Atlanta Affordable Housing

The fifth generation Atlantan and first time public office candidate, Councilman Andre D. Dickens was elected citywide to the Atlanta City Council Post 3 at Large in November 2013.  The Councilman currently serves as the chair of the Community Development & Human Resources Committee and is a member of the Transportation and City Utilities Committees. He also serves on the boards of the Atlanta Beltline, Invest Atlanta, and the Center for Civil and Human Rights.  Dickens is a proud product of the Atlanta Public School System where he graduated in the top two percent of his class at Benjamin E Mays High School. Dickens earned his Bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1998. In 2013, he earned his Master’s of Public Administration in Economic Development at Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies.  In 1999, Dickens began working for DSM Engineering Plastics and in 2002 he co-founded City Living Home Furnishings in Atlanta, a family-operated business that grew into a multi-million dollar business with two locations and over 20 employees. City Living won numerous awards including Atlanta’s Best Contemporary Furniture store (2005) and one of the top 50 furniture retailers in the nation by Home Accents magazine. Dickens oversaw City Living’s operations, finances, and marketing efforts until 2010.  He returned to his alma mater to serve as the Assistant Director of Outreach Initiatives for Georgia Tech’s Office of Institute Diversity. He managed the graduate school recruitment program and helps hundreds of undergraduate students each year successfully transition into college life. In 2016, Dickens became the new Executive Advisor for TechBridge, a nonprofit that drives community impact by bringing affordable technology and business expertise to other nonprofits. Andre is charged with building relationships with large nonprofits across the US. TechBridge’s mission to ultimately reduce poverty through technology aligns perfectly with Andre’s personal mission and attracted him to this role that he enjoys. In his short tenure as Post At-Large Councilmember he has become a vocal and legislative activist in promoting quality educational opportunities for Atlanta Public School students, ensuring that affordable housing is a significant component of Atlanta’s future economic growth, and enabling seniors to live comfortable lives in the city. Some of Dickens’ key accomplishments so far include:  The Atlanta City Council unanimously passed Dickens’ City of Atlanta and Atlanta Public Schools Resolution which formally expresses the Council’s support for an ongoing partnership with the Atlanta Public Schools through a joint committee to share policy goals to be implemented by the City and school administrations.  As a Councilmember and a Board Member of both Invest Atlanta and the BeltLine, he has initiated and supported policies that encourage affordable housing throughout the City of Atlanta. Working with the Administration, other Councilmembers, Invest Atlanta, members of the nonprofit sector and for profit housing professionals and housing advocates, Dickens sponsored and passed an ordinance to ensure that any multi-family residential for lease development using public moneys through a development authority would need to set aside either 10% of the units for families at 60% Area Median Income (AMI) and below or 15% of the units for families at 80% AMI and below.  Dickens led the effort to pass Affordable Housing Impact Statement Legislation in 2015 which has now become a model legislation for other cities across the nation. He authored an amendment that was passed by the Invest Atlanta Board that requires all of the proceeds from the sale of a property adjacent to the Eastside Trail to be used for the development of affordable housing on the BeltLine.  In 2014 Atlanta City Council unanimously agreed to a resolution that Dickens sponsored – preserving the connectivity to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The resolution urged the mayor, planners, and developers for the new Falcons stadium to take immediate action on devising a plan to retain its current connectivity to downtown Atlanta.  In 2014, the Atlanta Business League named the new councilmember one of Atlanta’s Men of Influence.  Councilman Dickens supported the redevelopment of the historic 11-story Flatiron Building into an incubator for entrepreneurship in downtown Atlanta. The development is expected to include 36,000 square feet of workspace for more than 300 startups and entrepreneurs. Microsoft plans to work with the Atlanta Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative (WEI) to create a Microsoft Innovation Center (MIC) in the iconic building.  He co-sponsored the City of Atlanta Innovation Center, Demonstration Project to accelerate business growth by providing entrepreneurs an opportunity to beta test their products/ideas by accessing City resources. Dickens authored legislation to revive the Youth Commission and repopulate its board. The Youth Commission addresses issues relevant to Atlanta’s youth regarding policy and legislation that impacts young people.  The Atlanta City Council voted to approve a “ban the box” legislation that was co-sponsored by Andre Dickens and other council members. The City of Atlanta no longer requires applicants to reveal prior convictions on employment applications. The legislation made it policy except when state and/or federal laws require criminal background investigations for specific positions, like those that involve work with children, positions in law enforcement, and other sensitive positions. Each year the City of Atlanta and Fulton County have 2,400 people returning home from Georgia's jails and prisons seeking employment. Ban the Box is a national movement designed to give job applicants with criminal histories a fair chance to compete for jobs.  As a result of 2014 snowstorms, Dickens initiated and led the drafting of legislation to engage Georgia Tech in becoming involved in efforts to review the City’s preparedness plan for natural disasters. The Atlanta City Council approved legislation to request and authorize the Georgia Institute of Technology to assist the City Utilities Committee in assessing the City of Atlanta’s Natural Disaster Emergency Response Plan.

