HDC MidAtlantic’s Post

Our GAI Community Solutions Group team is excited to see the formal announcement of a brand-new affordable housing development at the ‘Fun-Lan’ site on Tampa’s Hillsborough Avenue. This site was identified as a redevelopment site in the 2022 East Tampa Community Redevelopment Area (ETCRA) Strategic Action Plan Update, created by our CSG Team. As part of the plan, CSG identified eight specific ‘demonstration sites’ to showcase the potential of various ‘place types’ in East Tampa, ranging from employment districts to neighborhood-scale investments. The ETCRA site illustrations intend to provide a clear picture of the community’s objectives while inspiring local initiatives to create meaningful outcomes. Read more about the affordable housing complex: https://ow.ly/pO7l50QNEnc Check out the full ETCRA Strategic Action Plan: https://ow.ly/SuVP50QNErb #CommunitySolutionsGrp #strategicactionplan #redevelopment #tampaflorida #affordablehousing

Earlier this month, a few of my colleagues at Douglass Park Asset Management and Lemor Development Group, including Easton A. Bell III, Rousol Aribi and Viviana M. Addo, attended the Fostering Neighborhoods: Hospitals and the Development of Affordable Housing conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. With a worsening affordable housing crisis in New York City and a scarcity of land, policymakers need to connect affordable housing developers with a range of institutional stakeholders, including faith-based organizations and hospitals to increase the supply of housing. According to the NYU Furman Center, there is the potential to add 30,000 units on hospital owned land. However, developing these units wouldn’t come without some challenges, including the cost of redeveloping this land, changing the zoning to accommodate these units and securing community support. My colleagues and I look forward to continuing to participate in these conversations on how the affordable housing industry can creatively use the resources that are available to us, including searching for ways to repurpose underutilized land and creating new partnerships to increase the stock of housing in NYC and nationwide.

Terwilliger Center Advisory Committee members Henry Cisneros and Steve Stivers recently penned an excellent op-ed for Newsweek. The piece explores the unique opportunity before Congress and the administration to leverage previously appropriated funds to create a demonstration program aimed at streamlining the construction of affordable housing. The pressing need for such initiatives cannot be overstated. While estimates vary, the United States has underbuilt housing by millions of units over the past 15 years. This shortage has led to a significant rise in housing costs.    The proposed demonstration program prioritizes responsible deregulation, fostering public-private partnerships, and increasing access to affordable housing in opportunity-rich neighborhoods. Find out more: https://lnkd.in/eztVd3WH  

Henry Cisneros and Steve Stivers take notice! Veteran Housing Corp applauds all efforts to build affordable housing but would challenge the US Congress and every local, state, and federal housing agency or affordable housing developer to do better in 2024 and beyond. Veteran Housing Corp demands permanent affordability for all projects receiving government funding, subsidies, tax credits, or other incentives! Veteran Housing Corp demands transparency and every local, state, and federal government agency and other stakeholders MUST provide answers to questions about the housing projects that are built with government funding, subsidies, tax credits, or incentives, including the following: 1. How much funding, federal tax credits, or government benefits or incentives from all government sources did the projects receive? 2. What is the affordability period for each project? 3. What guarantees exist that tenants will not be displaced after the "affordability period expires? Every local, state, and federal housing authority and affordable or workforce housing stakeholder should adopt the State of Vermont's "permanent affordability" policy as a model for all future government funded or subsidized housing projects or developments, no exceptions!  https://lnkd.in/eFEUC8c8 Additionally, local, state and federal housing agencies should look to the Helsinki, FINLAND MODEL of ending homelessness by providing affordable housing for all 'It’s a miracle': Helsinki's radical solution to homelessness https://lnkd.in/er9HZSQU U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development AGREES THAT adopting FINLAND'S MODEL OF ERADICATING HOMELESSNESS may be of great value to resolving the affordable housing and homelessness crises in America https://lnkd.in/gkSZWYRU

I like this opinion piece, especially this suggestion, “Such a demonstration program would be launched in eight to 10 geographically diverse communities, selected through a multi-agency "notice of funding availability." When choosing communities, agencies would prioritize those demonstrating a significant need for more affordable homes and anticipating both job and population growth from recent federal investments. Communities that receive funding would commit to removing local regulatory barriers—such as exclusionary land use and zoning regulations, environmental impact reviews, and parking minimums—that can add to construction timelines and project costs. In turn, the federal agencies involved would streamline federal regulations that impair the swift construction of affordable housing, while maintaining those needed to ensure safety, fair housing, and accountability.” It can work. We had this opportunity as part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development when the City of Rockford Illinois was a SC2 community, but we squandered it and got too mired down in working to kill a project, vs recognizing the need to change the systems of housing. #BeTheChange #DataMatters #ResearchBased

