, and nature in need.

HAND: What excites you about your work over the next year? Do you foresee any challenges?
SS: With A Complete Unknown, we hope to make an impact on a wide range of disadvantaged communities focusing on affordable and housing for the unhoused. There is an awareness now, that has been building for quite some time, actually, that empathetic architecture should be the norm. It’s not just what we design but how It impacts the surrounding communities, nature, and animals. The exciting part is seeing how other partners like developers or engineers are also understanding this and more importantly wanting to address this.

As for any challenges, It’s been clear to me in the first 7 months since we officially launched that there is a demand for the type of work we do. However, the big question is how can we get in front of the people who are doing this work such as non-profit developers and community leaders? If we can do that well, we can show them that we are here and are able to help you, right now.

HAND: What factor separates A Complete Unknown from other architecture firms?
SS: As a non-profit Architecture firm, we are driven by our mission which is making a difference through architecture and design in underserved communities worldwide. Therefore, the emphasis we place on equity and social justice is a critical part of what we do. We believe that good design should be accessible to all. Also, being a 501(c)3 organization we are able to pursue grants and to support our client’s philanthropic goals. Our services are offered at a discounted rate depending on the project, thus reducing the soft costs of development and helping more of these projects come to fruition.

HAND: What is one thing you wish you would have known at the beginning of your career?
SS: The act of designing and building is a long process so the relationship between a designer and client is like a marriage. You want a good partner who is going to trust you, have a good dialogue, and you can work with for a long time. We would like to get into a relationship like this with someone who matches our ethos, goals, and mission. It didn’t take me long to figure this out, but it’s especially true when working on projects where the economics are tight like affordable and housing for the homeless.

HAND: What do you think is the largest hurdle when it comes to designing spaces for underserved populations?
SS: Under-represented populations are often overlooked in a variety of ways and so there is often a lack of funding or commitment to these types of developments. When they do get funded they still tend to be underfunded for what needs to be built. This leads to buildings of lesser quality, with compromised programs and less durability. Also, these developments tend not to address the bigger picture. For example, truancy, literacy, and obesity are all issues that affect underserved communities disproportionately but are not addressed as regularly. These are the things that we also consider in every project that we take on.

HAND: What is your “why”? What keeps you motivated to continue your work in this space?
SS: In architecture school, I never heard about love, compassion, or empathy in our coursework. There is so much opportunity in the collaboration of architects, social workers, and volunteers and we need to promote listening, unselfconscious doing, and modesty in the profession. There is arguably no better sector to work with this perspective than in affordable and housing for the homeless. Being able to work collaboratively about how buildings fit within the context of the community and more importantly how they can serve those in need. That’s how we can make a difference.

With a design approach that is infused with the basic tenets of humanity, such as compassion, love and a pledge to nonviolence towards all – humans, animals and nature; we are searching for an architecture beyond one that does no harm or even withstands harm to one that can undo the harm. In this endeavor I happily find that the outcome and the path to it are both a complete unknown.

HAND: If you weren’t working in this industry, what might you be doing?
SS: Long before I became an architect my grandmother would say she thought I would be a doctor. I liked the idea as I would be doing something that helped people. But when my father met Louis Khan in Ahmedabad while working on the Management Institute and later Corbusier in Chandigarh, he suggested I look into architecture as a major in college. I did, and my artistic side fell in love. Without that guidance, I probably would have become a doctor. I have also painted for many years, so likely I would also be doing more of that.

 

Congratulations HAND Members | New Market Tax Credit Program Award Recipients

September 13, 2021
September 13, 2021

 A lack of investments, an unstimulated economy, and inadequate access to healthy foods, education and healthcare is not an unfamiliar reality of low-income communities. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) created the New Market Tax Credit Program (NMTC Program) to reinvigorate struggling local economies of low-income communities by breaking the cycle of disinvestment. The NMTC Program accomplishes its goal by permitting investors to receive a tax credit against their federal income tax in exchange for making equity investments in specialized financial intermediaries called Community Development Entities. The credit totals 39 percent of the original investment amount and is claimed over a period of seven years. The CDFI Fund recently announced those awarded the 2020 NMTC allocation. We are excited to uplift and congratulate our members who have received this award:

  • Capital Impact Partners
  • Corporation for Supportive Housing
  • Enterprise 
  • Local Initiatives Support Corporation
  • Low Income Investment Fund
  • PNC Community Partners
  • Reinvestment Fund, Inc.
  • The Community Builders

For more information, please see the NMTC Program Fact Sheet (English / Español). A detailed overview of the NMTC Program, including information on eligible activities, can also be found in the Introduction to the NMTC Program presentation.

