Since 1992, Smith’s Research & Gradings has been covering the U.S. affordable housing market.
Smith’s Affordable Housing Finance Conference starts at the doorstep of single family and multi-family homes on Main Street and extends to everyone on Wall Street and lenders at mutual funds, hedge funds, insurance companies and commercial banks.
If it’s important to you, it’s a focus of Smith’s Affordable Housing Finance Conference.
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
7:30 am
Conference Registration
Continental breakfast
8:30 am
Welcome
Terence Smith, Chairman & CEO – Smith’s Research & Gradings
9:00 am
Affordable Housing Outlook 2025
Panelists will lay out the themes and national trends in the affordable housing sector for 2025. The discussion will include key credit factors such as technical supply and demand, the strength of housing finance agency balance sheets, and the ongoing efforts in tackling the affordable housing crisis.
Moderator: Mike Koessel, Director — BofA Securities
Panelists:
- Thomas Bryan, Executive Director and CEO — Colorado Housing and Finance Authority
- Rachael McDonald, Associate Managing Director — Moody’s Ratings
10:30 am
Focus on Single Family
This session will focus on how the single family market looks in 2025 and what it takes to get a single-family deal done. Panelists will talk about how downpayment assistance, taxable bonds and tax credits are factoring into their programs to reach more people and attract more investors.
Moderator: Mina Choo, Managing Director — RBC Capital Markets
Panelists:
- Shannon Harner, Executive Director — Nebraska Investment Finance Authority
- Cindy Harris, Chief Financial Officer — Iowa Finance Authority
- Susan Jun, Managing Director — Raymond James
- Daniel Pulter, CFA Director and Lead Analyst — S&P Global Ratings
Legal and Regulatory Developments
10:30 am
Coffee Break
10:45 am
Legal and Regulatory Developments
When looking at any transaction, it’s important to know what the issues are. This panel of experts will discuss the latest legal, regulatory, and legislative developments in the housing sector.
Panelists:
- Matt Page, Member — Mintz
- Kevin Murphy, Partner — Hawkins Delafield & Wood
- Charles Samuels, Member, Co-Chair, Retail and Consumer Products — Mintz
11:30 am
Hot Topics in Housing Finance
Panelists:
- Terence Smith, Chairman & CEO — Smith’s Research & Gradings
- Duane McCrobie, Director of Capital Markets — Ohio Housing Finance Agency
- Alex Vlamis, CFA, Director —Barclays
- David Sullivan, Managing Director, Bond Finance—Georgia Department of Community Affairs
- Ben Killion, Executive Director — Wells Fargo
- Nora O’Brien, Partner — Chapman & Cutler
12:15 pm
Luncheon
Lifetime Achievement Award Presentation
2025 Recipient:
Cindy Harris
Chief Financial Officer
Iowa Finance Authority
1:30 pm
Trends in Multi-Family Housing
Although there are great pressures on the affordable multi-family housing segment, housing agencies and their bond programs have a stable outlook — in fact, there is tremendous demand for multi-family paper. Panelists will discuss trends in multi-family housing, what HFAs are doing to stretch volume cap limits and innovative programs being used to meet market needs.
Panelists:
- Gloria Boyd, Executive Director — JP Morgan
- Ellen Duffy, Executive VP for Debt Issuance and Finance — NYC Housing Development Corporation
- Seth Runkle, Chief Financial Officer — Illinois Housing Development Authority
- Damon Burns, CEO — Finance New Orleans
2:15 pm
A Tale of Two Vintages: Considerations for PAC Investors
This session will focus on the increased interest in planned amortization class (PAC) bonds that has resulted in a proliferation of new investors in the market. Panelists will explore the factors that drive pricing differences between the HFAs. They’ll also explore the difference in lower coupon PAC performance across HFAs, prepayment performance, investors’ focus on PSA bands, how historical PAC support has waned, and what the next refinance wave will look like given the increased size and usage of down payment assistance loans. The panel will include:
Panelists:
- Ryan Henry, CFA, Municipal Strategist — FHN Financial
- Erik Schleicher, CFA, SVP, Portfolio Manager — Baird Asset Management
- Bryan Laing, CFA, Executive Director — JP Morgan Asset Management
- Justin Ferrera, CFA, Municipal Credit Analyst — Vanguard
- Chuck Karimbakas, Managing Director — cfX
3:00 pm
Coffee Break
3:15 pm
Beyond LIHTC — Innovative Financing Programs to Expand Affordable Housing
Panelists will discuss how the California housing crisis drove the CMFA to look for programs beyond LIHTC to create additional affordable housing through 501c3 Affordable Housing Financings and the CMFA Charitable Affordable Housing, Middle Income Housing and Recycled Bond programs.
