City of McAllen, TX’s Post

My colleagues and I have been reporting on San Francisco’s sluggish recovery from the pandemic for several years now, and the latest news out of the Bay Area city continues to paint a dim portrait of its fiscal future. Yesterday, I reported on S&P Global Ratings’ decision to cut the outlook on San Francisco’s outstanding general obligation and appropriation debt to negative from stable. Declining revenues and growing budgetary expenditures are threatening the city’s ability to repay its debt, according to S&P. And, adding to the city’s burdens, San Francisco’s budget expenditures outpaced revenue growth in fiscal 2023. A change in outlook doesn’t necessarily mean that the credit rating will be adjusted. However, a top credit rating is often a point of pride for public officials, and losing it could make it more expensive for the city to borrow in the municipal-bond market. Read my full story on Bloomberg News here: https://lnkd.in/edRn6pGg Food for Thought: In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, San Francisco succeeded in transforming old frameworks into beautiful, dynamic settings for prosperous middle-class life. However, the new narrative around the city revolves around widespread flight… What needs to happen for the city to embark on another period of urban renewal?

The most-read story from the previous week's Developer's Digest®, published by The Hill, reports that the Biden administration unveiled plans to strengthen federal initiatives supporting affordable housing, enhance the availability of manufactured homes, and advance fairness in rental markets. To support affordable housing, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury will extend programs providing ongoing capital for state and local housing finance agencies to offer Federal Housing Administration-insured multifamily loans. Additionally, HUD announced $225 million in grants to improve manufactured homes, upgrades, and infrastructure needs. To read more stories like this and to stay on top of the most recent news from the development world, subscribe to our Developer’s Digest® using the link below: https://bit.ly/3Qg1qXV #digest #dsa #nyc #weknowzoning #deveopmentsites #developmentnews

Interesting article from the UNC School of Government highlighting the significant cost challenges impacting #affordablehousing development, and the growing importance of local government support to help fill financing gaps. https://unc.live/4fMQWcM

MIAMI LAKES GETS UPGRADE: Spurred by strength in payment abilities and the backing the city’s electric utility tax revenue, Miami Lakes has been upgraded this month in its issuer default rating on bonds to ‘AAA’ from ‘AA+’ by Fitch Ratings. Fitch explains that the town of 31,238 residents “irrevocably pledges its electric utility tax revenue” levied on purchase at the maximum rate of 10% to repaying the bonds, with additional backing by a cash-funded debt reserve fund. Fitch notes that about half of the town’s operating budget goes to pay for county fire and police services by contract and is subject to periodic changes in the costs of those services. Fitch also notes the town’s low unemployment rate and strong educational levels, as 40.3% of residents hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. #FYIMiami #MiamiTodayNews #MiamiLakes https://lnkd.in/eBfzQ5_h

Wow, I read this article just a few months ago, and the predictions about how the election cycle could impact housing are already playing out faster than expected! 🏡 The ripple effects on multifamily housing regulations and infrastructure spending are astounding. How do you see these changes shaping the future of the housing market? #MultifamilyHousing #RealEstateTrends #ElectionImpact #HousingRegulations #PropertyDevelopment #Infrastructure #UrbanPlanning #HousingMarketInsights

Bromford retains A+ stable rating with S&P Leading regional housing association Bromford has retained its A+ stable credit rating from S&P Global Ratings. S&P highlighted Bromford’s "solid management expertise”, "prudent cost planning and financial headroom", and "very strong liquidity" as key factors in their decision to maintain the A+ stable rating. The agency carried out its latest review of the Gloucestershire-based housing association earlier in July, examining the progress against its new strategy and business plan which sets out Bromford’s ambitions to build 11,000 new homes by 2032 and to invest £2 billion in maintaining and upgrading its existing homes, including improvements to make them more energy efficient. Bromford recently announced that it had entered into discussions with Flagship Housing Group to create one of the largest housing associations in the country, with 80,000 homes across the central belt of England and the capacity to build up to 2,000 new homes every year whilst maintaining a sector leading A+ / A2 credit rating platform.  S&P Global have reviewed the combined organisation’s initial financial analysis and confirmed it continues to reflect an A+ rating, commenting: “Bromford's currently strong financial indicators would mitigate pressure of the potential business combination, and hence we do not expect it to have an immediate impact on our rating on Bromford.” In https://lnkd.in/dxewGRqe

Double page spread in the Observer on Sunday calmly talking through challenges faced by key players in the social housing sector, outlining the benefits and the governments ambition for the coming 5 years. Refreshing to see from mainstream media that…*delivering housing doesn’t have to be scary*... Key take aways… - Rent cuts and rent caps hurt delivery of new stock (all stock, private and public) - Funding and restrictions on borrowing are a bigger challenge than access to sites - L&Q have 22,000 deliverable plots with planning but not the capital - For profit providers (L&G and Blackstone via Sage Homes) own just under 30,000 affordable homes (under 1% of total stock) - Knight Frank forecast this to increase to 86,000 by 2029 - Sage Homes has 22,500 properties across England making it England’s largest provider of affordable new homes - All sectors, and sources of new stock will have to be firing to reach the government’s ambitions. - Private sector participation in affordable housing is being welcomed However, no mention in the article of planning department capacity, BSA, infrastructure challenges, utilities (grid capacity) and sustainability targets…which all contribute significantly to actually delivering homes...But I guess they've got to start somewhere and improving the economics of delivery will bring home commitments forward quickist

Here are some highlights on our TOD program that was recently published in an updated FAQ: 1- certain office-to-residential conversion projects could qualify for categorical exclusion under NEPA. This will save significant time and cost for project sponsors. 2- existing debt for certain projects can be refinanced so the savings can be used to pay for new improvement costs. 3- we can collaborate with other short-term lenders like banks to finance TOD projects. We close our loan at the same time a constriction loan is closed at no additional fee, our loan will be interest free until it is used as a take-out facility to pay the constriction loan once project is complete, and we remain in the project as the long-term lender for the term of our loan (typically 35-40 years). A partnership under which we take long-term risks and banks take short term risks. And much more exciting information on how we underwrite our TOD loans. Don’t forget to register for our webinar on August 27. Check it out: https://lnkd.in/gBg2y8Tt #tod #transitorienteddevelopment #realestatefinancing #tifia #rrif #buildamericabureau AIAI - The Association for the Improvement of American Infrastructure Urban Land Institute National League of Cities The Real Estate Roundtable

Neat new guidance to support TOD! The Build America Bureau, clarifies how the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) and Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) loans may be used for certain commercial to residential conversion projects that are eligible for a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)!

This Morning, HBI CEO Edward Brady spoke on a panel at Fannie Mae’s 2024 Affordable Lending Summit- Enabling More Affordable Housing Supply. Today’s aspiring buyers are finding fewer opportunities to purchase due to the decline in construction of single-family starter homes. Edward Brady spoke about how labor affects housing affordability. “The skilled labor shortage has significant implications for housing affordability, affecting construction costs, supply and demand dynamics, construction delays, renovation and maintenance costs, and overall housing market stability. There are currently 400K open jobs and addressing the skilled labor shortage is essential for promoting greater affordability and accessibility in the housing market, ensuring that all individuals and families have access to safe, decent, and affordable housing options.” HBI is thrilled to be currently working on a study with Fannie Mae that will give specific data points to the nexus between housing affordability and the skilled labor shortage.