PAGE 2
Q & A WITH CHARLES ANDERSON, CONT.
...Closing variances and average closing time frames remain the number one metric(s) of performance for me. In what ways has CREA made adjustments to continue serving partners? Microsoft Office Teams and other virtual meeting platforms have been a huge part of the success. Don’t get me wrong, a virtual meeting is certainly not a face-to-face discussion and I can empathize with virtual meeting fatigue as much as anyone, but I anticipate this platform will continue to be a material part of how we do business prospectively. My current focus and priority with the Information Technology team is the deployment of the various resources essential to a more permanent shift to a virtual environment. What has been your biggest takeaway from the last 6 months? Very few industries rally in the face of adversity the way the affordable
housing industrydoes. I amconstantly amazed by how resilient the industry is and, over the last six months, how effectively its participants persevered in spite of COVID-19. We do our best to anticipate potential enterprise risks, but I would be surprised if anyone had a global pandemic on their radar for 2020. Most
be restructured during that time and, for an organization that prides itself on integrity above all else, those restructurings were among the more challenging experiences we had encountered. Fast forward to 2020 where we are heading into month seven of working from home/ sheltering in place/socially distant
e n c o u r a g i n g has been the c o n t i n u e d commitment of the investors in our space and how quickly they adapted their investment behavior to the new norm we found ourselves in.
e n v i r o n m e n t and we have been able to honor all of our c omm i t me n t s with no transactions lost due to the global pandemic. This is a significant success for CREA’s residents, d e v e l o p e r s , investors, and
“...heading into month seven of working from home / sheltering in place / socially distant environment and we have been able to honor all of our commitments with no transactions lost due to the global pandemic. ”
Any notable stories of success or unique anecdotes? The election of 2016was a particularly difficult period of disruption for our industry. Many transactions had to
the overall health of the affordable housing industry. These are also the types of achievements that make me proud to call myself an affordable housing professional.
CONSTRUCTION IN THE TIME OF COVID-19
industry has endured various work stoppages throughout each state in varying capacities. Within a matter of days, General Contractors found themselves scrambling to figure out how to perform work while complying with social distancing and other new safety measures, or wondering if they could work at all under state and local shelter-in-place
restrictions. As of March 31, 2020, CREA’s active construction portfolio had approximately (126) projects under construction. Fortunately, most states considered the construction of affordable housing an essential business activity and permitted many of the projects within our portfolio to continue with construction, albeit at a slower rate...
By: Brandon Bowling SVP, Construction Management
Like many construction sectors across the United States, COVID-19 has impacted the affordable housing construction industry. Since the first executive stay-at-home order was issued by the state of California on March 20, 2020 the construction
continue on page 4
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online