Multi-Housing News - November 2008 - (Page 22)

finance & investment Meeting The Workforce Challenge America’s workforce continues to face a dearth of affordable housing. Experts provide strategies for developing in a difficult segment during challenging times By Keat Foong, Executive Editor Housing America’s workforce—defined in its broadest terms as those earning between 60 to 120 percent of area median income, such as teachers, firemen, nurses and policemen—has been a recalcitrant, perennial problem facing the nation. The Center for Housing Policy estimates the number of working families paying more than half their income for housing increased 87 percent, from 2.4 to 4.5 million, between 1997 and 2005. An economic downturn may assuage the numbers, with housing becoming more affordable, but the problem is likely to remain intractable. Financing has become a major difficulty in the development of workforce housing today. Financial institutions have by and large exited as sources of equity financing for Low Income Housing Tax Credit projects. And although mortgage capital remains available, construction financing has also become very difficult to obtain. “It’s a pretty tough environment to make anything work,” says Bart Harvey, former chairman and CEO of Enterprise and a board member of the ULI Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing. Harvey is also the co-recipient of the 2008 Urban Land Institute J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development. “There needs to be a resumption of the credit markets” for it to be possible to develop workforce housing at the scale that is needed, he suggests. Conrad Egan, president and CEO of the National Housing Conference (NHC), says that developers today will have to be forced to put in real capital and to bring in conventional equity partners who seek market-rate returns. As a result, “there will be less room for some of the experimentation that was supportable before,” he says. “I do not expect to see that situation change in the future.” Egan says that land cost is another major barrier to affordable housing development. “I am ever more convinced that while financing is a factor, the availability of [land] sites is a key variable,” he says. MHN spoke to these and other industry leaders for advice on playing in this difficult segment, if not Multifamily Housing: 2009 and Beyond DEBT/EQUITY GREEN WORKOUTS NOI How is the state of the nation’s economy affecting your ability to develop and gain equity for your building projects? Join other multifamily developers, owners and builders to get insight into what deals you can still make and how to structure your business plans for the coming year. The NAHB Multifamily Pillars Conference is one investment you’ll want to make in 2009. NAHB Multifamily Pillars of the Industry Conference & Awards Gala March 17-18, 2009 Hotel del Coronado San Diego, CA For more information and to register, visit www.nahb.org/PillarsConference National Association of Home Builders For more information, visit www.multi-housingnews.com/productinfo 22 November 2008 | Multi-Housing News | Producer of Multi-Housing World http://www.nahb.org/PillarsConference http://www.nahb.org/PillarsConference http://www.multi-housingnews.com/productinfo

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Multi-Housing News - November 2008

Multi-Housing News - November 2008
Contents
From the Editor
Perspective: The Economy
Market Pulse
Special Report: People to Watch
Market Report: Southwest
Executive Roundtable: Dealing with the Crisis
Development & Design: TOD
Finance: Workforce Housing
Green Awards/Perspective
Sell Me: Renters Insurance
Products: Recycled Content
Solutions: Security
Property Showcase: Chelsea Modern

Multi-Housing News - November 2008