The economy is approaching a decade without a downturn. U.S. and global GDP are likely to hit a multi-year high at about 3 percent this year and the consensus view is that growth will slow only slightly in 2019, according to a recent Yardi Matrix report on the state of the real estate market. However, the same report shows that rising interest rates and affordability are making it difficult for first-time buyers to afford homes, with construction getting more and more expensive. Soaring land and materials costs have made it difficult to pencil all but high-end new projects in many metros. Multi-Housing News asked an industry veteran to weigh in on the poignant affordable housing issue. Aaron Gornstein is a leader in affordable housing policy and development, with more than 25 years of executive experience. He is currently the president & CEO of Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH), a national nonprofit organization that owns more than 7,000 units across 11 states. Gornstein used to serve as undersecretary for the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development. Prior to that, he spearheaded the passage of state and federal legislation, launched innovation programs and helped form numerous coalitions as the executive director of Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association. How serious is the affordable housing crisis in the markets you currently operate in? Gornstein: Several major national studies show a severe lack of affordable housing in every state in the country. A new report from the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, for example, found a shortage of seven million affordable and available rental homes for extremely low-income renters and found that no state or major metropolitan area has an adequate supply of rental housing for the poorest renters. There is a serious shortage of affordable homes in every...

Back in 2014, we were excited about the giant 3D printer USC Professor Behrokh Khoshnevis had designed with funding from NASA and the Cal-Earth Institute. The robot was able to build a 2,500-square-foot home in just 24 hours. The process was then known as Contour Crafting and was barely in the research stage. Fast forward to today, the big machine has progressed and seems to have the power to aid the pressing homelessness issue. Currently, the world lacks homes for more than one billion people, according to a report by the World Resources Institute Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. Some areas are in more distress than others, such as El Salvador, where to build a house it tricky because of the land’s vulnerability to earthquakes, flooding and volcanic eruptions. Yet, San Francisco-based housing charity New Story built more than 850 homes in El Salvador, Mexico and Bolivia in the past several years. Those homes costed $6,500 each and each of them took more than two weeks to build. The slow process spurred the company to search for better ways to build. That’s how they came in contact with ICON, an Austin-based construction tech company, to create a 3D printer that can build a 600 to 800-square-foot house in 12 to 24 hours for as little as $4,000. This printer, called Vulcan, was unveiled at SXSW along with a 3D printed house, built to U.S. standards, that’s in an Austin, Texas backyard. The model in Austin has a bedroom, living room, bathroom and a curved porch and the ‘ink’ used in its development is in fact cement, which the company claims, will help normalize the process for potential tenants that wish to know more about the sturdiness of the structure. The machine is designed to...

Demand for public housing assistance far outweighs the available supply in nearly every community nationwide, but the challenges can be especially great in California. The Housing Authority of San Luis Obispo (HASLO) and the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Barbara (HACSB) are prime examples of public housing agencies challenged with creating housing opportunities for low-income residents. There is never a slow work day for HASLO or HACSB, and the mere opportunity to join a housing assistance waiting list can create a frenzy of activity. “The vitality of every community is dependent on housing that is attainable for all income levels, and public housing agencies add incredible value to the regions they serve. The magnitude of their waiting lists, nationwide, is a great demonstration of the scarcity and value of affordable housing,” said Boone Atkins, vice president of affordable housing and PHA sales for Yardi. A PHA waiting list includes households seeking public housing units, housing choice vouchers and affordable housing. Given the local market conditions, those lists would grow daily if the HASLO and HACSB kept lists open to new names permanently. However, closing waiting lists to new households is just one way to keep the lists under control. Another way to maintain PHA waiting lists is periodically purging the names of households who are no longer seeking assistance. Purging PHA waiting lists has historically been a labor intensive process requiring envelope stuffing and data entry. PHAs also incurred costs for postage and paper to facilitate mailing forms to thousands of waitlisted households. RENTCafé PHA, and its embedded Save My Spot waitlist management feature, can mitigate those costs. Yardi is the only PHA software provider offering a modernized waitlist management solution, bringing relief to a longstanding industry issue. A Primer on RentCafe...

