Altogether, the developers in the magazine’s most recent top 50 list started 19,053 units in 2011 compared to the 22,978 units started in 2010, according to Christine Serlin, the magazine’s editor.
However, that 17 percent decrease is still ahead of the 16,711 units started by “top 50” developers in 2009, Serlin added in an e-mail message to readers.
Affordable housing is not public housing, but is made possible by tax credits, David Liette, Miller-Valentine partner and president of its residential development work, recently told the Dayton Daily News. Tax credits are issued through the U.S. Treasury to a developer such as Miller-Valentine and a nonprofit partner, then sold to investors.
That sale cuts a developer’s debt and makes it possible for a developer to boost the equity it has in a project — which in turn makes it possible to offer homes to residents for lower lease payments.