Andrew Regenstreich, Formerly of Housing and Neighborhood Development Services | Gateway Project in Orange | Nonprofits and Housing
Courtesy of Housing and Neighborhood Development Services
The Role of Public Incentives
You can’t have a conversation about affordable housing without acknowledging the impact of rent regulation. Also known as rent control, rent stabilization or rent limits, these coveted units offer occupants a sense of stability by guaranteeing their monthly rent payment won’t skyrocket year after year. So, why is regulated affordable housing so hard to come by? Developer Andrew Regenstreich has an idea.
Andrew was the former Director of Real Estate and Economic Development of Housing and Neighborhood Development Services (HANDS). In this episode, I’m revisiting a conversation we had to discuss the agency’s affordable housing project at 523 Freeman Street in Orange, New Jersey. The site is a centrally-located mixed-use property with four stories. Perfect for young professionals, the building houses one and two-bedroom units with 1,500 square feet of commercial use on the ground floor, as well as access to public art and a rain garden.
In this episode, Andrew and I discuss what affordability means, the funding involved, and what kind of timeline to expect when developing affordable housing. Andrew shares the team he put together for this project and how he makes sure that his buildings reflect the community around them and the people who live there.
“Affordability is important, of course, and one way to define it is the price of an apartment. Another way is to define what it is by what people could afford. And I think the two are conflated very often, but they’re different, I think, in a couple of ways. For instance, if everyone could afford $2,000 a month in rent, then it doesn’t seem to be a problem that rent is $2,000 a month. It’s when their wages can’t afford it, then it becomes a problem. So what do you do? Do you lower the cost of housing to comport with what people could afford? Or do you raise people’s wages?”
Courtesy of Housing and Neighborhood Development Services
About Andrew Regenstreich
Andrew Regenstreich is the former Director of Real Estate and Economic Development at Housing and Neighborhood Development Services (HANDS). HANDS is a developer of affordable housing in New Jersey. Andrew previously worked at New Jersey Community Capital. He's a graduate of NYU and Northeastern and while at NYU he had an opportunity to work at the Massachusetts legislature, the US Senate and the US State Department.
Episode Timestamps
2:27 – The difference between unregulated and regulated affordable housing.
7:54 – One of your previous experiences and where you effectively began my career in economic development was at New Jersey Community Capital. Could you explain what they do and then what your role there was?
13:07 – What do terms like ‘affordable housing’ and ‘wealth generation and creation’ mean? And why do you think they’re important?
17:04 – Let's talk about Orange, New Jersey and the challenges of developing there.
19:50 – What is the 523 Freeman Street site like?
21:43 – We understand that affordable housing often has special design and construction requirements. Tell us about the team that you put together to address some of those issues and then create the overall product that you're planning on building.
26:03 – Walk us through what our listeners would see when they visit the building.
29:20 – Is affordable housing really necessary in America? Why?
36:58 – Help our listeners understand what this black hole of incentives for affordable housing is. Is there a framework for people to understand what these incentives are?
44:43 – How do the incentives impact critical design and construction timelines? Help us understand where this process fits into your design and construction schedule.
Additional Resources
Connect with Andrew Regenstreich:
LinkedIn (Andrew Regenstreich)
LinkedIn (Housing and Neighborhood Development Services)
Housing and Neighborhood Development Services
Courtesy of Housing and Neighborhood Development Services
About your host:
Atif Qadir is the Founder & CEO of Commonplace, a technology company making it easy for commercial real estate professionals to find and use the $100B of real estate incentives given out every year in the US.
His work has been covered by Technology Review, The Real Deal, Commercial Observer, and Propmodo. He’s also a frequent speaker on the future of buildings and cities on popular industry podcasts and at conferences, including this past year at the Commercial Observer National DEI Conference, Yale AREA Conference, Columbia Real Estate Symposium, Open Data Week NYC and Austin Design Week.
About Commonplace
Commonplace is a founding sponsor of American Building. It is a 100% minority-owned, real estate technology company founded in 2020 to make financing social impact development projects across the US easier. It is funded by venture capital investors Hometeam Ventures, Park West Asset Management, New York Ventures and Shadow Ventures.
About Michael Graves
The world-famous design firm Michael Graves is also a founding sponsor of American Building. Its namesake, the iconoclastic designer Michael Graves, FAIA was a fierce advocate for people-centric design. His work defines a generation of American architecture and includes the Portland Building, the Humana Building and the Denver Public Library. The 1st season of American Building was filmed live at The Warehouse, his historic home in Princeton, New Jersey:
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