Gerry Joseph (l) and Paul Browne (r) of Joseph Browne Development Associates LLC.
HAND members are working everyday to create thriving communities throughout our region, in which everyone has access to affordable housing. In an effort to highlight these individuals and groups within our membership, HAND launched a digital interview series titled, “Five Minutes with” – an informal conversation with our members on why they are committed to their work, recent projects and more. In the latest edition, we caught up with Gerry Joseph and Paul Browne, who recently launched Joseph Browne Development Associates LLC. Keep reading for our conversation:
HAND: Why is affordable housing important to you?
JBDA: Both of us have spent the bulk of our careers working in the field of affordable housing in the non-profit sector. We believe that safe, decent and affordable housing is something that all Americans deserves but is illusive to most folks who need it. Moreover, we believe that the kind of affordable housing that is offered by HAND members is even more important because it comes with access to services and in high-opportunity areas.
HAND: Joseph Browne Development Associates is a joint venture between Joseph Development Inc. and Larkspur Development LLC – can you tell us how this came to be?
JBDA: Well, the business is organized as joint venture of two entities, but the work is done by two individuals who have been friends and colleagues for nearly 15 years. Gerry and Paul met when Gerry left The Community Builders in Massachusetts to join CPDC as its Director of Real Estate Development. Gerry left CPDC in 2010 to start Joseph Development Inc. JDI has had a steady book of business since then with occasional periods where the workload could have used an extra hand. Given our history and relationship, when Paul began thinking about starting his own consulting business, it felt very natural to envision a collaboration. Our respective skills and strengths complement one another very well.
HAND: What separates Joseph Browne Development Associates from other similar businesses?
JBDA: As two seasoned affordable housing developers who were steeped in the non-profit development culture, we have extensive direct experience with all kinds of affordable housing financing mechanisms, along with the judgment and tenacity necessary to get deals done. Together, we think we bring unmatched expertise and experience as people who have learned the industry as successful practitioners.
HAND: Have you run into any challenges so far? How did you and your team overcome them? What lesson(s) did you learn?
JBDA: Over our separate careers, we have encountered countless challenges (this is affordable housing, after all), but JBDA is so new that we have yet to run into any significant challenges. We have been in the industry long enough to know, however, that there are many hurdles in store for us. Right now we are concentrating on expanding our book of work to match our expanded capacity.
HAND: What are you and your colleagues most looking forward to over the coming months and years?
JBDA: Helping our peers and colleagues achieve their vision and, hopefully, a wider more universal recognition of the importance of our collective work in producing affordable housing relative to the health and stability of all communities.
HAND: What do you enjoy most about your work and why?
JBDA: We are both technical experts, and we get great satisfaction from finding solutions complicated problems. Ultimately, there is still nothing better in this business than getting to completion of a project and witnessing the joy and gratitude of a resident as they move into their new or renovated home.
HAND: What do you wish that you could change about our industry?
JBDA: While we earn our living knowing how to design and complete complicated financial transactions, we always say, there has to be an easier way to produce housing for people who need it! Overall our system for producing affordable housing needs much more resources and a much simpler financing and delivery structure. Easier said than done! One obvious issue is that financing tools discourage small scale development, which could more easily fit into existing, higher opportunity areas.
HAND: If you could describe your work in one word, what would it be?
JBDA: Discerning. (Paul’s word!); Tenacious (Gerry’s word!)
Since the beginning of the Civil Rights movement, voter engagement efforts have played a vital role in our democratic process. Unfortunately, both low-income and minority citizens have historically been and remain underrepresented in the electoral process. In fact, only 33% of the low-income population in the U.S. is registered to vote, and of those who are registered to vote, only 40% exercise this right. By encouraging more low-income citizens to register to vote and exercise their right, we can ensure that the voices of all, including our most vulnerable citizens, are reflected in major public policy decisions.