Pinnacle Property Management Services (Pinnacle) manages a vast portfolio of residential, commercial and mixed use properties. Many of these are affordable housing units, developed under the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. The many types of residential properties under management, including senior, student, affordable, luxury, market rate, etc., can present a challenge for leasing agents who must be well-versed in each vertical of the rental property industry. Affordable housing can be particularly challenging given the complexity of requirements necessary to comply with program requirements. Of course, the most basic of those requirements is that residents must qualify based on criteria such as income and assets. Documenting resident eligibility is the most important piece of a successful affordable housing program. Moving from paper-based applicant and resident files to electronic records is one of the ways the affordable housing industry is evolving to work more efficiently. Pinnacle is part of that evolution as it implements RENTCafé Affordable Housing. With RENTCafé Affordable Housing, Pinnacle saves time for leasing agents and ensures compliance with Low Income Housing Tax Credit program requirements. Those benefits result directly from changing to online housing applications and certification processes. “RentCafe Affordable Housing is such an amazing system when it’s used properly. If you haven’t used it, you’ll be surprised at how much time you can save and efficiency you can gain with it,” says Nick Strzelec. One of the biggest challenges of reviewing affordable housing applications is missing information. Using traditional paper forms, applicants can skip over questions they don’t have immediate answers to and forget to go back and fill in the missing data. Reviewers are stuck with an incomplete application and must reach out to the applicant to correct the omission. RENTCafé eliminates incomplete applications, which saves time for Pinnacle staff. “RENTCafé...

Conflicting research has many housing professionals—and house hunters—wondering if the nation has reached an affordability crisis or not. There are a few factors that influence why reputable sources are coming up with such different perspectives. Is there an affordability crisis? First American Financial Corp says no. A recent research summary posits that while home prices and mortgage rates have been increasing, the nation isn’t near crisis mode. CoreLogic’s Home Price Index reports that home prices increased 7 percent year-over-year. The Primary Mortgage Market Survey issued by Freddie Mac shows the recent mortgage rate has increase to its highest since 2013. First American Financial Corp suggests that the nation is not in crisis mode because while home prices and mortgages rates have increased, incomes have also increased. Most states have reached income levels that exceed their 2007 peak. Many incomes are higher than they’ve been in more than a decade. The organization’s conclusion: there is no crisis, just a casual decrease in affordability. Additional factors It’s not just home prices, mortgage rates, and incomes we must consider. Non-housing cost of living increases play a practical role in housing affordability for households. These costs have been rising for most of the nation, with six cities experiencing the steepest increases. GOBankingRates lists Atlanta; Denver; Eugene, Ore.; Nashville; Portland; and Seattle as cities with the highest spikes in non-housing cost of living. Healthcare, groceries, transportation and utilities are among the expenses that consume residents resources and contribute to the inability to afford housing. While incomes have increased over the years, housing costs have increased faster. The rising cost of non-housing expenses make affordability more challenging. An earner spends 29.1 percent of their income on a median-priced home. The established recommendation for affordability is 30 percent of income, which brings the average wage earner...

Tiny house manufacturers have long posited themselves as serious competition for the multifamily housing industry. Yet for years, there have not been any real contenders. ICON is positioned to change the real estate landscape. 3D Printing Reimagined ICON revealed a 3D-printed tiny home that is functional, beautiful, and affordable. The floor plans range from 650-800 square feet. Even the smallest floor plan is equipped with a bedroom, bathroom, and living room. Residents can enjoy additional living space thanks to a spacious wrap around porch. Building—or printing—these concrete homes takes as little as 12 hours. The larger homes take 24 hours, which still clocks-in months in advance of traditional housing structures. More than 100 one-inch thick layers of concrete create the durable walls of the abode. How much will these homes set you back? Currently only $10,000 USD. ICON has a Tesla-styled plan, however, to lower the cost over time to just $4,000. Both prices are significantly less than the cost of most double-wide mobile homes. The price tags is also significantly lower than the cost of renting in most major cities—if you have the land, of course. I Each structure is net zero energy, thermally efficient, and fully permitted for construction throughout the United States. Housing with Heart At the heart of these tiny houses rests a desire to see everyone in a safe, comfortable home that they can afford. ICON has initiated international housing projects that are just as altruistic as they are practical. The organization partnered with New Story to change the lives of 100 families in El Salvador. The duo recognizes that home is the foundation needed for families to thrive. Protection from the elements and decreased exposure to soil- and water-borne parasites are just a few ills families can avoid...

