Power SoCal 2024—Alice Carr and Perica Bell, CEO; Head of Preservation at April Housing
BY CATHY CUNNINGHAM SEPTEMBER 18, 2024
When April Housing was launched in 2022, there was a clear vision for the Blackstone portfolio company: to create and preserve affordable housing at scale.
Sitting in the firm’s office in L.A., Alice Carr, Perica Bell and their ever-growing, highly dedicated team are focused on just that.
“Blackstone and April Housing have made a very public commitment to preserving affordability in this important housing portfolio that we own,” Carr told Commercial Observer in an interview in early September. “Both Perica and I are long-term participants in the affordable housing industry. It’s something we both feel really passionate about, and so to be at the helm of a company that is really focused on affordable housing and preserving affordable housing is just so important for both of us.”
Resyndications — the allocation of further low-income housing tax credits — play a critical role in that mission. In August, April Housing announced it had completed resyndications at four of its Texas communities. The deals lock in the affordability of their 898 units for another three decades.
“We just closed those four deals in Texas, but we are really just getting started,” Carr said.
Indeed, the firm’s broader strategy is focused on preserving affordability across its entire 70,000-unit portfolio — no mean feat — but April Housing has the support of the multiple stakeholders it works alongside, as well as Blackstone itself.
“We’re talking to multiple people and entities about what we want to do and what we want to accomplish, and what we found is that people are interested in preservation,” Bell said. “People understand that preservation is a part of the broad spectrum of providing affordable housing for everyone. [The U.S.] hasn’t been keeping up with supply overall, and so preservation is one of the most efficient ways as well to protect the overall supply.”
April Housing has invested roughly $100 million into the construction of new affordable housing, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
“It’s such an exciting company to be a part of, because the sky’s the limit,” Carr said.
