“Smells Like Opportunity”
Three New Voluntary Restriction Programs Look to Stimulate Workforce Housing
Abram Mamet • 5 min read
Over the past decade, few segments of the population have felt the squeeze of the country’s affordable housing crisis as acutely as middle-income households earning between 60 and 120 percent of the area median income. Earning too much to qualify for most government-subsidized housing programs but too little to afford the majority of new housing stock entering the market, these renters are finding themselves less and less able to secure high-quality housing within their means.
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Case Study
Combining Two Boston Properties to Achieve Efficiencies
Mark Fogarty • 6 min read
One way to achieve economies of scale in affordable housing is to acquire two adjacent properties, renovate both and then run them as a single entity. That’s what Affordable Housing and Services Collaborative (AHSC) is doing in Dorchester, MA, a neighborhood of Boston.
Case Study
New Markets Tax Credits Adds Housing to New Orleans Early Learning Center
Mark Fogarty • 6 min read
There may still be some lingering misperception that the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) is not for housing. While the NMTC is primarily used for economic development, there are three cases where it can support affordable housing. One is if the commercial and housing components of a project are segregated into separate legal condominiums. The second is if Low Income Housing Tax Credits are not used in the deal. And the third is if the residential rents do not exceed 80 percent of revenue in the project.
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MassHousing Launches Preferred Equity Product to Help Move “Stuck” Projects Forward
Pamela Martineau • 5 min read
MassHousing will launch a preferred equity product this month designed to move shovel-ready projects forward that have stalled economically.
Ground Leases: A Vintage Structure Bridging Modern Gaps
Leaders in Equity Express Optimism Despite an Uncertain Future
Abram Mamet • 10 min read
In recent years, developers have turned to the centuries-old concept of ground leases as a powerful tool in the contemporary struggle to pencil deals and close increasingly wide funding gaps.
Developers Tap Digital Engagement Tools to Solicit Community Feedback and Earn Support
Pamela Martineau • 5 min read
A new crop of digital community engagement tools is giving developers an avenue to bring resident voices into the planning process without requiring attendance at long public meetings.
Breaking Ground
Caleb Roope, President/CEO, The Pacific Companies
Jessica Hoefer • 5 min read
Sindy Spivac, the West Region Market executive for Bank of America’s Community Development Banking Division, spoke with Caleb Roope, president and CEO of The Pacific Companies about overseeing multiple interrelated companies in the areas of development, finance, architecture, construction and property ownership
The Inflation Reduction Act’s and the Multifamily Affordable Housing Market’s Future
Federal Tax Credits, Rebates, Low-Cost or Forgivable Loans and Grants are Hitting the Ground
Ravi Malhotra • 5 min read
After the 2024 elections, many in the multifamily affordable housing sector worry that key Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds may be clawed back by the incoming administration. These funds provide tax credits, grants and other forms of incentives for green and clean energy deployment and have been crucial to closing the funding gap for multifamily affordable housing in recent years.
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Monthly Columns
Industry Insights
2025: The Year of the Tax Bill
Kaitlyn Snyder • 5 min read
Dominating all policy headlines this year will be the tax bill as legislators seek to extend the expiring tax cuts from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) before increases go into effect in 2026. Senate confirmations, congressional spending and addressing the debt limit are the other must-do items on the list, which will likely happen in the first half of the year.
The Guru Is In
Insurance is the Harbinger of Repricing Risk
David A. Smith • 7 min read
Just as markets are the crowdsourced wisdom on values, insurance is the crowdsourced wisdom on risks.
Legally Speaking
To File a BOI or Not File a BOI, That is the Question
David Leon, Jay Shuman & Jeff Perry • 10 min read
When the CTA went into effect on Jan. 1, 2024, both newly formed and previously established companies, large and small (but mainly small) were to provide certain information to FinCEN detailing: 1) “Beneficial Ownership” and 2) “Company Applicants.”