On this episode of the Impact Real Estate Podcast, we take it back to Season 2 and speak with affordable housing expert Yusef Freeman, the Managing Director of Acquisitions and Development at Jonathan Rose Companies. We talk about his journey to affordable housing, the importance of it and the most important skill to learn if you plan on thriving in this industry. 

Episode Notes:

02:40 - Jonathan Rose Companies background 

04:58 - Northern California native 

06:54 - What led Yuset to affordable housing?

07:53 - From history to real estate 

10:20 - Fascinating and curiosity 

14:10 - An understandable challenge 

16:07 - How do we make it more attractive to build more affordable housing?

18:25 - The skillset needed 

20:00 - An economic driver 

22:35 - The most important things to learn 

23:48 - West vs East

24:56 - Operating affordable housing 

28:07 - A mission-based organization 

30:20 - Different planets

34:36 - The future of affordable housing

37:21 - The Hot Seat presented by KK Reset 

Prior to joining the Rose Companies, Yusef was a Vice President of Investments in the transactions group at PGIM Real Estate, sourcing investment opportunities for the real estate private equity funds of the company.

Prior to joining PGIM in 2018, Yusef was the Managing Director for McCormack Baron Salazar, leading west coast operations and new business development nationally for the company and a Graduate Program lecturer in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley.

Yusef holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley where he spent one year studying abroad at the American University in Cairo, Egypt; a Master of Public Administration from New York University, where he majored in public finance as a Public Policy and International Affairs Fellow; and an alum of the Center for Urban Redevelopment Excellence Fellowship Program at the University of Pennsylvania.