Monthly Columns Archives

A philosophical feud over the soul of affordability that has been ongoing for most of a century may have reached a turning point.

With the mid-September release of Treasury’s Housing Reform Plan, the administration has presented its exit strategy for GSE conservatorship, which may be summarized as ‘death sentence commuted, eligible for parole in a few years,’ and mapped out a strategy to do exactly that without legislation.

This is our annual Historic Tax Credit issue. But this year we’ve expanded the subject a bit to look at using historic credits as a part of multi-credit deals.

Thirty years ago, when I and others were inventing affordable housing preservation, it came in only two flavors (ELIHPA and LIHPRHA), just like Coke and Diet Coke.

There are many problems we are faced with as a society that we may not currently have the means to solve, particularly those that are nature-driven (i.e., dementia, global warming, storms). But we can solve the housing shortage.

Our headline this month—“A New Era for the LIHTC Program”—might well have you scratching your head and wondering what the heck are they talking about.

In late June, to absolutely no press coverage, a Presidential executive order established the “White House Council on Eliminating Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing” with a pointed observation:

People Versus Places: The Definitive Argument

In addition to CEO and president of Family Scholar House, Cathe Dykstra’s title includes Chief Possibility Officer.

In the summer following my freshman year at college, I had the privilege of interning in an over-the-counter trading room on Wall Street.

As Michael Milken discovered, one can rue forever giving a good idea the wrong name, for even if it does not sour the public, the wrong name sends the innovators chasing the wrong direction and solving the wrong problem.

It sometimes seems as if the United States has more than just one country within its boundaries. The divide can appear so vast, you wonder if one government can fuse it.