Volunteers of America Expands Team
Lee Goldstein has been named development director at Volunteers of America (VOA). In his new role, he is responsible for the development and preservation of affordable housing projects.
Goldstein will also work to progress the organization’s national affordable housing advocacy efforts through its platform as a recognized nonprofit leader in the industry. He joins VOA from CSG Advisors, where he provided financial advisory services and technical assistance to public housing authorities throughout the country. Earlier in his career, he held roles with the District of Columbia, including in the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development.
Stephen Samuels has joined VOA as senior director, social impact capital. He is leading the expansion and diversification of external investors to scale up the organization’s housing production and resident health services.
Prior to joining VOA, Samuels was the executive director in Kansas City for the Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC), one of the country’s largest community development financial institutions. Under his leadership, LISC invested over $25 million in grants and loans in the region to spur the construction of hundreds of new housing units and a variety of neighborhood revitalization strategies. Formerly, Samuels was the director of business development at the University of Cincinnati’s Economics Center and founder and president of Bridging Broadway, a 501(c)3 that guided over $20 million of public infrastructure investment around the first casino in downtown Cincinnati’s central business district.
David Brown, development director, has joined VOA from the District of Columbia Housing Authority, where he served as development project manager overseeing the day-to-day activities for large-scale affordable housing projects in the District including mixed-use residential and commercial projects, Rental Assistance Demonstration transactions, and mixed-finance (mixed-income) revitalization projects. His prior experience includes project management with Booz Allen Hamilton and asset management with Boston Properties.
Ken Miller, senior construction director, has also joined the team and will oversee the construction management team at VOA. He joins the national organization from ATA, a specialty trade contractor in Fairfax, Va. He brings more than 25 years of experience in the construction industry. Miller’s experience encompasses strategic planning, operational leadership, and construction field management/project oversight.
Paul Ainger has become senior development director, Northern California. Based in Sacramento, Calif., he will oversee housing development in Northern California, one of VOA’s key markets. He has been a leader in the affordable housing industry for over 20 years. He joins VOA from Visionary Home Builders, where he served as vice president of real estate development. In that role, Ainger directed the development and acquisitions for the nonprofit.
Elderly Housing Provider Announces President/CEO
Steve Beck has been named president and CEO of AHEPA Management Co. (AMC), a nationally recognized leader of affordable elderly housing management. With more than 25 years of experience in the senior housing industry, Beck will lead AMC in the administration of its nationwide portfolio of affordable independent and assisted-living communities as well as its long-range strategic planning and fiscal management.
Beck brings a broad perspective to AMC, having worked in three different industries: hotels, multifamily, and senior housing. Most recently, he helped to grow Brookdale Senior Living from the ground up, going from four to nearly 100 properties. He also served as president of Whiteco Residential, a company that builds and manages affordable and luxury apartments. Beck began his career working for Westin Hotels and Resorts.
AMC develops and manages 95 affordable senior properties administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 202 program. AMC, through its subsidiary, Hellenic Senior Living, also develops and manages affordable assisted-living facilities. AMC is a subsidiary of AHEPA National Housing Corp. and is based in Fishers, Ind.
Habitat for Humanity Announces New York City Appointments
Ben Homrighausen has been named COO and Julia Diegel has been named vice president of resource development at Habitat for Humanity New York City.
As COO, Homrighausen will be responsible for working with the CEO on strategic visioning and operational alignment. His duties will also include supporting fundraising and partnership development teams, liaising with the board of directors and leadership council members, and rolling out impact measures across organizational programs and initiatives.
Homrighausen previously worked at Habitat NYC from 2012 to 2017 as chief of staff. Most recently he was vice president for business development and operations at Daun, a consulting firm that works with nonprofits in the areas of education, health, and the arts.
As head of the resource development department, Diegel will be responsible for all of Habitat NYC’s revenue activities and building a comprehensive plan for engaging key external alliances, including corporate partners, philanthropic organizations, and industry peers. Diegel joined Habitat NYC in 2016 as senior development officer and was subsequently promoted to director of individual giving in 2018 and director of development in 2019.
KeyBank Names Senior Banker
KeyBank Real Estate Capital has appointed Eric Steinberg to senior banker with Key Community Development Lending and Investment (CDLI). He will work to grow KeyBank’s affordable housing presence in the New York City market and, more broadly, the Northeast.
Based in New York City, Steinberg is responsible for leveraging KeyBank’s full product suite to originate loans through balance-sheet executions as well as various products with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), and private-placement tax-exempt bonds.
Previously, as vice president, originations, at Citi Community Capital, he was responsible for originating new affordable housing and mixed-use transactions as well as providing acquisition, construction, and permanent financing for a variety of multifamily housing throughout the Northeast.
Merchants Capital Hires Chief Architect
Mortgage banking firm Merchants Capital has hired Matt Winter as chief architect in the company’s Chicago office. The move brings the position in-house, setting Merchants up to process new lending opportunities more efficiently while maintaining, and even improving on, the internal monitoring requirements set forth primarily by Freddie Mac, said company officials.
This decision comes in large part due to Merchants Capital’s growing relationship with Freddie Mac and the utilization of its affordable housing products.
