John A. Mitchener Housing Affordability Symposium

2023 John A. Mitchener Housing Affordability Symposium Agenda

8-8:45 a.m. — Check-In | Outside the Magnolia Room in Loudermilk Hall
Continental breakfast will be available

8:45-9 a.m. — Welcome

Jim Spaeth | Wood Center | Director
Jeff Tucker | Wood Center | Executive Director

9-9:45 a.m — Opening Keynote: Sixty Years of National Housing Policy: The Long Transition from Funding Tsunami to Supportive Partner of States and Localities

Michael Stegman | UNC | Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Public Policy; Urban Institute | Non-Residential Fellow

9:45-10 a.m. — Break

10-11 a.m. — Challenges in Operating Affordable Housing in a Post-Pandemic World Panel

Mat Holladay | Paths | President
Skip Jackson | DHIC | Director, Asset Management
Greg Slang | Kettler | Executive Vice President, Asset Management
Moderated by:
Wade Casstevens | Managing Partner | Linden Property Group

11 a.m.-Noon — Jurisdictional Initiatives To Increase Housing Panel

The Honorable Pam Hemminger, Mayor of Chapel Hill
Patrick Young | City of Raleigh | Director of Planning and Development
Sara Young | City of Durham | Director of Planning
Moderated by:
Roberto Quercia | UNC Department of City and Regional Planning | Trudier Harris Distinguished Professor

Noon-12:45 p.m. — Lunch | Outside the Magnolia Room in Loudermilk Hall

12:45-1:45 p.m. — Facing Challenges for Affordable Housing Capital Panel

Mark Ethridge | Ascent Housing | Principal
Cindy Schwartz | Freddie Mac | Senior Director, Structured Transactions, Targeted Affordable Housing
Steve Wilson | SCG Development | President
Moderated by:
Craig Wagner | RBC Community Investments | Managing Director, Head

1:45-2 p.m. — Break

2-2:45 p.m. — Closing Keynote: Private Sector Innovation and Affordable Housing Solutions

Wes Fuller | Greystar | Chief Investment Officer
Interviewed by:
Eric Maribojoc | Associate Director, Housing Affordability Lead

2:45-3 p.m. — Closing Remarks

Eric Maribojoc | Associate Director, Housing Affordability Lead

Meet Our Speakers

Wade Casstevens is the Founder and Managing Partner of Linden Property Group, an Arlington, VA-based operator of workforce and affordable housing communities.  Since founding Linden Property Group in 2010, he has led the creation of a $375 million portfolio of attainable housing communities located throughout the Mid-Atlantic United States.  Before establishing Linden, he founded and led the Development Investment Group at Federal Capital Partners (FCP), a national real estate private equity firm with $5 billion of assets under management.  In his role at FCP, he invested in $700 MM of new construction residential and mixed-use properties throughout the eastern U.S.  Wade was also a Development Director at Post Properties where he entitled, planned, and developed $250 million of mixed-use projects in the Washington, D.C. metro area. Prior to Post Properties, he worked at Bear Stearns Commercial Mortgage where he financed over $500 million of commercial properties.  He received an MBA from Columbia Business School where he was the recipient of the Gus Grammas Scholarship for finance, and a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Wade serves as a member of the Wood Center Advisory Board at the Kenan-Flagler Business School of UNC-Chapel Hill, where he chairs the Affordable Housing Committee.  He lives in Arlington, VA with his wife and three children.

Mark Etheridge

Mark Ethridge is the Managing Principal of Ascent Housing and a Partner of Ascent Real Estate Capital. Ascent Housing has been a leader in Charlotte’s response to the affordable housing crisis, leveraging over $225 million to preserve 1,500 units of naturally-occurring affordable housing (NOAH) since 2019. Prior to joining Ascent, Mark was a Vice President at Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital where he arranged debt and equity financing for multi-family, mixed-use, office and retail projects. Mark currently serves on the boards of Housing Impact Fund, Roof Above, Housing Collaborative and Renaissance West Community Initiative. He co- chaired the City of Charlotte’s Source of Income ad hoc advisory committee in 2021/2022 and has served on a variety of multi-sector initiatives addressing housing affordability and homelessness in the Charlotte region. Mark is a Charlotte native and graduated from Princeton University in 2010. 