The next Yardi Advanced Solutions Conference is coming to Washington, D.C., kicking off on May 30, 2018. YASC brings together more than 1,500 professionals from nearly every property and financial management industry for instruction, comradery, and insight into the future of technology. At last year’s YASC, we sat down with Rachel Brown, Section 8 manager for the Fort Smith, Arkansas Housing Authority (FSHA). Rachel has witnessed exciting growth during her nearly 15 years with FSHA, growth that includes personal experiences, organizational development, as well as the growth of clients she serves. Here’s a recap of our conversation last spring. Welcome to YASC! Tell us a little about yourself and your organization. Our mission is to develop, rehabilitate and manage decent, safe and sanitary affordable housing. We promote equal opportunity, fair housing initiatives and the deconcentration of race and poverty. I’ve been with FSHA for nearly 15 years, and we’ve really grown over that time. When I first started as a housing specialist, we had around 450 Public Housing units and less than 1,200 vouchers. Today, we have more than 1,600 vouchers under our management, transitioned 288 public housing units through the RAD program, and replaced 170 public housing units with the help of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits.  Our current development efforts include Low-Income Housing Tax Credit units, rehabbing dilapidated housing for sale to low- and moderate-income families, and exploring ways to provide everyone with the affordable housing that meets their needs. What do you find most rewarding about your career thus far? Seeing people’s lives transition and change for the better, those are the real ‘wow’ moments. Clients come into our program in many personal situations. Some are single parents, others are going to school or raising a family. It’s inspiring when they enter our...

In our previous article link, IT specialist Linda Greenwaldt explained how CommonBond Communities implemented Yardi RentCafe for subsidized housing to improve efficiencies. Yardi eLearning helped the organization optimize their use of RentCafe. It is also the nonprofit’s go-to tool for employee education. The eLearning Solution eLearning provides on-demand training through a convenient online platform. Administrators can choose between pre-written classes, customized classes, and any combination in between. The fully configurable courses offer quantifiable insight into employee learning and content retention. “eLearning is perfect for rolling out RentCafe,” said Greenwaldt. “For introductions, this is perfect, perfect, perfect. During training, it has been great to prepare what onsite staff need to know, when they need to know it, without making them feel overwhelmed.” “Most people only pick up 10 percent of information their first time through it,” shrugged Greenwaldt. “We structured [the courses] in a way where they can always go back and review it. The 10 percent that I tell people that they can’t forget is going to eLearning and retaking the class!” Greenwaldt using eLearning to issue high-priority courses like Fair Housing first, followed by role-based learning for RentCafe and Yardi Voyager for PHA and Affordable housing. Customized Learning eLearning offers an extensive library of courses written by Yardi industry experts. Administrators are welcomed to use the courses as-is, but they are also encouraged and empowered to customize content. “A lot of times, I’ll reach out and see what Yardi has and modify it or do something slightly different. It’s helpful because I can copy the class and add the CommonBond content,” said Greenwaldt. Learning assessments promote information retention while helping leadership identify topics that need clarification or review. Greenwald said, “I love the ability to throw in a test or quiz. I can...

Linda Greenwaldt, an IT specialist with CommonBond Communities, has a well-rounded understanding of the affordable housing industry. She has turned units and worked her way up to help manage properties. Her career path has given her a unique perspective to her current role in IT. She asked, “What can we do to make the process more efficient, for prospects, residents, and staff?” Yardi RentCafe for subsidized housing is a robust multifamily marketing and leasing platform. It simplifies marketing, SEO, SEM, online leasing, and resident engagement. Greenwaldt and the CommonBond team saw the potential for RentCafe to simplify operations for prospects, residents, and staff. CommonBond recently implemented RentCafe. The nonprofit organization is rolling out the software to its 11,000 residents at a pace of about five properties every two weeks, beginning with property websites and resident-facing services. “It’s a lot easier in RentCafe,” says Greenwaldt. “We’re to the point now where the websites are awesome.” CommonBond’s new property websites include modern layouts, user-friendly navigation, easy access to floor plans and pricing information. When prospects are ready to make a decision, online leasing is available. “I really like the way it all works in RentCafe. It’s so much easier to manage RentCafe marketing than lots of separate components. I’m not a web designer, but I can throw myself in RentCafe and achieve consistency between sites,” says Greenwaldt. RentCafe goes beyond prospects’ first steps to improve the resident experience. In the RentCafe resident portal, renters can file and track maintenance requests, receive updates on community message boards, and access a variety of ways to pay their rent. “I’m loving the resident experience in RentCafe. Residents have so many options in how to pay,” says Greenwaldt. “Credit card payments, ACH payments, reoccurring payments, Walk In Payments (WIPS). We...

