Monthly Columns Archives

During the past couple of years, we have reported frequently in these pages on the evolution of the relationship between housing and healthcare.

Not for the last time, President-elect Trump confounded expectations when he nominated as HUD secretary a pediatric neurosurgeon and unsuccessful Presidential candidate.

Among those destabilized by the aftershocks from our recent presidential election are many of my colleagues and friends, for whom the conjoining of ‘tax reform’ and ‘Trump’ have had an effect on their check-writing hands similar to a crowbar whacking their ulnar nerves.

In this issue, you will find detailed reporting on everything mentioned above from that informative day in Boston. NH&RA’s Fall Forum was the concert. This issue is the album.

Knowing as I do that you are on tenterhooks to read my monthly Guru column, allow me to advise you on how your housing policy can be a centerpiece of your delivery of the vision on which you campaigned – a land of economic and social opportunity for all Americans.

You read it right. That’s $7,000,000,000. Seven Billion. It’s the value of the New Markets Tax Credits allocated by the Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund to 120 Community Development Entities in 36 states to develop businesses and improve lives in underserved communities.

In early October, the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Terwilliger Center for Housing and the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders (NAAHL) co-hosted a day-long symposium/roundtable on what we decided by the end of the day just might be an emerging asset class whose preservation is integral to the success of America’s cities and the urban economy.

By the time you read this, we will have elected a new President.

When first I saw a gleaming new tower sprouting within, and above, the five-story brick crust that was all that remained of a decrepit century-old block whose guts had been scoured out and trundled away, I thought the surface preservation both incongruous and a waste of money. In the decades since then, I’ve changed my mind even as the world’s historic cities have changed around us.

History is au courant. Not old history; new history. “Game of Thrones” wins the Emmy, “Spotlight” wins the Oscar and “Hamilton” wins the Tony. And what they all share is a fresh look at history through a contemporary prism. Kind of like an old building rehabbed for contemporary usage. Right?

If the world’s 60 million refugees were a nation, they would be the world’s 23rd largest, with more people than South Africa or Italy. All of them have lost their homes, and all of them desperately want a home – in fact, not just a home, but a secure and stable place from which they can build new lives. While many may feel emotionally that ‘home’ is where they came from, most know that to build a new life they must migrate somewhere – within their country or to a new country.

The flames glowing along the Providence River you see on this month’s cover are part of an event called WaterFire, that began as an artistic installation and has grown into an annual Rhode Island arts festival and celebration. When the photos of this event were presented at the NH&RA Summer Institute, I immediately decided this would be our next cover