Scott Campagna, Vice President of Housing, IMEG Corp

The biggest future challenge in housing is affordability, said Scott Campagna, Vice President of Housing for engineering design firm IMEG. In senior living, for example, “We’re going to need to create about 200 to 300 beds per day for the next decade to accommodate the influx from the baby boomer generation,” he said. “I guarantee you that not all of them are going to be able to afford $5,000 a month or more for housing and healthcare in a senior living facility.”

What were the significant milestones or achievements for your company over the last 12 to 18 months?

I relocated to Charlotte in 2010 to open an office for my former firm. In May of 2022, we were acquired by IMEG, a national firm that had no geographical presence in the Southeast. As IMEG, we have leveraged our national, full-service resources in providing a local presence to help grow our work and our expertise in the marketplace. 

We’ve had many successful projects focused on affordability and housing. While not glamorous, this is a huge need for our community and elsewhere. Over the last 12 to 18 months, we’ve done about 800 to 1,000 units in the Charlotte region, creating homes for people who otherwise couldn’t afford them. This approach has created a foundation for success for us and helps establish the region as an attractive place for people who have job opportunities here but need an affordable place to live. With the number of people relocating to Charlotte, affordability in housing will continue to be a main driver of need. For developers, however, how do you make it work economically? How do you get the tax credits, capture incentives, the benefits, and so on?”

How is the economic environment influencing housing development?

It’s a difficult time. Interest, construction, and labor costs are all rising, and banks require an additional 10% to 20% downpayment. This has put many projects on hold despite the huge need in our community. This is not just related to multifamily, but also senior living, student housing, and single-family homes. It’s been a big struggle. Where I’ve seen movement is on the affordable side, where there are incentives and tax credits that can help bridge that financing gap or help make it economically feasible. But we have seen a downturn in private development across the board, particularly in housing. 

On the flip side, we’re seeing a significant number of opportunities, discussions, and people wanting to do things. With further potential interest rate drops, and contractors becoming more competitive due to fewer projects, the market could turn around quickly. There is some concern, however, about a huge rush into the marketplace afterward.”

What are the key trends in assets like senior housing, multifamily, and student living?

Rehabbing or reusing buildings and converting them from an office or hotel into housing is a big trend. The financial side is still a bit of a struggle, but I still think that’s a good opportunity, not just today, but in the coming years. 

Also, the growing work-from-home environment has created a need for having a place to actually work in your home. For instance, a two-bedroom now might be more attractive than a one-bedroom because you can make the second bedroom the office. There’s also a big emphasis on the number of amenities you have, the cost to rent, and having a good location.

Then there is the technology aspect and how to integrate that into the home to be able to not only easily connect with others but also control the indoor environment. Can those in senior living facilities easily adjust the lighting and temperature of their rooms? Can they call their family via Alexa, get pictures and videos on their tablets? Those are some of the main drivers today. 

How are you integrating the sustainability piece into your housing projects?

We’re discovering a lot of developers and parties that are interested in sustainability and doing the right thing. We’re doing a lot of upfront studies about renewables and energy usage. If we swap out HVAC systems with something else, what’s the payback? What’s the life cycle? It’s about reviewing different what-if scenarios to come up with the best result, best bang for the buck, and quickest payback. 

We also are working on electrification—getting rid of gas usage in buildings—and leveraging the electrical grid. We’re also using geothermal on a couple of projects to provide heating and cooling. Our firm is even using geothermal and other technologies to create a local ‘micro-grid’ to provide power. You need to understand the needs of the developer and user, however, and tailor your solutions to what they want and what they can afford.

How do you envision the future of housing and what role would you like to see your firm play in that future?

I would love to be a thought leader, a national or regional expert, for anyone in the community to reach out to for advice or feedback. We provide engineering consulting services, and we want to work on projects, but we also want to be a resource for our communities because our passion to provide homes has a very positive impact on our communities. For our clients, we want to be seen as experts who provide value to their projects.

My biggest concern about housing is the affordability aspect, both for younger generations and especially the baby boomer generation, who will face increasingly higher costs in a senior living facility. Will that create a burden on the next generation to take care of their parents? Maybe we’ll need to start building multigenerational homes. 

Those are all big struggles right now. We need to find a way to efficiently create homes that are affordable but still entice developers to want to build them because they’re economically profitable. That’s a tough equation right now.