Virginia Housing Alliance (VHA) in partnership with Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH), will host a two-part training series on organizing and/or participating in Get Out To Vote (GOTV) drives within low-income housing communities throughout the Commonwealth. The first half of the training will be a one hour webinar on May 8th where participants will be able to learn how to connect with non-partisan organizations to engage in GOTV efforts without endangering 501(c)3 non-profit status. This webinar will serve as a GOTV 101 for all housing and homeless service providers who would like to get their residents and clients registered and actively voting.
The webinar will be followed up with a more in-depth panel discussion on June 14th, 2018 from 9:30am – 11:30am at the Westin Richmond as the Pre-Luncheon Forum at Virginia Housing Alliance’s Annual Awards Luncheon.
The webinar and pre-luncheon panel will include:
Webinar access information will be sent via email upon registration. For more information on this webinar or to register, visit the event webpage here.
The NHP Foundation (NHPF) is pleased to announce that it has appointed Glynna Christian to the NHPF Board of Trustees. As Co-Head of the Global Technology Transactions practice at Orrick, Glynna brings to the Board of Trustees a wealth of commercial and legal knowledge in Mergers & Acquisitions, financings, public offerings, joint ventures and other strategic transactions.
“In addition to experience advising clients in corporate and commercial deals across virtually all operational and strategic areas of their business, Glynna’s expertise in launching new technology and digital products, including blockchain and Artificial Intelligence (AI) bring an exciting new dimension to the affordable housing space,” said NHPF President & CEO Richard F. Burns. “We know Glynna will be a great addition to NHPF’s future endeavors.”
In her role at Orrick, Glynna advises both emerging and established companies, in deal-making across virtually all operational and strategic areas of their businesses. She has more than 20 years’ experience counseling clients on emerging and transformative technology, communications, media and data transactions that are strategic to her clients’ businesses. Glynna earned her J.D. from the University Of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School Of Law, 1994, cum laude, and her B.A.from the University of North Texas, 1990, cum laude. Congratulations, Glynna!
Milton Bailey, Director, Frederick County Department of Housing and Community Development
HAND members continue to do the hard work of ensuring individuals and families at all income levels have access to affordable housing throughout the region. In an effort to highlight these individuals and groups, we launched our series titled, “Five Minutes with” – an informal conversation with our members on their recent projects and the affordable housing industry. In the latest edition, we caught up with Milton Bailey, Director of the Frederick County Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). Check out our conversation here:
HAND: Why is affordable housing important to you?
FC: Providing affordable housing is perhaps the most important means at our disposal to provide solid foundations for families and individuals, promote wealth building and in turn foster community economic growth.
HAND: What recent accomplishment(s) is your organization extraordinarily proud of?
FC: A recent accomplishment for which we are extremely proud was our successful partnering with United Way of Frederick toward helping more people become homeowners. As a result of our partnership, we were able to establish a program that has the potential of becoming a national best practice. By leveraging our down payment and closing cost assistance with the United Way’s Prosperity Center programs, we are able to offer the Prosperity Savings Homebuyer Program. This program offers a combination of zero-interest loans and grant funds to help first-time homebuyers pay for upfront costs and make consistent mortgage payments on their new homes. Specifically, the new program increases the income threshold for prospective participants based on the “survival budget” determined in the 2016 ALICE Report (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) by the United Ways of Maryland. Equally important, the United Way offers up to $3,400 in foreclosure prevention assistance for a period of three years. I believe the industry will come to realize this combination makes for stronger and more creditworthy borrowers.
HAND: Have you run into any challenges over the last several months? How did you and your team overcome them?
FC: There are many challenges related to the preservation and production of housing. However, the challenges and barriers our communities face today are no more daunting than they were 35 years ago. This is because dedicated professionals find creative ways of overcoming obstacles. I have no doubt, given our State’s leadership, diversity of advocates and the elevated public awareness generated by these supporters, we will indeed find ways to overcome any present-day challenges.
HAND: What lesson(s) did you learn?
