John Casmon

Affordable Housing, Tax Credits and Working with Local Governments with Evan Holladay, Episode 166

Housing costs have skyrocketed in many markets sparking the need for affordable housing solutions. There are federal tax credits and other incentives to spark development but the arena is complex for new developers. As a developer, Evan Holladay has been locked-in on affordable housing since college and shares his story of leveraging the connections of a mentor to get his foot in the game. In this episode, he breaks down the key components to drive success with affordable housing and how to navigate public-private partnerships, leverage tax credits and even how he launched his Monumental Podcast.

Partner: Join me at the Best Ever Conference plus 15% discount with 15DEAL

Key Insights

Told his mentor he was interested in real estate development and was introduced to a prominent developer
Started a modular development company during an entrepreneur class
Vision is to provide services for affordable housing residents
Affordable housing is more about attainability
The path to creating affordable housing is for cities and local governments to support development and champion the cause
Affordable housing – families making up to 60% of the avg. area income
Tax credits are a federal government incentive program. Credits can be sold to investors for write-offs – usually to large banks
Banks are looking for well-sourced deals, developers with experience building affordable housing
TIF – tax increment financing, when local government agrees to forego taxes upfront and provides a TIF loan instead of property taxes for a set period of time
Tax abatement – when property taxes are reduced or eliminated for a period of time
Partnered with Nashville to write their first tax abatement program
Launched a podcast to keep talking to a venture capitalist
Podcast has helped him connect with guests and attract investors