It's Showtime! Students Present Community Real Estate Projects
By Denise O'Brien
Government at all levels now recognizes the importance of building the capacity of community-based organizations so that they can function as effective and reliable partners in the community revitalization process. As such, many non-profit and public agencies are involved in or responsible for the delivery of community and economic development-related services, such as low-and moderate income housing.
In answer to this, the USF Collaborative launched a Certificate Program in Community Real Estate Development in cooperation with the City of Tampa and Hillsborough County this past April. Its purpose was to educate local community partners who are committed to undertaking catalytic development projects in underserved neighborhood market areas.
Through this 16-day, four-module certification program, participants learned how to use public and private resources, as well as develop or fine tune their skills in real estate development, finance and project management, such as:
- The development process for rental housing and homeownership
- How to structure effective project financing
- How to obtain public and private funds to meet project needs
- How to establish effective affordable housing strategies
- State of the art market assessment methods
- Effective project management
The program was designed for non-profit and for-profit affordable housing developers, local government community development staff, board members of community development organizations, community-based organizations, community housing development organizations, policy makers and community leaders engaged in promoting affordable housing, developing programs and policies for affordable housing.
Additionally, the program would appeal to students in business, law, urban studies, architecture and others who would like to update their knowledge and practice of urban real estate development and finance and desire a more focused hands-on practical experience in project level real estate financial analysis.
The current, inaugural class is a diverse group of 26 students that includes City of Tampa & Hillsborough County staff, bank CRA staff, senior staff of area corporate development corporations (CDCs) and private developers. They have identified six affordable housing development opportunities, one transitional housing and supportive services initiative for homeless female veterans with children, and three community building initiatives.
Of these, student teams presented their projects to a panel of community development experts on July 31, who provided feedback based on their unique community development practitioner perspective, as if the projects were presented in real life for funding.
For further information about the CRED Program, please contact Denise O’Brien at obrien (at) usfcollab.usf.edu or call (813) 974-7318.
Photo: Denise O'Brien. Project presentations by student teams were held at the July 31 Community Real Estate Development Program workshop at USF's Channelside campus in the Port Authority Building at Kennedy and Channelside. Local community development resources and mentors will be there to offer feedback on the projects. Karen Jackson-Sims, Tampa Bay HUD Director, was the luncheon speaker.
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