Source: Commercial Observer —
Commercial Observer recently spoke with Alvin Yeung, CPA, a managing director of tax services for CBIZ Marks Paneth, who has extensive experience in the affordable housing development market, and Gina Citrola, CPA, a CBIZ Marks Paneth managing director and shareholder in MHM (Mayer Hoffman McCann P.C.) whose focus is on attest services provided to affordable housing properties. They discuss the economic forces that are reshaping the development of affordable housing and what to expect as the marketplace evolves.
What current trends are emerging in the affordable housing marketplace?
Gina Citrola: It’s important to know the history of affordable housing to understand what’s in store for the future. The term “affordable housing” may conjure images of federally subsidized, high-rise buildings constructed in urban areas such as New York City. That was certainly the result of legislation enacted during the Great Depression and the post-World War II era. After the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development was created in 1965, rent subsidies were introduced as a percentage of household income. Households with lower incomes, therefore, qualified for an apartment. In addition, new mortgage programs assisted millions of veterans returning from war, which largely increased private homeownership. Since the 2008 recession and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the concept of affordable housing now applies to a much larger percentage of the American population, including New Yorkers. There hasn’t been sufficient development in the past decade to keep pace with the demand for apartments or houses, particularly as more people have been working from home in the wake of the pandemic. For instance, many households have left New York City for suburban neighborhoods, which has driven up the cost of rent or the price of homes, now exacerbated by inflation.