icon Blueprint for February

A house is not a home

By
3 min read

Rather than providing, we seem to find ourselves in an era of taking away—and predominantly from those who need it most. Health insurance, Medicaid expansion, the right to remain here, access to birth control, endeavors to slow climate change, overall affordability. Things designed to improve quality of life are being discarded like yesterday’s newspaper (which would also be taken away if the power that be had his way).

This seems to be an appropriate time to focus on those who devote their careers to providing. Our theme this month is Resident Outcomes or, to our members and readers, why we do what we do? The name of our sponsoring association may indicate our focus is on housing, but reading through this issue, I think you’ll find we are actually in the home business. Housing is bricks and mortar. Home is housing with support, opportunity and comfort.

In our lead story, staff writer Mark Fogarty speaks with representatives of four member organizations spread around the country about how they measure outcomes for their residents. (Measuring Resident Outcomes) Our roving reporter, Scott Beyer, spends a night in an affordable housing facility in Indianapolis to provide a view of life inside. (Housing USA) In this month’s Talking Heads feature, Sharon Wilson Géno of the estimable Volunteers for America explains that organization’s approach to using housing as a starting point for enriching other aspects of life. Staff writer Mark Olshaker looks at two niches of service-centered housing—Mental Health Affordable Housing and Veteran’s Housing. And, of course, we could not present a topic this important without asking our guru, David A. Smith, to provide his perspective on the process of evaluating the results of your endeavors. (The Guru Is In) Together, these stories show an industry with great compassion for its residents and that carefully observes them to make sure what is being provided improves their lives. I hope reading this information will make you feel good about the field you have chosen to work in.

After weeks of collectively angsting about some of the funding mechanisms that enable housing and rehab also being taken away, I am sure you were relieved when the tax credits and bonds survived the final cut. But that doesn’t mean the new tax law is without its impact on us. There are some new steps you need to take. We wanted a variety of viewpoints on what it all means, so we asked Jerry Breed, who recently re-pitched his tent at Miles & Stockbridge, to give us the lawyer’s perspective and Beth Mullen of Cohn Reznick to provide the accountant’s perspective. There is some overlap in their assessments, but that’s the whole point. For still another viewpoint, Scott Beyer looks at how the law may impact the affordable housing market.

As we arrived at our deadline, the young Governor of Missouri, who recently took away the state’s historically large support for low-income housing (which he nastily accused of being a scam), was revealed as a participant in an illicit indulgence that may well curtail the oversized ambitions that apparently motivated this and other of his actions. Legislators from his own party are now calling for his resignation. We had Mark Fogarty on his case prior to the latest reports. (Bad Show in the Show Me State)

Marty Bell
Editor