The Honorable Pam Hemminger

Pam Hemminger was elected Mayor in November 2015 after 30 years of service to the Chapel Hill community.  Her previous elected offices include terms as an Orange County Commissioner (2008–2012) and as chair and vice chair of the Chapel Hill–Carrboro City School Board (2004–2008). She has served on other government bodies including the Town’s Parks and Recreation Commission and Greenways Commission and as chair of the Upper Neuse River Basin Authority. Professionally, she has worked as a business manager in the computer and real estate industries and today owns a small commercial property firm, Windaco Properties LLC. She recently served on the boards of several area nonprofits, including Orange County Habitat for Humanity, the Triangle Land Conservancy, Rainbow Soccer and Historic Moorefields, and is past chairwoman of the Orange-Chatham Sierra Club. Hemminger received her BA from Vanderbilt University in economics and German. She and her husband, Brad were deeply involved in community youth programs while raising Adam, Brian, Carly, and Duncan, all educated in the Chapel Hill–Carrboro City Schools and three of them receiving their undergraduate degrees from UNC Chapel Hill. 

Mat Holladay

Mathew Holladay is the President of Paths, a vertically integrated affordable housing developer, builder, and operator.  Paths creates and preserves high-quality affordable housing across the U.S. that enhances communities and helps residents build better lives. With over 13,000 units across 9 states under management and more than 500 employees, Paths manages a suite of capabilities spanning the entire property life-cycle, including: development, construction, property management, maintenance, and security. Prior to Paths, Mathew spent nearly a decade working in real estate investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Jefferies where he focused on strategic advisory assignments, M&A, IPOs, follow-on offerings, and private financings.  He advised or executed on deals totaling more than $20 billion over the course of his tenure.  Prior to his business career, Mathew served as an officer and Ranger in the U.S. Army with the 173rd Airborne Brigade and participated in numerous combat and peacekeeping missions throughout Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, to include the initial invasion of Iraq in March of 2003 where he received the Bronze Star for his actions in combat.  Mathew graduated as a distinguished cadet with a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point and also earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of North Carolina.  

Skip Jackson

Skip Jackson is the Director of Asset Management at DHIC.

Roberto Quercia

Professor Quercia leads major research projects in the areas of low-income homeownership, mortgage lending, subprime and predatory lending, and financial services issues. He is a co-author of Regaining the Dream: How to Renew the Promise of Homeownership for America’s Working Families (with Allison Freeman and Janneke Ratcliffe), published by Brooking University Press in 2011, and of A Place Called Home: The Social Dimensions of Homeownership (with Kim Manturuk and Mark Lindblad), published by Oxford University Press in 2017. Quercia is the Trudier Harris Distinguished Professor in the UNC Department of City and Regional Planning. He has published extensively on the topics of low-income homeownership, affordable lending and the assessment of lending risks, and homeownership education and counseling. He has conducted research for government agencies, municipalities, community organizations and private entities, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal National Mortgage Association, and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. 

Cindy Schwartz

Cynthia Schwartz is a Senior Director leading Freddie Mac’s Multifamily Targeted Affordable Housing Structured Transactions team, which is responsible for designing custom structured solutions for aggregators of Multifamily debt, creating balance sheet relief while generating strong returns. Products include securitization (Q, ML and M-Deals) and/or credit enhancement of seasoned small balance loans, 9% LIHTC loans, tax-exempt loans and bonds, etc. Previously, Ms. Schwartz spent 7.5 years on Freddie Mac’s Multifamily Capital Markets Securitization team, where she led the tax-exempt ML securitization program and the securitization of affordable 3rd party collateral in Q-Deals and other structured Targeted Affordable Housing executions, the Re-REMIC/PC REMIC program, and complex Single-Asset, Single-Borrower (SASB) securitizations collateralized by highly-structured multifamily loans.  She was also responsible for managing new initiatives for the Multifamily Capital Markets team, including the transition of multifamily bonds indexed to LIBOR.  She serves on the CREFC DEI Committee, and the CREFC Women’s Network Advisory Board. She earned a B.S. in business administration, a B.A. in journalism & mass communication, and an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Greg Slang