 

 

 

Congratulations HAND Members

July 29, 2021
July 29, 2021

AHF’s 2021 Readers’ Choice Awards Finalists

Thirty-six developments have been named AHF’s 2021 Readers’ Choice Awards Finalists. Each development was completed during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 or 2021 and built for families, seniors, homeless people, and people with special needs. With over 20 HAND Members represented in at least one of the finalist developments, HAND is proud to highlight our members who have contributed to the development of those projects. Check out the full listing developments here.

  • AGM Financial Services | Marshall Gardens
  • Bank of America | Carson Arts & St.Paul’s Commons
  • Boston Financial Investment Management | Riverside Lofts
  • Capital One | Hope Manor Village & Spark at Midtown
  • Citi Community Capital |  Baychester-Murphy Nycha Preservation, Royal Cambridge Homes, Abrams Hall Senior at the Park at Walter Reed & Leigh Avenue Senior Apartments
  • U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development | Milwaukee Soldiers Home, Parkwood Commons, Royal Cambridge Homes, Toka Hanam Ke:k, Heroes Landing & Mason Place 
  • DC DHCD | Abrams Hall Senior at the Park at Walter Reed
  • Enterprise Community Development | The Rosa and The Van Devyver 
  • Fulton Bank | Beach Run Apartments
  • Grimm + Parker Architects | Abrams Hall Senior at the Park at Walter Reed & The Rosa and The Van Devyver 
  • Harkins Builders | The Rosa and The Van Devyver
  • JPMorgan Chase | The Eastman Reserve & Nohona Hale
  • KeyBank | Lyman Terrace, Phase 2, Preservation Crossing & Jason Gwilt Memorial Senior Apartments 
  • Local Initiatives Support Corporation | Milwaukee Soldiers Home & Hope Manor Village 
  • Low Income Investment Fund | Marshall Gardens & Leigh Avenue Senior Apartments
  • Maryland DHCD | Marshall Gardens
  • McCormack Baron Salazar | Dayton Arcade
  • National Equity Fund | The Eastman Reserve, Milwaukee Soldiers Home, Parkwood Commons, Mason Place, New Hope Housing Dale Carnegie & Hope Manor Village 
  • New Hope Housing | New Hope Housing Dale Carnegie
  • TD Bank | Abrams Hall Senior at the Park at Walter Reed
  • The Community Builders | Marshall Gardens Project & Lyman Terrace, Phase 2
  • The Michaels Organization | 4400 Grove
  • Truist | Beach Run Apartments, Abrams Hall Senior at the Park at Walter Reed & The Rosa and The Van Devyver 
  • Virginia Housing | The Rosa and The Van Devyver 
  • Volunteers of America | Hope Manor Village 
  • Wells Fargo | Spark at Midtown 

If you are an AHF magazine and newsletter subscriber then you can vote for the winners beginning on August 2nd until August 20th. The winners will be recognized at AHF Live: The 2021 Affordable Housing Developers Summit, on November 15-17, 2021 in Chicago.

Five Minutes with Professor Anthony Cook

April 6, 2021
April 6, 2021

 

The HAND network is hard at work to address the growing housing affordability challenge across the Capital Region. Five Minutes With is a series highlighting these members and other stakeholders. This informal conversation delves into their recent projects, the affordable housing industry, and more. In the latest edition, we have a conversation with Georgetown University’s Law Professor Anthony Cook. Cook chatted with us about his journey and how he landed in the community development industry. He explains the origin story of GateBridge, his forthcoming affordable housing community that will provide opportunities for renters to become homeowners and workers to become business owners. He highlights what sets GateBridge apart from other communities. Check out our dialogue below:

