National Development Council (NDC) offering Rental Housing Development Finance course, Washington, D.C. September 19-23, 2016.

If I've learned one thing from being so involved in urban revitalization, especially in emerging neighborhoods, it's that financing is the essential enabler.

For all of the talk about affordability, housing production, and the importance of building housing for demographics other than those of the highest income, the fact of the matter is that this type of housing is incredibly difficult to finance, because it is higher risk and less profitable, and construction financiers prefer to fund projects with the least amount of risk and the most profit.

-- Affordable Housing Institute

Most of us in the broad field of neighborhood and urban revitalization aren't particularly knowledgeable about the ins and outs of finance. 

Typically, an affordable-social housing development is funded as a result of lining up multiple finance sources, from community development funds, tax credits of various types, funding for pre-development costs, etc.

As you can see by running a simulation through the housing finance calculator, The Cost of Affordable Housing: Does it Pencil Out, produced by the Urban Institute and the National Housing Conference, funding, constructing, and operating an affordable housing development is very difficult to do without running an annual deficit.

Some of the ways that the deficit can be reduced/erased is through free land, pre-development financial assistance, density bonuses, and renting to different tranches of the affordable housing demographics that can pay higher rents than people making 30% of Average Median Income for a metropolitan area.

That's why the course that the National Development Council offers on the topic seems so interesting and important. Because the program is being offered at the suggestion of the US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, they are offering a 20% discount on the registration fee.

From the press release:

The National Development Council (NDC) is pleased to announce it will be bringing its nationally recognized and APA AICP accredited HD420-Rental Housing Development Finance course to Washington, D.C. September 19-23, 2016.

The HD420 course provides nonprofit and government professionals with the skills and knowledge they need to increase their development finance capacity to successfully facilitate housing development in the states, regions and communities they serve. Participants will take a detailed look at the analysis, financing and development of affordable rental housing and learn the underwriting criteria used by lenders and the rates of return demanded by private equity investors in order to determine their investment in a rental housing project. The HD420 course also explores the methods practitioners can utilize to attract the maximum amount of private capital to rental housing projects as well as the techniques to fill financing gaps with public resources.

NDC’s HD420-Rental Housing Development Finance course is approved through the American Planning Association’s Certification Maintenance Program (36.00 credits). The training will be held at the Double Tree by Hilton located at 1515 Rhode Island Avenue, NW Washington, D.C.

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About the discount:

*Save 10% with promo code dchd420 and an extra 10% when you register by September 10, 2016. This is a limited time offer valid only on new registrations received between August 23, 12016 and September 15, 2016. Discount is non-transferable after this date. Promo code must be entered at the time of registration. This offer cannot be used on any previous registrations or courses sponsored by a third party.