JLL’s Valuation Advisory Group Forms Dedicated National Affordable Housing Practice

14 April 2022

Ard and Gillman promoted to co-lead the newly formed team due to rising demand for affordable housing 

CHICAGO, April 14, 2022 – Due to the strong demand for affordable rental units in the U.S., JLL’s Valuation Advisory group announced today that it has formed a dedicated, specialized national affordable housing practice and promoted Managing Directors Chip Ard and Andrea Gillman to co-lead the group. 

Ard and Gillman are now responsible for expanding the national platform and their growing team will be involved with any valuation that involves an affordable component. With a combined 35 years of practice, their experience includes appraisals in connection with the allocation of state and federal tax credits as well as many specialized affordable housing programs, including the HUD Multifamily Accelerated Processing (MAP) program. The team also has experience with Freddie and Fannie agency appraisals, ad valorem tax protests, consulting, litigation support services and market studies.

“We continue to see growing demand for affordable housing valuation services, which is best served by having a dedicated national team overseen by two experienced leaders,” said Tony Lenamon, Americas Head of Valuation Advisory. “Under Chip and Andrea’s stewardship, the affordable housing platform will be able to thrive as a separate, dedicated team within JLL’s Valuation Advisory group and allow us to service our clients even more.”

As co-heads of the affordable housing practice for Valuation Advisory, Ard and Gillman report to Lenamon and are based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Previously, affordable housing was part of the group’s overall multi-housing practice. Now, as a stand-alone group, they lead a team of affordable housing specialists and multiple partners throughout the rest of the multi-platform. They plan on growing that number along with the booming demand for their services. 

“The affordable housing market is as active as it has ever been across the country,” Ard said. “Skyrocketing rent growth in the market-rate segment has led to an increased need for more affordable options, and there just aren’t enough affordable units. We expect a surge in the amount of new affordable and workforce housing developments.”

Recently, the Federal Housing Finance Agency published a final rule establishing updated housing goals for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae that requires them to support the development of at least 415,000 affordable homes annually available to renters, which is an increase from 315,000 rental homes in 2021. 

“Our assignment components are complex due to the various programs from national, state and local entities, which offer many affordable program incentives,” Gillman added. “We not only must have a deep understanding of the multiple layers of programs available but also how those programs interact with each other. Because we have so many different value models, our goal in the affordable practice is to deliver correct and consistent value modeling and bring all of these affordable components together into the highest quality report.”