As Head of Community Development, Catherine Buell is responsible for long-term and innovative programs that address civic priorities in the communities where Amazon employees live and work. Catherine helped launch and oversees Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund, a more than $2 billion commitment to preserve and create over 20,000 affordable housing units in Washington State’s Puget Sound region; Arlington, Virginia; and Nashville, Tennessee—three communities where the company has or expects to have at least 5,000 employees each in the coming years. Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund will help preserve existing housing and help create inclusive housing developments through below-market loans and grants to housing partners, traditional and non-traditional public agencies, and minority-led organizations. Catherine previously served as the President and CEO of the Atlanta Housing Authority (d/b/a “Atlanta Housing” or “AH”) where she led the agency’s strategic, financial and operational efforts by providing housing to more than 23,000 of Atlanta’s low-and extremely low-income households. While at Atlanta Housing, Catherine led the development of the agency’s five year plan, called “Vision 2022” (Live, Work, Thrive), aimed at increasing the number of households served, increasing investments in family self- sufficiency efforts and agency fiscal responsibility. During her tenure, she advanced major real estate efforts including partnerships with the Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. to develop affordable housing near the popular BeltLine and also work with Invest Atlanta to purchase the 19-acre Civic Center site in downtown Atlanta. She also served as Vice President of Policy and Programs for the Greater Washington Partnership, a first-of-its-kind civic alliance of CEOs in the Washington D.C. region, where she focused on a range of issues include regional housing policy issues. Prior to her time in Atlanta, Catherine served as the executive director of St. Elizabeth’s East, one of the District of Columbia’s largest mixed-use redevelopment projects. As a result of her tenure, St. Elizabeths East became home to the District’s Entertainment and Sports Arena which hosts the Washington Mystic’s performance arena and Wizards practice facility, the Residences at St. Elizabeths (a mixed- income multi-family housing development), the R.I.S.E. Demonstration Center and Gateway D.C. Ms. Buell also served as the Chair of the Washington D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board and earned a number of awards for her revitalization efforts – the Built by Women DC Award and Historic Preservation Review Board Chair’s Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation among them. Catherine also serves on a number of boards, including Venture Philanthropy Partners, Community of Hope (DC), Greater Greater Washington and the Anacostia Coordinating Council. She started her career as an attorney with Patton Boggs LLP where she counseled institutional investors on real estate assets and private equity funds in the United States, South America, and Europe. She is a cum laude graduate of Spelman College and the Georgetown University Law Center.