Yardi client USA Properties teamed up with Life Steps in 1996 to create the J.B. Brown Fund, a philanthropic partnership to help residents of affordable housing fulfill their academic potential, participate in sports, and overcome financial hardships. The Fund Geoffrey C. Brown, president and CEO of USA Properties Fund Inc., co-created J.B. Brown fund in honor of his father. His father established the company’s mission back in 1981. The fund is an extension of that mission. “What’s important to me is our tagline as a company: Creating Outstanding Communities,’” says Brown. “To me, an outstanding community isn’t just a pretty project with sticks and bricks. A nice community also includes the social services that we provide.” Social services at USA Properties begin with LifeSteps, a resource provider offering skills training and educational programs that empower residents. Services are extended through the J.B. Brown fund. The athletic opportunities offered through the fund are close to Brown’s heart. He participated in youth sports as a child and coached his children in youth sports for several years. “The lessons learned in youth sports are invaluable,” begins Brown. “You learn teamwork, discipline, and competition but most importantly, you learn how to lose. You learn that you can’t be afraid to fail. That might be the most valuable of all lessons.” The crown jewels of the J.B. Brown Fund are the academic scholarships, awarded to residents that strive to attend institutions of higher learning. To date, the J.B. Brown Fund has been able to fund every qualified applicant. “We want to create a mindset where people don’t think that because they grew up in affordable housing community that they can’t go to college,” explains Brown. “We’ve had a number of successful people who have gone through the whole program....

The City of San Jose and Santa Clara County have developed a two-tier plan to mitigate homelessness, a crisis that plagues the region. The breakthrough began in 2014 when the County received funding through CalWORKS, California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids. The program empowered 20 local agencies with $20 million to identify housing, provide rent and move-in assistance, and provide case management and services to residents. As of mid-2016, more than 4,000 families benefitted from the CalWorks grant. Yet CalWORKS and other supportive housing programs (SHP) face a formidable change. The shortage of affordable and low-income housing options continues to contribute to a growing number of residents without housing. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2016 Annual Homeless Assessment Report reveals that Santa Clara County has: The third highest rate of unsheltered homelessness; The third largest number of chronically homeless person; The fifth largest number of unaccompanied homeless youth; The fifth largest number of homeless veterans; and The seventh largest number of homeless persons on any given night. In addition to ongoing CalWORKS and SHP programming, the City has recently committed to the construction of 533 permanent housing apartments for formerly homeless residents. The construction of those units, however, will take about four years. In the interim, the Shelter Crisis Act will fill the void. It is a five-year program that creates emergency shelters throughout the city. The model community, Bridge Housing Communities, has received approval from the City. The design includes community restrooms, common spaces, and cooking facilities. Residents will have access to onsite caseworkers that can connect them with resources that promote health and autonomy. Gensler architects issued the winning design, a 40-unit village with sustainable features. The next challenge is finding sites in each district of the city...

Just what is a plugin anyway? How is it different from a patch? Or a full version update? The somewhat frustrating truth for most of us is that software is one of the few products we use that doesn’t seem ever be ‘done’. With all of the different types of software we depend on every day, it’s common for users to experience confusion, frustration and fatigue when it comes to software updates. Operating systems for smartphones, tablets and computers are constantly updating themselves with security fixes and new features. Every day it seems we get notices on our phones that app updates are ready to be downloaded and installed. Software that supports a team of professionals, such as Yardi property management software, is a good example of why updates are extremely valuable for users. Software updates address security risks, solve coding bugs and prevent unplanned downtime. Think of it this way: if your organization has developed an internal workaround to address a problem, and you haven’t updated your plugins lately, then it’s likely that problem (and perhaps others) has an official fix from Yardi ready to download and install. Laurie Swertfager from AJB Consulting talked about software updates at the Yardi Affordable Housing and PHA Forum in Atlanta. Laurie is an affordable housing consultant with extensive expertise in compliance, finance and technology. “My clients sometimes lament that little things they are looking for aren’t available in Voyager. In those cases, my first step is to see if they are up to date on their plugins. Chances are they have not, and often the uninstalled plugins have exactly what they are looking for.” says Swertfager. “Some clients work under the guise of ‘if it isn’t broke, then don’t fix it,” says Dave Kessler, vice president...

