Jaegar Alter Standard Communities (JASC) Affordable Housing Program

The Jaegar Alter Standard Communities Affordable Housing Certificate program prepares students with specialized skills in planning, financing, developing, and managing affordable housing projects. Students engage in real-world case studies, site visits, and collaborations with industry professionals to build practical experience alongside broader real estate development training.

In 2025, the program received a $2.5 million gift from Jeffrey Jaeger and Scott Alter, co-founders of Standard Communities, to establish and support what is now known as the UCLA Jaeger Alter Standard Communities (JASC) Affordable Housing Program. This donation helps fund the affordable housing certificate, expand coursework on innovative housing solutions, and enhance opportunities like guest lectures, mentorships, and internships.

“What makes the affordable housing industry so powerful is that it allows us to have a profound impact in our communities and in the world at large, while offering meaningful and financially rewarding careers. By supporting the [UCLA MRED] program, we hope to expand the pipeline of talented professionals who will bring fresh ideas, energy and commitment to this space, ultimately helping to deliver housing solutions that are sustainable, equitable and capable of transforming lives.” – Jeff Jaeger

“We’ve seen firsthand how access to safe, stable, dignified, affordable housing can transform lives. This gift is an investment in the leaders who will emerge from the UCLA MRED program and will carry that mission forward — building stronger, more resilient communities for generations to come.” –Scott Alter

Affordable Housing Certificate

The JASC Affordable Housing Program includes the opportunity for students to earn a specialization Certificate in Affordable Housing. To earn this certificate, students must complete 4 courses:
  • RE DEV 206 The Politics, Institutions & Economics of Urban Development
  • RE DEV 212 Market Solutions to Affordability (covers private equity solutions)
  • URBN PL 280 Affordable Housing Development (covers traditional LIHTC development)
  • One additional elective from a selection of related courses that includes the following:
    • URBN PL 269 Housing Policy & Planning
    • URBN PL 271A Community Economic Development
    • URBN PL 275 Community Development and Housing Policies
    • URBN PL M272 Advanced Real Estate Studio
    • URBN PL 283 Community Development, Organizing, and Engagement

Overview of basic concepts and skills utilized in nonprofit development initiatives, especially by community-based organizations. Focus on nonprofit provision of subsidized housing, emphasizing way professionals broker debt and equity funding from private, governmental, and philanthropic sources. Use of client projects and negotiation exercises

Exploration of how capital markets–both public and private–can be leveraged to expand housing affordability. Examination of interplay between real estate finance, public policy, and social impact investment. Analysis of the tools, structures, and incentives that shape housing outcomes. Exploration of how private equity capital–ranging from mission-driven impact funds to institutional housing platforms–can be mobilized to expand affordable and workforce housing supply. Analysis of how fund structures, investment strategies, and public-private partnerships can align investor return expectations with long-term housing affordability goals. Study blends financial modeling, case studies, and fund design exercises to help future developers and investors’ structure feasible, scalable private equity solutions that deliver both market returns and social value.

Examination of the incentives and history that gave rise to the conflicting apparatuses for regulating development in American cities. Overview of the major institutions and actors in urban development. Review of the recent history of development and its politics, with particular focus on developers. Examination of some of the major actors including planners, developers, and public (and the elected officials who represent them). Study of two areas of controversial policy: value capture and rent control. Includes case studies of the politics of development.

Internships are off-campus experiential learning activities designed to provide students with opportunities to make connections between the theory and practice of academic study and the practical application of that study in a professional work environment. Internships offer the opportunity to experience a career while gaining relevant skills and professional connections. Internships are completed under the guidance of an on-site supervisor and a faculty sponsor, who in combination with the student creates a framework for learning and reflection.

Introduction to fundamentals of community economic development and neighborhood development strategies. Overview of basic approaches, important concepts, resources and language of field, and major strategies for revitalization of low-income neighborhoods.

Study combines disciplines of planning, urban design, construction, real estate finance and investment, and property operations and management. Students learn about behind-the-scene negotiations and decisions, and gain better ability to determine real estate project feasibility, deeper understanding about financing methods and alternatives, and knowledge about ways to frame development programs for success.

Examination of theory and practice of community development, organizing, and engagement. Understanding of multiple dimensions of community development (physical, economic, political, social) and how they interact, as well as major debates about community development strategies. Analysis of role of community organizing as empowerment strategy in disadvantaged and marginalized communities, and relationship of community and worker organizing to broader movements for social change. Consideration of various approaches to community participation and engagement, and struggles over power and inclusion within these processes. Examination of relations between community development, organizing, and engagement. Particular attention to race, gender, and class dimensions of these processes, issues of power, and how planner’s role connects with processes.

Associated Learning Activities

In addition to completion of the Certificate, students in the JASC Affordable Housing Program engage in a coordinated set of industry-facing initiatives designed to prepare them for roles in affordable housing development.

The program delivers practitioner-oriented workshops focused on core components of affordable housing production, including capital stack structuring, entitlement strategy, community engagement, and the execution of public–private partnerships. Students  also have the option to participate in an internship offering two tracks: (i) part-time placements during the academic year—enabled by afternoon course scheduling to accommodate professional engagement—and (ii) a full-time, ten-week summer internship aligned with the peak development cycle (early July through mid-September). These placements are intended to provide direct exposure to underwriting, financial modeling, site due diligence, and transaction execution.

Each student is paired with a senior affordable housing professional through a formal mentorship program, Senior Fellows Program, providing individualized guidance and career progression within the sector. Cohort-based convenings with the MRED Director of Career Development and Industry Outreach further reinforce professional integration, facilitating peer learning and industry connectivity.

Career placement is supported through the MRED Career Forum , case-based “lunch and learn, small group engagements with industry leaders, and Career Fair, with targeted outreach to mission-driven and mixed-income development firms, housing authorities, and impact-oriented capital providers. The academic experience culminates in a capstone project requiring students to underwrite a live development opportunity, prepare a comprehensive feasibility analysis, and present a development strategy to a mock investment committee.

Post-graduation, program alumni are integrated into a structured peer network and paired with incoming students to strengthen professional continuity within the affordable housing community. Students are also encouraged to participate in nationally recognized affordable housing competitions, such as the Bank of America Affordable Housing Challenge, the Hack-a-House Housing Affordability Hackathon, and the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities Affordable Housing Student Design and Planning Competition, to further develop transaction-level expertise and industry visibility.