SAN DIEGO—The Department of US Housing and Urban Development offers a myriad number of programs to help developers bring projects to fruition. These are easily found on the department's website and other sources. But it took experts in FHA multifamily lending programs to spell out what goes in the department's secret sauce. At one of the early sessions at the MBA Cref national conference here in San Diego, panelist after panelist talked about the immense talent that resides in the department.
"You could probably take us off to a secret room and we would answer that question the same," Dana Wade, EVP and chief underwriter at Dwight Capital LLC, told the audience. "HUD is filled with some of the best people who are very good. They are the unsung heroes at the end of the day. As must as we see some of the frustrations and challenges, there is a lot it takes to make HUD run and operate. There are talented people there.
Ethan Handelman, deputy assistant secretary for the office of multifamily housing programs at the Federal Housing Finance Agency, was quick to echo that. HUD's staff "are not the folks you often see up on panels, but they are what make the department run. We have done amazingly well in the last year with the same staffing we have had for several years. The FHA commitments are sky high and the staffing graph is not. It is that juxtaposition that reminds me how heavy a lift those staffers have and we all have a shared goal in trying to make them effective to make the work of the department work better."
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Natalie Dolce
Natalie Dolce, editor-in-chief of GlobeSt.com, is responsible for working with editorial staff, freelancers and senior management to help plan the overarching vision that encompasses GlobeSt.com, including short-term and long-term goals for the website, how content integrates through the company’s other product lines and the overall quality of content. Previously she served as national executive editor and editor of the West Coast region for GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum, and was responsible for coverage of news and information pertaining to that vital real estate region. Prior to moving out to the Southern California office, she was Northeast bureau chief, covering New York City for GlobeSt.com. Her background includes a stint at InStyle Magazine, and as managing editor with New York Press, an alternative weekly New York City paper. In her career, she has also covered a variety of beats for M magazine, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, FashionLedge.com, and Co-Ed magazine. Dolce has also freelanced for a number of publications, including MSNBC.com and Museums New York magazine.
