Tax Credit Advisor Article Archives

After eight years of struggling for the attention of Governor Jerry Brown, who seemed to prefer speed rail to housing, the affordable housing industry appears to be more of a priority of the administration of Governor Gavin Newsom, who took office in 2019. The nation’s most populated state includes five of the country’s ten most expensive cities to live in along its coast.

“Our agency has no power to make people do anything. We can only convince through advocacy and stories,” says Rebecca Davis, deputy director of Boston’s Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC).

There’s a sentiment among housing analysts and advocates—whether right or wrong—that the market can’t fully produce affordable housing. Especially in overheated real estate climates, like New York City and San Francisco, where land values are high and building lots of housing in certain neighborhoods will not necessarily make housing affordable in those neighborhoods. Instead, if they’re to be available to all income groups (which is a worthwhile goal given the economic and health benefits of living in good neighborhoods), policies need to be more intentional. The government, goes the thinking, needs to directly spur affordable housing production in these overheated areas.

When it comes to housing innovation urgency, states are where the action is. Stories in this issue ably document what and how, and as a big-picture counterpoint, allow me to tell you why, and what that means for your state.

An idea that got its start at a kick-the-tires session about the future of Indianapolis four years ago has blossomed into an at least $15 million effort to enhance transit-oriented housing development (TOD) along that city’s expanding bus routes.

In the summer of 2017, a collection of institutions bet on the idea of “healthy” developments and neighborhoods. Seeing the health disparities in different parts of metro Boston, they financially backed the construction of buildings designed to spur good health outcomes for residents.

“The housing crisis in many ways is worse than it’s ever been. We have a 7.5 million unit shortage for the lowest income group and it’s growing. More people are experiencing homelessness than ever before. There is an explosion of people suddenly homeless. In some communities on the West Coast, real estate prices are causing severe increases that affect everybody down the line.”

There is a lot of noise both in the air and on the air. A lot of loud and fast talking and a fear of listening. I like to view our magazine as a thoughtful sanctuary from the fracas, a rest stop where you can quietly and patiently mull over ideas, innovations and transactions.

Despite being one of the most idyllic places to live in America, Vermont suffers from a shortage of affordable housing. The legislature and the Vermont Housing Finance Agency are doing all they can to address the problem, but they have two strikes against them already.

The New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program faces political pressure. It is being questioned in some circles as no longer being necessary, now that other Trump-era initiatives, such as Opportunity Zone investments, have been put in place.

The urban violence that RYSE Commons is being designed to give its young members refuge from is very real. Some of its early members have not lived to see the Richmond, CA complex completed.

The affordable housing shortage is a big issue in America, one that’s just now getting the national attention it deserves. Millions of Americans are affected, including ones who endure longer commutes, more cramped dwellings and more failing units than they otherwise would, if more decent housing were well-located.