Abram Mamet Author Archives

In recent years, developers have turned to the centuries-old concept of ground leases as a powerful tool in the contemporary struggle to pencil deals and close increasingly wide funding gaps.

Over the past decade, few segments of the population have felt the squeeze of the country’s affordable housing crisis as acutely as middle-income households earning between 60 and 120 percent of the area median income. Earning too much to qualify for most government-subsidized housing programs but too little to afford the majority of new housing stock entering the market, these renters are finding themselves less and less able to secure high-quality housing within their means.

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.

The IRS has announced an increase to the LIHTC per-capita multiplier, providing a modest boost to the LIHTC market for 2025.

Most National Council of Housing Market Analysts (NCHMA) annual meetings begin with a roundtable from developers, to help ground the conference in the ‘on the ground’ work that the market analysis industry exists to support.

In a study that provides key insights for housing leaders nationwide, researchers in Indiana Earlier this year, the Maryland Office of the Comptroller released its first State of the Economy report, highlighting issues and trends as the “Old Line State” continues to recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In recent years, developers have begun to see the many churches, mosques, synagogues and other landholding faith organizations that dot the United States as ideal partners in the struggle to control the affordable housing crisis.

For most organizations, radical shifts in market strategy and company makeup generally come after crises. For Rainbow Housing Assistance Corporation (Rainbow), that radical shift came not as a result of significant challenges, but as a way to leverage successful internal practices to better serve the affordable housing industry.

In recent years, owners and developers of low-income housing have turned to the Historic Tax Credit program as another key source of funding for projects looking to preserve or create affordable apartments in historic buildings.

Since 2010, the Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits has awarded several developers for distinguished work in a variety of impact areas related to affordable housing.

On May 29 of this year, HUD published a proposed rule update to its decades-old HOME Investment Partnerships program, a federal block grant that provides funding to hundreds of state and local jurisdictions for a diverse array of low- and moderate-income homeownership and rental activities.

Earlier this year, federal officials announced that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)’s Risk-Sharing Initiative would be extended indefinitely, strengthening a resource that has become increasingly vital in recent years for State Housing Finance Agencies (HFAs).