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Interview
Could you share more about the state of affordable housing in the US , and the role it serves in society at the moment ? In the wider sense , 90 percent of the affordable housing that has been built here in the US for the last 35 years has been made under the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program , also known as LIHTC . This credit is authorized by the US government under Section 42 of the Tax Code . It is a public-private partnership , one of the most successful in the US ’ history , where the tax credits are granted awarded to developers of rental property . They , in turn , sell those tax credits to investors . The money that they raise from selling those tax credits offsets the cost of the property , allowing them to charge lower rents . When I began at CREA , I realized that there is a massive impact of what we ’ re doing , which is helping develop affordable housing . It is in fact all we do , and when you think about the affordable housing crisis we have in this country , it ’ s great to be part of an organization that is doing good , has good corporate governance , but at the same time , is also producing affordable housing . We target a lot of different specific populations ; whether seniors , people with disabilities , homeless veterans , mothers who are victims of domestic violence , or those who are formerly homeless . So , the target populations that are impacted and are able to take advantage of this program are those for whom we see the value and in the level of assistance provided .
And essentially , your work is what led Forbes to approach you to write a book on the subject . What is the purpose of this book , and why is it important to read ? I ’ m trying to describe to people what our role is , and what our industry does , but also to debunk the misconceptions of what affordable housing is . I think that most people in America have stigmatized public housing , which in itself has been a complete disasterproblematic . Across the country , there are these notorious stories , like Cabrini Green , which is a good example in the North side of Chicago , but these couldn ’ t be further from the truth of LIHTC and affordable housing . So , the point of the book is to build awareness around affordable housing , to build support with the hope that it creates change in the way society thinks about it , to decrease the ‘ not in my backyard ’ perceptions , and ultimately , at a very macro level , to produce more affordable housing .
In the book , you outline why affordable housing is good for America . In addition to trying to destigmatize the topic , what are the benefits to affordable housing ? The cost of housing has skyrocketed , while wage growth has remained relatively flat . I mean , if you look at it on a chart , right , the cost of housing has been almost exponentially increasing . And wages are just not catching up . The deck is just stacked against anyone who could be a decent , hardworking American , but they just simply can ’ t get ahead . They can ’ t afford to live near their job because the housing is too expensive . They have to live an hour or an hour and a half away , which puts a tremendous amount of stress on their workday . Forget about the impact that it has if they have a family . And so , this crisis in the cost of housing is pushing the American worker outside of the downtown areas . And it puts incredible stress on the entire ecosystem . The utopia , if you like , is that in every community , you have all members of the economic spectrum , living and working in that town contributing to that town and doing it in a harmonious way . At the moment , there is not one county in the United States , where an individual earning minimum wage can afford a market rate
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