Join us at the Economic Development Summit on Thursday, June 20 for a breakout session on new development incentives to aid businesses and developers looking to make the move to Tinseltown. As one of the most rapidly growing areas in Los Angeles, Hollywood stands poised to welcome a new generation to its iconic streets and our expert panel featuring the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Erich Yost, the Gonzales Law Group’s Michael Gonzales, and Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP’s Alfred Fraijo, Jr. will provide insight into navigating the field and seeking out development incentives in Hollywood.

Register for the 2019 Hollywood Economic Development Summit

Erich Yost, Management Analyst (Community Initiatives), U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Office of Field Policy and Management in the Los Angeles Field Office

Erich Yost is a Management Analyst (Community Initiatives) with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Office of Field Policy and Management in the Los Angeles Field Office. His focus is on interagency placed-based White House and Secretarial initiatives including Opportunity Zones, Promise Zones, Choice Neighborhoods, Homelessness, and Affordable Housing. His expertise is with building or strengthening public-private partnerships to align and leverage federal, regional, state, and local resources to assist low-income communities. In one of his roles, he serves as the Los Angeles Promise Zone Community Liaison. The Los Angeles Promise Zone is a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization initiative to fight urban poverty in Central Los Angeles. It was one of the first five Promise Zones designated by the White House and to date, he has helped the community receive 62 federal grants totaling over $293 million in federal funds from 16 federal agencies, all national Promise Zone records.

Erich is also a recognized knowledge expert in Opportunity Zones and serves on several HUD workgroups where he is developing new resources for communities to leverage this new form of private funding along with targeting federal funding. Erich also participated in the creation of HUD’s Place-Based Executive Committee as a co-chair of the Training Subcommittee focused on training agency staff about HUD’s place-based initiatives and operational model. Prior to his current role, Erich was a Supervisory Project Manager for HUD’s Los Angeles Multifamily Development team where he helped develop HUD’s Low Income Housing Tax Credit Pilot (LIHTC) program, financed over $3 Billion in Federal Housing Administration insured-loans, and financed the first Rental Assistance Demonstration rental housing conversion in the nation. Erich received his undergraduate degree in Economics/Business from UCLA where he graduated Cum Laude and he received his MBA from the University of California, Irvine Paul Merage School of Management where he was a Dean’s Scholar. Mr. Yost previously was an entrepreneur and private sector leader. He was the Director of Investment Management at Edison Capital and has held various positions at Wells Fargo Bank, First Interstate Bank, and Cushman & Wakefield.  Mr. Yost is frequently asked to speak about federal place-based initiatives by organizations such as The Aspen Institute, Partnership for Public Service, Urban Land Institute, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, and USC Sol Price Center for Social Innovation.  

Michael Gonzales, Founder and Land Use Attorney, The Gonzales Law Group