John Casmon

Developing Profitable Affordable Housing with Scott Choppin, Episode 192

Creating affordable housing is a challenge for many developers. Part of the issue is the cost to develop affordable housing leaves little to no profits for developers. Because of this, many developers rely on government subsidies to bridge the profitability gap. However, Scott Choppin and his firm, Urban Pacific have found opportunities with urban infill to deliver affordable housing without using government subsidies.

Scott is a second-generation investor that focuses on vacant or underutilized areas in a city. His team is committed to developing urban townhomes in these areas. They have developed 1,700 units and continue to evaluate new opportunities. In this episode, Scott shares more about affordable housing, workforce housing, government subsidies, and his UTH model.

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Key Insights

Urban Infill Housing: Find sites that are vacant or underutilized in cities and develop apartments
What is Workforce Housing: Pairs private capital with moderate income multi-generational rental housing
How to find Urban Infill opportunities: One very surprising resource!
The real estate market for the rest of 2020 and how it is going to shift
The impact on rental markets in 2020 and how it affects investors in the future
The difference between workforce housing and affordable housing
How to work with cities to develop affordable or workforce housing
The benefit to investors in developing workforce and affordable housing
Government subsidies
Understanding The UTH Model: The intersection of lowest density, lowest cost build, with maximum capability to generate rental income
Why Scott’s UTH model works without subsidies
Working within urban real estate markets (Focus: Los Angeles real estate market)
How UTH Homes compare profit-wise to value add multifamily projects or new construction developments