Panelists:
- Ben Barker, Financial Advisor — California Municipal Finance Authority
- Anthony Stubbs, Financial Advisor — California Municipal Finance Authority
- Sean Gulian, Director of Acquisitions & Dispositions — Nuveen
- Shaun Bradley, Vice President, Affordable Housing — Home Fed Corporation
4:00 pm
Dissecting How Housing Deals Are Done in Today’s Market
We’ll hear from the front lines how dynamics work in the market when putting together a housing bond transaction. Panelists will discuss how participants work to get the best prices and the lowest cost of issuance; MRB vs TBA; how buyers view housing bond transactions; and we’ll get a better understanding of why housing bonds may be the No. 1 performing sector this year.
Panelists:
- Mark Schmidt, CFA, Head of Municipal Strategy — Morgan Stanley
- Scott Fletcher, Director of Bond Finance — Texas Dept. of Housing and Community Affairs
- Aulii Taitano, Executive Director — Morgan Stanley
- Victor Chiang, Vice President — Caine Mitter & Associates
- David Jones, Chief Financial Officer — CSG Advisors
5:00 pm
Day One Concludes
6:00 pm
Cocktail Reception
Location: Duke’s Huntington Beach
7:00 pm
Dinner
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
8:00 am
Conference Registration
Continental breakfast
8:30 am
What’s Ahead?
Since its inception in 1992, Smith’s has been at the leading edge, focusing on event risk factors and possible outcomes for the future. With three decades of data and experience, Smith’s offers event-driven research that goes well beyond traditional measures of credit quality and risk.
Speaker: Terence Smith, CEO — Smith’s Research & Gradings
9:00 am
Taxable Housing
The panel will explore the growing prominence of taxable housing in HFA financing, examining key investment considerations across various structures including serials, terms, and PACs. Panelists will share their approach to evaluating relative value between different HFAs and programs, with particular focus on how quickly some of the higher coupon serials and terms could prepay in a falling rate environment. The panelists will also explore if there could be market fatigue if taxable housing issuance continues to increase.
Panelists:
- Ryan Henry, CFA, Municipal Strategist — FHN Financial
- Chris Ware, CFA, Research Analyst — New England Asset Management
- Allen Li, CFA, Managing Director — Guggenheim Investments
- Kevin O’Brien, CFA, VP, Portfolio Manager — Sit Investment Associates
10:00 am
Coffee Break
10:15 am
New Issuers & Issues
Panelists will discuss the importance of community development loans in light of the strong demand for affordable housing. The panel will look at how CDFIs meet the needs of working families, essential workers and the low income, as well as the credit characteristics of the institutions.
Panelists:
- Karen Fitzgerald, Senior Director, Community Development & Social Lending — Fitch Ratings
- Valerie D. White, Senior Executive Director — LISC NY
11:00 am
Middle Income Housing Strategies
Explore innovative middle-income housing strategies, focusing on the use of 501(c)(3) bonds and governmental purpose/essential function bonds to create sustainable housing solutions for the “missing middle.” Highlight the new HUD permanent lending rules and practical solutions for incorporating funding from Freddie Mac into these projects. Participants will walk away with practical knowledge on how to structure funding, navigate federal/GSE programs, and leverage these financing tools to address the growing need for middle-income housing.
Panelist:
- Joanie Monaghan, Vice President — CSG Advisors
- Ian Parker, Managing Director — RBC Capital Markets
- Jeff Wilson, Co-Portfolio Manager, Co-Managing Partner — Saybrook Fund Advisors, LLC
- Vikram Shah, Senior Vice President — Jefferies
12:00 pm
Conference Adjourns
