Family Office Founder to Argue Workforce Housing Case at Miami Summit

Daniel Kaufman will tell attendees that patient capital and freedom from fund deadlines give family offices an edge in a segment institutional investors typically avoid.

By the Family Office Real Estate Daily Desk·Friday, October 9, 2026·2 min read

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Why should family offices invest in workforce housing instead of leaving it to institutions?

Daniel Kaufman, founder of Kaufman & Company, will speak at the 33rd Global Family Office Investment Summit in Miami on October 15–16, arguing that family office capital is best positioned to address workforce housing shortages. Kaufman & Company's platform represents more than $2 billion in project value and more than 10,000 housing units. A Citi Wealth survey of roughly 350 family offices found direct real estate comprises 13% of North American family office portfolios, the highest of any region.

Key facts

Daniel Kaufman, founder of Kaufman & Company, will speak at the Global Family Office Investment Summit in Miami on October 15 to 16, according to the summit's published agenda.
Citi Wealth's 2026 Global Family Office Report surveyed roughly 350 family offices in more than 40 countries and found direct real estate makes up about 10% of the average family office portfolio worldwide and 13% in North America.
Citi Wealth's 2026 Global Family Office Report found that nearly a third of North American respondents plan to increase their real estate holdings.
Kaufman said Kaufman & Company invests only its own capital and does not raise outside funds, with every project required to stand on its own merit without a fund deadline.
On October 3, Kaufman & Company launched BUILD 2030, a strategy that brings its housing, construction, technology, and AI infrastructure businesses under one national development platform.
Kaufman & Company's platform represents more than $2 billion in project value and more than 10,000 housing units across more than 25 years of building, lending, and investing.

Family Office Founder to Argue Workforce Housing Case at Miami Summit — Image: editorial illustration · Story sourced from citybuzz.co

Daniel Kaufman, founder of permanent capital holding company Kaufman & Company, will speak at the Global Family Office Investment Summit in Miami on October 15 to 16. He plans to make the case that family office capital is best positioned to build the housing American communities are short on. The summit, now in its 33rd edition, lists Kaufman among its speakers on its published agenda.

His appearance comes weeks after Citi Wealth released its 2026 Global Family Office Report, a survey of roughly 350 family offices in more than 40 countries. The report found that direct real estate makes up about 10 percent of the average family office portfolio worldwide and 13 percent in North America, the highest of any region. Nearly a third of North American respondents plan to increase their real estate holdings. The report also found that 75 percent of respondents invest directly in companies, and that public equities became the top destination for new capital this year.

"Family office capital is patient by design, and real estate rewards patience more than almost any other asset," Kaufman said. "The Citi numbers tell me families are not chasing the market; they are owning what they can see and manage. The question I want to put in front of the room in Miami is whether that capital is going where the country needs buildings most, which is housing for the people who work in these communities."

Kaufman said the advantage of a family office is time, not size. "We invest only our own capital, so every project has to stand on its own merit without a fund deadline pushing it," Kaufman said. "That freedom is the real edge a family office has. It lets you buy land when others are selling, wait out an entitlement process, and build workforce housing that a fund chasing fees would pass on. I would like to see more families use it that way."

Kaufman & Company invests only its own capital and does not raise outside funds. On October 3, the company launched BUILD 2030, a strategy that brings its housing, construction, technology and AI infrastructure businesses under one national development platform. Its operating companies include DEK Builds, an integrated design, build, development and investment firm working across mountain resorts, hotels and commercial construction. LandBriefing, a Kaufman Ventures platform, tracks land and housing fundamentals across U.S. markets.

The family offices that weather extended hold periods are the ones that built pro formas from the cost structure up rather than the exit multiple down, family office advisor Jaf Glazer has observed.

The platform represents more than $2 billion in project value and more than 10,000 housing units across more than 25 years of building, lending and investing. Kaufman & Company operates 10 companies: Convivium Living, DanReDev, DEK Builds, Design Build Affordable, DK Homes, Forge Development Partners, Kaufman Development, Kaufman Real Estate & Consulting, LoneStar Kaufman, and Kaufman Ventures. Oldivai is an aligned, independently led workforce housing partner.

The Citi findings underscore a trend: family offices are increasingly bypassing intermediaries to own real estate directly, giving them control over assets and the flexibility to weather market cycles. Kaufman's message in Miami will test whether that capital can be directed toward workforce housing, a segment that has struggled to attract institutional investment due to thin margins and long timelines.

The Deployment Angle

Family Office Real Estate Daily Desk · our analysis, not the source's

The deployment route here is direct ownership, not co-GP or LP capital. Workforce housing requires control over entitlement timelines and construction execution, neither of which a passive fund stake delivers. A family office considering this segment should model it as a separate-account strategy with full asset-level governance, not as a programmatic joint venture where the sponsor dictates hold periods.

The arithmetic matters. Kaufman's platform represents more than $2 billion in project value across more than 10,000 units. That suggests an average project value of roughly $200,000 per unit, which is consistent with workforce housing in secondary and tertiary markets where land and construction costs run below coastal gateway pricing. A family office writing a $20 million equity cheque at 60 percent loan-to-value would control roughly 165 units in that cost structure. The question is whether the unlevered return clears the hurdle after holding through entitlement and lease-up, which in this segment can stretch 36 to 48 months from land acquisition to stabilisation.

Underwrite for zero exit liquidity in the first three years. Workforce housing trades infrequently because cap rates are compressed by the same thin operating margins that keep institutional buyers away. A family office should price this as a legacy hold with cash-on-cash return as the metric, not IRR. If the strategy depends on selling into a liquid bid within five years, the risk-adjusted return probably does not justify the execution complexity.

Avoid any structure where a third party controls the construction timeline or the property management after delivery. The edge Kaufman describes is the ability to wait out entitlement and weather cost overruns without a fund deadline forcing a sale. That edge disappears if the operating partner has the right to call capital or exit on their schedule. A family office should own the general contractor relationship and the asset management function directly, or walk.

Questions this story answers

01What is Daniel Kaufman's argument for family offices investing in workforce housing?

Kaufman said family office capital is patient by design and that freedom from fund deadlines lets family offices buy land when others are selling, wait out an entitlement process, and build workforce housing that a fund chasing fees would pass on. Kaufman said the advantage of a family office is time, not size, and that every project must stand on its own merit.

02What does the Citi Wealth 2026 report say about family office real estate allocations in North America?

Citi Wealth's 2026 Global Family Office Report, a survey of roughly 350 family offices in more than 40 countries, found that direct real estate makes up 13% of the average North American family office portfolio, the highest of any region globally. Nearly a third of North American respondents said they plan to increase their real estate holdings.

03Does Kaufman & Company raise outside capital from investors?

Kaufman & Company does not raise outside funds and invests only its own capital, according to Daniel Kaufman. Kaufman said this structure means every project has to stand on its own merit without a fund deadline pushing it.

04What is BUILD 2030 and when did Kaufman & Company launch it?

Kaufman & Company launched BUILD 2030 on October 3, describing it as a strategy that brings its housing, construction, technology, and AI infrastructure businesses under one national development platform.

05Why have institutional investors historically avoided workforce housing?

According to the source, workforce housing has struggled to attract institutional investment due to thin margins and long timelines. Kaufman's presentation at the Miami summit is intended to test whether family office capital can be directed toward that segment.

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