Affordable housing veterans Bob Moss and David Gasson have joined forces to form an advocacy firm that will work on behalf of housing clients seeking regulatory changes and expanded resources.
After long tenures at two of the housing industry’s leading accounting and syndication companies, they are launching MG Housing Strategies that will build on a personal relationship of more than 25 years and a combined 60 years of experience in public policy and affordable housing.
“After spending years working with David to advance housing issues, providence has provided us the opportunity to focus full time on critical matters of importance to our clients and the affordable housing industry,” says Moss, who recently served as principal and national director of governmental affairs at CohnReznick. Prior to that, he was senior vice president and director of originations at Boston Capital.
Gasson recently served as a vice president at Boston Capital and is executive director of the Housing Advisory Group (HAG), a nonpartisan organization dedicated to protecting and improving the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) and other housing programs. Earlier in his career, Gasson worked in Washington, D.C., for almost 10 years in a variety of capacities for Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) and Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-Maine).
“The COVID-19 pandemic has made an already dire housing crisis even worse,” he says. “I am excited to work with Bob and our clients to remedy obstacles to housing production and find ways to expand housing opportunities.”
For the longtime colleagues, the timing was right to launch their firm. Gasson recently split from Boston Capital after its LIHTC business was sold to another company, and Moss was retiring from CohnReznick.
During their careers, they have been central in advocating for the housing tax credit in Congress, including to help win the recent 4% fixed rate, and they will continue to be involved with HAG, an organization that represents approximately 110 member groups and advocates and educates Congress on a large affordable housing agenda.
They describe MG Housing Strategies as a “boutique advocacy shop.” “We’re not about volume,” Gasson says. “We are going to be very focused on people.”
While Moss and Gasson are closely associated with the LIHTC program, they say they are looking forward to working on are a number of housing issues that haven’t received the attention they deserve. These could be NIMBY matters to impact fees to Department of Housing and Urban Development and Department of Agriculture programs. One goal is to increase federal resources across the spectrum of housing programs, going beyond the housing credit and appropriations.
“Bob and I feel we have the ability to focus on those issues and assist clients to get them resolved,” Gasson says.
The new company’s logo features the color purple, a sign that the firm is neither red nor blue politically but will be working across the aisle, says Moss.
“We will be speaking with potential clients and developers around the country about the need to hammer down some federal resources and fix quirks in some programs,” he adds. “We think we can be successful based on our relationships within the Congress and the new administration.”
