This session reviews a range of creative approaches for financing affordable housing, including low-cost revolving loans that take a property from construction to stabilization, reducing the need for costly equity, and a non-contiguous tax increment financing district in Baltimore that provides funding for redeveloping vacant properties for residential use. The session will also discuss ideas for improving the yield on Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. 

Real estate developers and owners have long faced rising costs—from regulatory hurdles to materials, labor, and land. More recently, sustainability requirements and increasing insurance premiums have made already challenging projects even harder to make financially viable. In this panel, speakers will dispel common myths by examining whether sustainability and resilience measures truly add cost. They will highlight available resources and incentives and explain how these measures affect a project’s return on investment. Attendees will gain a clearer understanding of how to finance sustainable and resilient developments—and the benefits these strategies bring to residents, communities, and project stakeholders alike. 

This panel will discuss the most recent changes in economic policy that affect real estate operations. The panel will share how the current environment is shaping their businesses, what they are planning for the near-term future, and where they see challenges or opportunities in the coming year.  For example: How are interest rates, materials costs, labor, and tariffs impacting development and construction? How is AI reshaping business operations? What do they anticipate will change in federal housing policy?