Glenn Petherick Author Archives

Water conservation improvements are generally the least expensive and most cost-effective retrofit improvements that owners can make at their existing affordable multifamily rental housing properties to cut utility usage and costs, according to sources. Moreover, sometimes improvements can be funded with no upfront cost to owners.

On Forbes Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh, just blocks from where the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers join to form the Ohio, a Western Pennsylvania company is developing a nearly $105 million mixed-use real estate project that will further revitalize the city’s central business and retail district as a vibrant place to live, work, and play.

Indiana’s state housing finance agency is taking action to develop an online calculator for generating more accurate utility allowances for rental units in more energy- and water-efficient multifamily housing projects.

We’ve all seen the photos – of the gleaming new LEED-certified apartment building with solar panels on the roof, classy high-efficiency windows, and a sleek overall look.

The compromise omnibus measure, approved a few days earlier by Congress, funds the federal government through September 30, 2014, authorizing $1.012 trillion in total discretionary spending. For the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (FY 2014), the FY 2014 appropriation is $45.5 billion, almost $4 billion higher than the FY 2013 post-sequestration level. Some HUD programs are funded at higher levels than FY 2013 while some programs have cuts.

On December 9, the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University released a new report on various aspects of U.S. rental housing that notes that many American renters have severe affordability problems because of weak income growth and rising rents.

As he oversees Florida Housing Finance Corporation’s bold transition in the way it awards low-income housing tax credits and gap funds for new affordable rental housing developments, executive director Steve Auger is recognizing some initial dividends. These include continued heavy demand for available resources, an interesting and very diverse range of projects, and strong tax credit pricing for projects receiving awards.

On January 15, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued the documentation for an accounting rule change ratified in December permitting public companies, if they qualify, to elect to use a new proportional amortization method of accounting for their low-income housing tax credit investments rather than the less favorable equity method.

In the Southern California city of Irvine, where most rental housing is owned by one company, the new Alegre Apartments will be something of a rarity – a multifamily housing development that will be perpetually affordable.

Boston Capital expects to close a $188 million national multi-investor fund in the first quarter of 2014, said Jeff Goldstein. The fund, 100% specified in properties, has a projected IRR to investors of 7.25%.

“We had a good solid 2013 and we’re looking forward to a good 2014,” says Ryan Sfreddo of New York-based syndicator Red Stone Equity Partners, LLC. He said the firm raised a total $325 million in low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) equity from investors last year and is targeting about $450 million this year.

The Internal Revenue Service is soliciting public comments on the draft of a new IRS low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) audit technique guide.