Articles Archives

Each year the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association honors the best completed real estate developments in the U.S. that have utilized federal rehabilitation tax credits by presenting the J. Timothy Anderson (“Timmy”) Awards for Excellence in Historic Preservation.

Julián Castro seems to be the right pick at the right time to succeed Donovan at HUD. As we describe this month (“A New Leader at HUD,” p. 31), he has been a visionary mayor with relentless follow-through, harnessing ideas and talent from all corners of the community and crafting development incentives that are generating new housing – for all income levels – throughout the city.

The U.S. Treasury and the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund announced the award of $3.501 billion in federal new markets tax credit allocation authority to 87 community development entities (CDEs) on June 5.

Fells Point Station, a new mixed-income, mixed-use real estate project in Baltimore, Md., is a story of history, firsts, and a homecoming of sorts.

This month’s issue explores the extremely specialized and essential field of affordable housing property management. The feature article (Driving the Dollars, p. 24) explains that the recipe for effective property management includes a mix of the right people on staff, strong policies and procedures, low turnover, and good marketing.

Congress appears certain to make further cuts in funding for the federal HOME program and project-based rental assistance for the new fiscal year beginning October 1, based on recent action in the House and Senate on the FY 2015 appropriations bill covering the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Texas officials are preparing for the startup of the state’s new historic rehabilitation tax credit program, which industry participants suggest should be attractive to developers.

San Antonio developer Dan Markson expects many positive things if local Mayor Julián Castro becomes the next HUD Secretary, having witnessed the results of his administration’s policies since 2009 in housing, downtown redevelopment, and other areas. City officials who have worked with the mayor feel the same.

For an outright sale, such as in the case of one management company planning to acquire another, the two common valuation methods are the income and market approaches. Under each there are two subsets.

On May 22, U.S. Reps. Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio) and Richard Neal (D-Mass.), of the House Ways and Means Committee, introduced H.R. 4717, a bill that would renew and make permanent a minimum 9% rate for the 70% present value federal low-income housing tax credit. The minimum 9% rate lapsed December 31, 2013.

In my April column, I discussed the status of proposals to dismantle or significantly restructure Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs).

The investment of a mere $1.25 million in energy and water retrofit improvements at a 91-year-old, 16-story mixed-use building in downtown Pittsburgh, Pa. is already generating substantial savings from reduced utility costs, while providing more comfortable living conditions for the residents.