Ron Causey (CEO), Travis Daniel (Director)

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 SC&H Group‘s Ron Causey (CEO) and Travis Daniel (Director). Causey & Daniel chat with us about the launch of the firm’s Affordable Housing Real Estate Service, which welcomed several team members from Hertzbach & Co. Check out our dialogue below:

HAND: A number of team members from Hertzbach & Co. have joined SC&H Group, launching an affordable housing real estate service at that firm. Can you share more details about this exciting move?
TD: Yes, we are very excited that our entire affordable housing real estate team joined SC&H Group. SC&H is a well-respected firm, and a great fit for our team and our clients – not only with respect to the diversity in services offered but also the company culture. The leadership of this group includes Andrea Hartman, Jeff Kleeman, Debbie Norris and me. Our group will be based in Sparks, MD.
RC: I’ll certainly echo Travis’ sentiments, and add that we are always looking toward the future, identifying new ways to expand our expertise to meet client needs, and reach new clients. In this case, it meant the opportunity to bring in many new team members that deepen our expertise in real estate and development tax issues and broaden our services to this industry. It was a no-brainer for us.

HAND: What is the affordable housing real estate team bring to the SC&H family? What can clients expect in the coming weeks and months?
TD: Our group encompasses a full-service team of tax, assurance and consulting professionals which focus on affordable housing. We have experience with all aspects of a project’s life cycle from pre-construction to exit strategies. We are very excited about the impact this will provide to bolster SC&H’s existing real estate capabilities. Our goal as a result of this transition was to continue to service our clients in the same manner but also expand our service offerings to our clients. With our move to SC&H Group we feel we will be able to meet this goal. Clients should expect to receive the same high level of service with the same group of professionals that have serviced their accounts for years.
RC: At SC&H, we are keenly focused on how we are serving our clients, colleagues, and communities. After spending time with Travis and the team and understanding their vision and values, we knew we were a perfect match. We are excited to welcome a new group of clients to the SC&H family that will continue to be led by a very talented group of professionals that is intimately in touch with their businesses and needs.

HAND: Can you tell us about your professional journey and how you landed in the affordable housing space?
TD: My professional experience started in the tax group at Hertzbach & Co. In that role I worked with many of the firm’s affordable housing clients. As our affordable housing client base grew it allowed me to spend 100% of my time in this space. I enjoyed the complexity of the industry and helping our developer clients meet this critical need.

HAND: What are you most looking forward to over the coming months?
TD: This transition was a long time in the making. I am looking forward to serving our clients from our new platform at SC&H Group and looking forward to expanding our group with several new team members. From a personal standpoint, I was at Hertzbach & Co. for 20 years and built many long-lasting friendships, and I hope to continue this relationship-building from my new home at SC&H. Thus far, everyone has been very welcoming and helpful. From day one, we knew we made the right choice.
RC: This was one of the most attractive parts of this opportunity for us – the ability to bring in folks that were just as passionate about their professional pursuits as their personal relationships. Throughout the process, and since the team has started, it has been clear they are good people who fit right into SC&H’s culture.

HAND: What is the most important takeaway(s) from your experience thus far that you’re bringing into your new role?
TD: I have learned that you can accomplish amazing things if you venture outside of your comfort zone. As a CPA we like our bubbles, but this transaction has helped me to get outside of that bubble. My goal is to continue with this mentality in my new role.
RC: There is no shortage of unique personalities and background at SC&H—it is part of what makes us special and enables us to challenge one another to do great work. We, too, like to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and it is always a positive when your colleagues are self-aware enough to recognize the importance of this.

HAND: What do you think is the largest hurdle when it comes to creating and preserving affordable housing across our region?
TD: The level of need.

HAND: Do you believe there is a “secret sauce” to addressing housing affordability? If so, what do you think that is?
TD: I am not personally sold on the “secret sauce” concept. From my vantage point I see a lot of people trying to address housing affordability in different ways. It seems every solution is somewhat unique.

HAND: If you weren’t working in this space, what might you be doing?
TD: If I wasn’t a CPA in this space, I would likely still be working in the industry but as a real estate developer.

The HAND network is working tirelessly 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 chat with a new addition to our team, LaToya Thomas, HAND’s new Housing Indicator Tool Policy Director. Check out our conversation below, and you can learn more about the Housing Indicator Tool here.

HAND: You have extensive experience in the housing and community development industry – can you tell us about the journey you’ve taken to get to this point?
LT: Sure – it’s been a pretty colorful journey, to say the least.  First, for background, I’m trained as an urban planner with a focus in community planning, so that’s the lens under which I have approached my work in the various positions I’ve had over the past 15 years.

The bulk of my career has been spent working either in development or in architecture, and I worked primarily in project management, community engagement, business development, and marketing.  I also had the opportunity to work on projects that ranged from affordable and mixed-income housing to charter schools to public institutions, like libraries.  This background gave me a really unique perspective, as I was able to work on a mix of projects that were “community-serving” while also being able to sit on different sides of the table as these projects came to fruition and understand the many design, financial, and political considerations that are involved.

