From November 20-22, over 900 developers, capital providers and other professionals in the affordable Housing industry met in Chicago for AHF Live: The 2013 Affordable Housing Developers’ Summit. The conference featured speeches and panel discussions from the industry’s leading experts including HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan.
The Top 7 latest trends and other pertinent issues discussed at AHF Live included the following:
- The Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program, which many, including Secretary Donovan agree represents the wave of the future for federal housing programs
- The potential impact of the consolidation of HUD offices; among other things, it may lead to greater asset management responsibilities for FHA lenders
- Continued uncertainty about decision-making on Capitol Hill and the likelihood of an approved federal budget, tax reform and restructuring of the GSEs
- LIHTC allocation policies across the nation in 2014–state allocators continue to grapple with cost containment
- The latest on the tax credit equity market including pricing, deal terms, recently approved accounting changes and hope of widening the investor base. The market continues to perform well with deals across most MSAs finding homes, but the market’s over-reliance on CRA-motivated investors is an ongoing concern
- Innovative strategies for preserving affordable housing–incl. making use of the mix of state and local funds and working with mission-oriented capital sources to obtain debt and equity
- Trends among housing developers including focusing more on extracting value from stabilized portfolios instead of relying solely on development fees for cash flow
To learn more about the latest trends in the affordable housing industry contact Steve Spall (sspall@tcamre.com) and Allen Feliz (afeliz@tcamre.com) — (617) 542-1200.