Phillip Kash
Partner
Phillip transforms complex housing challenges into scalable solutions that address community needs through innovative financing, strategic planning, and program implementation.
Phillip is a nationally recognized housing policy and finance practitioner and thought leader who focuses on scalable, state and locally driven housing tools. He collaborates with mission-driven investors, community advocates, developers, and government agencies to design and implement transformative programs spanning comprehensive housing strategies, policy and program design, and the formation of mission-driven housing funds in communities across the country.
Phillip designs, launches and underwrites on behalf of housing funds that maximize the impact of scarce mission-driven and public funding through innovative structures. He led the design of Amazon’s $3.6 billion Housing Fund and has underwritten and closed over $1.5 billion in investments across 48 transactions that preserved or created over 13,000 permanently affordable homes on behalf of the Fund. He is currently working with Empire State Development to launch the Central New York Housing Fund, a $100+ million fund that provides mezzanine financing to create homes to accommodate the economic growth from development of the Micron fabrication plant being built just outside of Syracuse. He led the design and launch for the Washington Family Housing Fund, a collaboration between the Washington State Housing Finace Commision and the Ballmer Group, which is focused on creating affordable rental homes for families to address the dire shortage of affordable family-sized homes in the Seattle region.
Phillip works with states, large and small cities, towns, chambers of commerce, and councils of government across the country to draft housing strategies that serve as the foundation to adopt effective housing policies and programs. His plans place a heavy emphasis on implementation and impact, helping communities start tackling the housing crisis in their area immediately. He worked with the State of Maine to develop statewide housing production goals for communities across Maine, and then with the Governor’s office and legislature to enact new laws and policies to build more homes. In Wake County, NC, he worked with County Commissioners and the County Manager to stand up a new housing department that quadrupled the number of affordable rental homes being built in the county and has resulted in thousands of households living in homes they can afford and prosper in.
To support housing planning and policy work across the country, he worked with HR&A Labs to create HousingWeaver, a housing analytics platform that provides a comprehensive housing needs assessment for every community in the country. It provides communities with a detailed and up-to-date insights into their housing market to inform how they design housing policies and programs.
Phillip also works to design and implement housing policies around land use, regulation, and public investments. He worked with the City of Charlottesville to revise their zoning regulations to allow middle-density homes to be built in neighborhoods where previously only single-family homes had been allowed. In New Haven, CT he supported the design and adoption of an inclusionary zoning policy that took an innovative approach of prioritizing apartments for voucher holders. In Los Angelos, he is currently working to advance and expand the work of Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency, (LACAHSA), a regional entity focused on affordable housing and homelessness.
Phillip holds a Master’s in City and Regional Planning and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Member, Urban Land Institute