Inside Affordable Housing's Biggest Tax Credit, With Bart Mitchell of The Community Builders

Season 9, Episode 3: America is about 10 million homes short, and Bart Mitchell has spent more than three decades trying to close that gap. As President and CEO of The Community Builders, one of the country's largest nonprofit affordable-housing developers, he's helped turn a once-obscure federal tax credit into the backbone of how the U.S. finances low-income housing. Bart joined The Community Builders in 1989, six months before a recession, tasked with selling Wall Street on a brand-new program nobody understood. Since becoming CEO in 2012, he's grown the organization's footprint across New York, Boston, Chicago, and Virginia while carrying real financial risk along the way. In this conversation, Bart breaks down why zoning, not money, is the real bottleneck in solving the shortage, what it actually costs to carry a project through years of city and state approvals, and why most Americans have driven past affordable housing without ever realizing it. Shoutout to our sponsor, WareSpace — turning underused industrial, flex, office, and big-box properties into micro warehouse space for small businesses. CHAPTERS 00:00 - Introduction to Bart Mitchell and The Community Builders 04:14 - How Bart Entered Affordable Housing 06:14 - The Early LIHTC Market 13:05 - How Low-Income Housing Tax Credits Work 15:21 - The Community Builders’ Origin Story 18:57 - Rebuilding Public Housing as Mixed-Income Communities 22:17 - Why America Is 10M Homes Short 29:10 - Zoning, Money, Speed, and Development Risk 38:36 - Nonprofit Versus For-Profit Affordable Housing 44:43 - What Bart Would Change About Housing Policy TOPICS 00:00 – Introduction to Fernando De Leon 07:00 – Early Real Estate Lessons on the Border 14:00 – Harvard, Mentors, and Long-Term Seeds 21:40 – Leaving Goldman and Optioning Texas Land 28:29 – Buying Distressed Loans After the GFC 37:07 – Why 2008 Won’t Repeat the Same Way 46:43 – AI, Data Centers, and Hidden Risk 52:48 – Building Operating Businesses 57:07 – Mental Health, Talent, and New Opportunities 01:04:00 – Mistakes, Stamina, and AI Disruption For more episodes of No Cap by CRE Daily visit https://www.credaily.com/podcast/ Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NoCapCREDaily About No Cap Podcast Commercial real estate is a $20 trillion industry and a force that shapes America’s economic fabric and culture. No Cap by CRE Daily is the commercial real estate podcast that gives you an unfiltered ”No Cap” look into the industry’s biggest trends and the money game behind them. Each week co-hosts Jack Stone and Alex Gornik break down the latest headlines with some of the most influential and entertaining figures in commercial real estate. About CRE Daily  CRE Daily is a digital media company covering the business of commercial real estate. Our mission is to empower professionals with the knowledge they need to make smarter decisions and do more business. We do this through our flagship newsletter (CRE Daily) which is read by 65,000+ investors, developers, brokers, and business leaders across the country. Our smart brevity format combined with need-to-know trends has made us one of the fastest growing media brands in commercial real estate.