Tax Credit Advisor Article Archives

It is time we treat access to the internet as a basic component of multifamily infrastructure, as critical as water, electricity and heat.

For 52 years, from the suburban house I grew up in, through four dorm rooms, a rent-controlled apartment, a condo and then two houses, there has sat on my bookshelves a thick densely printed small-print paperback. A few days ago, I pulled it down and read. Its sobering messages, now a half-century old, have recently taken on new resonance.

Housing is expensive in America, and this creates hardship for low-income renters. It also makes life difficult for landlords, particularly smaller-scale ones: high housing costs discourage long-term leases. While the best answer for these high costs is to increase supply, there is still a need for subsidies.

Mixed-use housing is poised for a huge expansion in the post-COVID era, as at-risk populations, especially seniors, are going to want more goods and services available to them under one, health-secure roof.

For examples in world history of grand changes to urban planning, look no further than a health crisis.

“Once you’re home, you’re safe.”

That is the essence of Health Secure Housing as defined by our colleague and TCA columnist David Smith, founder and CEO of the Affordable Housing Institute (AHI) of Boston, MA.

Working with this organization for 11 years, I have devoted a good deal of my time addressing the needs of older adults along with many of you.

A few weeks ago, I drove my family up to Connecticut to visit my parents (my first real trip since COVID-19 struck) and found myself shucking some local oysters one evening with my dad. My shucking technique is only so-so and the oyster knife I was using was a bit of an antique. The knife slipped more than a few times and, while I managed to avoid a trip to the emergency room, I felt a bit like Beetle Bailey enduring punishing KP duty.

The future seems to have arrived on our doorstep. Robots have been employed to construct multifamily homes. If you’re a SciFi fan, you no longer have to go to the movies, you can visit a prefab housing factory instead.

“I’ve been developing in the Bay Area for quite some time. It got to the point where the costs were so high that building became very difficult. I’ve worked with modular construction for about 15 years, but there is a limited number of modular suppliers in the West. So, I knew I had to do something myself.”

Affordable housing developers and property managers have adapted to COVID-19 through innovation, flexibility, patience and open lines of communication. A good example of this is Boston-based Beacon Communities Development.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created some thorny property insurance problems for owners/managers: Increased premiums. Lawsuits backed by deep pockets. The need to factor force majeure into costs. A spike in multifamily severity claims.