Explore the relationship between developer, general contractor and subcontractors and best practices to increase participation of Black Contractors on projects. Look at barriers to participation and how they can be removed. Hear directly from Black Contractors what they need to be successful.

Tracks: Industry Innovation and Housing Development Best Practices; Federal, State, and Local Policy and Advocacy Solutions
Workshop Audience: Advocates, Asset Managers, Attorneys, Developers, Government Staff, Lenders, Project Managers
Skill Level: All Skill Levels

Recent changes in the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee (TCAC) and California Debt Limit Allocation Committee (CDLAC) regulations have meant big shifts in the types of projects getting funded – particularly as tax-exempt bonds have become competitive for the first time in over a decade. Developers and officials from TCAC/CDLAC will discuss how these changes are affecting non-profit developers and what the future may hold. Developers with projects in the pipeline applying for bonds or credits next year won’t want to miss this important discussion of the current and future state of tax credit and tax-exempt bond regulation in California. 

Tracks: Affordable Housing Finance; Federal, State, and Local Policy and Advocacy Solutions
Workshop Audience: Advocates, Attorneys, Developers, Government Staff, Lenders, Project Managers
Skill Level: Intermediate

As witnessed in the past few years, wildfires, earthquakes, extreme heat, heavy smoke, and pandemics disproportionately impact frontline communities—Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, immigrants, non-English speakers, lower-income families and individuals, people with disabilities, and seniors. Affordable housing can play a critical role in supporting these frontline communities by serving as centers of safety and preparedness. Moreover, the ability to withstand the next disaster is directly linked to production and location of affordable housing. Our panelists will present information on disaster resilience techniques that build resident capacity and connections by sharing their on-the-ground experience in both urban and rural communities as well as showcase toolkits and resources, such as the recently launched Community-Power Resilience website.

Tracks: Property and Asset Management and Resident Services
Workshop Audience: Advocates, Asset Managers, Community Organizing Staff, Developers, Government Staff, Project Managers, Property Managers, Resident Services Staff
Skill Level: Beginner

DC-based housing policy experts will discuss the outlook for new federal funding and policy initiatives as shaped by the response to the pandemic and the renewed attention to the needs of Black Americans and other people of color. Topics will include an overview of the housing provisions in the latest COVID-19 response and infrastructure legislation, the proposed FY 2022 HUD funding levels, LIHTC improvements (including lowering the 50% test), key regulatory developments, and other California priorities. Attendees will have a chance to pose their own questions and discuss advocacy priorities and opportunities for California.

Tracks: Federal, State, and Local Policy and Advocacy Solutions
Workshop Audience: All Sectors
Skill Level: All Skill Levels

The recent UC Berkeley study, “The Roots of Structural Racism,” adds to a growing body of research about how our communities, particularly in the Bay Area, are increasingly segregated. These segregated neighborhoods lead to negative outcomes for BIPOC residents, the report argues, making residential racial segregation “the taproot of systemic racial inequality.” Policymakers are allocating State resources to areas considered “high resource” in an effort to use affordable housing production to address these inequities. Yet many nonprofit developers, particularly those working in defined geographic or cultural communities, see their work in lower income neighborhoods as critical to bringing resources to where people are, and stabilizing neighborhoods at risk of gentrification. Join a conversation about this salient topic, as we strive to strike a balance about how to allocate State resources.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

This session will be hosted as a Zoom meeting. To minimize disruptions, please join on time.

Tracks: Racial and Economic Equity and Inclusion; Affordable Housing Finance
Workshop Audience: Advocates, Community Organizing Staff, Developers, Project Managers, All sectors
Skill Level: All Skill Levels

Recapitalizing and preserving existing affordable housing is necessary to protect current and future residents but have become more complex than ever before. This workshop will look at case studies of projects that have used creative strategies to fund physical improvements without the use of Tax Credits or Tax-Exempt Bonds, and how perseverance pays off when faced with shifting regulatory priorities at the Treasurer’s Office. The Talk Show style format will dive into the challenges and successes and provide attendees with strategies to evaluate their own aging portfolios. Attendees will leave with an understanding of the implications to existing residents if affordability is lost or physical decline is left unmitigated.

Tracks: Property and Asset Management and Resident Services; Affordable Housing Finance
Workshop Audience: Asset Managers, Developers, Government Staff, Lenders, Project Managers
Skill Level: All Skill Levels

The typical affordable housing developer in California these days may find themselves submitting the same project for 3, 4, maybe 5 state application rounds for different financing sources within one year. Each program has its own scoring and its own nuances. Not only is this inefficient in time, money, and labor, but it favors organizations with existing experience and capacity and discourages emerging developers. HCD is undertaking a streamlining process, guided by the passage of AB434, with the goal of opening the field to emerging developers and bringing housing developments to completion more quickly and at lower cost.  In this session, you’ll hear from HCD about the status of this process and discuss desired outcomes.

