So You Want to Build Affordable Housing?

The rent is too damn high. So it’s natural that many entrepreneurs, socially-conscious investors, and real estate operators want to solve the housing crisis by building and financing affordable housing.

But “affordable housing” means different things to different people. To many, “affordable” is just a description of rent relative to local incomes. But for others—including most people in the housing industry and policy world—it refers to housing built and operated under specific government programs and mandated to maintain certain rent levels. So today we’re going to break it all down.

This letter we’ll explore the full spectrum of what it means to build affordable housing, from “naturally occurring” affordable housing to government-backed programs. Specifically, we’ll tackle:

• Workforce housing;
• “Affordable by design” formats: coliving, micro-apartments, ADUs, and other innovations;
• ESG affordability programs;
• Section 8 and LIHTC;
• Public housing;
• Cooperatives, land trusts, and other emerging models.

We’ll look at the pros and cons of each—and some of the opportunities within them—as well as the innovations and shifts that are happening in each category.

Note that this letter is tailored to people who are beginners at affordable housing and want an overview of the landscape; veteran affordable developers may find some interesting nuggets in here but today we’re going to focus on the basics.

Before we continue, a reminder that we’ve got some great hour-long classes coming up, including:

• Building a Real Estate Fundraising Deck with Paul Stanton on October 24th at 12pm ET
• Autonomous Vehicles and the Future of Real Estate with Brad Hargreaves on October 29th at 11a ET
• The Basics of Real Estate Underwriting with Paul Stanton on November 5th at 12pm ET

And they’re only $39 a pop with recordings + decks provided to all students after the class.