icon Blueprint for November

The Mosaic of Affordable Housing

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3 min read

Mercy Housing Lakefront acquired the property in 1991 and developed it for women who would otherwise be unable to afford a home. The building is named for Sister Miriam Friday, a nun who lived in the Uptown neighborhood and devoted much of her life to helping the poor and homeless. Sadly, she was murdered in 1987, and a man she had tried to help was charged with the crime.

 

Mark’s story focuses on the rehab of this building, which strived to keep original details, where possible, to honor the building’s past. In addition to the building’s namesake, one of the details that strikes me is a mosaic that was in the building and was incorporated into the improvements made during rehabilitation.

To me, this is a good reminder of how many individual pieces make up the affordable housing “industry.” It also is a reminder of how many laws, regulations, agencies, companies and nonprofits have touchpoints on the affordable housing ecosystem in ways that no other industry in America seems to have.

The affordable housing industry isn’t really one industry at all. It’s a mosaic of dozens of sectors: developers; investors; syndicators; builders; attorneys; architects; and many more. And it’s an industry regulated like no other, with not just one set of governing laws or regulations, but a whole array of laws from banking, real estate, fair housing, zoning, tax, building codes and even labor laws.

I’ve been a reporter and editor in Washington, DC, for many years and have covered all kinds of regulated industries. Nearly every one of them claims to be encumbered by burdensome regulations at the federal and state level. Healthcare, energy, securities…I’ve written stories about all of them complaining about being under the government’s thumb. And yet, nothing comes even close to the web of laws and oversights placed on the affordable housing industry. There are just so many pieces to affordable housing, it makes for quite a balancing act to navigate all the rules and regulations when moving forward with a new development or rehabilitation.

This month’s issue is focused on investing trends, and there are many interesting developments to follow. Many pieces of all these regulations are in flux, from infrastructure funding to an overhaul of the Community Reinvestment Act regulations. These are all critical pieces to follow for investors, syndicators, banks and others in the financial sector of affordable housing. But they’re also pieces in the larger mosaic that is the overall affordable housing industry.

Our reporter Pamela Martineau talks to some of the smartest folks on the finance side of housing this issue, and our Breaking Ground interview this month will shed some light on what to expect in the coming months and years in this sector.

Going forward, we’ll have lots more case studies like the Miriam Apartments. But this is one I’ll always remember for the image of that mosaic, and for the story of Sister Miriam who devoted her life to something so important.

Paul Connolly
Executive Editor

Tax Credit Advisor welcomes reader comments. Contact the executive editor at [email protected].