NH&RA News

By Caitlin Jones
December 16, 2009 3 min read

Tax Credit Advisor, December 2009:

NH&RA Presents 2009 Vision Awards to Boston Leaders

The National Housing & Rehabilitation Association (NH&RA) presented its 2009 Affordable Housing Vision Award to Lisa Alberghini and David Smith at a November 2 ceremony held as part of NH&RA’s Fall Developer’s conference in Boston.

The annual award recognizes individuals who have made an outstanding contribution in the field of affordable housing.

Alberghini is President of the Planning Office for Urban Affairs, the housing arm of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. Smith is CEO of CAS Financial Advisory Services, Boston. (For profiles of the recipients, see the Tax Credit Advisor, November 2009, p. 20.)

NH&RA Recognizes Outstanding Historic Projects With Timmy Awards

NH&RA, in association with the National Trust Community Investment Corporation, recognized eight projects on November 3 with the 2009 J. Timothy Anderson (“Timmy”) Award for Excellence in Historic Rehabilitation. Each project was a winner in its category.

NH&RA also honored two additional projects with a special judges award. The awards were presented during NH&RA’s Fall Developer’s conference in Boston. (See p.19 for article identifying the winners.)

Senior HUD Officials Highlight NH&RA Fall Developers Forum

Keynote addresses by two top officials of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) highlighted NH&RA’s Fall Developer’s Forum conference in Boston on November 2-3.

Dominique Blom, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Public Housing Investments, and Barbara Sard, Senior Advisor for Rental Assistance, provided insights and context regarding the Obama Administration’s policies and plans regarding multifamily housing and community development. (For details of their comments, see articles on pages 10 and 30.)

More than 200 leading industry professionals from throughout the U.S. attended the Fall Forum and the activities associated with it, including ceremonies to present NH&RA’s Affordable Housing Vision Award and the 2009 J. Timothy Anderson Award for Excellence in Historic Rehabilitation.

The conference featured a mix of information-packed sessions, including on the debt and low-income housing tax credit equity markets, current legislative and regulatory developments, activity by state allocators of housing credits, models for acquiring troubled properties, and state and developer activities to date under the federal Tax Credit Assistance Program and credit exchange program.

The conference also featured meetings of NH&RA’s HOPE VI Council, the Council for Energy Friendly Affordable Housing, the Historic Preservation Development Council, and the Developers’ Council. Dominique Blom was the special guest at the HOPE VI Council meeting.

NCAHMA Holds Annual Meeting in Chicago

NH&RA’s National Council for Affordable Housing Market Analysts (NCAHMA) held its 2009 Annual Meeting & Multifamily Underwriting Forum on November 9-10 in Chicago.

NCAHMA’s members include market analysts that prepare market studies for affordable housing projects, users of such market studies, and other related industry professionals.

The Chicago conference included panel sessions various cutting-edge topics, including the impact of the financial crisis on market studies, current tax credit equity market conditions, the fundamentals of market studies, the marketability of mixed-use and live-work units, and activity by state housing credit allocators. NCAHMA’s Membership Committee also met during the conference.

In related news, NCAHMA continues to submit comments on states’ proposed 2010 qualified allocation plans for their housing credit programs, including to suggest the incorporation of NCAHMA’s market study guidelines by those states that haven’t already adopted them.

(For more information on NH&RA and all of its Councils, go to http://www.housingonline.com.)

Breaking Ground

Jennifer Leimaile Ho, Minnesota Housing Commissioner and Incoming Chair of National Council of State Housing Agencies

Pamela Martineau • December 1, 2024 10 min read

Earlier this fall, Jennifer Leimaile Ho was elected chair of the National Council of State Housing Agencies’ (NCSHA) 2025 Board of Directors. Ho is the Commissioner of Minnesota Housing, having been appointed by Governor Tim Walz in January 2019 and reappointed in 2023.

“Business as Usual”

Leaders in Equity Express Optimism Despite an Uncertain Future

Abram Mamet • December 1, 2024 9 min read

Any outside observer may assume some unease amongst the low-income housing industry. Buffeted on the one hand by residual stressors from the COVID-19 pandemic and on the other by the uncertain prospects of an incoming federal administration keen on cutting spending and shrinking government programs, the affordable housing landscape is experiencing an inflection point.

NCSHA Recognizes Stand-Out Affordable Housing Programs and Initiatives

Pamela Martineau • December 1, 2024 7 min read

This fall, the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA) recognized 17 programs offered by state housing finance agencies across the nation that creatively developed tools to tackle their communities’ affordable housing challenges.