Mark Olshaker Author Archives

What constitutes effective leadership and how to improve it is a constant source of discussion and reflection throughout American industry in both the profit and nonprofit sectors. The affordable housing area is no exception.

“I grew up in Detroit in the 1950s and early 1960s, and it had a tremendous effect on me. I saw stable neighborhoods fall apart overnight. Growing up in the city was a very powerful influence.”

When Republican candidate Charles D. Baker lost the 2010 race for governor of Massachusetts to Democrat Deval Patrick, largely on the basis of blue collar and liberal enclaves throughout the state, he went into the political wilderness for a lot of personal reflection and soul-searching.

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

Is far as scientists know, light is the fastest-moving entity in the universe. And now, harnessing the energy provided by our only significant light source, 92.6 million miles away, is the fastest-moving technology to provide for our future power needs.

“Given the need for more Affordable Assisted Living, Wallick Communities decided to bring its 50 years of affordable housing expertise together with its 30 years of assisted living experience to create The Ashford: our Affordable Assisted Living community.”

“There are things that are planned, and then there are the calls in the middle of the night,” is the way Kevin Rose describes his role as director of asset management for the Wishrock Group, the Portland, ME-based company that specializes in preserving affordable and workforce housing apartment complexes.

Once a property is built or acquired, how do owners make sure it is performing properly, living up to their goals and expectations, meeting the needs of its residents and not falling into disrepair?

YouthBuild’s origin story goes back to 1978, when Dorothy Stoneman, a Harvard-educated civil rights and community activist educator in East Harlem, surveyed the students with whom she worked, asking how they thought they could best improve their neighborhoods if they had some adult support.

In the early 1970s, the well-heeled residents of Aspen and Telluride, CO, faced a problem. Though they were often part-timers from the two coasts and other major cities who spent only weeks at a time in the two ski resort towns, their presence had priced out the very people they needed to run the towns and local businesses.

Though it hearkens back to a different time, a different leader and a different struggle, the former defense secretary’s comment during a Pentagon news briefing pretty much portrays the current industry knowledge of the Trump Administration’s intentions and goals regarding affordable housing, urban regeneration, historic rehabilitation and the tax credit and other government programs that support them. The proposed budget and tax reform represent two distinct but interrelated challenges.

On the morning of Friday, November 15, 2013, a 150-person combined force of the Detroit Police Department and SWAT team, Michigan State Police, the state department of corrections, the FBI and ATF executed a raid on the Colony and Fisher Arms Apartments at 9303 East Jefferson Avenue, on Detroit’s east side.