Whatever housing topics you care about, we have a session for you at this year's Housing Oregon conference.
The team at HDC is looking forward to catching up with our fellow housers at the annual Housing Oregon Industry Support Conference and Leadership Awards Gala next week. Planning to be there and still deciding which sessions to attend? Make sure to check out these four panel discussions and trainings led by HDC staff. Whether you’re a developer, asset manager, housing operations manager, or policy maker, we’ve got you covered.
September 28 @ 10:15 am - 11:45 am
Deploying State and Local Rental Assistance Subsidies: Project Underwriting Challenges and Creative Solutions
Rental assistance subsidies are an essential part of an affordable housing developer’s toolkit, especially when the goal is to provide deeply affordable homes to people experiencing homelessness. As state and local jurisdictions in Oregon roll out new and expanded rental assistance subsidy programs, how are owners, funders, and lenders working together to deploy these valuable resources—and to ensure projects that use rent subsidies can meet lender underwriting standards? In this roundtable discussion, housing developers, lenders, investors, and public funders will share their practical experiences putting new rent subsidy funds to use. Panelists will discuss technical challenges they have encountered, and creative solutions they have implemented, in projects being developed across the Portland-metro region and the state.
Presenters:
Andrea Sanchez, Housing Development Center (moderator)
Ann Melone, US Bank
Devin Ellin, Housing Authority of Clackamas County
Erin Pidot, Joint Office of Homeless Services
September 28 @ 10:15 am - 11:45 am
Affordable rent training: completing a rent analysis, rent increase requests, and rent projections for 2023
A good rent analysis is crucial to ensuring a property’s financial success, meeting funder compliance requirements, and minimizing rent burdens for residents. Suitable for beginners and advanced affordable housing practitioners, this training session will provide an overview of the rent analysis process. We’ll explore how to calculate max rents, how to complete a rent analysis for a property that has multiple regulatory layers, and how to strategize in a scenario where max rents are stagnant. Topics discussed will include LIHTC max rents, HOME funding requirements, OAHTCs, utility allowances, and project-based and tenant-based vouchers.
Presenter:
Kimberly Taylor, Housing Development Center
September 28 @ 1:15 pm - 2:45 pm
Building the Bench: How Do We Create a Stronger Future for the Affordable Housing Workforce?
Affordable housing nonprofits are struggling to recruit and retain staff. The challenge and opportunity is to build our industry’s workforce, in both urban and rural communities, with a more diverse workforce that better reflects the people our industry exists to serve. Panelists will share issues we’re trying to solve, identify what our needs are, and examine a few existing programs in other states we can learn from. From there, a facilitated conversation with the audience will explore ideas for next steps we can act upon collectively as an industry. How might we develop a statewide program providing a critical pathway for students to pursue professional positions in the affordable housing field, while simultaneously developing qualified candidates?
Presenters:
Traci Manning, Housing Development Center (moderator)
Julie Gibson, Barry Menashe Family Executive Dir. Center of Real Estate, Portland State University
Kymberly Horner, Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives, Inc. (PCRI)
Nathan Teske, Bienestar
Kimie Ueoka, Oregon Housing & Community Services
September 29 @ 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
What Development Teams Can Learn from Asset Managers
With an historically high volume of affordable housing units being produced in Oregon, cross-disciplinary learning in our industry has never been more important. What lessons can housing development teams learn from asset managers—the folks who are responsible for overseeing properties five, ten, and twenty years after they are placed in service? How do decisions made in the development phase of a project–in areas such as design and construction, financial structure, programming, and compliance layering—impact operations and resident quality of life over time? In this session, experienced asset managers will discuss what has and hasn’t worked in the affordable housing properties they manage over the long term. Expect a lively roundtable discussion with plenty of opportunities for audience questions and participation. Panelists are members of the Property and Asset Management Working Group (PAMWG), one of the longest-running industry support groups for nonprofit affordable housing owners in Oregon.
Presenters:
Liz Winchester, Housing Development Center (moderator)
Natalie Thornton, Asset Manager, Community Partners for Affordable Housing
Brian Shelton-Kelley, former Portfolio Asset Manager, REACH Community Development
Holly Vander Schaaf, Assistant Housing Director, Our Just Future
And hey, while we have your attention, we’d like give a plug to two more sessions.
The first features our partners on the Nueva Esperanza project—winner of this year’s Housing Oregon Golden Hammer Award for Best New Multifamily Project! HDC is codeveloping Nueva Esperanza with Bienestar, the project’s long-term owner.
The second features our very own Senior Construction Project Manager Lynn Lindgren discussing the process of designing the Navigation Center and Shelter Village in The Dalles with project partners Mid-Columbia Community Action Agency (MCCAC) and Access Architecture.
September 28 @ 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Nueva Esperanza: Designing for a Diverse Community
Bienestar and Housing Development Center (HDC) have partnered to build Nueva Esperanza, a 150 unit affordable apartment complex located in Hillsboro. Inspired by Hillsboro’s rural history and the lack of quality affordable housing that many Latinxs experienced in the past, Nueva Esperanza will provide “new hope” for immigrant families and all that come to Hillsboro to work and build for the future.
Nueva Esperanza will be Bienestar’s first housing community designed to meet the needs of two culturally specific communities: Latinx families and Somali immigrant families. Bienestar’s outreach to Somali residents is a new step for an organization that was founded to serve the housing needs of Latinx farmworkers, and is now expanding the focus of its mission to include other immigrant communities.
Scott Edwards Architecture (SEA) is a collaborative, people-first architecture firm that has worked with 90+ non-profits to reduce inequities and improve quality of life for all.
Presenters:
Lisa McClellan, Scott Edwards Architecture
Eugenia Fama-Higgins, Scott Edwards Architecture
Erica Calderon, Bienestar
September 29 @ 10:15 am - 11:45 am
Case Study: Funding, Programming, and Designing a Navigation Center + Housing Shelter Village
Mid-Columbia Community Action Council (MCCAC), Access Architecture, Housing Development Center, and Bremik Construction are in the process of creating a new Navigation Center and Shelter Village to be located in The Dalles, OR. This session will serve as a case study for other communities by presenting on three major topics: Funding, Programming, and Design. The approach to all three has been unique compared to traditional housing projects, with lessons learned to be taken away by attendees. Additionally, attendees will learn about how two sets of separate programs (the Navigation Center and the shelter housing) work in tandem to provide an inclusive and comprehensive approach to shelter housing and access to social services.
Presenters:
Brendan Sanchez, Access Architecture
Kenny LaPoint, Mid-Columbia Community Action Council
Lynn Lindgren, Senior Construction Project Manager, Housing Development Center