SAN DIEGO—The pandemic has forced organizations to make massive operational changes that have impacted the balance sheet, scattered the CRE workforce and exposed the industry to new levels of risk. Panelists at the NMHC annual meeting here in San Diego dug into how companies are addressing these new challenges. 

According to moderator David Schwartz, chairman and CEO of Waterton, it wasn't long ago that risk, for multifamily, was about fire, hurricanes and liability claims. While those exposures remain, such as the Texas freeze, he said, COVID has brought a new era of risk to the industry "that requires us to rethink how to confront and mitigate the new landscape. The ripple effect of the lost job, rising costs, growing rent delinquencies and more are just some of the many fires we are putting out."

COVID, he said, has taught us that risk mitigation is more than just insurance—it's the ability to run a business under adverse and unpredictable conditions, to honestly evaluate threats and foresee conditions, and to shift gears quickly.

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Natalie Dolce

Natalie Dolce, editor-in-chief of GlobeSt.com and GlobeSt. Real Estate Forum, is responsible for working with editorial staff, freelancers and senior management to help plan the overarching vision that encompasses GlobeSt.com, including short-term and long-term goals for the website, how content integrates through the company’s other product lines and the overall quality of content. Previously she served as national executive editor and editor of the West Coast region for GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum, and was responsible for coverage of news and information pertaining to that vital real estate region. Prior to moving out to the Southern California office, she was Northeast bureau chief, covering New York City for GlobeSt.com. Her background includes a stint at InStyle Magazine, and as managing editor with New York Press, an alternative weekly New York City paper. In her career, she has also covered a variety of beats for M magazine, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, FashionLedge.com, and Co-Ed magazine. Dolce has also freelanced for a number of publications, including MSNBC.com and Museums New York magazine.