50 Years of Building Communities, Empowering Lives, and Redefining Affordable Housing

Conifer Realty’s holistic approach ensures that every community they develop supports resident success and community prosperity

Conifer Realty doesn’t just build properties; they create homes that serve as foundations for education, economic mobility, and meaningful community contributions. With a 50-year heritage in property development, ownership and management, the firm has become a leader in affordable housing, transforming lives by providing quality, attainable homes where residents thrive.

To date, Conifer has developed and managed more than 21,000 affordable apartment homes across 300-plus communities in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. As rents nationwide continue to skyrocket, Conifer’s mission to make sure everyone has a safe, comfortable, and empowering place to live is more important than ever.

Conifer’s recognition that housing is not just shelter but a cornerstone for opportunity has been at the heart of their success. Throughout their 50-year history, they’ve skillfully balanced business success with deep social responsibility. They are committed to using environmentally friendly materials, energy-efficient systems, and architectural excellence to create vibrant and enduring communities.

The company’s holistic 360° Approach ensures that every community they develop supports resident success and community prosperity. Site selection, thoughtful design, property management, and resident services work in harmony to enhance the quality of life. “We’re not going to build the development and walk away. We’re your neighbors and we’re going to be in your community for the long haul. That sets us apart from many others that do this work,” said Lisa Kaseman, the company’s Executive Vice President of Development & Acquisitions.

“The affordable housing crisis is national, and we’re very community-focused. We partner with local municipalities, townships, villages, and cities to understand the needs of the local communities within our footprint.”

Those needs are vastly different from when Kaseman joined Conifer in 2006. At that time, qualifying for affordable housing centered on those at the 30% (or less) median income. “We’re finding a lot of communities need attainable, affordable housing for folks that are at the 90% to the 130% area median income. That’s a little higher income range than the affordable housing tax credit was meant to start with,” she noted.

Conifer works to create housing opportunities that fit income levels up to 130% of the area median income, providing affordable rent across a wider swath of the population. Affordability is an issue for teachers, first responders, and nurses, as well as young professionals having an affordability crisis in their city as a result of inflation, higher interest rates, and other factors.

Resident-centricity is ingrained in everything Conifer does. Their comprehensive in-house teams have the expertise to manage every aspect of creating an affordable housing community, from site selection and development to construction and property and asset management, to expert legal, accounting and financing teams and beyond.

“We have highly skilled development, leasing and marketing teams that are very good at keeping the pulse of the communities that we serve and the feedback we get through local presence and social media outlets,” she said. “Of course, we have our property management team who are supporting our residents day-in and day-out. Having all that expertise in one shop is really powerful.”

Collaboration with local organizations ensures that each development meets the specific needs of its residents and neighbors. “We want to be housing providers for a local solution. That goes back to knowing the community that you’re working with and collaborating with city and state officials and affordable housing agencies to find solutions,” she said.

“Advocating at both the state and national level is very important because those policies drive our ability to put good housing out on the street.” Although the low-income housing tax credit has bipartisan support, busy politicians might not be aware of its impact. Educating government representatives is crucial to getting housing built right.

“That advocacy piece is a call to action for anybody reading this article because it’s very important to sit down with your local and federal legislators and advocate for funding,” she added. You can see the life changing nature of secure housing and that’s something that Conifer has been a leader in since we were established 50 years ago.”

While Conifer’s developments exemplify their commitment to creating inclusive communities where residents and the local economy can flourish, the NIMBY syndrome is still common. Correcting misconceptions at the root of that thinking takes up a considerable amount of Kaseman’s time. “More than half of my job is educating folks on what affordable housing is,” she admitted, noting that the first step in fixing the problem is to listen to all the stakeholders involved, which opens the door for candid conversations that can change minds.

Getting the message out about need and being honest and thoughtful about the challenges that come with financing or other barriers to providing good housing are two of Conifer’s highest priorities. Financing affordable housing projects is highly technical, and funding can be difficult to obtain, but the company’s agility in developing financing and thoughtfully creating partnerships enables them to pull in the resources to get homes built.

The company goes where they’re needed most, bringing fresh ideas and actionable solutions to new markets. They are currently expanding into Virginia, and the Carolinas, to address urgent housing needs. “Throughout that expansion effort, the key is finding community partners, whether they’re employers, nonprofits, churches, or hospitals who have employees or clients with a housing need,” Kaseman said.

Transparency with the communities they serve is another Conifer hallmark. A current development on a large plot of land in Ithaca, NY, requires rezoning to have a variety of uses, both residential and commercial. “The Ithaca community definitely has a need for different affordability levels, so we’re creating a series of community charrettes. The local community, in partnership with the town, can come to meetings and look at the drawings and see our concept and provide input even before it’s presented to the town board,” she pointed out. Conifer has several of these multi-use developments in the works.

Conifer’s future is about expanding its impact and ensuring that every community it touches thrives. “With people who are positively energized to drive our mission for the residents we serve, we overcome any obstacle,” she affirmed. “One of our guiding values is relentless optimism. Our people always find solutions to get housing built or preserved in a way that enhances every community we are part of.”

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Conifer is a nationally respected builder, owner, manager, and, most importantly, trusted partner in the creation of best-in-class affordable and attainable multi-family housing communities.

Conifer maintains offices in Rochester, New York; Mount Laurel, New Jersey; Boston, Massachusetts; and Columbia, Maryland, while expanding into new markets across the Southeast to fulfill the dire need for high-quality, affordable housing. Conifer has developed more than 21,000 affordable housing units across more than 300 residential communities.

Voted 6th largest affordable housing owner by Affordable Housing Finance.

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Corporate Office

1000 University Avenue

Suite 500

Rochester, NY 14607

Phone Number: 585.324.0500

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