BOSS

Interview with Bill Williams, Founder / Principal at KMW COMMUNITIES

What is the inspiration behind KMW and what motivated you to start your company?

KMW was born out of the financial housing crisis. During that time, I was attending a conference in which a colleague of mine told me that I would be perfect for this new housing initiative. At the time, I was working in commercial real estate, mortgage, and securities for a wellknown institution. I had a lot of tangible skills as it related to finance and economics. He explained that the housing initiative had been created by the city to help in stabilizing neighborhoods and communities that had been badly hurt economically.

Mercy Housing along with the Department of Housing facilitated this initiative called the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. With all my experience I was somewhat considered a developer, so I started working on the program for the city. From there, KMW started building up community properties by purchasing, repairing and then selling them as multi-family housing.

When you say building up the community, with your background, is that what you feel makes you different from competitors?

To reference Jay-Z, we have the best of both worlds. Even though I have the personal experience of poverty, I also have the experience of corporate America. KMW has become a company whose brand creates market rate affordable housing, that looks great while working with public and other private entities to create meaningful partnerships. We wanted to get big financial institutions to invest in the community and get them to see the value in creating sustainable neighborhoods.

Because you come from the community, do you feel this is why you understand the importance of what you do more than others?

I grew up in Chicago and our housing situation was unstable. As a result, we became very transient because of affordability. We could never truly afford quality housing which caused us to go through a stint of homelessness. Even though my mother was a single parent who worked at the Helene Curtis factory, we looked across the city every year for some kind of affordable housing. This is what made me passionate about becoming an ambassador for and creating affordable housing.

With someone of your background and over 20 years of knowledge, what are some of your success stories and notable projects?

I have learned more in failure than in success. I learned how to structure deals, how to leverage my relationships, limit my exposure and liability. Sometimes challenges force you to be successful. My failures help me understand what my institutional friends want and need from me in order to contribute to a project. From there I began to restructure my business to be able to touch them on those needs. Their contributions help to make our projects more sustainable and accessible to opportunities. This answer was not necessarily a success story, but this is how we have succeeded. Also, as it relates to investors, it is imperative that you have good strategic partners to work with and plug those gaps where you may not be as knowledgeable. If you don’t have experience in rehab, new construction, or a certain asset class you may not be as successful. Real estate is very capital intensive and there are a lot of risks.

How has this project impacted the community?

Even though I have done projects in communities for hundreds of thousands of dollars, one project that I am proud of is the Woodlawn project. We really did our homework and did a pull strategy to 1. Bring people to the community and 2. increase the value of the community. The Woodlawn Project consisted of thirty houses in three phases. We were the first builders in this marketplace so we wanted to prove this concept and add value to attract more private dollars.

What is considered affordable housing?

There is no solid definition for affordable housing because it always depends on how much you make and where you want to live. A person who makes 65K a year may not make enough depending on where they want to live. So even though most of the time, affordable housing does what it is intended to do, there are certain times when people can’t be accommodated.

In addition, to build affordable housing is not really affordable. It’s very expensive but what we try to do is work with LIHTC (Low Income Housing Tax Credits) and other funding. As soon as we can create a different mechanism to cut through the red tape, we will be able to build twice as many houses for what it costs now.

Since we are on the subject of the cost of building, as it relates to the materials and the environment, how do you prioritize sustainability and environmental responsibility?

Every project that we work on has ESG standards (Environment Sustainability Goals). Environment Sustainability Goals are regulatory standards put in place to assist in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, investing in sustainable energy, increasing workplace diversity, and providing transparent financial practices.

What are some of the major challenges or obstacles you have faced while growing and expanding KMW Communities? How have you overcome these challenges?

Aside from funding, there is talent. We are constantly competing with big companies for talent. We must make them believe in a vision and incentivize the talent. Sometimes that’s hard to do with younger individuals.

What are the valuable lessons you have learned as a founder throughout your partnership?

Building relationships are always important and having a mentor is tremendously helpful. It’s always important to leverage your relationships. Just having this official but unofficial advisory board will help you navigate things you don’t know and should learn. Inspiring people, extending yourself and giving back to your community are very important soft skills to have. It makes a difference when it comes to your vision.

Looking ahead, what are the future goals and aspirations for KMW?

Density is the most important thing for the city. We need to build home ownership opportunities all over the city to create neighborhoods of choice where people want to live. As a personal and professional goal, I want to go vertical. I want to build mid-rise and high-rise, multi-family buildings. These institutional assets are where real wealth is created.

Speaking of your personal goals, could you tell us a little more about your personal self?

I’m just a kid off the block. Like many of us, I come from a very dysfunctional family but I made up in my mind that I would be different. I had a family at a young age that helped in shaping my life for the better because having children I wanted to make sure that they grew up better.

How can people reach or be a part of KMW Communities?

We can be reached on both Linked In or our website at KMWCommunities.com.