Eddy Benoit Jr. is the President and CEO of The Benoit Group, which is comprised of a commercial development group and a real estate consulting firm. With over twenty years of experience in the commercial development industry totaling over $1.8 billion in project value, he currently focuses on the firm’s business diversification and geographical expansion. Mr. Benoit’s strategic plan consists of leveraging the company’s core expertise through its vertical integration, and providing turnkey real estate solutions in the market place. The Benoit Group’s platform involves low risk development pursuits and real estate advisory services, positioning the firm to succeed through various real estate cycles. Mr. Benoit is engaged in the operation of the development group which focuses on the sustainability and development of Mixed-Income Family, Independent Senior, Workforce, and HUD-subsidized Affordable Housing. It also targets Higher Education student housing development opportunities within major university systems and historically black colleges and universities. Additionally, he is very active in the business development of the consulting group, growing its footprint within the US and abroad. Prior to establishing The Benoit Group, Mr. Benoit served as President of Ambling Development Partners. He was responsible for the company’s strategic direction, as well as growth and expansion into new markets throughout the country. In addition to overseeing the development operations for Ambling Development Partners, he focused on structuring public and private joint-venture partnerships, raised private investment capital, securing competitive financing programs with key lender relationships, managing overall company financial risks, and monitoring the disposition strategy for all major projects. In 2007, Mr. Benoit also founded Ambling International Consulting which focused on offering real estate advisory and program management services to foreign governments within the Caribbean and Africa, while working closely with their Cabinet ministries. Earlier in his career, as Vice President, Mr. Benoit managed the multi-family division for Regent Partners, where he was responsible for the development and asset management of both the conventional and HUD financed residential portfolio. Mr. Benoit has a long history of leadership in various real estate developments, where he managed the joint-venture structure of mixed-use, retail, office and hospitality projects. While at Regent, Mr. Benoit was also instrumental in the success of the Military Housing Privatization Group. Over a three year period, this group was awarded four U.S. Army installations for the privatization of on-base housing projects located at Ft. Carson, Ft. Eustis, Ft. Story, and Ft. Monroe; for over $500M in project value. Mr. Benoit has also worked in various project management capacities on the construction management of several stand-alone high-rise office and medical buildings for Skanska USA, one of the largest general contractors in the country. During his tenure at Skanska, Mr. Benoit worked on a total project portfolio value of $200 Million. EDUCATION / AFFILIATIONS: Mr. Benoit’s educational background includes a Master of Science in Construction Management from Southern Polytechnic State University; with a concentration in Real Estate; and a Bachelor of Science in Building Construction from the University of Florida. Mr. Benoit has also earned his CCIM designation, and is fluent in French, Spanish, and Haitian Kreyol. He is an active board member of the University of Florida’s Masters of Science in Real Estate program, as well as an active member of several other professional associations including NH&RA, NAHB, ULI and NAIOP

Michael German serves as the HUD Field Office Operations lead for the State of Georgia. Serving in that capacity he is HUD's liaison to mayors, city managers, county commissioners, elected representatives, state and local officials, congressional delegations, nonprofit groups, private entities, faith based groups, other stakeholders and individual Americans. He is also responsible for overseeing the delivery of HUD programs and services to communities and individuals, as well as, evaluating their efficiency and effectiveness. German is also the Service to America Medals 2009 Citizen Services Medal Recipient in recognition for his significant contributions to the nation in activities related to ending homelessness. The prestigious Service to America Medals is presented annually by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service to celebrate excellence in federal civil service. Prior to his selection as Georgia Field Office Operations lead he served as the Alabama Field Office Director, Regional Team Leader for the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness and previously as District Manager to Georgia Congressman John Lewis; Director of the Office of Grants Development under City of Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson; Deputy Executive Director of the Atlanta Housing Authority and Disaster Coordinator with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Michael is a graduate of Alabama State University and attended the J.F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is married with two children.

