For the last 23 years, Dave Layfield has been involved in just about every aspect of the affordable housing industry. He has had active roles in development, construction and property management. He even took a three year break from the private side of the industry and went to Washington to manage the Section 514/516 Farm Labor Housing program for USDA, Rural Housing Service. During his time at USDA he also worked on the Section 515 management team helping draft the 3560 regulations and handbook, conduct site assessments, manage NOFA’s and underwrite multifamily transactions.
In 2001, he created the web sites Affordable Housing Online and later founded ApartmentSmart.com, the most recognized site for marketing affordable rental housing. Now, as CEO of ApartmentSmart.com, Dave oversees an online marketing company that provides essential affordable housing information to more than 10 million low income renters each year while maintaining the most up-to-date database of affordable rental housing anywhere.
Dave is also Principal at Green Street Housing, an affordable housing developer in Salisbury, Maryland that focuses on mostly rural housing including USDA Section 515 preservation deals. Green Street has recently closed several Section 515 preservation deals in Maryland and Delaware using Low Income Housing Tax Credits, state soft loan funds and tax-exempt bonds. Over his career, Dave has completed more than 25 development transactions valued at over $120 million.
His experience in developing, building, managing and owning Section 515 properties as well as the underwriting side at USDA, gives him a unique perspective on USDA Section 515 preservation deals and the regulatory and policy gauntlet that Rural Development developers face as they pursue USDA transactions.
Dave currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Council for Affordable and Rural Housing (CARH) where he is on the front line of policy issues and advocacy for rural housing programs. In 2015, he was recognized by CARH as the Member of the Year for his hard work on rural housing issues at the National level. In 2014, he was presented with the Affordable Housing Advocate of the Year award by the National Affordable Housing Management Association (NAHMA) for his work on an online advocacy tool that allows housing advocates to easily map out the affordable housing data in their Congressional district, county, state or city and easily send that snapshot to their Congressman.