The Mixed-Income Public Development Model
Spend all your tax credits? The public development model could be the next big thing in affordable housing.
Dozens of you packed a room at the Virginia Beach Convention Center last week to learn about the mixed-income public development model. Based on that standing-room-only crowd, we’re likely to be talking more about this throughout 2025. We promise we’ll have a bigger room next year!
Why this model matters
The public development solution is finding increasing success as tax credits and bonds for housing continue to be oversubscribed. It offers a way for localities to create a new sustainable method for building and financing affordable housing projects.With the election behind us, there is concern among advocates about the likelihood of expansion of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program and increase in qualified tax-exempt private activity bond caps. While the future isn’t set in stone yet, we can still think about alternative ways to fund affordable housing that don’t depend on the federal government.
What we learned
During our special session, Paul Williams, the Executive Director of the Center for Public Enterprise, spent an hour and a half with Monique Johnson, PhD, Chief of Programs at Virginia Housing. They discussed the key components of a mixed-income public development model, actionable steps and strategies for advancing mixed-income housing advocacy and policy reform at the local, state, and federal levels.
Thursday’s session
The next day, we heard from two other talented practitioners on strategies to advance mixed-income models in the United States.
Jennifer LeSar is a community development expert and founder of the Global Policy Leadership Academy (GPLA). She shared lessons from Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other cities on their successful — and unsuccessful — mixed-income initiatives. She also briefed attendees on GPLA’s recurring social housing field study in Vienna, and why Virginia’s housing leaders should go.
Matt Bedsole, Director of Atlanta’s Housing Innovation Office, told the story of his city’s work to create the Atlanta Urban Development Corporation (AUD) as their vehicle to advance the public development model.
What you told us
Over 60 attendees took a short survey at the end of our pre-conference session — if you were one of them, thank you!
On the whole, your feedback was positive. Most attendees learned a fair amount, came away with support for the model, and left with a desire to find out more.
That said, more than a few persons noted that the conversation was very technical at times, and that it was hard to follow along if you were not already familiar with affordable housing finance.
How to learn more
If you’re like most people, you need to get a good handle on “development math” before diving into this innovative (but complex) approach. Here are some good starting points:
- The FWD #189: “Housing Voyages of the Public Enterprise”
- Vox: “How state governments are reimagining American public housing”
- UC Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation: “Demystifying Development Math”
- Center for Public Enterprise: “The Basic Logistics of Public Development”
If you’ve consumed all the slidedecks and know “enough to be dangerous” about multifamily finance, then we suggest you dig into these more advanced resources: