The Importance of Perspective

Thanks for picking up this month’s copy of Tax Credit Advisor. I’m the new executive editor, taking over from Marty Bell who is enjoying a well-earned retirement after bringing you news about industry innovation. Marty left some big shoes to fill, and it’s my goal to build on his efforts to give you the information and analysis you need to help you identify opportunities in your sector of the market. NH&RA is here to help you build your business, and our team wants to make this magazine and all our other content well worth your memberships and subscriptions.

Right now, I’m swimming in a sea of alphabet soup as I learn what various acronyms translate to in plain English. I’m also learning things like the difference between four percent and nine percent is not just five percentage points. I’m becoming attuned to housing issues in the news, and how it has become a front-and-center issue this presidential election cycle.

This October is our election issue, and we have lots of great pieces from our team to get you ready for all possible outcomes and how to energize folks to engage in the most important civic duty there is: voting. You can check out both major party’s platforms and policy proposals, and I encourage you to read NH&RA Policy Director Kaitlyn Snyder’s piece setting the record straight on some of the remarks about affordable housing and NIMBY-ism heard on the campaign trail this fall.

All the campaign talk about affordable housing has me thinking how I developed my own opinions and understanding of the topic. As a kid, I grew up in the West End of Portland, Maine, where the Fore River meets Portland Harbor and there are several affordable developments. At the time I had no idea what affordable housing, HUD or Section 8 meant. I just knew which doors to knock on to ask my friends to come outside and play. We’d put playing cards in the spokes of our bikes to make motorcycle sounds, and pedal up and down the street for hours, or play wiffle ball on a vacant lot, stopping only when we heard an oil tanker blow it’s horn. We would then find a perch on the waterfront to watch the mighty drawbridge open to let the ship pass.

It wasn’t until I was much older when I started realizing some adults looked down on my friends and neighbors who lived in places like Danforth Heights, Harbor Terrace, Sagamore Village, Riverton Park and Kennedy Park (to name just a few of my hometown’s affordable housing options). When you’re a kid there is no concept of dividing lines for income, the “right” side of the train tracks, color, religion or anything else. Focusing on people’s differences seems to be a learned behavior from the adults around you. I see it in my own small children, who during the trying year that is 2020 often ask me why there are protests and anger and division in our country right now. As a parent, that’s one of the toughest questions to answer, because for a child another person is just that – another person. They don’t understand why you would treat someone differently because of what they look like, where they live or how much is in their bank account.

Marty told me this was the best job he’s ever had. I’m beginning to understand why. I’ve already met lots of developers, syndicators, investors and others in the business who truly believe in the mission of affordable housing. Their hearts are in the right place when it comes to giving more people a chance to have a home, and the best part is they are backing it with their actions. I encourage you to think about our industry’s mission as Election Day approaches. Let’s think about our similarities more than our differences, and how we are all just people and not colors, net worth or an address.

Go do that most important civic duty. Go vote!

Paul Connolly
Executive Editor