May
05
An Unexpected Boost for Market-Rate Housing Development
ByBy Keith Rosenthal, President, Phoenix Realty Group: How public-private partnerships are blurring economic and geographic barriers through mixed-income housing projects.
The history of financing multifamily housing in the United States has one breakthrough that stands out in my mind: subsidy. The introduction of Low Income Housing Tax Credits in the 1980s created a sustained and successful wave of economic incentive for investors to support affordable housing developments nationwide. For years, it seemed the vast majority of housing subsidies—federal, state and city—went to affordable projects at the edges of our cities. At the same time, soaring land prices in city centers led to the development of high-priced rental and condominium projects. But an interesting shift has occurred: Subsidies are now helping blur these economic and geographic barriers with mixed-income rental housing…