Monthly Columns Archives

I recently attended the National Council of State Housing Agencies conference in Chicago.

I’ve heard the current development environment described as playing whack-a-mole: as soon as one problem is solved, another crops up.

When the Ukrainians begin rebuilding their bludgeoned eastern cities and returning to their damaged homes, among the dysfunctional Soviet legacies they must address is a deeply embedded, invisible one: their national building code. 

Michael Binette is an award-winning architect who has been designing affordable housing for 40 years. 

The National Housing & Rehabilitation Association has been bringing together industry leaders for 50 years.

Affordable housing is facing many headwinds: rising interest rates, inflation, increased insurance costs, supply chain delays and labor shortages, just to name a few.

Inflation being here in force regardless of our desires, last month’s Part 1 demonstrated that, when it comes to operations, your actions depend on what you think about the economic future.

Bank of America has a long history of financing and supporting affordable housing across the nation. It’s a commitment born out of a desire to support communities and enhance quality of life in neighborhoods large and small.

Now that the Administration has tacitly acknowledged inflation is a major challenge by blaming it on others, affordable housing allocators, developers, owners, managers and regulators need to readjust their expectations and behaviors. 

Now that eviction moratoriums have expired across much of the country, there is growing concern about the impact this will have on families who are still struggling to pay rent. The New York Times recently reported that landlords are filing roughly 2,000 eviction cases a week, a 40 percent increase since mid-January, when the state’s eviction moratorium expired.

As I write this column for our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) themed issue, it is a rainy April day, in a month all about increasing awareness of and for our environment.

Although virtue may be its own reward, try telling that to a nonprofit’s chief financial officer.