News and Events
AHI releases research report on metafinance of group-level improvements such as water and sanitation
1/2008
In October, 2007, on behalf of Development Innovations Group (DIG), David Smith visited India to interview two non-governmental sponsors (NGOs), the National Slum Dwellers Federation & Mahila Housing SEWA Trust, that are pioneering in the finance and development of group-level infrastructure. DIG commissioned the study as part of DIG’s Housing Finance for the Poor Initiative with the Gates Foundation. Details here. Metafinance Report here.
David Smith speaks at Harvard University Model-UN
12/2007
On December 8, David Smith spoke by invitation to Harvard University's Model-UN UNDP working group of 125 students on "The Challenge of Slums: Urbanization, Markets, Governments". Organizer Sara Cheche, A.B. Economics, Harvard College '09, said that after the presentation, "Debate has recommenced and the effect of your presentation on the quality of discussion is enormous!".
AHI will help implement grant to Slum/Shack Dwellers International
11/2007
David Smith and AHI will act as technical advisor to South Africa-based non-profit Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI) in the design and implementation of their International Urban Poor Fund (IUPF). SDI is a wordwide network of federations of informal savings groups formed by urban slum or shack dwellers. Facilitated by a 3 year, $10 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the IUPF will be used to directly support grassroots groups under the SDI umbrella to improve not only their housing, water and sanitation, but also their capacity to negotiate with governments to secure land rights and leverage other funds for development, thereby raise living standards in urban slums throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America. See article here or here.
David Smith at launch of Urban Summit, Innovations for an Urban World
07/2007
AHI founder David Smith was invited by the Rockefeller Foundation to a meeting of leaders from the private and public sectors to explore opportunities to foster healthy and sustainable cities, especially in the global south. The participants helped set the agenda for September workshop that will bring together ministerial leaders from the finance, health, transportation, environment and housing sectors. Announcement.
Launch of AHI-designed affordable rental housing project in Dublin
6/2007
The RAS Long-term Leasing Project, designed by AHI to provide quality affordable rental housing in the Greater Dublin area, Ireland, was launched on June 12th, 2007. The program hopes to deliver at least 1000 market quality units in the Greater Dublin Area by 2009. Details and Announcement.
David Smith addresses conference in Istanbul
4/2007
David Smith was invited to address the Seventh Turkish Real Estate Summit in Istanbul, where he spoke on the impact the new mortgage law and the crucial issue of promoting housing affordability; details here.
David Smith speaks at 11 Downing St.
10/2006
In London, David Smith spoke at 11 Downing Street; full details here.
David Smith's analysis of urban slums in the Harvard International Review
6/2006
David Smith’s article “Housing the World’s Poor” appears in the latest issue of the Harvard International Review. The article addresses the growing problem of urban slums, tracking examples from around the world. Slums are a reflection not of market failure, but of societal failure, and the article details what governments can and should be doing about them.
AHI Hosts Jarrod Gitsham, Hugh Stretton Winner
9/2005
The South Australian Housing Trust has awarded the Hugh Stretton Award to Jarrod Gitsham, Project Officer in the Asset Strategy Unit. The award encourages the development of staff and generates information or experience of value to the development of the Trust and/or community based housing and public housing in South Australia. Jarrod will use the award to examine who is given an opportunity to achieve affordable home ownership in the USA. He will study programs such as the SoftSecond Loan in Massachusetts, Section 8 Housing Choice Home Ownership, and Low Income Housing Tax Credits. He will then compare these programs with schemes in South Australia. Details here.
David Smith Wins Lange Award from NAHRO
8/2005
David has been named the 2005 Lange Award recipient by the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO), a leading housing and community development advocate for the provision of adequate and affordable housing and strong, viable communities for all Americans--particularly those with low and moderate incomes. The Lange Award (background available here) is given annually "to recognize a person in the housing and community development field who has made an outstanding contribution to international understanding and exchange of international experience." The award will be presented at NAHRO's upcoming National Conference and Exhibition in Chicago on October 9-11, 2005, where David will give a brief address on important trends in US affordable rental housing today.
Ecosystems-Thinking in IUHF Newsletter
3/2005
David Smith's article in the Nov 2004 newsletter of the International Union for Housing Finance is now available online (see pages 9-11).
George Bull on UK's Budget '05
3/2005
Accountant George Bull looks ahead to Gordon Brown's ninth budget. He predicts gentle tinkering, with major changes delayed until after a general election. BBC article here.
HART Presentation at National Housing Federation Conference
7/2004
On 20 July 2004, Andrea Titterington and David Smith delivered a presentation at the National Housing Federation's 2004 national conference on development, regeneration, and maintenance. Entitled "new funding mechanisms for the future," and aimed at directors and senior managers, it highlighted:
- Regeneration challenges
- Property Investment Funds (PIFs), an initiative of HM Treasury modeled on US REITs, and what they might mean
- HART
The session played to a standing-room-only audience that asked many insightful and probing followup questions about both PIFs and HART. View slides from the presentation (PDF download).
UK: Joint stakeholder spending review strongly endorses HART Credit
4/2004
The full report (Adobe Acrobat, 2 MB) available here.