Andrew Smith is Vice President and a Principal of Jordan & Skala Engineers. During his 24 years with Jordan & Skala he has led the HVAC department in Charlotte, pioneered the Dallas office, and has overseen the establishment of the Austin, Denver, Houston, and Las Vegas offices. Currently, he oversees a staff of approximately 115 people within the Austin, Dallas, Denver, Houston and Las Vegas offices. His extensive experience has allowed him to work in contracting, sales as well as in designing and managing projects of all categories. With projects ranging in size from a drive-through hamburger stand to a planned 2,000 residence retirement community and over two dozen United States Green Building Council (USGBC) projects in his portfolio, Andrew confidently oversees projects of any size and complexity. In 2003, Mr. Smith became Jordan & Skala’s first LEED Accredited Professional. Soon after that, he became instrumental in the establishment of Jordan & Skala’s Energy Services Discipline, which provides sustainability consulting, program coordination, and education services for developers, architects or other engineers who are looking for the LEED certification on their projects or for their careers. A graduate from The University of Alabama, Mr. Smith, is a Registered Professional Engineer in all 50 states, he is part of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) and a Certified Energy Manager (CEM).

As Vice President of Development for Prestwick Development Company, Chuck Young is responsible for sourcing Class A and workforce multi-family development opportunities throughout the southeast. Fifteen years of experience in both the public and private real estate sectors, LEED Certification and involvement with the Urban Land Institute, combined with a degree in Professional Studies (Architecture) from SUNY Buffalo and a Master’s Degree in City and Regional Planning from Georgia Tech provide a unique background and range of experience that benefits both Chuck’s team and the company’s development pursuits. Some of the positions Chuck has held include: Development Manager for York Residential, Senior Project Manager, Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) and various roles at Central Atlanta Progress.

Margaret "(Marjy") Stagmeier is the founder of TriStar and real estate investment firm, and President of TI Asset Management, Inc an independent asset management and real estate advisory firm for international and domestic real estate investors, based in Atlanta, Georgia USA. TI Asset Management has managed in excess of 5.0 million sqft of commercial and 3,000 units of residential real estate in the southeast United States and employs 30 professionals. Prior to starting TI Asset Management, she has served in executive capacities for a consortium of international real estate firms. Her experience draws from a wide range of real estate activity, from acquisition to mortgage banking and asset management to disposition. She has managed over $1.0 billion in real estate funds for predominately U.S. and European investors. Ms. Stagmeier and TriStar have developed a sustainable affordable housing model which uses affordable housing communities to stabilize low-performing elementary schools. Specifically, she targets blighted apartment communities near failing elementary schools, offers rents affordable for working poor families, and provides community wrap around services including free after-school programs, summer camps, affordable health care and gardens. Ms. Stagmeier is a graduate of Georgia State University with a B.S. in finance and has successfully completed the Georgia Certified Public Accountant examination. She is an active lecturer and contributing author to many periodicals analyzing the challenging industry of asset management, and co-authored the book Real Estate Asset Management: Executive Strategies for Profit-Making. She is on the board of the Atlanta Community Food Bank, The Atlanta Public School Affordable Housing Taskforce, Chair of 3Star Communities, Star-C and former Vice President of the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors.