Submitting an application for affordable housing is a daunting challenge. Tax returns, paycheck stubs and bank statements are just the beginning of what applicants must provide to qualify for a unit. Proof of eligibility for housing assistance is a must since public funds often support rents below market rate. Federal, state and local housing agencies have policies and procedures in place that ensure affordable housing resources only serve qualified residents. In the past, affordable housing providers kept files with thick stacks of paper as proof of each resident’s eligibility status. Providers also keep similar files for denied applicants to document why a household was determined ineligible for housing assistance. Affordable housing providers are taking a modern approach to minimize paperwork and staff hours necessary to qualify residents. With online applications, providers are not only saving administrative costs, but also better documenting their resident files and boosting compliance with fair housing regulations. Rather than handing applicants a stack of forms to fill out, housing specialists can now direct applicants to an online portal to submit everything needed to qualify for a unit. RentCafe Affordable Housing from Yardi makes this possible, and it’s becoming more and more common throughout the industry. Just how big is the RentCafe Affordable Housing trend? More than 100,000 housing applications have been created online since the product launched in 2016. That’s more than 6,000 per month, and the numbers are growing every day. “Affordable housing applications have evolved from cumbersome, paper-based hassles into easy, online workflows. Applicants can submit documentation from their home computer or mobile device. That freedom saves applicants from taking time off work to come into the office for a lengthy in-person interview,” said Dave Kessler, vice president of affordable housing and PHA at Yardi. “If you consider...

Jessica Krisher, Director of Affordable Housing CSD at Yardi, creates tiny blue “A-Team Flags” by hand. Traditionally, support team members that completed compliance and subsidy certifications received the flags. When they had a question, they would raise the flag to notify their managers. Over time, the flag became a broader symbol. It is a reminder that near or far, members of the team form a support system for one another and their clients. A New Tradition To show their solidarity, a few A-Team members carry along their flag during their travels. The team shares photo ops with the flag when they return to the office. “The A-Team Flags have become like Flat Stanley,” Krisher observes with a laugh, a bit bewildered. “It’s sweet that they take it out on their personal time. They’re thinking about us—though they shouldn’t be while they’re on PTO,” she adds. “But it’s nice that they’re taking the team with them on their adventures.” In pictures, A-Team flags fly on the tops of mountains, wave in the depths of the sea, and appear everywhere in between. Under the Sea Stephen Kearns, Affordable Housing Team Leader, Client Services Department was the first to carry the flag to the ocean floor. During a dive in summer 2016, he planted the A-Team flag in the sands of Palancar Reef near Cozumel, Mexico. When asked why he brought the A-Team flag along, he explains, “I wanted to make people back in the office jealous! Just kidding – well, partially.” After deeper reflection, Kearns adds, “It’s refreshing to see that your teammates don’t necessarily forget about everyone and everything the moment they walk out the door at the end of the day. To share the moments and travels with your colleagues back in the office...

Atlanta City Councilman Andre Dickens proposes a revised zoning ordinance along the Atlanta BeltLine, a 22-mile mixed-use park project. It is the first step in a longstanding effort to prepare for the city’s 40 percent population boom by 2040. The proposal would require developers along the BeltLine to designate a percentage of units towards affordable housing for the next 20 years. Developers would receive incentives for their compliance, such as reduced property taxes and more flexible parking requirements. Additional details remain undisclosed. The push for affordable housing in Metro Atlanta, particularly in the Buckhead segment of the BeltLine, addresses a desperate need. Buckhead View reports the most recent data: A person or family whose income falls below 80 percent of the Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area Median Income (AMI) qualifies for subsidized housing. The median income for a family of four is approximately $67,500. Per the United States National Housing Act of 1937 for affordable housing, allotting one-third of one’s income is reasonable for housing costs. That would be $24,300 a year or an average rent of $680 per month for Atlanta families. Along the BeltLine in Buckhead, an 800 square-foot studio could cost a family more than $1,840 per month. Rents exceed $2.30 per square foot, according to Haddow & Co. Home prices continue to rise. A report issued by Georgia Tech reveals that home sales prices near the BeltLine increased faster than elsewhere in Metro Atlanta. Prices skyrocketed between 40 to 68 percent in the last four years, depending on the neighborhood. High prices are largely the results of land costs. Chuck Young, SVP of development for the Prestwick Development Co., notes the steady rise in recent years. “It used to be we could develop a garden apartment for $65 a square foot. Now it’s...