Now I am nearly 4 years into Brick & Story (sometimes I call it “The Lab”), as a way to blend my professional experience into a platform that can work creatively and in partnership the development community to bring the people we are serving into the conversation in a truly meaningful and intentional way.  Many say we focus on engagement and, while that’s true, we’re really focused on reconnecting people to the built environment and to the steps and processes that impact how the physical fabric of their community looks and feels – particularly because we know that some people have never had the opportunity to be part of the conversation around what happens in their community. 

HAND: Can you tell us about your latest role with HAND? What are you most looking forward to over the coming months?
LT: I am collaborating with the HAND team to support the regional rollout of the Housing Indicator Tool.  Much of my focus will be to provide education around the tool, design and implement activation events for the larger community to understand the tool, and facilitate policy discussions and help to influence policy decisions so that each jurisdiction is investing in appropriate resources and tools to meet their respective goals.

I am really looking forward to the regional dialogue and exchange that is possible and so badly needed around the issues of housing affordability.  I personally believe in the value of shared learning and collaboration when trying to solve problems like this, so I think the HIT presents an opportunity for all of to do so and helps us as a region guide our next steps.

HAND: What is the most important takeaway(s) from your experience thus far that you’re bringing into your new role?
LT: The importance of creative and collaborative partnerships rings loudest here; we often get stuck in our silos within the industry and forget the many different roles we each play in shaping communities, as well as the responsibilities that we have not only to each other as professionals, but also to the larger community of people out there who are impacted by the work we do and decisions we make.  We have a real opportunity to develop a true regional approach to addressing housing affordability at our doorstep if we are all willing to work together to understand what we each need to do to get there.

HAND: What do you think is the largest hurdle when it comes to creating and preserving affordable housing across our region?
LT: The lack of a coordinated regional approach is a major factor; our area is unique because int the District we are bordered by 2 states and 4 major counties, but depending on where you are, the real estate landscape can be like night and day.  Even the understanding of the need for housing affordability across multiple income levels is not consistent across the jurisdictions.  If the region can be thinking about housing collectively – not just from a production side, but also from a financing, subsidy, and policy standpoint – we might be able to tackle our affordability issues and see a bigger impact at the end of the day.

HAND: Do you believe there is a “secret sauce” to addressing housing affordability? If so, what do you think that is
LT: I’ll name one ingredient in the sauce that I think is key, which is the issue of depressed wages for those who are in need of quality housing the most.  We can’t have an honest conversation about addressing housing affordability if we aren’t prepared to talk about how to pay wages that allow people to move along the housing spectrum, whether that is moving from rental housing to homeownership or moving out of public housing and into an affordable rental or homeownership option.   Housing affordability is not just about providing a roof over someone’s head; it’s also about creating a stable foundation for someone to grow and thrive socially AND economically.

HAND: If you weren’t working in this space, what might you be doing?
LT: Owning and operating a bed-and-breakfast.  I’m all about 1) acquiring real estate and 2) creating cool, interesting, and intimate spaces where people can relax and have a meaningful, hospitable experience. 

The Department of Energy and Environment is still accepting applications for its no-cost benchmarking data verification initiative! If you have a building over 50,000 square feet that is currently covered by the District’s benchmarking law, then you are eligible for free data verification. Data verification is a new benchmarking requirement established in the Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act of 2018 and will need to be conducted by a third-party licensed professional in future reporting years. However, DOEE is offering a one-time no-cost data verification for your 2019 benchmarking data. With the upcoming Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS),having accurate and verified benchmarking data is especially crucial, as this data will be used to set the performance standards for the first BEPS cycle starting in 2021, as well as determine which properties fall above or below those standards.

If you are interested in receiving free data verification of your 2019 benchmarking data, you can access the application portal here. In order to receive data verification, you must completely fill out the application, answer all required questions, and provide all requested documents. If you would like to have more than one property verified, you will need to fill out an application for each unique property within the portal.

From the Natural Resources Defense Council blog:

It should be no surprise that, as the capital of our nation and the seat of the country’s representatives in Congress, Washington, D.C., has taken the lead in convening a Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS) Task Force that engages multiple, wide-ranging stakeholders in the environmental stewardship of their district.

While each city in the Bloomberg Philanthropies American Cities Climate Challenge has set forth its own plan for addressing climate change, Washington, D.C. is the first city in the country to establish a building energy performance standard for existing buildings. The last year was dedicated to actively involving those in the utility, affordable housing, residential and commercial building industries. In addition, feedback was collected from universities, green banks, governmental agencies, and many others, to collaborate on ways to support and implement the district’s new BEPS program, set to launch in 2021.

The BEPS program, created by the D.C. Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) in response to the CleanEnergy DC Omnibus Amendment Act, is a key component in Mayor Muriel Bowser’s vision for a Sustainable DC: “In just one generation—20 years—the District of Columbia aims to be the healthiest, greenest, most livable city in the United States.” Key goals include a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2032; a 50 percent reduction in district-wide energy use by 2032; and 100 percent carbon neutrality by 2050.

The BEPS Task Force has pioneered a robust and extensive stakeholder collaboration process to achieve these goals. Since buildings are the source of 75 percent of the district’s greenhouse gas emissions and are responsible for much of the district’s energy use, engaging the commercial real estate development  and affordable housing industries, as well as hospitals and universities, is key.

Read the entire piece here.