Thomas Amdur Author Archives

ICAST’s IRA & BIL Instant Benefit Estimate Calculator is now available on NH&RA’s website under the Resources section.

This month TCA takes a deep dive into exciting and innovative strategies in the aging and senior housing space. The physical and lifestyle needs of baby boomers will continue to evolve and the affordable housing industry must develop plans to meet their requirements today and 20 years from now.

“Pay For Success” (PFS) Financing Structures have become one of the hot new tools in the emerging social impact investing field and increasingly a burgeoning opportunity for affordable housing owners and social service providers.

Happy Holidays. The end of each year is a reflective time and looking back over the past twelve months, it was a period of productive developments for NH&RA members and our industry at large.

It’s the silly season again! Both the Republican and Democratic parties have now held their first presidential debates, and, as promised, they have been very entertaining. Now that the 2016 presidential campaign is really picking up steam and the bizarre Game of Thrones continues to play out in the US House of Representatives (outcome very uncertain at the time that I am writing this month’s column), I think we can safely predict that Congress is unlikely to change course and start passing reams of legislation this political season.

I love history. I am the kind of guy that makes long detours to visit minor historic landmarks. You have probably cursed at me from your car because I slow down traffic to better read the historic markers on the side of country roads.

Do my eyes and ears deceive me? Has affordable housing really been edging its way into popular culture and the mainstream media?

On June 24, Harvard University published its annual State of the Nation’s Housing Report and the researchers found much to be concerned with. Housing starts are down and homeownership rates are at a 20-year low. Our sector of the market is fairing better in some respects as multifamily vacancy rates continue to decline and rents increase, but these same trends are putting greater pressure on low and moderate- income renters.

Senate Finance Committee approved a tax extender bill that fixes the 9% and 4% credit rate floor for allocations made in 2015 and 2016. These provisions are part of a larger two-year tax extender bill.

On June 11, the House Financial Services Committee hosted a HUD Oversight Hearing. Committee Chair Jeb Hensarling’s (R-TX) opening statement quoted President Lyndon Johnson: “We have declared unconditional war on poverty. Our objective is total victory.”

On June 25 the United States Supreme Court issued a decision upholding the use of the “disparate impact” analysis in the Fair Housing Act. The decision upholds an important and longstanding principle of the Fair Housing Act, namely that housing policy can be discriminatory by showing that what may seem like neutral policies have the effect of furthering discrimination.

Operating an affordable housing company is an intricate endeavor. Project development and finance tends to get most of the attention, but operations and maintenance, human resources and asset management are equally important disciplines, particularly as companies mature. As a means of helping educate our members and help build capacity across our industry, NH&RA has been exploring a diverse array of approaches, models and best practices aimed at increasing portfolio value, reducing operating expenses and mitigating company risk. One result of this effort is the Preservation Through Energy Efficiency Road Show, which has visited six cities thus far and was featured prominently in a recent Tax Credit Advisor article. This month I’d like to share some additional ideas and initiatives we have learned about.

Affordable housing finance is an ever evolving discipline and, as a result, an evergreen topic for this publication. This month’s issue highlights a number of interesting financing opportunities, tools, niches and programmatic changes that will be of interest to our readers. Keeping with this theme, I’d like to explore and expand on a few topics that are trending in our office following the NCHMA Spring Meeting on March 31 and the PTEE Roadshow in Indianapolis on April 9.