Tracks: Affordable Housing Finance; Federal, State, and Local Policy and Advocacy Solutions
Workshop Audience: Advocates, Asset Managers, Attorneys, Community Organizing Staff, Developers, Government Staff, Lenders, Project Managers
Skill Level: Intermediate

This session will discuss how to structure successful joint ventures between Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and Non-BIPOC developers in an effort to expand the participation of BIPOC developers in the affordable housing industry. We will examine the goals of these joint ventures, the legal structure and roles and responsibilities, the compensation and liability splits, etc. We will use examples from successful joint ventures (with the names to remain confidential), and discuss how these joint ventures could have been more successful and what worked well. And we will look to the future to determine what tools need to be put in place to further expand the participation of BIPOC developers in affordable housing, with the goal of BIPOC developers not requiring joint ventures to undertake projects in the future.

Track: Industry Innovation and Housing Development Best Practices
Workshop Audience: All sectors
Skill Level: All Skill Levels

This session seeks to create a space for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) womxn in the affordable housing development world to heal, reflect, and share best practices for sustaining the tremendous work they are doing to impact communities. 

BIPOC womxn are traditionally recognized as caregivers in our various cultures and ethnic communities, so it is no surprise that they are quite often the backbone of many highly impactful organizations in the Bay Area’s affordable housing industry. This work is hard, not only because BIPOC womxn are providing, preserving, and advocating for housing for all in a high-cost dynamic real estate market, but they are also constantly interacting with residents, lenders, elected-officials, and our staff and colleagues who have certain expectations of how they should engage, communicate, respond, and move in this world.  BIPOC womxn deal with microaggressions, invisible emotional labor, and are often held responsible for tackling the most difficult project challenges.  

How do we rest and recharge for the next challenge, the next fight, the next innovation? 

As BIPOC womxn rise up into positions of power, we must look for ways to support ourselves and other BIPOC womxn in this work. We must create a personal and professional culture of care to be better sustained in this work and maintain impact. Hear from BIPOC women leaders in the industry on how they have been resilient and practice self-care, especially in light of all they have encountered and learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Please join on time. This session will be hosted as a Zoom meeting. To minimize disruptions and to make sure attendees are present for the full context and conversation, we are NOT letting folks join after 4:05pm.

Tracks: Racial and Economic Equity and Inclusion
Workshop Audience: All sectors
Note: This session is intended for BIPOC women of all levels in the industry although not considered a 101 workshop.
Skill Level: All Skill Levels

Wildfire smoke, power shut-offs, and heat waves are effects of climate change that Californians are experiencing today – especially so for those affected by income inequality, housing instability, and systemic racism. In addition to State and municipal efforts to mitigate climate change, we must also adapt to the climate disasters already in our midst and disproportionately affecting those living in and in need of affordable housing. Resiliency must be front-of-mind in building healthy, equitable, and long-lasting housing; increased air infiltration, planning for power system failures, and electrification of buildings are part of the solution. 

This panel will address the increasing and real environmental disasters facing Californians and the measures we must take to design our built environment to adapt to and mitigate them – all in the context of an ever-more-competitive and cost-driven arena of construction. Panelists representing development, building design, and performance will share strategies to apply resiliency analysis tools, technologies, and design approaches to affordable housing in the face of extreme climate events, and discuss how measures can be taken at any phase of project design.

Track: Industry Innovation and Housing Development Best Practices
Workshop Audience: Advocates, Asset Managers, Developers, Government Staff, Project Managers
Skill Level: All Skill Levels

As one of the most critical and catalytic components in the production of affordable housing and community development, tax credit investment in California is now at a crossroads. Investors are faced with unprecedented levels of 4% and 9% credit awards, Disaster Area Credits, continued new State of CA credits, COVID-19 market impacts, and a dizzying array of new State and Federal regulatory proposals. This panel will discuss opportunities and challenges for investing in affordable housing in the current environment of regulatory overhaul and expanded funding at federal and state levels, and the impact on investor appetite, pricing and terms. The conversations will be grounded in exploring how the investor community is working with the broader affordable housing industry to address homelessness, racial justice and equity and the ongoing impacts of COVID-19. Panelists will discuss short and long-term opportunities and challenges, both in California and nationally, recent trends in sponsor/development selection and underwriting, the ability of tax credit investors to meet the unprecedented equity capital demands, and the specific impact on the nonprofit development community in Northern California. 

Tracks: Affordable Housing Finance
Workshop Audience: Accountants, Advocates, Asset Managers, Attorneys, Community Organizing Staff, Developers, Government Staff, Lenders, Project Managers, Property Managers
Skill Level: Intermediate

Using All Home’s Regional Action Plan as grounding and vision for the policy framework, the panel will bring forth a range of solutions made possible by the Homekey program and its rapid capitalization. Homekey has enabled new emergency, interim, and permanent supportive housing communities. Beyond the range of solutions Homekey enabled, we want to inspire and drive collaboration between homeless housing providers and affordable housing developers. We also want to take a hard look at the work we will need to do to live up to the promise of Homekey as it expands, including talking about how we can come together to continue to apply pressure for the whole spectrum of solutions needed, especially over the long-term.

Tracks: Addressing Homelessness; Federal, State, and Local Policy and Advocacy Solutions
Workshop Audience: Advocates, Asset Managers, Developers, Government Staff, Project Managers, Property Managers
Skill Level: All Skill Levels
Primary Track: Federal, State, and Local Policy and Advocacy Solutions