World Habitat Day Event
Presentation and Panel Discussion

Mission Entrepreneurial Entities:
Essential Actors in Affordable Housing Delivery

Thursday, October 8, 2009
9:00 am to 10:30 am

Sponsored by the Affordable Housing Institute (AHI), Housing Partnership Network (HPN),

and National Housing Conference (NHC)

This panel will announce the publication and present the principal findings of AHI's landmark new study, Mission Entrepreneurial Entities: Essential Actors in Affordable Housing Delivery, which examines MEEs' characteristics, role in housing delivery, importance, and principles of success.  Using extensive case analysis of US and UK MEEs, it develops a theory of what makes successful MEEs or puts this 'keystone species' at risk, in which environments MEEs can flourish, and where lie today's challenges and opportunities.  These insights apply not just in the US and UK but around the around, including the Global South.

Panelists

• Carol J. Galante, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Programs, HUD
• Debra Schwartz, Director of Program Related Investments, MacArthur Foundation
• Ray Christman, former CEO Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta
• Gaynor Asquith, Principal, arc4 Consulting, Manchester UK
• Thomas Bledsoe, President, Housing Partnership Network
• Michael Pitchford, President and CEO, Community Preservation and Development Corporation
• David Smith, Moderator, Affordable Housing Institute, and CEO, CAS Financial Advisory Services

What is an MEE?

A private non-government entity that delivers tangible affordable housing outcomes and has three defining attributes:

• Mission.  The entity and its founders got into the field to make positive change.
• Entrepreneurial.  It achieves results via entrepreneurship: executing transactions, creating operating businesses, taking risks, and making change in the policy and economic environment.
• Entity.  As independent enterprises, MEEs must cover their expenses, pay capable staff, and make cash profits, else they cannot continue pursuing their mission outcomes.

Other terms (e.g. Non-Governmental Organization, Community Development Corporation, Housing Association) are imprecise and obscure fundamental similarities of this distinct species.

Why this study now?  Challenge and Opportunity

Today's affordable housing sector is undergoing great change.  Even as need is rising, the current delivery system – the value chains by which policy and resources are converted into tangible properties and successful outcomes – is under pressure, in the UK and here in the US.  The UK has restructured its housing regulatory scheme.  The US LIHTC pipeline is disrupted by demand drops.  This sea change is redefining not just how individual deals are done, but which types of actors are most effective at doing them.  Effective MEEs represent innovation platforms that can deliver transit-oriented development, energy sustainability, and asset recovery – activities that urgently need to be converted from intangible goals to tangible properties and results.  Embracing the MEEs' distinctive role can bring palpable value to funders, policy makers, and government agencies.

Who should attend? 

US and international housing policy makers, practitioners and academics interested in the viability of affordable housing financial ecosystems in the US, UK, and Global South.

Registration

This event is offered free of charge, but space is limited. Please register by Tuesday, October 6 to indicate your participation.

Questions?

Please contact Diedre Schmidt at dschmidt@affordablehousinginstitute.org.