David A. Smith • 6 min read
For centuries during the late Middle Ages, tales were told of the realm of Prester John, whose empire of milk and honey lay among the heathen somewhere beyond the horizon. Expeditions were mounted in search of this Most Christian King, reputed to breed unicorns, whose prized horns were brought back by intrepid explorers.
Joel Swerdlow • 6 min read
“The disparate impact decision,” says Josh Cohen, Development Director of Beacon Communities based in Boston, Massachusetts, “bolsters the notion that creating affordable housing in areas of opportunity can be a business opportunity for affordable housing developers.
Thomas Amdur • 4 min read
“Pay For Success” (PFS) Financing Structures have become one of the hot new tools in the emerging social impact investing field and increasingly a burgeoning opportunity for affordable housing owners and social service providers.
Mark Olshaker • 8 min read
In the 15-year history of the program, there has been nothing particularly funny about New Markets Tax Credits. But that could soon change—at least if a public-private civic consortium in western New York State gets its wish. Their aspiration is clear and direct: We Want To Be the Laughingstock of the Nation.
Darryl Hicks • 11 min read
Michael Rubinger was heavily influenced by John F. Kennedy’s poetic words, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Michael studied international relations and was planning to travel the world assisting developing countries. When America’s society started fracturing in the mid-60s, he felt it was more important to focus on improving the home front, which he did by teaching math and social studies at a public school in Harlem for two years.
Joel Swerdlow • 13 min read
Despite bipartisan appeal, NMTCs may be trapped in a strange new status quo in which such tax credits are routinely allowed to die, only to be revived—or not revived— while evidence of their success remains unchallenged.
Thom Amdur • 4 min read
What’s the number one issue on the minds of affordable housing’s top executives?
Joel Swerdlow • 2 min read
The New Markets Tax Credit Extension Act of 2015
David A. Smith • 5 min read
At the beginning of my talk on leadership to NH&RA’s Next Generation Leadership group in November here in Boston, my glib self-description (“either the room’s youngest old person or its oldest young person”) unwittingly voiced a generational paradox of our industry: what seems to older executives a gray floor seems to their younger colleagues a gray ceiling.
Bendix Anderson • 5 min read
At an old U.S. Army site in the Bronx, the Doe Fund Inc. is using millions of dollars from New Markets Tax Credits in a unique attempt to create new lives for New York City’s indigents.
Timothy Leonhard • 5 min read
It is no secret that there is a shortage of the creation and preservation of affordable housing units throughout the country which is an issue that needs to be addressed in every state. When most people think of states that struggle with very high housing costs and subsequent shortages of affordable housing, Tennessee is not the first state that comes to mind.
Thomas Amdur • 3 min read
Happy Holidays. The end of each year is a reflective time and looking back over the past twelve months, it was a period of productive developments for NH&RA members and our industry at large.