HAND: Tell us a bit about your journey. You have a really interesting story and extensive experience in a number of fields – can you speak to how you landed in the community development industry?
AC:I was born in the small rural community of Magnolia, MS.  It was a community of mutual aid associations and relationships that had the church at its core. While none of us called it this at the time, I later came to understand it was, in fact, a community of residents engaged in a practice of community development: building and renovating each others’ houses; borrowing tools and lending expertise and assistance on a wide range of endeavors – from homestead repairs to quilting and canning vegetables, from growing crops, slaughtering hogs, and sharing with those in need to co-parenting and providing employment and enrichment opportunities for children. On the other hand, it was Mississippi, and one of my earliest childhood memories was of a cross being burned across the road in the churchyard – one of many threats against Black churches and communities involved in the civil rights movement and demanding the right to vote and equal rights.  The community came together in many different ways to protect itself against domestic terrorists who intended to undermine democracy and harm our community.  It was a tumultuous time, as are the times in which we live today, but growing up in that community taught me the importance of simultaneously building community through what we now call placemaking and establishing the necessary preconditions for communities and individuals to flourish. These were the laws, policies, structures, and systems that impacted life and opportunities within our communitySo, in many ways, community development, a very rich and textured understanding of the term, is part of my DNA, and I have Magnolia, Mississippi to thank for that.

HAND: Let’s talk about GateBridge. How did it come about?
AC: As a Georgetown law professor, I’ve practiced and taught in the field of community development and affordable housing for many years. I understand the limitations and often contradictory policies around affordable housing for low-income and workforce populations. This work has led me to believe that building more affordable units is a necessary but insufficient solution to our present crisis in affordable housing, particularly as a tool for fighting poverty.  The crisis facing under and disinvested communities are complex and intertwined. Poverty is highly racialized, place-based, genderedand age-concentrated.  These populations need quality housing in a stable and secure environment that furthers health and wellbeing, access to nutritious food, living wage jobs, and home and business ownership opportunities.  All of these are interrelated parts of a larger problem sitting at the intersection of poverty and longstanding structural and systemic racism.  In the future, affordable housing solutions will need to anchor affordable developments with the kind of robust placemaking that expands the capacity of residents and community to tackle these interrelated problems.  GateBridge is a vision of how this can be accomplished – affordable residential units anchored by an incubator for placemaking and the kind of cooperative and community enterprise development needed to build the entrepreneurial capacity of residents to find solutions to problems confronted by their communities.  It was this kind of rich and intentional placemaking and economic ecosystem that made it possible for a kid like me to thrive, despite growing up poor in one of the poorest states in the country.  I believe these communities can do the same for others. 

HAND: What sets GateBridge apart from other communities?
SK: GateBridge is a community of change-makers.  It promotes multifamily limited-equity cooperatives anchored by an incubator for cooperative and other community businesses.  GateBridgebuilds resident and community wealth by providing an opportunity for renters to become homeowners and workers to become business owners.

HAND: What excites you about this community? What challenges do you foresee?
AC: GateBridge Communities center placemaking as an indispensable tool for impacting under and disinvested communities.  Only by building the capacities of residents to plan and execute their own community development can initiatives become sustainable. Sustainability is crucial to any long-term effort to reform structures, systems, and practices in place for generations. The primary challenge for GateBridge is building its balance sheet and finding balance sheet partners that can help expand our capacity to build a portfolio of GateBridge communities in the DMV and region. 

HAND: What is one thing you wish you would have known at the beginning of your career?
AC: I wish I had appreciated then, as I do now, the vital need for legislative reforms in this space.  In many ways, the system creating affordable housing shortages and our present crisis is designed to do exactly what it is doing.  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing the same way and expecting a different result.  Innovations in the market are possible around the edges, and GateBridge stretches the existing system to its limits, but to scale GateBridge-like innovations requires a different system of financing affordable housing. It requires recalibrating priorities around brick and mortar development on the one hand and human development on the other.  Like GateBridge, the human development component can no longer be an afterthought.  It must be an integral part of development, built into the capital stack and funded with the precision and care of the building itself. 

HAND: As someone who took somewhat of an untraditional route into community development, what do you think is the largest hurdle when it comes to creating and preserving affordable housing across our region?
AC: Access to low cost and less extractive capital is essential.  Federal funding programs like LIHTC make the construction and preservation of affordable housing much more complicated than it needs to be, largely because financing structures based around tax credit incentives serve the interests of an investor class over those of local communities.  Low-interest federal loans channeled through community financial institutions to vetted and approved local developers, preferably those with a strong track record in the community, should cover ninety percent and more of the total cost of qualifying developments.  Revising affordable housing financing structures would go a long way in meeting the demand for affordable and secure housing.  Furthermore, there should be pathways to at least limited equity ownership for residents of multifamily units.  

