Tax Credit Advisor Article Archives

By the time you read this, we will have elected a new President.

Each year since 2004, NH&RA has bestowed its Affordable Housing Vision Award to affordable housing and community development leaders who have made valuable contributions to the field and demonstrated years of leadership, commitment and imagination.

Larry Curtis aspired to be a successful businessman from the time he was 10 years old. Walking through a large shopping mall, Curtis told his parents that “one day, I am going to own this place.”

Developers planned to tear down a historic Chicago affordable housing property to build a new, luxury residential tower.

What Maurice Barry does for a living is complex. It involves interpretation of often arcane laws and regulations, wending his way through dense and sometimes conflicting rules, working with owners and tenants to get them what they are legally entitled to, restructuring FHA loans and monitoring a broad spectrum of compliance issues.

On July 21st, during NH&RA’s Summer Institute on Martha’s Vineyard, John Leith-Tetrault was presented with the Chairman’s Award by NH&RA Chairman and partner at Bryan Cave, Jerry Breed. As founder of both the National Trust Community Investment Corporation and the Historic Tax Credit Coalition, John Leith-Tetrault has created a legacy in the Historic Tax Credit world.

When first I saw a gleaming new tower sprouting within, and above, the five-story brick crust that was all that remained of a decrepit century-old block whose guts had been scoured out and trundled away, I thought the surface preservation both incongruous and a waste of money. In the decades since then, I’ve changed my mind even as the world’s historic cities have changed around us.

It is no exaggeration to say that the progress of Fred Copeman’s career mirrors, tracks and helped foster the ascendancy of the housing and energy tax credit programs from their beginning following the 1986 Tax Reform Act – the legislation that overhauled the entire real estate tax shelter business.

Opened in 1934, the 17-story Art Deco United States Post Office and Custom House changed the St. Paul skyline. It may not be the tallest building in the city, but clad in granite and Minnesota Kasota limestone and broadly anchored near the Mississippi River, it represents the strength of the government it was built to serve. Its storied history includes a funding scandal with national repercussions and investigations into federal spending around the country, multiple vertical additions, and nearly 80 years of continuous use as a U.S. Post Office.

In a little more than a month, voters (or, at least, that minority of the eligible electorate that actually casts a ballot) will go to the polls and exercise their franchise.

A depression-era factory turned affordable housing and a rehabilitated bank transformed into community event space are among the 16 winners and finalists of the 2016 J. Timothy Anderson Awards for Excellence in Historic Rehabilitation—fondly referred to as “The Timmys.”

History is au courant. Not old history; new history. “Game of Thrones” wins the Emmy, “Spotlight” wins the Oscar and “Hamilton” wins the Tony. And what they all share is a fresh look at history through a contemporary prism. Kind of like an old building rehabbed for contemporary usage. Right?