VHA Housing Credit Conference

Name: VHA Housing Credit Conference
Start: 2022-09-14
End: 2022-09-15
Location: Omni Richmond Hotel

#HousingStrong

Virginia Housing Alliance (VHA) is pleased to invite you to our 2022 Housing Credit Conference!

The Housing Credit Conference provides networking and educational opportunities for tax professionals, developers, community development organizations, housing authorities, and other interested professionals in the emerging and established industry trends and best practices for leveraging low income housing tax credits (LIHTC).

We are excited to be back in person this year at the Omni Hotel in Richmond, VA . We hope you will join us for an exciting two days of learning and sharing. Details will be updated in real time so, please check back as new speakers and sessions will be added.

Keynote Speaker:

David M. Dworkin

President and CEO of the National Housing Conference

About David Dworkin

David M. Dworkin is the 17 th president and chief executive officer of the National Housing Conference, the nation’s oldest housing coalition, founded in 1931. Prior to joining NHC in 2018, Mr. Dworkin was a senior policy adviser at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he advised Treasury Department officials on matters related to housing and community development. He also served as a member of President Barack Obama’s Detroit interagency team, where his responsibilities included developing and implementing strategies to assist in the City of Detroit’s revitalization.

Previously, he managed the Capital Magnet Fund (CMF) at the Treasury Department’s CDFI Fund, which disbursed $80 million in grants for economic revitalization and community development through investment in and assistance to community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and nonprofit housing organizations.

Prior to joining the Treasury Department, he was CEO and Founder of Affiniti Strategies, a political consulting firm that assisted clients build political relationship capital. Mr. Dworkin served in a number of leadership positions at Fannie Mae. His service in the administration of President George H.W. Bush included the State Department’s acting deputy assistant secretary for legislative affairs. As national security advisor to Rep. Rod Chandler of Washington, he was recognized by Secretary of State James A. Baker III for his key role in the negotiation of the Bipartisan Accord on Central America, which led to the end of Nicaragua’s civil war and the inauguration of its first democratically elected government.

Mr. Dworkin was a freelance foreign correspondent and photographer for The Detroit News, where he covered the war in Afghanistan. In 1984, he was the first Western journalist to cross
the Safed Koh mountain range with the rebels fighting in the region known as Tora Bora.

He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife Hayley Hoffman.

Conference Agenda

Wednesday, September 14, 2022

8:00 AM – 9:30 AM: REGISTRATION, BREAKFAST AND EXHIBIT HALL

9:30 AM – 11:00 AM: “Early Bird Panel: QAP Update and Investor Round Table”

Presenters: Chris Sterling (VCDC), Steve Smith (Truist), Anne Conner (Towne Bank), JD Bondurant (Virginia Housing)
Session description: Join us at the table as we begin the conference with a lively discussion from a diverse group of direct investors and syndicators on the state of the market in the Commonwealth. JD Bondurant will moderate the discussion and introduce new potential changes to Virginia’s Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) that highlight certain changing priorities and program requirements for the Tax Credit Program. The panel will also assess the shifting supply and demand for low-income housing tax credits, trends in pricing and terms for 9% and 4% projects, and specific markets and projects.

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM: BREAK AND EXHIBIT HALL

12:00 PM – 1:30 PM: WELCOME, LUNCH AND KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Keynote Speaker: David M. Dworkin, President and CEO of the National Housing Conference

1:30 PM – 1:45 PM: BREAK AND EXHIBIT HALL

1:45 PM – 2:45 PM: BREAKOUTS

Session Title: “ESG 101 & ESG In Practice”

Presenters: Tom Leibel (Moseley Architects), Rob Hazelton (D3G), Stephanie Caragher (Cohn Reznick), Art Fleming (FHLB-ATL), Kells Carroll (Sugar Creek Capital), Jonathan Kinsey (Virginia Housing)
Session description: This session will provide an overview of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) topics as they relate to Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) partners and developments. Although a metric primarily used to evaluate organizations, LIHTC developments have the opportunity to incorporate many different ESG elements which can provide greater value to residents and communities, while opening the door to new investor opportunities at the same time. This panel will discuss ESG in broad strokes and also talk about the different elements within LIHTC deals.

Session Title: “Financial Innovation: A Roadmap to the Closing Table”

Presenters: AJ Jackson (JBG Smith), Noah Hale (Fairstead), Erik Hoffman (Klein Hornig LLP)
Session description: Join this panel to first hear several “staccato-style” presentations on innovative debt and equity structures that may help your projects move from the white board to the closing table. The short presentations will be followed by a more in-depth discussion on access to capital, new resources and trends, and developing financing structures.

