Affordable Housing Developer of the Day

Another market segment with strong fundamentals that has hit a strong headwind is affordable housing. The shortage of tax credit equity has put many deals in jeopardy. There are some success stories out there and the local agencies seem to be trying to step up to plug the gaps.

The Sacramento Business Journal profiled a local developer who is having a record year amongst the turmoil, St Anton Partners LLC. "The company has a portfolio of more than 4,000 units spread across almost 30 projects in the capital region. With 200 employees, it's one of the area's larger developers..."

The article goes on to point out:

One reason it's larger than the typical developer is that St. Anton handles financing in-house rather than through consultants and acts as its own general contractor and property manager. The latter is a key component that has redevelopment agencies singing its praises.

The good news is that more people finally realize we have a problem in delivering product to this market. Demand will continue to outpace supply for years to come. One would hope that sustainable legislation (not a bailout) to stimulate this vital sector will be fast-tracked. I am certainly more confident in the creativity of the active participants in this business than the government's ability to act quickly this year, so I will keep an eye out for more success stories like St. Anton.