Blueprint for April
The Value of Gold
By Jessica Hoefer
4 min read
As the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association celebrates its 50th Anniversary in 2022, I find myself celebrating a shorter but still momentous anniversary. I joined Tax Credit Advisor’s editorial team seven years ago this month, which, fortuitously, coincides with my officially taking over as Editor-in-Chief of the magazine.
The gift for the seventh anniversary is copper and wool. Copper represents prosperity, good fortune and good luck. Wool represents comfort, durability, security and, obviously, warmth. Quite fitting for my little anniversary.
Fifty is the golden anniversary. The significance of gold? It symbolizes prosperity, strength, wisdom and lifelong love. These golden qualities are not earned easily or quickly. They require patience, resilience, innovation. They take time.
NH&RA’s yearlong 50th anniversary celebration—culminating in this issue—is an observance of time, of our time. As a magazine, we are always interested in change and creativity. We tend to drift towards the new. Last month, for instance, we looked at the growth and maturation of industrialized construction. But no growth or invention occurs in a vacuum. It is all a product of time. And so, this month, in a special commemorative issue, we look at 50 projects developed over our 50 years selected by 50 members.
In preparation for Affordable Across America, NH&RA asked members to submit their favorite projects to be included. TCA writers, Scott Beyer, Mark Fogarty and Pamela Martineau were each given a group of projects to feature. Then came the herculean task of connecting with the 50 members on what makes each project special, whether it be financing, location, residents or the building itself. Each added project pieces together a historical record of NH&RA member achievements, spanning decades and subsidy types.
With everything from Low Income Housing and Historic Tax Credits to Section 8, adaptive reuse to solar projects, senior living to multi-generational housing, Mitchell-Lama projects to mixed-income housing, these 50 projects represent the entirety of affordable housing. It also shows the continued preservation of American history through rehabs of historical buildings. From the mid-1800s we have Ames Shovel Works, Ponce City Market, Leavenworth and the Denver Dry Goods Buildings, and even El Barrio’s Artspace PS109. We waltz into the 1900s with Asbury Dwellings and shimmy into the 1920s with Miriam Apartments and Midway School. By the 1950s, we boogie our way to Veterans Terrace and the original Ridpath Hotel. And in the 1960s, we twist our way to the TWA Flight Center Hotel. Jumping forward to the 1970s and 80s, (I will spare you the disco and cabbage patch dance references, which are better left to history) we start seeing contemporary buildings, 402 Rindge Ave and Harbor Point. Also included are southern rebuilds, The Terraces on Tulane and Commonwealth Village, which were built following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and show, not only, our resilience as an industry, but as a country.
All together, these 50 projects are a snapshot of the affordable housing industry. They are a shared glimpse at our past and an ongoing preservation of history.
This month’s columns also commemorate NH&RA’s 50 years. NH&RA President Thom Amdur’s New Developments invokes echoes of triumphs and challenges past as he provides a Cliff’s Notes guide to affordable housing through the decades. Scott Beyer’s Housing USA travels from region to region analyzing 50 years of affordable housing across America. And resident Guru David Smith waxes poetic about difference-makers, like Harry Howell, Art Hessel and more, who have left their marks on the industry.
At its core, this issue of TCA shows unequivocally the breadth and depth NH&RA and its members go to innovate and preserve. And that requires nothing short of prosperity, strength, wisdom and lifelong love. All the golden qualities that NH&RA is celebrating this year.
And that is exactly what NH&RA is, it’s all gold!
Regards,
Jessica Hoefer
Editor-in-Chief
