Editors’ Weekly News Roundup April 1 – April 5
Going against the time-honored maxim “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” the Biden administration announced last week that it intended to impose a 10% limit on annual rent increases at properties supported by the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. Ahead of the announcement, the Mortgage Bankers Association issued a statement strongly opposing the rent cap, which became the basis of the most-read story on Connect CRE for the week ending April 6.
In MBA Blasts Plan to Impose Rent Control on LIHTC Properties, MBA president and CEO Bob Broeksmit said, “If the administration imposes unworkable rent caps on LIHTC programs, it will severely suppress – if not kill – the program.” He characterized rent control as “a policy widely recognized as a failure at the local, national, and global level by nearly every economist.”
The White House’s proposals for LIHTC residents ended up generating one of three pairs of stories in the past week’s top five. The week’s second most-read story was one of two stories about large-scale projects in the Austin, TX area, and also one of two stories with household names in the headline.
Elon Musk is the marquee name in the headline Musk Projects Spark Bastrop County Airport/Mega-Development, which drew readership in Texas and nationally. The airport and mega-development are the dream of Stephen Carpenter, who envisions a $10-billion mixed-use aviation and technology park and an $8.7-billion resort “mini-city,” all within shouting distance of Musk’s Tesla Inc., The Boring Co. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. campuses.
The week’s second Texas project in the top five is one that apparently isn’t going to proceed after all. After four years of negotiations and planning, the city of Leander has walked away from a deal to build Leander Springs, a mixed-use project that would have included a four-acre crystal lagoon, restaurants, retail, entertainment, hotels, apartments and offices. Leander Pulls Plug on $1B Development was the week’s third most-read story.
Household name #2 is Hines, which makes headlines wherever it operates. Here, the locale is North Carolina, where the Houston-based investor and developer has made its first foray into the build-to-rent market.
Hines Enters BTR Market With Pineville Acquisitionreported that the company snapped up the under-construction Blu South development, which will total 541 detached homes upon completion.The firm’s Adriana de Alcantara said, “This strategic acquisition expands our alternatives portfolio, capitalizing on a Class A BTR community that supports long-term demographic tailwinds as people look for more space amid a challenging home-buying market.” With especially strong readership in our nationally distributed Apartments newsletter, the story ranked fourth for the week.
On the subject of rental housing, the week’s fifth best-read story carried further industry response to proposed federal changes around the LIHTC program. A coalition including the MBA, the National Multifamily Housing Council, the CCIM Institute and other groups questioned the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s newly announced methodology for calculating increases in income limits for residents of LIHTC communities.
In a letter to HUD, the coalition said the new methodology “changes the calculation in ways that may make it more difficult for some residents and investors to participate in the program.” We reported the letter in Industry Groups Challenge HUD on Changes to LIHTC Resident Criteria.