Submitting an application for affordable housing is a daunting challenge. Tax returns, paycheck stubs and bank statements are just the beginning of what applicants must provide to qualify for a unit. Proof of eligibility for housing assistance is a must since public funds often support rents below market rate. Federal, state and local housing agencies have policies and procedures in place that ensure affordable housing resources only serve qualified residents. In the past, affordable housing providers kept files with thick stacks of paper as proof of each resident’s eligibility status. Providers also keep similar files for denied applicants to document why a household was determined ineligible for housing assistance. Affordable housing providers are taking a modern approach to minimize paperwork and staff hours necessary to qualify residents. With online applications, providers are not saving administrative costs, but also better documenting their resident files and boosting compliance with fair housing regulations. Rather than handing applicants a stack of forms to fill out, housing specialists can now direct applicants to an online portal to submit everything needed to qualify for a unit. RentCafe Affordable Housing from Yardi makes this possible, and it’s becoming more and more common throughout the industry. Just how big is the RentCafe Affordable Housing trend? More than 100,000 housing applications have been created online since the product launched in 2016. That’s more than 6,000 per month, and the numbers are growing every day. “Affordable housing applications have evolved from cumbersome, paper-based hassles into easy, online workflows. Applicants can submit documentation from their home computer or mobile device. That freedom saves applicants from taking time off work to come into the office for a lengthy in-person interview,” said Dave Kessler, vice president of affordable housing and PHA at Yardi. “If you consider it...

In the face of crippling budget cuts, housing authorities rely on innovation, resourcefulness, and advanced software to stimulate growth. Carlos Pizarro serves as Vice President of Housing at Housing Authority of the City of Lakeland, Florida. His decade of experience in the private sector made him an unlikely candidate for the position. That experience, however, is the key to the housing authority’s success. “Public housing and section 8 must change,” reflects Pizarro.  “It needs the private sector and the public sector to work together to create something new. I don’t see the government able to support Section 8 and public housing forever. There has to be an effort between everybody.” Such industry changes are felt across the nation. Fort Smith Housing Authority in Arkansas has managed to ride the waves of these changes under the guidance of Rachel Brown, Section 8 Director. “You can’t depend on public housing funding anymore,” Brown says. “Public housing is going away. A lot of us are focused on converting public housing into RAD.” Fort Smith Housing Authority demolished 170 of its public housing units. The 288 remaining units were converted to Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) units. RAD, per the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “allows public housing agencies to leverage public and private debt and equity in order to reinvest in the public housing stock.” The program is an effort to address a $25.6 billion dollar-backlog of public housing capital improvements. Blending funding options within a portfolio, and even within a single project, is one way that housing authorities stay afloat. Discovering untraditional sources of income is another. Innovative Incomes Both the City of Lakeland and Fort Smith housing authorities have created construction and development branches. “We got into developing properties, which is new for a housing...

This week’s NAA Education Conference & Exposition kicked off with a special session on Fair Housing, The New Five: Fair Housing Issues You Didn’t Know About. Panelists Doug Chasick, President, The Fair Housing Institute; Theresa Kitay, Attorney, Law Firm of Theresa L. Kitay; and Kathelene Williams, Partner, Williams & Edelstein, P.C. led the discussion. The team compiled a list of five hot topics in Fair Housing that can be confusing due to recent changes and ambiguities. The forum discussed best practices to help housing professionals avoid liability. Chasick opened with a piece of general advice before diving in: let common sense comes to the rescue when gray areas arise. “Take off your Fair Housing hat and put on your ‘Do I want to be the next slide in their presentation’ hat,” he laughs. “We can’t forget the, ‘Be a decent person’ hat,” adds Kitay. Below are the panelists’ recommended best practices: Occupancy Policies – Many properties rely on a two occupants per bedroom standard. The panel suggests reconsidering that standard, as it can lead to disparate impact claims from families with children. Consider two people per bedroom, plus one per unit as a base. Additional considerations might include items listed in the Keaton Memo, special circumstances such as the age of kids (e.g. exclude infants from occupancy rules), the size of rooms, and extra finished rooms like libraries or lofts that can safely serve as a sleeping quarters. When it comes to evictions or rejecting an application based on past troubles, victims of domestic violence may also require additional occupancy consideration. See statement HUD 16-159, issued Oct 24, 2016 for additional details. Immigration Status vs. National Origin – Immigration status is not a protected category in Fair Housing in most states. National origin, however,...

