By Matthew Auchincloss The dire need for more affordable rental housing across the country has been well-documented, but the pathway to delivery is full of potential pitfalls, says Ian Hunter, regional director at Dwell Design Studio, who operates out of the architectural firm’s Atlanta office. In short, there are several ways for projects to “get stuck,” he points out. At the top of the list is funding, but the entitlement process, design, construction costs and operations are also potential impediments to getting an affordable housing project from conception to inception. …
Conference Coverage
ATLANTA — Affordable housing developers are fighting an uphill battle, and on multiple fronts. On the demand side, renters are more cost-burdened than ever before. According to the “America’s Rental Housing 2026”report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, the number of renters who are cost-burdened (households that spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities) reached a new record high in 2024. The report found that 22.7 million renter households were cost-burdened in 2024, with 12.1 million households qualifying as “severely cost-burdened” …
InterFace Panel: AI Has Infiltrated Multifamily Management Without Compromising The Human Touch
By Taylor Williams DALLAS — Technological innovation has long been a cornerstone of managing and leasing multifamily properties, and that feature of the business has only been augmented in the era of artificial intelligence (AI). But for all the operational conveniences and efficiencies that AI potentially brings to the table, multifamily management has not yet reached the point of phasing out the human element. Almost immediately after the members of the leasing and management panel at the annual InterFace Multifamily Texas conference had introduced themselves, this fundamental premise of multifamily …
In What Ways Is Student Housing a Different Animal Than Conventional Multifamily? InterFace Panel Weighs In
ATLANTA — Andrew Layton, chief acquisition officer for Atlanta-based Student Quarters, knows that from a commercial real estate investment standpoint, the student housing sector possesses a key advantage: the relative permanence of many flagship universities nationally. “There is no risk of the University of Kentucky uprooting itself from Lexington and moving to Frankfort anytime soon. In the conventional multifamily world, neighborhoods come, neighborhoods go. What was hot yesterday may not be so hot today. What was cold yesterday may be the flaming new market tomorrow. That’s just not the case …
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In its first-quarter report, property management research firm RealPage stated that the “supply wave for multifamily was cresting” as the U.S. apartment sector set a record in terms of units absorbed (138,302), outpacing deliveries (116,092). Those figures are a sharp contrast from the first quarter of 2024 when deliveries (135,652) outstripped absorption (103,826). Will Block, partner and co-founder of Olympus Development Co., said that the flip in the U.S. apartment market’s supply-demand dynamic the past 12 months has made all the difference in terms of lenders’ perception. Editor’s …
InterFace Conference Coverage: Multifamily Operators Are Utilizing Fee Transparency, Concessions to Woo Renters
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The federal government has been cracking down on price gouging in recent months. In May, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) implemented a rule to ban “junk fees” from live event platforms like Ticketmaster, as well as hotels and other short-term lodging. This rule precludes the vendor or property owner/management firm from being able to charge hidden fees on the back end by requiring them to put the total cost upfront, inclusive of all mandatory fees and charges. And in January, the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ), along with …
InterFace Conference Coverage: Affordable Housing Architects Push the Limits of Design Amid Rising Costs
ATLANTA — The United States is short 6.8 million affordable housing units, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Developers and owners are driven by a mission to meet this critical shortage. This national problem is fueling the work of architects and designers. Like developers, they, too, have picked up the baton — or the pencil, as the case may be — and applied practices that are custom-tuned to bring much-needed rental housing to market as quickly and efficiently as possible. Editor’s note: InterFace Conference Group, a division of …
Affordable Housing Developers Aim to Control What They Can Control, Say InterFace Panelists
ATLANTA — Interest rates. Tariffs. Natural disasters. These three factors alone frighten any developer, let alone those who are tasked with delivering our nation’s affordable housing supply. Just to get to the ribbon-cutting ceremony, developers have an uphill climb. They have to obtain the land outright or in a ground lease agreement, navigate the permitting and entitlement processes, overcome any neighborhood pushback, raise equity and borrow the necessary capital and then build these communities on time and on budget. Editor’s note: InterFace Conference Group, a division of France Media Inc., produces …
ATLANTA — Affordable housing is facing a tumultuous second half of the year. Tariffs on building materials such as lumber, steel and aluminum are slowing development activity as they elevate construction costs. Investment sales are also likely to be impacted by unstable economic conditions in the affordable housing sector, where many transactions are conducted within a limited budget due to the nature of income restrictions for renters. Amid high costs and trade uncertainty, many investors are making the decision to stay on the sidelines or invest in markets with more …
DALLAS — As is the case for many commercial asset classes and markets in 2025, there is an expectation of elevated deal volume for investment sales of affordable housing properties in Texas. But brokers in that space caution that the rebound will likely be marginal and is not necessarily indicative of ideal market conditions taking hold. A quintet of panelists broke down this notion and others at the InterFace Texas Affordable & Workforce Housing conference on Feb. 13 at the Westin Galleria Dallas hotel. Mary Ann Bennett, senior managing director …