Affordable Housing: Where Real Estate Development and Personal Development Connect

Russ Michaels is the Executive Director of Texas Inter-Faith Housing Corporation, a 501(c)3 non-profit development company based in Texas. He is also a real estate attorney and consultant for both for-profit and non-profit companies that build, develop, operate, and manage affordable housing communities for seniors, veterans, families, artists, and children.

Russ was born and raised in the rural Midwest, growing up in Hays, Kansas. His parents did not have a lot of money to support all five children, and they divorced before he was a teenager. Russ has been employed non-stop since he was nine years old, having started with a paper-route to help offset costs. Ultimately, his family would have qualified for affordable housing had the communities and choices been more readily available.

Condensing a very long and roundabout story down to a short story, Russ eventually went to law school in Houston and began a career in affordable housing, specializing in the low income housing tax credit market. He is extremely passionate about providing seniors, veterans, artists, families and children with not just a new apartment to call home, but also providing them with social services that level-up their lives. He currently is a board member for Texas Inter-Faith Management Corporation and a board member for one of the largest resident services providers in the country, Portfolio Resident Services.

This presentation is about the impact he has witnessed in affordable housing, both in the corporate level and in the development of the apartment communities and people.