Greg Slang joined KETTLER in 2006 and serves as the Executive Vice President of Asset Management for the company. He is primarily responsible for providing strategic oversight, risk mitigation, and reporting for the company’s 15,000-unit multifamily portfolio which includes 2,500 units in development and 3,500 affordable tax credit units.  Additionally, Mr. Slang oversees fund property valuations, project renovations, lease-up strategy, and dispositions. He has 23 years of commercial real estate experience that includes an extensive background in multifamily valuation, acquisitions, and operations. Slang earned a bachelor’s degree in Finance from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. Before joining KETTLER, Mr. Slang worked at Mills Corporation where he asset managed several large-scale retail development projects and previously provided commercial real estate underwriting services for CB Richard Ellis. 

Michael Stegman

Michael Stegman is distinguished professor emeritus of public policy at UNC, a visiting professor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy and a non-resident fellow at the Urban Institute.  Previously, among other positions, he served as White House policy senior adviser for housing, counselor to the secretary of the Treasury for housing finance policy, and in senior policy positions at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  Stegman has a B.A. in political science from Brooklyn College and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in city planning from the University of Pennsylvania. 

Craig Wagner

Craig Wagner, RBC Community Investments Head, joined RBC in 2002 and served as the Co-Head of the RBC Community Investments team from December 2011-January 2021. In his current role, he is responsible for the Tax Credit Syndication, the Workforce Housing, and Direct Investing platforms including the management of over 100 professionals. Additionally, Craig is on RBC Community Investments’ Operating Committee and Chairs the Investment Committee. Previously, Craig was Director of Business Development with responsibility for new product business development and managed the firm’s national accounts, the Director of Originations, and a Regional Director – Southeast where he led a team in the areas of origination, financial underwriting, and partnership structuring of investments. Craig’s experience includes the acquisition and underwriting of LIHTC, HTC, and various state tax credit investments. He has worked with numerous housing authorities, for-profit developers, and non-profit developers on various property types including RAD, mixed-income, mix-use transactions, and workforce housing. Craig, a graduate of Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, earned his Master’s in Business Administration with concentrations in Real Estate and Finance from the Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. 

Steve Wilson

A founding member and owner of SCG Development and its affiliated company Stratford Capital Group, Steve is responsible for the management and oversight of the company’s property development activities and is committed to providing high quality affordable and workforce housing to support healthy, diverse communities. The companies have participated in the capitalization and development of over 290 properties comprising 35,000 apartment units across forty-five states. SCG Development has active projects in twelve states and maintains offices in Tysons, Virginia and Peabody, Massachusetts. Steve is a frequent panelist at housing industry events and guest lecturer at various colleges and universities. He is a graduate of the University of Richmond with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Finance and holds an MBA from The George Washington University.

Patrick Young

Patrick “Pat” Young is the Director of Planning and Development for the City of Raleigh, North Carolina, since July of 2020.  Prior to coming to Raleigh, Pat was with the City of Durham for 12 years, first as Assistant Director and later as Planning Director.  In Durham, Pat led efforts to help promote housing accessibility and affordability through zoning reform and to make the development process more customer oriented, timely and predictable, and he is now leading similar efforts in Raleigh.   Pat is a proud member of ULI, the NC Chapter of the American Planning Association and a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.  Pat lives in Raleigh and has two teenagers in Wake County Public Schools. 

Sara Young

Sara Young, AICP, is the Director of the Durham City-County Planning Department. Sara originally joined the department as an urban designer in 2000 and has worked on a myriad of projects over the years including: comprehensive planning, ordinance writing, downtown revitalization, form-based coding, historic preservation, and development review. Sara earned her Bachelor of Environmental Design in Architecture and Master of Architecture degrees from North Carolina State University, where she also served as a former adjunct professor. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and the Congress for New Urbanism and is particularly passionate about making local planning accessible to the community and facilitating inclusive and equitable community engagement through programs like Durham’s Planning Academy and the ENGAGEDurham initiative.