FC: The lessons we learned are as simple as not taking defeat as a setback but an opportunity to evolve the discussion to where it resonates with even the most cynical.
HAND: What are you and your colleagues looking forward to?
FC: We are looking forward to the day when parochial beliefs give way to bilateral effort.
HAND: What do you enjoy most about your work and why?
FC: My work is my religion. I’m trying to make sure the next baby Jesus doesn’t have to live in a cattle stall.
HAND: What do you wish that you could change about our industry?
FC: I think it is critical that we (HUD, the IRS and Congressional policy makers) stop viewing housing cost burdens in isolation of the overall cost of living. While intuitively inseparable, by viewing the cost of housing in isolation of the cost of living, the two conspire to become negatives that impinge upon actual wealth building— and thereby a community’s economic growth.
Take the purchase of an automobile for example. When we buy a car, we instinctively think in the narrow context of whether or not the car payment will fit within our monthly budget. Rarely do we consider the cost of insurance, gas, oil, windshield washer fluid, maintenance, parking, traffic tickets and other budget consuming incidentals that go along with owning the vehicle. The same is true when it comes to purchasing a home or living in an apartment. Our families still need to eat, student loans still need to be paid and we still need to save for that unexpected family crisis or unforeseen medial expense.
Yet, because housing costs and the cost of survival are compartmentalized, our public policies inadvertently create financial imbalances that discourage wealth accumulation and encourage poverty. For example, when housing cost burdens are paired with ALICE report data, neither a family nor an individual can earn or save enough to meet housing costs, cover basic needs or stay ahead of inflation to avail themselves of the very educational opportunities that would pave the way to wealth building.
Life-costs, student loan expenses, the absence of equitable wages and support structures trigger financial disintegration even within families earning $75,700. Yet, neither under HUD’s housing programs nor under the IRS’s Low Income Housing Tax Credit programs can ALICE families or individuals in search of the full measure of the American Dream (food, shelter, clothing, education, health insurance, child care, savings, etcetera) avail themselves of the lower cost of housing these programs offer under current income limits. Consequentially, the American Dream becomes an illusion only the wealthy can afford.
Each of us have a stake in addressing cost burdens, especially when considering the social consequences caused by stifling poverty. From a balance sheet perspective, if people who are destined to spend more than they earn do not receive help, then foreclosures and rental unit turnovers will occur more frequently, with such instances leading to increased operating costs and thereby escalating rents and mortgage costs.
HAND: If you could describe your work in one word, what would it be?
FC: Great!
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Payments: Orders placed on the event registration page are not confirmed until payment is received. A confirmation email will be sent to the email address listed in your registration. If you paid by credit card, a receipt will be sent to the email address listed in your registration. If you mail a check, all payments must be received within seven days of completing your registration form. Checks should be remitted to: HAND, PO Box 48386, Washington, DC 20002
Guest List & Dietary Preference: If your registration includes a luncheon table or multiple guests, please submit guest names and menu choices by May 1, 2020. Submit guest names here.
Housing Expo: Plan to exhibit? Download the Housing Expo FAQs here.
Omni Shoreham Hotel Room Block: For attendees looking to secure overnight accommodations on May 25th, HAND has secured a rate starting at $189 for conference attendees. There are a limited amount of rooms available, so visit this link today to reserve your room. May 10th is the last day to secure a room at the discounted rate.
Ad Submission: The artwork for advertisements should be submitted to annualmeeting@handhousing.org. You can download the ad spec sheet here. Deadline for ad submission is April 13, 2020.
Cancellations & Changes: If you wish to cancel or change your registration for the Annual Meeting & Housing Expo, please send a request in writing to annualmeeting@handhousing.org. All cancellation requests made prior to April 27th will receive a 50% refund. For cancellation requests made after April 27th, no refund will be provided.
Door Prizes: Are you interested in donating a door prize to this year’s Annual Meeting? Email annualmeeting@handhousing.org to coordinate with our team.
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