Winter, AIA, and NCARB, will monitor key factors that lead to the successful financing and construction of affordable, senior, health-care, student, and market-rate projects and share those insights with Merchants’ lenders, analysts, and asset managers. Additionally, he will use his talents in construction documentation and budget review to ensure new construction projects are appropriately budgeted up front so that Merchants and its customers can avoid critical issues later. Winter will also rely on his experience to perform necessary preconstruction due diligence and construction monitoring reports necessary for project financing.
Prior to joining Merchants Capital, Winter spent eight years with GTG Consultants.
Regions Bank Hires Head of Distribution for Real Estate Capital Markets
Jon Burckin has joined Regions Real Estate Capital Markets as head of distribution for Regions Affordable Housing in Regions’ Atlanta and New York offices. He is responsible for raising institutional investor capital supporting the development of affordable housing communities benefiting from low-income housing tax credits (LIHTCs).
Burckin will structure single- and multi-investor funds to meet the needs of the firm’s investors. Most recently, he was a principal at Enhanced Capital, where he was the head of originations for the firm’s historic tax credit business and structured and negotiated tax credit funds. Prior to this, he worked for HRI Properties, a national multifamily and hotel developer and operator, where he was director of business development. Previously, at Scotiabank, Burckin held multiple leadership roles over the course of 17 years.
Regions Affordable Housing is a national LIHTC fund syndication firm. Regions Bank is one of the nation’s largest participants in affordable housing finance through the LIHTC program and provides comprehensive real estate banking and capital management services to meet the debt and equity capital needs of developers and investors. Regions Bank is also a Fannie Mae DUS multifamily affordable lender and a HUD/FHA affordable lender.
Chase Adds to Affordable Housing Team
Rachel Grossman has joined Chase’s Community Development Banking (CDB) group within commercial banking as head of affordable housing secondary markets. She is based in New York City and will be dedicated to identifying additional opportunities and solutions for the financing of affordable housing.
Grossman has over 20 years of banking experience and specializes in affordable housing financing. She joins from Wells Fargo, where she served as the head of the affordable housing screening group. Prior to that, she was a senior vice president for the New York City Housing Development Corp. She serves on the boards of Settlement Housing Fund and Crenulated Housing.
Chase’s CDB group provides various financial solutions that support the growth of affordable housing and development of low- and moderate-income communities across the U.S, including construction and permanent loans, New Markets and historic tax credit financing, letters of credit, and other products to support bond financing.
Public Finance Attorney Rejoins Ballard Spahr
Charles D. Treece, a public finance lawyer who represents government-sponsored enterprises and related sellers, servicers, and lenders in multifamily housing financings, has rejoined Ballard Spahr in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office.
He returns to Ballard Spahr from Fannie Mae, where he served as associate general counsel in the multifamily division. He has extensive experience in using tax-exempt debt and LIHTCs to finance affordable multifamily housing development.
Treece also regularly structures, negotiates, and advises on transactions involving credit enhancement or direct placement of debt related to multifamily housing developments. He has represented parties on all sides of bond transactions for state and local governments, institutional lenders, and nonprofit entities on a range of financings related to housing, infrastructure/utilities, schools, and special assessment and tax increment financing districts.
With more than 120 attorneys across the country, Ballard Spahr’s finance department represents clients across public and private markets in a wide variety of complex debt and equity transactions, bond offerings, and distressed debt matters. The group has participated in the issuance of more than $1 trillion in tax-exempt obligations in every U.S. state and territory.
Vermont Housing Appoints CFO
Chris Flannery has been named CFO of the Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA), following a national search. He joins VHFA from Oak Ridge Financial in Minneapolis, where he served as managing director, structured finance.
Prior to working at Oak Ridge, Flannery served as VHFA’s financial advisor from 2005 to 2017 while working at Piper Jaffray in Minneapolis. In this role, he advised VHFA and several other state housing finance agencies on bond structures, capital market opportunities, and more.
As CFO, Flannery will manage the financial, accounting, audit, investment, and information technology areas of VHFA. The CFO oversees the development and implementation of financing structures that support the agency’s loan programs, including the sale and management of VHFA tax-exempt and taxable bonds.
Since its inception, VHFA has helped approximately 29,000 Vermont households with affordable mortgages and financed the development of approximately 8,800 affordable rental apartments.
Marcus & Millichap Expands Northern California Team
Stephen Jackson and Joe Owens, two senior commercial real estate investment professionals specializing in the disposition of multifamily properties in Northern California, have joined Marcus & Millichap in Oakland, Calif. Previously with Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), they are first vice presidents with Marcus & Millichap.
Jackson began his career in 2005 in Marcus & Millichap’s San Francisco office before moving on to Colliers and then JLL, where he served as a senior vice president. He’s an established multifamily broker who has worked with REITs, pension funds, and high-net-worth private investors. Over nearly 15 years, Jackson has established expertise in multiple multifamily segments, including core assets, value-add, Section 8, and Section 42. During his career, he has sold more than $1 billion of commercial real estate assets.
Owens was introduced to commercial real estate brokerage as an intern at Marcus & Millichap in 2005. After earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley, he joined Colliers, where he partnered with Jackson. They both moved to JLL in 2016, where Owens served as a vice president before rejoining Marcus & Millichap this year. He specializes in working with institutional and private clients on multifamily acquisitions and dispositions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