In the United States, the dire need for affordable housing continues. The nation currently faces a deficit of 7.4 million affordable units for those earning less than 30 percent of the local median income. In an effort to develop inexpensive housing in desirable areas, numerous project developers have opted to repurpose existing buildings. Bloomberg reports the account of one such property that is 112 years in the making. Sears Reborn On the West Side of Chicago sprawls more than 1 million square feet of American history. Constructed in 1905, the site served as the original Sears headquarters. It includes a 14-story clock tower, a printing plant, and several additional buildings. Sears occupied the site for 70 years before relocating to its most iconic Chicago home. The site began a slow and unsteady decline, accentuated with failed projects and abandoned spaces. In 2014, Yardi client Mercy Housing Lakefront embarked on a new project at the site, Lofts at Arthington. It would be an affordable housing community that consists of 181 units and on-location social services. Residents would have access to childcare, public transit, and job opportunities in nearby Chicago proper. “We were in a position to come and build affordable housing in a neighborhood with more amenities than more upscale neighborhoods could only dream of,” says Mark Angelini, President of Mercy Housing Lakefront. The redevelopment cost about $55 million. Lofts at Arthington qualified for federal historic preservation tax credits through the National Park Service. It also received low-income housing tax credits from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. One-third of the units are allotted for residents who earn less than 30 percent of the local median income. The remaining two-thirds have an income cap that is 60 percent of the local median income....

Affordable Housing Finance recently released the Top 50 Affordable Housing Developers of 2016. The list  showcases developers with the most reported affordable units started and completed within the year. Great Companies, Great Timing Yardi clients received 23 out of the 50 available spots on the list: The NRP Group Miller Valentine Group LDG Development Dominium Herman & Kittle RPM Development Group St. Anton Communities Conifer Realty Bridge Housing Corporation Volunteers of America Arker Companies Community Investment Strategies USA Properties Fund Atlantic Pacific Communities BFC Partners Picerne Real Estate Group AHC Pennrose Woda Group McCormack Baron Salazar Related Mercy Housing WinnCompanies The new construction barely puts a dent in the ongoing affordable housing shortage, which now exceeds 4.7 million units. Yet the timing could not have been better. Recent cuts to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as tax reforms, are projected to trigger a decrease in future affordable housing construction. Tighter budgets require developers to work with greater efficiency and accuracy. That is why nearly half of Top 50 Affordable Housing Developers turn to Yardi. Robust Software Yardi ® Construction Management improves projects’ cost control and budget oversight, from their nascent stages to close-out. Users can develop financing plans and monitor agreements from contractors and subcontractors. As the project progresses, users can compare actual costs to the job budget. Both job costs and the general ledger are updated in real time, providing users with the most accurate and dependable information. The comprehensive reporting within Construction Management provides detail and transparency to users, protected with controlled permissions.  Users receive an overview of budgets, revisions, change orders and commitments, each with drill-down options for greater detail. Construction Management seamlessly integrates with Yardi Affordable Housing Suite ™, allowing users to continue project...

The Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program creates more than $8 billion per year to develop and rehabilitate affordable housing units. According to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, LIHTC is the most important resource for creating affordable housing in the United States today. More than 2.7 million affordable housing units have been developed over the past 30 years though LIHTC. However, there is uncertainty about the continued success of the program. Potential changes to income tax law are delaying affordable housing projects currently in development, and projects in the planning phase are suddenly challenged with budget shortfalls. History of LIHTC The LIHTC program was signed into law in 1987 and is monitored by the Internal Revenue Service. Housing finance agencies in all 50 states oversee the daily administration of the program. LIHTC differs from the approach the federal government takes towards other housing programs. Instead of using federal funds to build and manage housing resources across the county, the LIHTC program gives states, investors, and affordable housing advocates the ability to plan, finance and build projects that best fit their local needs. Nonprofit housing developers acquire tax credits from their state housing finance agencies based on a competitive process. States award credits to projects they deem most valuable based on pre-defined criteria. Awarded non-profits then turn around and sell tax credits to private investors such as banks and corporations. Those investors save on their annual tax bill and nonprofits raise capital to build housing. It’s a win-win for all. Future Uncertainty Because the sale of tax credits is a bidding process, prices are based on the need for investors to reduce their tax burden. If that need is reduced through tax reform, then there is less competition for tax...