HAND: What is your “why”? What keeps you motivated to continue your work in this space? 
AC: Many BIPOC communities have been devastated by a long history of policies originating beyond their communities: urban renewal, investment in suburban growth and the disinvestment in urban centers, redlining, gentrification, and inefficient neo-liberal, supplyside tax credit programs that have benefitted those not residing in under and disinvested communities more than it has benefited those within the communities. The pendulum must swing back in the direction of community-generated affordable housing anchored by the kind of placemaking and community wealth building envisioned by a GateBridge Community. 

HAND: Do you believe there is a “secret sauce” to addressing housing affordability? If so, what do you think that is?
AC: Community-based access to long-term, low-cost, debt financing that covers at least ninety percent of the costs of producing affordable housing, along with funding for metrics-driven, evidence-based human development supports that improve residents’ quality of life and helps move them to greater self-sufficiency. 

HAND: What is one thing most people don’t know about you? Do you have any hidden talents?
AC: I love traveling, fine dining, music, and stimulating conversation around visionary ideas and the nitty-gritty of bringing them to life.

VCDC Mission Elevation Program

March 24, 2021
March 24, 2021

 

It has been a challenging time for housing and community development nonprofits as demand for our work has increased, but resources have diminished. However, now more than ever, we know that a safe, affordable home is an important foundation for any individual or family – and our work must continue as our communities are relying on us. Here to help your nonprofit thrive is the Virginia Community Development Corporation (VCDC)’s Mission Elevation program. The year – long program brings together a cohort of like- minded organizations and provides access to custom mentoring & tools to help your nonprofit strategically face the top challenge impeding mission & impact in the communities you serve.

Learn more and apply today (applications are accepted on a rolling basis until a cohort is formed):

http://www.vibrantcommunities.us/resource/mission-elevation-program

 

Five Minutes with Scott Kline

March 18, 2021
March 18, 2021


Scott Kline (President & CEO)

The HAND network is hard at work to address the growing housing affordability challenge across the Capital Region. Five Minutes With is a series highlighting these members and other stakeholders. This informal conversation delves into their recent projects, the affordable housing industry, and more. In the latest edition, we have a conversation with Stratis’ Scott Kline (President & CEO). Kline chatted with us about his extensive work experience in the housing and community development industry. He also highlighted the challenges he foresees for himself as he begins a new chapter of his career. Check out our dialogue below:

HAND: You have extensive experience in the housing/community development industry – can you tell us about your journey to this point?
SK: Sure!  My dad was a small developer down in southern Virginia. Growing up I frequently worked for him on weekends and over summers.  I really enjoyed the real estate development process – starting with nothing (new construction) or a mess (renovation) and transforming it into something new and beautiful.  With the combination of so many disciplines: architecture, construction, law, finance, asset management – it never got boring.  And the smell of construction!!!  When I graduated from college, I knew I wanted to work in the development business in the DC metropolitan area, which proved more difficult than expected.  I started working for a builder of new homes as an accountant, in hopes that I would be able to progress into actual development.  After two years, I realized that was a dead end.  From there I worked as an investment analyst for another large developer, until the Tax Reform Act of 1986 put them out of business and I was without a job.  It was then that I saw an advertisement for a position with responsibilities that included: negotiating for the acquisition of projects, developing scopes of work and financing plans, and project management.  It was for a “nonprofit” organization called AHC  formally known as Arlington Housing Corporation.  Candidly, I didn’t know what a nonprofit developer was, but the job sounded perfect.  The rest is history as they say.  I was hired by John Spencer, the founder of HAND, and I fell in love with mission-oriented real estate development.  I traveled to meetings with John when HAND was first established.  At that time, there was no annual meeting.  We met up with 5 or 6 nonprofits every few months, ate our brown bag lunches, and had informal discussions about the industry and our challenges.  HAND grew from there.  Eventually, when HAND achieved sufficient mass that an Executive Director was hired, I joined the Board and ultimately became the first President that was not John Spencer.  It was a tremendous experience. When John left AHC, I became the Director of Multifamily and coordinated all facets of real estate development, and oversaw asset management.

After eight years at AHC, I joined the National Housing Trust as Vice President. NHT was comprised of three of us at the time, and when I left after more than 23 years, there were 30 employees. Initially,  I worked on policy, development consulting, and assisted with running the organization.  In the year 2000, we started a separate affiliated 501(c)(3) corporation to develop and preserve affordable housing – NHT Communities formally known as NHT Enterprise Preservation Corporation. Added to my responsibilities was establishing and running NHT Communities. The work was similar to what I had done at AHC.  I gained the experience of developing affordable housing all over the country working with a variety of state and local governments. I’m proud of the accomplishments while I was there which included the preservation of more than 8,500 affordable units and incorporated $1 billion of financing.