In April, the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), the Local Government Association (LGA), and the National Housing Federation (NHF), who have formed an alliance to lobby for increased resources for housing, released their Joint Spending Review submission to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). Noting that HM Government have proposed creating a REIT-like vehicle, the Property Investment Fund (PIF), they go on to comment (in Section 8.6):
We therefore recommend that they [PIF's] should be geared to promoting new supply in the sector, rather than to purchase of existing properties.... However, the key role that housing associations can play will not be fully realised unless Government take steps to create affordability by closing the cost-value gap either by grant subsidy or through fiscal intervention in the form of tax credits. Such credits were advocated in the Barker report and the Federation has previously endorsed, and continues to support, the specific introduction of the Housing Regeneration Tax (HART) credit.
See AHI's Recent Activities
3/2004
Affordable Housing Institute releases an up-to date summary of its Recent Activities.
HART makes Affordable Housing Finance
2/2004
In February, 2004, Affordable Housing Finance, the US's leading monthly publication focusing on affordable housing, featured HART in an article, "UK looks at establishing housing credit," that among other things quoted David A. Smith, AHI's founder, that "HART combines some of the best elements of the U.S. low-income housing, historic and proposed homeownership tax credits…. In some ways, HART improves on the LIHTC. It's much less specific in statute and calls for a faster delivery of the credits than in the United States." Smith is one of HART's designers, along with Dan Anderson, senior vice president in the Community Development Banking Group at Bank of America, Jacqueline Rogers (former Maryland Secretary of DHCD), Andrea Titterington (former CEO of Maritime Housing, Liverpool), and George Bull (partner at accountancy Baker Tilly).
This article originally appeared in Affordable Housing Finance magazine. For more information, contact Alexander & Edwards Publishing, Inc., at (800) 989-7255 or visit www.housingfinance.com.
AHI gains non-profit status
9/2003
The Affordable Housing Institute has now been approved as a Section 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Donations to AHI are now tax deductible to the full extent of the law.
ROOF magazine profiles HART initiative
9/2003
Article available here (PDF Download)
In an article in ROOF (a bi-monthly magazine covering all aspects of housing policy), AHI Founder David Smith outlines how the proposed Housing and Regeneration Tax Credit (HART) will boost affordable housing supply and deliver value for money for the government.
HART Credit Initiative launch Website
3/2003
Sponsored by Maritime Housing Association Ltd. and AHI, the HART Credit Website aims to be a primary source of information and collaboration among stakeholders in the housing regeneration process in the United Kingdom.
AHI in South Africa
1/2003
Newsletter available here
David Smith head of the Affordable Housing Institute in Boston USA, addressed the FinMark Forum on 27 January on the subject of “Innovative Funding Options for Affordable Housing: the US experience”. More information about South African FinMark trust is available here.
US-style tax break plan to boost UK regeneration
10/2002
Article originally in Housing Today, available here.
This article highlights four major proposals presented at the Urban Summit:
- Community investment tax credit: a £50m per year, five-year fund under which individuals or corporate investors would receive a 5% tax break in return for investing in small businesses in deprived areas. It is proposed that investors be able to exit after five years.
- Urban regeneration tax credit: a one-off credit against tax made available to redevelopers in regeneration areas. Credit may be claimed by the redeveloper or sold or financed to convert into cash for redevelopment work. This could cost the government up to £60m a year, but could raise an extra £60m a year in private finance as credit matures.
- Limited liability partnerships: tax flow-through vehicles similar to housing investment trusts. Investors would contribute capital for specified housing investment, lowering the cost of debt and eliminating dual tax on income from certain types of investment.
- Historic economic regeneration opportunity: a one-off credit equal to 20% of the costs of regenerating buildings of national historic importance in renewal areas, allocated by regional development agencies. The tax credit could be claimed by the developer or sold to raise cash for the works. The cost to the government is estimated at £30m a year.
UK Symposium highlighted in Estates Review
4/2002
Article available here.
"Liverpool recently played host to a symposium of highly qualified and experienced experts from the UK and US to examine whether the American experience of affordable housing tax credits offers useful insights to explore the potential for devising new financial tools that could significantly enhance the way that housing and regeneration projects are funded in the UK."
The Low Income Housing Tax Credit Effectiveness and Efficiency: A presentation of the issues
09/2001
Report presented to the US Millennial Housing Commission.
Available here and here (MS Word format)
By most measures the most successful federal multifamily affordable housing production program of the last 30 years, the Low Income Housing Tax Credit ("LIHTC" or the "Credit"):
- Is essentially a revenue-shared block grant of a tax expenditure that is then factored into equity used to develop or acquire property;
- Represents roughly $4.1 billion annual net-present-cost tax expenditure; and
- Generates 60,000-80,000 new affordable apartments a year, distributed nationwide across an extraordinary and impressive variety of apartment and income types.
Proposed recommendations available here and here.
Mark-to-Market: A Fundamental Shift in Affordable Housing Policy
1999
Article in Housing Policy Debate, 1999, Vol 10, Issue 1, pp 143-182. Available here and here (PDF format).
In October 1997, Congress enacted the Multifamily Assisted Housing Reform and Affordability Act (MAHRA), commonly referred to as the ''mark-to-market'' legislation. The most significant housing legislation in a decade, MAHRA seeks to cut Section 8 subsidy costs on about 4,000 properties, bringing rents into line with local markets. MAHRA provides a broad framework for resetting rents and resizing mortgages and answers many fundamental policy questions. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD's) evolving program rules will determine how the mark-to-market legislation will actually work, who will participate, and what will happen to the properties and their residents.
This article describes the legislation's origins, major features, and properties affected and reviews the key policy issues. To illustrate the dynamics, three distinct implementation options are presented as thought experiments. The article also explores potential roles for nonprofit entities and concludes by reviewing HUD's recently issued regulations.