The story of Janice Hill reflects the dilemma of many managers in the affordable housing sector: she wades through an endless stream of work while juggling several responsibilities at once. All this is done while dealing with, what seems to be, fewer hours in every day. “My title this week is business analyst,” chuckles Hill. She follows with a telling sigh. Also like many others in the industry, she loves her job. Hill has worked with New Directions for 18 years. She takes pride in helping people secure housing, giving them a stable foundation upon which they can build their dreams. But the demand for affordable housing continues to grow. Staffing and other resources can’t keep up. That’s why she and the small, dedicated staff at New Directions Housing Corporation are exploring how to help more people using fewer resources. The organization turned to Yardi for help. In 2000, New Directions implemented Yardi Advantage before upgrading to Yardi Voyager® property management platform in 2002. The web-based platform facilitates operations management, leasing execution, and easy analytics. The team recently updated to Voyager 7S with enhanced functionalities. Voyager 7S runs on any device using any browser. It also hosts user-friendly mobile apps and add-on products that allow New Directions to improve efficiencies and deliver competitive services to residents. Hill explains, “We chose Yardi Voyager because it was Windows-based and it had everything we needed it to do: management, maintenance, affordable, payroll. Everything was in one place. We got rid of a database and [two competitors] for the financials. Voyager got rid of all of these different programs that we were using to run New Directions. Voyager simplified it.” Voyager has helped New Directions do more with less. Streamlined and automated workflows promote efficiency, accuracy, and transparency...

Yardi client Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Association (RRHA) recently broke ground on the expansive Churchill North/East End Revitalization project. East End Revitalization will include the demolition of the 504-unit Creighton Court public housing community. It will be replaced with a mixed-income community of nearly 1,000 energy efficient homes and apartments. Residents can choose between more than 40 townhomes, 240 market rate rentals, and public housing. The new neighborhood will include more than 500 public housing units to replace those demolished at Creighton Court. All units will be converted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Rental Assistance Demonstration program. The vacant Armstrong High School, the site of the project groundbreaking, is also being demolished. Upon completion, the 21-acre site will receive infrastructure redevelopment in preparation for housing. Construction may take a decade or longer to complete but the momentum and enthusiasm are growing. Mayor Jones says, “From this building will rise a phoenix of new possibility and transformation of persons who will be able to have better lives and better environments to live in.” Tammy Grubb, Housing Choice Voucher Program Supervisor with RRHA shares the Mayor’s enthusiasm. “We’re revitalizing the entire corridor,” she says. “We’re looking forward to a beautiful transformation. We’re so excited about the new housing. For Grubb, the housing is more than a shelter. She sees the new homes as stepping-stones towards a brighter future. “It’s like our mission at Richmond Redevelopment, to assist in finding housing, to encourage our clients who use housing as a stepping stone to build themselves up and take advantage of the programs that they need to step up and become more self-sufficient.” “We are also excited for the new opportunities that residents will have, personally and professionally,” says Grubb. The highly anticipated...

While the ghosts of the last decade’s housing crisis have (mostly) been put to rest, for many families priced out of their local markets the need for affordable housing remains strong. Like the PC’s infamous “blue screen of death,” the Urban Institute’s map of affordable housing inventory is terrifying to behold. A handful of dark blue swatches in Midwest represent healthy levels of affordable housing inventory. The rest of the country, on the other hand, sits awash in the lightest indigo hues. From barely perceptible azure to the palest cerulean, a majority of states contain less than 50 units per 100 extremely low-income households. More than a third sit at, or close, to zero. As demand for budget-friendly rentals continues to rise, many communities struggle to provide adequate supply. In response to this affordable housing crisis, the White House recently released the Housing Development Toolkit. Part call to action, part policy overhaul, the toolkit’s main purpose it to help cities increase their affordable housing inventory. “The growing severity of unsupplied housing markets is jeopardizing housing affordability for working families,” write the toolkit’s authors, “increasing income inequality by reducing less-skilled workers’ access to high-wage labor markets, and stifling GDP growth by driving labor migration away from the most productive regions,” Accumulated Barriers While New York City’s real estate market is the stuff of legend, until recently most cities were able to supply adequate housing to residents. Unfortunately, several factors have conspired over the last few years to shrink stock and ramp up costs. These “accumulated barriers” are identified by the toolkit as lack of adequate construction, high job growth in areas with low vacancy rates, gentrification, and cost-per-unit increases paired with insufficient public assistance. “The accumulation of these barriers has reduced the ability of many housing markets to...