icon Blueprint for April

Seeing the Light

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3 min read

As you begin to peruse this issue it will, at last, be April and a winter of cold and darkness in many regions of the country should be behind us. I have been commuting both to and from work in the darkness for so long now I sometimes wonder if I’m in Iceland rather than Washington, DC. On many nights this winter, the Washington darkness did subside when I walked in to my home; but then I turned on the television, and it was still right there.

Given the ebony winter, I am happy to report to you that this April issue you are now entering is filled with light. Here you will find optimism, innovative ideas, evidence of successful solutions and a whole lot of determination.

This begins on the very next page where both columnists Thom Amdur (New Developments) and David A. Smith (The Guru Is In) freely acknowledge that the future of affordable housing support is not going to come from the people currently serving terms as elected officials in our federal government. But we can deal with it. As David suggests, all politics is local—and so is all real estate. Both of our policy wonks make arguments that the light is to be found in the states and the cities.

A great beam of light sits in downtown Memphis where the itinerant Scott Beyer visited the Crosstown Concourse this month, and reports he thinks he saw the future: a “vertical urban village,” the Sears Roebuck warehouse built in 1927 now converted into a city within a city, with support from 31 funding sources, including just about every tax credit available. (Housing USA)

There is at least one beam of light still emitting from here in your Nation’s Capital: the Rental Assistance Demonstration program. Since its inception in 2014, each year about this time we turn to those who can assess the progress of the program. In this month’s Talking Heads, staffer Darryl Hicks interviews Patrick Costigan, one of the folks who helped create it and who now runs the RAD Cooperative. Baltimore has been a hotbed for RAD deals with the city’s Public Housing Authority putting up 17 projects now being preserved by 11 private companies. Staff writer Mark Fogarty checked in on this evolution of the Crabcake Capital. (1,000 RAD Rehabs). RAD’s impact is not exclusively in the cities and, in fact, Holly Bray of Love Capital is now working with PHAs in smaller communities and discusses the intricacies of successfully collaborating with these agencies with staff writer Mark Olshaker. (Preservation Algebra)

And you can find more brightness in Scott Beyer’s story about the Homeward Bound program that is finding housing for veterans in North Carolina, as well as in Mark Olshaker’s visit to the National Building Museum’s exhibit of small housing solutions. (Do More with Less Space)

So goodbye darkness. Welcome sun and spring. And enjoy our array of light.

Marty Bell
Editor