John O. Moore, President Highland Commercial Mortgage Birmingham, Alabama Highland Commercial Mortgage (HCM) is an approved FHA MAP lender, Ginnie Mae issuer, & multifamily loan servicer specializing in the financing of permanent loans for multifamily housing developments & healthcare facilitates throughout the country. HCM ranks 4th in the country for FHA New Construction Loans (221D4) & 6th overall in the country for FHA closed loans. Moore began working in the FHA multifamily loan insurance industry for his father, John O. Moore Sr. in 1992. John O. Moore, Sr. was a co-founding member of Highland Commercial Mortgage (1972-2005) and a legacy in the FHA lending market. With over a billion dollars of loan servicing recorded, Highland Mortgage Company was sold in 2005 to GMAC Commercial Mortgage (later becoming Berkadia). Moore remained the Sr. Vice President for the organization until January 2012, when he along with his sister (Susan Hall) co-founded Highland Commercial Mortgage, LLC. Although the company was newly formed, the organization was staffed with industry professionals contributing to over 100+ years of combined industry experience. In the first year of operations of HCM, Moore originated approximately $150 million in FHA insured multifamily loans, establishing a successful and reputable organization that has continued to grow to over a 1.6 billion dollars in 2016. Education Bachelor of Science in Geology, Auburn University Master’s in Business Administration, Auburn University Committee & Board Involvement Current Member of the Workforce Housing Committee – NMHC Current Board of Directors Member – Alabama Affordable Housing Association (AAHA) Current Board Member- Southeast Mortgagee Advisory Council (SMAC) Current Board Member- Multifamily Lender Council Past Chairman - Multifamily Housing Committee - Mortgage Bankers Association Past Chairman - FHA Multifamily Loan Committee - Mortgage Bankers Association Past Chairman -FHA LIHTC Legislative Task Force – Mortgage Bankers Association Past Member - Multifamily Steering Committee - Mortgage Bankers Association Past Member - Commercial Board of Governors – Mortgage Bankers Association Past Member – Legislative Committee - Mortgage Bankers Association Past Member - Executive Board of Directors/Compass Bank Awards Burton C. Wood Legislative Service Award – Mortgage Bankers Association Outstanding Dedication for PAC Fundraising Award – Mortgage Bankers Association Industry Accomplishments Chairman of MBA’s Multifamily Housing Committee, during the process of developing the Multifamily Accelerated Processing program, Moore acted as the industry liaison with HUD and was intimately involved in the development of the MAP program. Moore worked closely with the House Financial Services Committee in drafting the legislative language for Sec. 2834 of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA), which better aligned the use of FHA Multifamily Loan Insurance with Low Income Housing Tax Credits. The legislation laid the ground work for FHA’s current LIHTC Pilot program and the use of Chief Underwriters for loan approval.

Gabe Seghi is a Vice President at Hunt Mortgage Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hunt Companies. Mr. Seghi originates Hunt Mortgage Group’s full range of debt products for multifamily and other commercial assets nationwide, and has expertise in all Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, CMBS and Hunt balance sheet loan programs. His team has particular experience in Affordable and Seniors Housing with an understanding of low income housing tax credits and other affordable housing programs. Mr. Seghi joined Hunt Mortgage Group from Pillar Finance - a Guggenheim Partners Affi liate, where he was a Vice President, Capital Markets. While at Pillar, he forged strong relationships with commercial real estate developers and estate owner/ operators throughout the United States. His focus was primarily on multifamily and senior housing in the Southeast. Prior to that, Mr. Seghi was Vice President, with Housing and Healthcare- HHC Finance based out of Chevy Chase, MD. Mr. Seghi received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Yeshiva University. He currently serves on the executive board for the Alliance of Corporate Real Estate Executive and Specialists (ACRES). He also donates his time by serving on the board of Camp Moshava of Wild Rose, as well as being on the Young Leadership Committee for the Jewish Museum of Florida- FIU.

Althea Broughton is a partner in Arnall Golden Gregory’s Real Estate Practice. Ms. Broughton is co-chair of the Real Estate Practice Group and Housing Team. She is also a member of the Mixed-Use Development and Healthcare Real Estate Teams. She is the firm's former Hiring Partner and is a member (and former co-chair) of the Diversity Committee. Ms. Broughton’s practice includes the representation of developers and owners in structuring and closing commercial real estate transactions, including acquisition, financing and development transactions involving mixed-use projects, apartment complexes and raw land. Ms. Broughton focuses her practice on mixed-finance and mixed-use real estate and affordable housing development transactions involving public/private partnerships, conventional equity and debt sources, structuring joint ventures and partnerships and the use of various forms of local and federal subsidies. Ms. Broughton’s practice also includes the representation of equity funds and financial institutions in state and federal tax credit investor transactions, as well.