On Wednesday, April 12, ULI Washington’s Young Leaders’ Programs Committee hosted a panel focused on affordable housing and impact investment strategies in the DMV. The discussion aimed to highlight active developers and lenders in the social impact investment and affordable housing space along with recent development projects. Most importantly, the panelists went into detail on the biggest hurdles that they are facing in the current environment. They also provided strategies they are employing to overcome obstacles given the uncertainty with the current lending environment and other headwinds facing affordable housing developers and social impact investors.

Speakers included:

• Senthil Sankaran | Principal – Housing Equity Fund at Amazon
• Isaiah Plair | Portfolio Controller, Washington Housing Initiative Impact Pool at JBG Smith
• Julia Stevenson | Director, Acquisitions / Mid-Atlantic Region at Langdon Park Capital
• Lisa Zhang | Senior Loan Officer at Capital Impact Partners
• Ronette Slamin | Founder of Embolden Real Estate (Moderator)

Senthil Sankaran touched on the Amazon Housing Equity Fund’s ability to be extremely creative in terms of deal structuring with a goal of maximizing affordability on a long-term basis while targeting properties with renters making 30% to 80% of AMI. In simple terms, Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund is a “below market loan product” primarily focused on preservation of affordable housing and is primarily a subordinate debt product that is part of the capital stack along with a senior loan. Senthil highlighted that 90% of the transactions this fund has participated in now have 99-year affordability covenants.

Isaiah Plair discussed Washington Housing Initiative’s Impact Pool which partners with nonprofits that focus on affordable housing and allow them to leverage JBG’s corporate resources. The Impact Pool has primarily been part of the capital stack with nonprofits as a mezzanine lender. Isaiah also discussed a 603-unit project acquired by Jonathan Rose Companies in partnership with the Washington Housing Initiative in December 2022 called The Gale Eckington which was the Impact Pool’s first non-debt investment. The buyer, Jonathan Rose Companies, partnered with the Impact Pool to acquire the property and took out a Fannie Mae senior loan with $35 million in additional subordinate financing provided from Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund. As part of the sale, the buyer and the Washington Housing Initiative Impact Pool entered a 99-year affordability covenant with the District of Columbia.

Throughout the discussion, Julia Stevenson with Langdon Park Capital discussed her firm’s focus on preservation of workforce housing and viewpoint of looking at investments as serving households while detailing her firms approach of self-imposing affordability. Julia also touched on Langdon Park Capital’s mission to invest in Black and Latino communities and improving the lives of their tenants through programming while also balancing their focus on providing strong investment returns to their partners.

Lastly, Lisa Zhang at Capital Impact Partners walked the attendees through challenges she sees as a loan officer working to provide financing for affordable housing projects as well as nuances she sees between various sponsors in terms of deal structuring and how that impacts her company as a lending partner. She also discussed a few unique Capital Impact Partners’ programs including the Equitable Development Initiative and Housing Equity Accelerator Fellowship which provide training, mentorship, and financing to developers of color. Moderator Ronette Slamin, who is a 2022 Housing Equity Accelerator Fellow, provided additional commentary on how the program provided her with the resources to launch her own development and consultancy firm successfully and the project she is developing in Kalorama which leverages many of the financing tools shared during the panel.

Following the panel, attendees participated in a service project partnering with A Bright Spot to handmake cards for families in housing placements, seniors in assisted living, and children in the hospital.

We would like to thank the event sponsors, DHR Global as well as all of the speakers and attendees for their participation and time spent sharing current and past experiences related to preservation and development of workforce and affordable housing in the DMV