Chris VanArsdale Serves as Expert Panelist on ULI Webinar discussing the Economics of COVID-19
Heleos Principal and Managing Partner Chris VanArsdale served as an expert panelist on the Urban Land Institute webinar, “Economics of COVID-19: How ‘Main Street’ Owners Are Navigating the Crisis with Their Tenants,” which was oriented toward small-scale, entrepreneurial developers.
The webinar, presented on April 14, was the fourth in a series of webinars offered by ULI to explore how the real estate industry is being affected by the virus and the industry’s response.
The full webinar is available for ULI members.
Chris discussed the impact of the virus on low- and moderate-income tenants in Heleos’s multifamily properties, which include tenants receiving assistance through the federal government’s Section 8 housing subsidy program. As yet, Section 8 rental payments have continued without disruption, helping to offset the inability of some program recipients to pay their portion of the rent owed.
Heleos’s larger concern is the number of moderate-income, market-rate tenants who have lost their jobs and are not receiving housing subsidies. Chris shared how Heleos is proactively reaching out to tenants about their job situations, and putting them in touch with resources such as housing counseling, tenant advocacy groups, and social service organizations.
“We are constantly brainstorming about how we can help, because this is going to be a tsunami for a lot of tenants.” - Chris VanArsdale
During the webinar, Chris noted that future projects have been largely put on hold, citing a lack of new originations coming from the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, a temporary suspension of tax credit–related acquisitions by some community development financial institutions, and tougher requirements for new multifamily debt funded by government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In the interim, Heleos is focused on reaching out to lenders and property managers to get as much data as possible to inform its short-term and longer-term operations.