CHICAGO—Chicago-based The Habitat Company, a US multifamily developer and property manager, has decided to place its affordable housing operations under a single umbrella called the Habitat Affordable Group. The new arrangement unites the firm's public housing and affordable housing management divisions with its community development operations, a move that company officials say will improve efficiency and help fulfill their plan to grow nationally.
“In the multifamily world, the operational and development sides always need to work together, but in affordable housing, not only do you have the operational and development aspects, you also have a unique compliance aspect,” Matt Fiascone, president of Habitat, tells GlobeSt.com. The added complexity of meeting government requirements for all types of units, whether public housing or affordable units connected to tax credits or other financing mechanisms, means it “makes even more sense to operate them with a holistic approach.”
Charlton Hamer, senior vice president, will lead the new Habitat Affordable Group along with other key team members, including Shangwé Parker as vice president of affordable housing, and Jeff Head as vice president of community development.
Established in 1971, Habitat began as an affordable housing developer in Chicago and has since grown into one of the largest multifamily developers, owners and managers in the country. Today, its management portfolio comprises more than 22,000 units across five states, including more than 10,000 affordable housing residences. Habitat ranked 45th on the National Affordable Housing Management Association 2017 Affordable 100 list, which features the country's largest affordable multifamily property management companies.
Another reason to bring all of these properties into one group is that the line separating public housing and affordable housing has gotten blurry. “Public housing, mostly out of necessity, is moving to a public/private model,” Fiascone says. Increasingly, public housing authorities don't have sole ownership of their units, and occasionally no ownership interest at all. Instead, private groups develop, own and manage many units. The local public housing authority, however, can set the guidelines on renters' income levels and how long the units will be preserved as affordable.
In effect, this turns the public housing units into what most people think of as affordable housing. “The distinction is unnecessary,” Fiascone adds, and this transformation “removes some of the stigma associated with public housing, a stigma which is not appropriate.”
In the last year, Habitat has significantly advanced its affordable housing portfolio. It recently acquired and assumed property management of an affordable rental development in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood and also assumed management of two additional affordable housing communities in the Chicago area. The three properties total 500 residences in Chicago and suburban Chicago Ridge. And earlier this year, the company Habitat announced the $16 million acquisition and rehabilitation of a 153-unit single room occupancy community in Chicago's East Garfield Park neighborhood.
As reported in GlobeSt.com, Habitat also aims to expand its national profile. In 2016, it launched a programmatic partnership with CA Residential LLC, the multifamily investment and development division of CA Ventures. Habitat assumed management of a five-building, 1,215-unit apartment portfolio owned by CA. In addition, the firms plan to pursue co-development and investment opportunities in select markets throughout the US. And making operations on the affordable side more efficient will also “help us move into other markets,” Fiascone says. Still, “Chicago is our home.”
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