Session Title: “Zoning in Virginia”

Presenters: Jenny Schuetz (Brookings Institution), Scott Adams (McGuireWoods), Jovan Burton (Partnership for Housing Affordability)
Session description: Zoning has long perpetuated residential segregation and inequality. Historically, zoning was overtly designed to achieve segregation. More recently it has been used to divide communities based on income and wealth, adding significantly to the cost and availability of affordable housing. This panel will tackle the difficult conversation of how zoning can be reformed in Virginia.

2:45 PM – 3:00 PM: BREAK AND EXHIBIT HALL

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM: BREAKOUTS

Session Title: “ESG Partnerships in Housing: Focusing on the Needs of Residents”

Presenters: Marquan Jackson (APAH), Darryl Leedom, (Wesley Housing), Kerrie Wilson (Cornerstones)
Session description: Join us for a panel discussion on how the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) framework manifests itself in the resident services work of affordable housing providers. What partnerships are available to provide childcare, telehealth, or other social services directly to affordable housing residents onsite? What services or partnerships can be used to meet the goals of the new services-related points categories in the 2022 QAP? How do you meet the needs of your residents?

Session Title: “The Challenges of Building Affordable Housing Post Pandemic”

Presenters: Jon Reid (UrbanCore), Damion Pizarro (Harkins Builders), Sergio Gambale (Virginia Housing), Jack Devilbliss (Bonstra | Haresign)
Session description: While the world is moving to a post pandemic period, the construction industry is still experiencing significant challenges. What are we doing as an industry to keep projects moving? How do we keep affordable housing affordable? Join this panel as they discuss the navigation of financing, labor shortages, material cost and supply chain delays.

Session Title: “RENT!”

Presenters: Kathryn Howell (VCU Evictions Lab), Lark Washington (Maggie Walker Land Trust), Tom Johnson (SL Nusbaum), Matt Scarparro (Better Housing Coalition), Austin Pittman (Lawson)
Session description: We had an amazing, brief period where everyone’s rent was paid and (almost) no one could get evicted. Can we learn anything from that experience about the future world we want to create? Perhaps one not driven by calamity and emergency conditions? Meanwhile, AMIs just went up between 10% and 15% across Virginia. What impact will this have on our future LIHTC portfolios? What are developers thinking about these prevailing and new issues for our times?

4:00 PM – 4:15 PM: BREAK AND EXHIBIT HALL

4:15 PM – 5:15 PM: BREAKOUTS

Session Title: “New Partnerships for Affordable Housing”

Presenters: Tammy Neale (Virginia Housing), Melissa Stallings (Capital Impact Partners), Shiree Monterio (7 and M), Vonda Orders (Reno & Cavanaugh), Kenneth Stewart (LIIF)
Session description: How have systems and structures prevented a more diverse community of affordable housing developers and financiers? How can we effectively broaden participation in our industry to address historic biases, diminish those systems and structures, and strengthen our affordable housing ecosystem? Whether pursued for points, progress, or both, new partnerships are crucial to affordable housing projects and their success. This panel of practitioners and policymakers will explore best practices, the promise and pitfalls of partnerships with experienced and new developers, and how to address the imperative to bring more talent to address the need.

Session Title: “Sharing the Land with Anchor Institutions and Other Non-Traditional Partners”

Presenters: Sunshine Mathon (Piedmont Housing), Michelle Krocker (NVAHA), Gina Merit (NREUV), Kamilah McAfee (Wesley Housing)
Session description: Anchor institutions and other non-traditional partners have underutilized land and are looking for ways to actively address affordable housing needs in their communities. This panel will discuss some of the types of partners, why they choose to participate, how to engage, and some of the challenges and opportunities that exist for developers and the institutions in establishing this symbiotic relationship.

Session Title: “Crane Watch”

Presenters: Presentations will be shared by the following organizations: Better Housing Coalition, Fairstead, Virginia Supportive Housing, Green Street Housing, AHC INC, Rush Homes, APAH
Session description: This fast-paced program is a great way for our attendees to learn about new affordable housing projects under construction in Virginia. With time running on the clock, presenters will share mini-case studies of development projects featuring photos, lessons learned, floor plans, funding data and more!

5:15 PM – 7:00 PM: COCKTAIL RECEPTION