Monthly Columns Archives

Today, just as we finish editing this issue, a letter with signatures representing 1,000 organizations and companies has been delivered to the chairs of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee urging for extension of the New Markets Tax Credit program, which is due to expire at the end of this year.

A recent article on the Bisnow East Coast website reported that, according to a survey by the Associated General Contractors of America, “Across the U.S., 43 percent of construction firms reported that their costs had been higher than anticipated due to labor shortages, while 44 percent reported having to lengthen project timelines because of the issue.”

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.