Hope Housing Partners (“HHP”) creates multifamily rental housing through the opportunistic acquisition and value-added adaptive re-use of real estate assets. This senior team of industry veterans combines extensive experience spanning acquisitions, ground-up development, adaptive re-use, construction, capital formation, zoning/municipal relations and asset management across conventional multi-family, mixed-use and student housing properties.

Our Story

After collaborating on several significant development projects from 2015-2018, the individuals comprising the HHP leadership team realized they shared many common interests. In particular, each member had spent decades solving complex issues within their respective real estate practices, possessed an entrepreneurial spirit, and were dedicated to creating multi-family rental housing choices that were affordable to moderate-income families and individuals.

During the ensuing period, from 2019 – 2020, discussions continued on launching the investment platform. Initially, the focus was concentrated on the disconnection starting to occur, and predicted to accelerate within the student housing sector, considering oversaturation, tertiary markets and non-pedestrian locations. Prior to COVID, the team identified myriad assets whose operations were negatively trending with occupancy, pre-leasing and rent growth trailing their competitive sets. With a secondary thesis targeting economic development and job growth within “Eds & Meds”, the team sought to identify potential distressed assets: a) located in proximity to growing, significant hospitals and medical centers (particularly, University and Regional), b) where the market surrounding the medical center was deficient in its supply of available, affordable housing for the workforce, and c) where area income levels aligned with rent and income limits between 70% – 100% of Area Median
Income (AMI) . Considering the higher bedroom-to-unit ratio of most purpose-built student housing communities, if the assets could be physically converted to a unit mix more consistent with conventional apartments (conducive to households/families), in a cost-effective manner, then the team felt they had an opportunity for success.

In 2021, HHP set out to raise capital for their platform. Realizing their intentions and the scope and scale of their capital needs, the team formed a general partnership in place to contribute equity in its project pursuits, HHP officially launched in early 2022 and is actively pursuing acquisition and development opportunities.

As with most everyone, COVID brought challenges and has since changed the landscape of universities, student housing, multifamily development and investing, the financial markets…the world! Though
student housing has fared much better than the pundits (including us) predicted, through its resources and relationships among lender special servicers, HHP continues to track assets which appear to be nearing economic and functional obsolescence as a dedicated, student housing. HHP knows which assets are trending and remains ready to pursue when these become opportunities. Meanwhile, amid the confluence of economic events since the onset of the COVD pandemic, multifamily continues to outperform other asset classes. Incidentally, the supply problems impacting affordability of housing, including multifamily housing persists, particularly as pertains to those of moderate income levels where no HUD programs or government subsidies apply.

Whether an opportunity resulting from student housing conversions, value-additive acquisitions, ground up development or adaptive reuse of strategic properties, HHP is exceptionally well-positioned to execute on its strategic plan and has just the team to do so.