HAI Group Blog

Insurance, Risk Management, and Professional Development Tips for the Affordable Housing Industry.

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Kelly McElwain, Guest Contributor, Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation (PAHRC)

Kelly McElwain has spent the past decade advancing the preservation of affordable housing through her research and strides to improve data accessibility. She is currently the industry intelligence and research manager at the Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation (PAHRC), where she is responsible for managing the National Housing Preservation Database and researching affordable rental housing programs. Her research has examined affordable housing preservation needs and programs, exposure of affordable housing to natural hazards, the characteristics of people receiving housing assistance, and initiatives affordable housing providers are engaged in to boost resident outcomes. Her work has helped localities across the country document their affordable housing stock and build the case for preservation efforts. Before joining PAHRC, Kelly assisted nonprofits with research projects, donor stewardship, and grant writing as an intern and consultant. Kelly holds a master’s degree in public policy and a Certificate in Survey Research from the University of Connecticut, and a Bachelor of Science in Policy Studies and Biotechnology from Syracuse University. Contact Kelly at kmcelwain@pahrc.org.

Want to Build New Deeply Affordable Housing? Check Out the Faircloth-to-RAD Program

HAI Group is a leading sponsor of the Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation (PAHRC), a nonprofit that researches the impact that affordable homes bring to families and communities. In this guest blog, Kelly McElwain, PAHRC’s industry intelligence and research manager, explains how a recent federal program can be leveraged to address housing needs.

Despite an estimated shortage of 7.3 million rental homes affordable and available to extremely low-income families, public housing authorities (PHAs) nationwide have not received congressional funding to build new deeply affordable housing in their communities in decades. PHAs’ hands became even more tied after Congress passed the Faircloth Amendment, which capped PHA public housing stock at the number of public housing units they operated as of October 1, 1999 (known as their ‘Faircloth Authority’). This created a de facto ban on building new public housing.

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