Unlocking Opportunity: a playbook for OZ 2.0
Four rules for using the second round of Opportunity Zones for housing, from a panel at TAAHP's Texas Housing Conference.
TAAHP’s Texas Housing Conference. Joshua Gold of Nixon Peabody moderated. On the panel with me: Ashlea Quinonez from HUD, Melissa Avelino from the Texas Governor’s economic development office, and Leo Gomez.
I used North Oak Cliff as the case study and boiled it down to four rules:
- Underwrite the neighborhood, not just the deal. Projects clustered together de-risk each other.
- Renovate first, then build new. A stabilized older building proves the rents and sets the stage for ground-up construction.
- Stack incentives. OZ pairs with other affordability and financing tools. It rarely stands alone.
- Bring patient capital. The full benefit is earned at the ten-year mark, so structure for a ten-year hold.
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