South Florida Affordable Housing Summit

Thu May 21, 2026

Buy Tickets Attendees

South Florida Affordable Housing Summit

The Regulatory Fluency, Financial Engineering & Creative Deal Structuring Needed to Close the Housing Gap

Thursday May 21 2026 @ 8:00 AM EDT

$125.00

Attendee List Become A Speaker

Registration Questions?
**Please note we have pricing tiers based on ticket availability. Ticket prices will increase once we sell out of the current pricing tier. We cannot redeem a lower price once the ticket prices have been raised.
**Bisnow is a cashless, checkless operation. Please only submit payment via credit card.

Speakers and Panels

Keynote

Vicki Lopez

Commissioner, Miami-Dade County

From the Source: What’s True, What’s Not & How Affordable Housing Policy Actually Works

Live Local, Tax Exemptions, Bonds & the Regulatory Reality in South Florida

Jennifer Sanz

Co-Founder and CEO, Next Development Group

Annie Lord

Executive Director, Miami Homes For All

Daniel Lopez

Founder & President, Leverage Live Local

Making the Numbers Work: How Developers Are Financing Affordable Housing

Capital Stacks, Subsidies & the Financial Engineering Behind Viable Projects

Russell Galbut

CEO, Crescent Heights

Michael Liu

Michael Liu has over 40 years of experience in housing policy and finance beginning from his service as a Delegate to the 1978 Hawaii State Constitution Convention. His career has also included service with the federal government as U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Under Secretary for Small Community and Rural Development and U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing. In the private sector, he practiced real estate law for 13 years, and held executive officer positions with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, Bank of America (FSB), and Dutko Grayling. Prior to joining Swerdlow Group, Michael served as senior advisor on housing to the City of Miami’s City Manager, which followed a 9-year term as Miami-Dade County’s Public Housing and Community Development (PHCD) Director, the largest housing agency in the State of Florida. Among many accomplishments, Michael can point to creation of HUD’s Capital Fund Financing Program (like the Rental Assistance Demonstration Program (RAD)) a financing tool that involves leveraging private sector funds with public housing subsidy) that raised over $2 billion in its first 18 months of private sector funds for investment in public housing; expansion of the Native American home mortgage program 184 to assist with homeownership on non-tribal lands; establishment of RAD as the formal basis for the redevelopment approach for all of public housing in Miami-Dade County; improving PHCD’s 7 year public housing sub-standard designation to standard after 1 year; and establishing the redevelopment of public housing sites “Liberty Square/Lincoln Gardens” and the Senior Campus (now known as River Parc), developments that will involve in over $1 billion in equity, debt, and grants, and upon completion result in over 15,000 new and/or total rehabilitated units. Michael is a graduate of Stanford University (BA) and the University of Hawaii’s Richardson School Law. He is a member of the Hawaii and Washington, DC bar associations.

Swerdlow Group

Chief Strategy Officer

Michael Liu

Chief Strategy Officer, Swerdlow Group

Doron Broman

Founder & Managing Partner, Moderno Development

Hugo Pacanins

Partner and Chief Executive, Market Rate Division, Pinnacle

Matthew Martinez

President and Co-Founder, Beacon Hill Development Group

Moderator

Dave Groom

Principal, Groom Construction

Why Attend The South Florida Affordable Housing Summit

As the industry enters year two of the Live Local Act, confusion remains around what the law actually allows, how consistently it’s being applied, and how developers can realistically capitalize projects across the affordable and workforce housing spectrum. At the same time, rising construction costs, tighter capital markets, and evolving underwriting standards have made accessing subsidy, tax credits, bonds, and private capital more complicated than ever. Bisnow’s Affordable Housing Summit brings together state, county, and local officials alongside leading developers, investors, and operators to separate fact from fiction, demystify available funding sources, and examine how affordable housing projects are getting financed, entitled, and built at scale across South Florida. It is a practical, investment-focused look at affordable housing as a durable, mission-aligned real estate strategy that can deliver returns when structured correctly. This summit is designed to close the knowledge gap, align public and private perspectives, and give real estate professionals the tools they need to participate in this asset class with confidence.

Key Attendee Takeaways:

What the Live Local Act actually does and does not allow in Year Two
How affordable, workforce, and missing-middle housing differ from a financing and underwriting perspective
Which funding sources are real, active, and scalable today (and which are misunderstood)
How developers are stacking subsidies, tax credits, bonds, and private capital to make deals pencil
What lenders and agencies need to see to underwrite Live Local and affordable cash flow
Where inconsistencies still exist between state guidance and local implementation

For questions regarding content and speaking, please email our Event Producer, Elizabeth Herrgott, at elizabeth.herrgott@bisnow.com. Want to get involved? Contact Jordan.Hinsch@bisnow.com to get information on sponsorship, pricing and availability at this event. To request disability-related accommodations, please contact ariel.fromm@bisnow.com no later than seven business days prior to the event.

Venue

The Gale
159 NE 6th St
Miami, FL 33132

Ballroom: Valencia and Port Miami Ballrooms
Floor: 8th floor

Parking Information:

Public parking garage directly across the street at 560 NE Second Ave, Miami, FL 33132

Get Directions

Agenda

Time	Activity
8:00 AM 9:00 AM	Registration, Breakfast & Networking
9:00 AM 9:15 AM	Keynote Miami Dade Commissioner Vicki Lopez
9:15 AM 10:00 AM	From the Source: What’s True, What’s Not & How Affordable Housing Policy Actually Works This opening panel puts policymakers and public officials front and center to answer the questions developers, investors, and lenders are asking but rarely get answered clearly. State, county, and local leaders unpack how affordable housing policy is being interpreted and implemented including the Live Local Act, missing-middle tax exemptions, property tax relief, and other incentive programs. Panelists will address where standards are consistent, where they vary by jurisdiction, and what changes may still be coming.
10:00 AM 10:15 AM	Networking Break
10:15 AM 11:00 AM	Making the Numbers Work: How Developers Are Financing Affordable Housing With the rules clarified, this panel shifts to execution. Developers and investors share how affordable and workforce housing projects are being financed in today’s environment where construction costs are high, equity is selective, and traditional underwriting no longer works out of the box. Panelists will walk through real-world capital stacks, explain how subsidies and tax credits are being layered, and discuss what it takes to unlock additional loan proceeds based on future cash flow.
11:00 AM 11:30 AM	Post-Event Networking

PS - Want the attendee list for free?

Biscred gives you access to 6.1 million commercial real estate contacts and powerful filters built for CRE: search by industry, asset class experience, property count, job seniority, metros, and more. Book a demo today and get the attendee list for free when you mention this promotion.

Call:	202-684-2034
Email:	eventregistration@bisnow.com