Also at NHT, I established a separate affiliate energy company that focused on providing sustainable retrofits to existing affordable housing.  Most notably, we developed solar arrays which in total created 11,500 KW of electricity with financial benefits accruing to households of low- and moderate-income families and seniors.

HAND: Tell us about your newest chapter with Stratis. What excites you about your new firm? Do you foresee any challenges?
SK: For the first time in a long time, I’m not responsible for managing the organization, making payroll, and setting office policies that impact the lives of so many.  That’s a relief.  I’m excited about channeling that energy into more project work. I’m also excited about sharing my knowledge and ideas with others.  I’ve always enjoyed teaching. At the same time, I’m still learning.  There is nothing “cookie-cutter” about affordable housing development.  Every project is different and every developer has their own means, methods, and decision-making processes. I’m finding it fascinating to learn about new ways of approaching projects, different financing schemes, and different ways to run a development organization.

I do foresee challenges.  Mostly, I’m used to being the decision-maker.  As a consultant, I advise, providing the best counsel that I can.  But ultimately, decisions are made by my clients.  That takes some getting used to.

One thing I miss is the residents.  At AHC and NHT, I had a fair share of interactions with tenants.  That was informative and rewarding.  I don’t foresee having those kinds of relationships as a consultant.

HAND: What factor separates Stratis from other similar consulting firms?
SK: Me.  I have experience with a variety of financial executions.  In addition to low-income housing tax credits, tax-exempt bonds, multiple credit enhancements, and soft financing from state and local entities, I’ve worked on equity structures that do not involve tax credits, and utilized several HUD programs,  some of which allow for significant changes in rents.  Additionally, I’ve run an affordable housing development organization, so I’m familiar with the types of considerations and issues with which real estate developers are concerned.  In running that organization, I was responsible for all facets of the development, operations, and organizational management.  So regardless of my consulting assignment, I’m not approaching projects simply from the perspective of finance, and getting to a closing.  I’m conscious of other organizational considerations like predevelopment risk, sustainability, asset management, and resident services. 

HAND: What is one thing you wish you would have known at the beginning of your career?
SKThe business of creating affordable housing lacks the structure that is incorporated in some other careers.  For example, accountants receive ongoing training regarding their trade and to some extent, they do task A, then B, then C depending on the engagement.  While the complexity of the work certainly varies, there is some level of structure and predictable progression of the work.  Affordable housing development is anything but.  I’ve worked on projects that take 3 years from start to finish. I’ve worked on projects that take 12 years from start to finish.  Some involve intense local government participation, some involve virtually none.  Some involve intense resident participation, some involve none.  Some involve zoning issues and related processes which vary from one jurisdiction to another.   There isn’t a model or a template.  There isn’t a real estate development checklist that applies to every project.  I wish I had known at the beginning of my career that I would be teaching myself a process and that it would vary greatly from one project to another.  And further, that there is no one right way to do it.  If you provide the housing and turn a profit, you did it one of the right ways, and hopefully, you learn what you might have done differently that would have enhanced the outcome and maybe, just maybe, that knowledge will be beneficial on another project.

HAND: What do you think is the largest hurdle when it comes to creating and preserving affordable housing across our region?
SKBesides money?  More money.

HAND: What is your “why”? What keeps you motivated to continue your work in this space?
SKThe people we serve.  As noted above, I’ve had a fair amount of interaction over the years with the residents our industry serves —  families, elderly, supportive service recipients, homeless.  Their incomes have ranged from zero to low income to moderate-income to market rate.  I remember so many faces of low and very low-income residents as we celebrated their new homes.  The work is hard but at the end of the day, I’ve contributed to improving the quality of life for some individuals, and maybe even given them a platform to move up and create some wealth.

HAND: Do you believe there is a “secret sauce” to addressing housing affordability? If so, what do you think that is?
SK:Absolutely not.  As noted above, there’s not cookie cutter approach to this work.  Every project is different and there’s not one single model for developing and presering affordable housing.

HAND: If you weren’t working in this space, what might you be doing?
SKHonestly I have no idea.  It’s a question that I’ve pondered.  But I really can’t picture myself doing anything else but this.