Equitable Tax Increment Financing

Bio: Dan Sawislak is the Executive Director of Resources for Community Development (RCD), a non-profit housing development corporation that builds and operates affordable housing in Northern California. Under his leadership, RCD has completed the development of over 1500 affordable homes since 1998. Sawislak has worked for 24 years as an affordable housing developer and has experience as an economic development planner and a community organizer.

Education: Sawislak has a Bachelor's of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and a Master's of City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley.

Past Assignments: Sawislak has spoken at numerous conferences including Housing California, the National Housing and Rehabilitation Association, and conferences sponsored by HUD,EPA,and the Urban Land Institute. He has also lectured to classes at the University of California, Berkeley, and at San Francisco State University.

Bio: Bob Palmer, Policy Director for Housing Action Illinois, has over 20 years experience in housing organizing, advocacy, training, and finance. He joined Housing Action in September 2002. In recent years, he's worked on successful efforts to create and fund a state rental subsidy program for extremely low-income households, secure money for affordable housing in Illinois' capital budget for the first time, pass state legislation protecting homeowners and renters during the foreclosure process and protect state funding for homeless service providers.

Education: Masters Degree in Urban Planning and Policy, University of Illinois-Chicago, 1995.

Bio: Professor

Education: Cornell University, MRP and PhD Brown University, BA

Key Publications: Rachel Weber, Rebecca Hendrick and Jeremy Thompson, “The Effect of Tax Increment Financing on School District Revenues: Regional Variation and Interjurisdictional Competition,” State and Local Government Review, 40(1), 27-41, 2008. Rachel Weber and Laura Goddeeris, “Tax Increment Financing: A Property-Based Tool for Local Regeneration?” Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal 1(1), 2007. Rachel Weber, Saurav Dev Bhatta and David Merriman, “The Impact of Tax Increment Financing on Residential Property Values,” Regional Science and Urban Economics 37(2), 259-281, 2007. Rachel Weber, David Merriman, and Saurav Dev Bhatta “Does Tax Increment Financing Increase the Value of Urban Industrial Property?” Urban Studies 40:10, September 2003 [reprinted in State Tax Notes, 2005 and in Urban Planning Overseas 21(4), 2006]. Rachel Weber, “Equity and Entrepreneurialism: The Impact of Tax Increment Financing on School District Finances,” Urban Affairs Review 38:5, May 2003.

Other Publications: Rachel Weber and Randall Crane (eds), Oxford Handbook of Urban Planning. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012

Bio: Tim Parham is an Senior Planner at Puget Sound Regional Council working on the Growing Transit Communities partnership, a HUD Sustainable Communities Initiative grant. Part of his work is focused on an effort to create financing tools for infrastructure and affordable housing in light rail station areas. Prior to PSRC, Tim worked as a planner for the City of Puyallup where he worked on the formation of multiple infrastructure financing districts.

Education: Bachelor's in Public History from Western Michigan University Master's degree in Urban Planning and Real Estate Development Certificate from the University of Michigan

Key Publications: Authored the report "Value Capture Financing in Washington"

Past Assignments: Led sessions on tax increment financing at Washington State APA conference and Housing Washington conference in 2012.