Bendix Anderson • 6 min read
Sandeep Sood didn’t have to wait to replace the rusted, inefficient boiler at Jeffery Parkway – thanks to teamwork between developers, financers and energy experts.
“We were able to invest early in the process rather than later. That allowed us to make really significant changes upfront,” says Sood, project manager for Nautilus Investments at the Preservation Through Energy Efficiency Roadshow, held September 29 in Chicago.
Joel Swerdlow • 7 min read
In early October, the Department of Housing & Urban Development awarded its 2015 Choice Neighborhood Initiative Implementation Grants to projects in five cities—Atlanta, Kansas City, Memphis, Milwaukee and Sacramento. NH&RA members were awardees as developers or funders in each of the cities.
John W. Gahan III • 15 min read
Whoever coined the phrase “no rest for the weary,” must have known someone trying to develop affordable housing, Gerry General mused as he left port for a Sunday afternoon sail. Lake Erie’s waters were a calm oasis for Gerry away from the frenetic pace of the office and Gerry had a lot on his mind.
Thomas Amdur • 3 min read
It’s the silly season again! Both the Republican and Democratic parties have now held their first presidential debates, and, as promised, they have been very entertaining. Now that the 2016 presidential campaign is really picking up steam and the bizarre Game of Thrones continues to play out in the US House of Representatives (outcome very uncertain at the time that I am writing this month’s column), I think we can safely predict that Congress is unlikely to change course and start passing reams of legislation this political season.
David M. Abromowitz • 4 min read
Developers, like renown bank robber Willy Sutton, naturally go where the money is. Yet for far too long, one place they have not been able to go as a potentially huge source of money to create quality affordable housing has been health care. That may be changing, and for the better.
Joel Swerdlow • 9 min read
You’re passing through a small town or city neighborhood and a building suddenly catches your eye. You see bracketed cornices and arched windows; everything looks stylish and solid, built back in an era when, as they say “people cared about quality.”
Thom Amdur • 12 min read
While what they literally built may have varied, each finalist for the 2015 J. Timothy Anderson Awards for Historic Preservation built a bridge. They built a bridge between what communities had and what they needed. In some cases, it was the bridge between yesterday’s industrial heyday and today’s housing shortage.
Darryl Hicks • 12 min read
The federal Historic Tax Credit (HTC) program has seen a few ups and downs the past six years. The Great Recession that began in 2008, followed by the Third Circuit’s decision in Historic Boardwalk Hall LLC v. Commissioner in August 2012, led to a mass exodus of investors and caused major market disruptions.
Bendix Anderson • 6 min read
Train bays, affordable housing, market rate apartments and a medical clinic squeeze into the Counting House Lofts, a new community in Lowell, Mass.
Mark Olshaker • 11 min read
“The Big Picture is I’ve always felt that those of us who operate in this area are doing something that is helping to implement Congressional intent to try to make affordable housing available to people, and to try to foster the rehabilitation of historic buildings. And even though the work can be very technical and you’re dealing with very complicated provisions, when you step back and look at that Big Picture, I’ve always taken a lot of satisfaction that what we’re doing is doing good. That’s important to me.”
Mark Olshaker • 6 min read
The homepage states, “The mission of the Department of Neighborhood Development is to make Boston the most livable city in the nation.” It then goes on to explain, “DND’s main functions are to set and implement the City’s housing policy, manage the City’s real estate portfolio, and strengthen Boston’s small businesses.”
Mark Olshaker • 2 min read
Each year since 2004, NH&RA has bestowed its Affordable Housing Vision Award to affordable housing and community
development leaders who have made valuable contributions to the field and demonstrated years of leadership, commitment and imagination. Recognizing that providing housing for those who cannot meet the market rates is an always complex and challenging endeavor, demanding both perseverance and foresight, NH&RA seeks to single out men and women in all aspects of the industry whose careers and achievements serve as examples and role models. Traditionally, one individual is chosen from the profit sector and one from the nonprofit sector.