Mark Fogarty Author Archives

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program has a couple of new provisions that should enhance conversion opportunities, attendees of the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association’s annual meeting heard.

Design can help play an important role in mitigating rising affordable housing insurance premiums, attendees of a recent National Housing & Rehabilitation Association town hall heard.

Victor Body-Lawson’s designs go beyond the basics of putting a roof over people’s heads. The New York City architect plans housing to enhance a community’s health and financial strength as well. And he often thinks about how to house residents’ souls.

An abandoned hospital campus is set to bring new life to a suburban Chicago neighborhood through an ambitious rehab that is to build housing, health care, social services and educational office space through financing using both Historic Tax Credits (HTC) and New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) equity.

Tax issues are going to be a mixed bag this year, with some positive changes, like the four percent Low Income Housing Tax Credit floor, and others that are not so positive. But there’s one thing that a lot of industry observers agree on—the need for guidance from the Internal Revenue Service.

Affordable housing developments are never easy. But acquiring and rehabbing a 23-year-old project in Houston gave Vesta Corporation a few more hoops to jump through than just fixing old roofs and redoing faulty water lines. In addition to the nuts and bolts of this comprehensive $30 million renovation, the developer found the state housing agency wanted to see some non-construction improvements as well, like better educational opportunities for residents and a reduction of crime and blight in the neighborhood.

A.O. Flats, a Greater Boston housing development that takes its name from two local landmarks (A for Arborway from the Arnold Arboretum and O for Orange from the Orange transit line), itself will be a blend of two types of residences. Both affordable and workforce housing residents are putting down roots in the Boston neighborhood of Jamaica Plain just a short commuter ride from center city.

Not many buildings have their own rail system, much less one that runs across the ceiling. And very few have conference rooms where you can look out and see elephants and giraffes from the windows. But Zoo Atlanta’s Savanna Hall has both.

Income averaging has achieved tax credit eligibility for all 135 units, including workforce housing units at up to 80 percent of area median income (AMI), at a development set to rise from a Boston trolley parking lot.

The Federal Housing Administration’s Multifamily Housing Accelerated Processing Guide is updated periodically every few years. The 2020 MAP Guide update, set to go into effect on March 18, weighs in at 903 pages and is full of new guidance—some positive, some not so positive—for borrowers and lenders wanting to use FHA’s multifamily programs.

Wexford Science + Technology has taken an old power plant formerly called the Dynamo House and developed a historic rehab that is turning into a dynamo of its own, one that is transforming a whole section of Providence, RI into a knowledge and medical hub.

The long arm of the COVID pandemic is not only disrupting 2020 performance in the tax credit industry, but it may have a further impact even after the virus is brought under control.