California Community Reinvestment Corporation (CCRC) was proud to sponsor San Gabriel Valley Consortium on Homelessness’s 2024 Housing Summit: "A New Season: Making Space For Affordable Housing" in San Dimas, CA! In addition to supporting the facilitation of this event, the Summit was also attended in-person by CCRC Relationship Manager Ting Xiao, who canvassed with other housing advocates to understand the implications of public policy on housing in the state of California. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s first Executive Directive, which streamlines affordable housing permitting, was a pertinent topic of discussion, as well as progress towards housing on faith-based organizations’ land and the future of the YIGBY (Yes In God’s Backyard) movement. Additionally, event attendees discussed methods of destigmatizing affordable housing within communities who oppose further developments. This advocacy work is indispensable to reversing decades of destructive narratives on affordable housing, which hurt the effort to guarantee stability and shelter to all Americans. The data on these important frameworks was made available by University of California, Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation, Alliant Strategic Development, City of Pomona and National Community Renaissance. Creative legislative and advocacy solutions continue to move the needle on the housing crisis, and events like the 2024 Housing Summit are key to understanding how best to navigate a constantly changing housing landscape. CCRC is honored to continue fighting for affordable housing alongside other leaders in the industry. #affordablehousing #SGVConsortiumonHomelessness #ExecutiveDirective1 #ED1 #YIGBY

From western Mass to the Cape to the North Shore, Gateway cities and suburban towns alike, local leaders, including myself, joined with Governor Healey, Lt. Governor Driscoll, the Massachusetts Municipal Association, and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) to share our feedback and ideas during yesterday’s housing roundtable, and to speak with one voice about the urgent need for progress when it comes to our housing crisis. https://lnkd.in/eiHEANF2

We at CWA and CES understand that the housing-supply crisis present across the State of Michigan and the United States is a problem that effects all walks of life - and solutions are often complex. It's for that reason we'd like to share the following Second Wave Media article that covers a few examples of progress within Michigan that demonstrate how important collaboration between organizations is when tackling the housing gap. The Regional Housing Partnerships that were created as part of the State of Michigan first-ever statewide housing plan are active in solving the complexities surrounding the housing challenge. (The linked article is part of Second Wave Media's "Block by Block" series, supported by FHLBank Indianapolis, which follows small-scale minority-driven development and affordable housing issues in the state of Michigan.) Follow this link to read the full article: https://lnkd.in/eeVqDtUb #planning #Michigan #housing #collaboration #solvingproblems #partnership

A look back to when Dallas first adopted Dallas Housing Policy 2033: @CullumClark noted policymakers should recognize that addressing Dallas’ housing problems must be a whole-of-city effort, with large private-sector and nonprofit roles and closer collaboration across the ecosystem. This means abandoning city government’s tendency to go it alone on affordable housing — a tendency that has led national affordable housing developers to bypass Dallas for years. Propositions G, H, and I will give the @CityofDallas the necessary resources it needs to partner with mixed-income housing developers and build more housing at a variety of price points. https://bit.ly/3SYfRjc

Impact in Focus: In honor of CPC’s 50th year, and in celebration of completing renovations to 16 Manhattan NYCHA developments, we’re shining the spotlight on the PACT Renaissance Collaborative. In 2019, New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), the nation's largest housing authority, chose the PACT Renaissance Collaborative (PRC) to renovate and revitalize 1,700 apartments across 16 Manhattan developments that are home to nearly 3,000 residents. PRC is comprised of CPC, Monadnock Development, The Community Development Trust, Community League of the Heights (CLOTH), Kalel Companies, and Lemor Development Group. Our participation in NYCHA’s innovative PACT-RAD program further cemented CPC as a trusted organization committed to enhancing the living conditions of NYC residents. We’re delighted to have successfully transformed these buildings into the #affordable, #safe, and #equitable homes their tenants deserve. This work has a meaningful effect on the lives of New Yorkers, and we can’t wait to see how much more impact we can make in the next 50 years. Please follow along all year long as we celebrate our 50th anniversary by highlighting the projects, people, and communities that have made CPC what it is today. #CPC50th #50YearsofImpact #50YearsofInnovation