I need advice from Affordable Housing Professionals

[Chad K.]

Hey I'm a college student/real estate wholesaler looking to do some affordable housing for Unc Charlotte students. If you or someone that you know is a professional in the affordable housing field or has knowledge or connects in Section 8, HUD, Low Income Housing and Assisted Living please leave a comment. Because I have plenty of questions on how I could provide college student housing for Unc Charlotte students in Charlotte, North Carolina.

[Jen Kurtz]

Thanks for bringing me into the convo here @Joe Fairless :)

@Chad K. mentioned here is the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. That does not subsidize the residents in any way, but rather gives the owners of a property tax credits in return for renting to households whose total income does not exceed 60% of the area median income (based on household size and median income determined by HUD). In order to get those tax credits, they have to be awarded to your property by the affiliate state agency (in Ohio, the Ohio Housing Finance Agency doles them out to developers who essentially bid for them as there is a certain allocation amount to be awarded). Additionally, in that program it comes with a commitment of rent and income restrictions for 15 years. Also, it should be noted that under the tax credit rules- a household cannot be made up entirely of full-time college students (looking forward and back 12 months), because the IRS did not want student housing developers to be tax credits. However, there are few exemptions to the student rule, such as if the student has a dependent child or is receiving public assistance.

Section 8, Housing Choice Voucher program, which is my favorite form of subsidy- offers a lot more freedom (not having to commit longer than a lease term), and also helps the resident more as it actually decreases their portion of their rent not to exceed 30% of their adjusted gross income (and the government subsidizes the remainder of the agreed upon contract rent with you. However, again there are many restrictions to receiving this assistance. The tenants have to meet income guidelines and there is also restrictions on students who receive sec 8. For example, the applicant would have to be older than 24, be married, or have a dependent child, etc. 

The tax payers are not generally interested in making housing cheaper for traditional students, so students are excluded from these income based assistance programs. My best advice for you if you wanted to supply good housing at a better (or more competitive) cost than many other housing options- is to find great deals, fix them as efficiently as possible, and hopefully can ask for lower rents than the competition because your mortgage and upkeep is lower. That is generally not in the mind's of investors to see how you can charge a tenant less for rent, but your heart is very much in the right place! I recall my college days and how expensive it was to rent when you do not work full-time. Renting a house with friends definitely beats the costs to live in on-campus dorms though!!

Best of luck to you and your goals, and keep asking all the questions you have on the BP forums! If you ever want to write to me directly, please feel free to!