About Us

Founded in 1992, G. L. French & Associates Inc. provides consulting services to private sector clients e.g., management companies, colleges and universities, and trade organizations. We also provide technical support and training for Public Housing Authorities.

We completed a long-term assignment with a small historically black college and university (HBCU) several years ago in which we designed, developed and implemented a real estate degree program with an emphasis on property management.  Additional resources were provided by the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM).  Currently, the program is the only one of its kind in the nation.

Our previous assignments have addressed management-resident relations; security (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design applications); assistance to private management companies with public housing portfolios; forensic assessments for potential purchasers of multifamily properties; training for city departments in new ordinances or code requirements; presentations for trade organizations; and Section 504 compliance issues.

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About the Founder

Glenn French, CPM® Emeritus, is considered one of the nation's foremost trainers in property management. A member of the Institute of Real Estate Management's (IREM) national faculty for more than thirty years, he has a keen understanding of that blend of technical expertise and human resource skills required to be successful. French also is a member of the National Faculty of NeighborWorks America, one of the nation's largest providers of technical assistance, homebuyer counseling and education to the affordable housing community.

His site-level experiences include opening the first new apartment community in an area devastated as a result of the civil disorders following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. He personally managed this property, the Lincoln-Westmoreland Apartments, for the first five years of its existence and it served as a foundation for future investment in the Shaw area of Washington, DC. The 10 story, 108-unit high-rise, opened in 1971, remains successful today and has added a second phase.

He also personally managed a 517-unit complex in Washington, the Mayfair Mansions, during the initial stages of its major renovation in the eighties. This apartment community, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was overrun with illegal drug activity during his tenure. His role in its successful elimination was covered in USA Today and Time Magazine.

His public housing experience includes employment with the Cambridge (MA) Housing Authority as its director of management. At the executive director's request, French performed an assessment of current operations that resulted in the authority's adoption of site-based management and budgeting many years before the HUD-mandated transition to asset management that now requires it. As a consultant, he was hired by Harvard University to work on the Public Housing Operating Cost Study that served as the basis for the conversion.

HUD Headquarters has contracted with him to present elements of his seminars on site-based management to more than 50 field offices via direct-learning satellite transmission. His book Government-Assisted Housing-Professional Strategies for Site Managers has been used for textbooks by HUD, the Real Estate Management Brokers' Institute (REMBI) of National Association of Real Estate Brokers, the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) and other trade organizations consultants, and private educational institutions.

An innovative training consultant, French's IREM-endorsed seminars, "Tackling Drug Problems in Multi-Family Housing" and "The Professional Management of Troubled Housing" have been offered by HFAs. chapters of IREM, the National Apartment Association and similar sponsors throughout the nation.

French has been a very active member of the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM), serving as the President of the Boston Chapter in 1980. He has served as a member of the IREM's Greater Raleigh-Durham Chapter's Executive Committee for the past 22 years. On the national level, he has served on many committees and boards including the Executive Committee, Governing Council, Faculty Committee, and Education Committee. He has chaired the Faculty Forum, Minority Outreach Committee and the Course 102 Board (public housing education). He was the chief author of Course 102, which IREM used to gain accreditation from HUD to certify public housing managers. Mr. French has been appointed by Raleigh, NC Mayor Nancy McFarlane for two terms on the board of directors of DHIC, Inc., a prominent developer of affordable housing in North Carolina.

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