The Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation (PAHRC) and the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) led an engaging virtual session on Wednesday, Dec. 11, focused on key trends, challenges, and resources for preserving affordable housing.
The session explored why preservation is critical, the risks threatening affordable housing efforts, and emerging trends highlighted in the 2024 Picture of Preservation report. Presenters also shared tools from the National Housing Preservation Database (NHPD) to help housing organizations advocate for and sustain affordable housing stock.
Attendees brought thoughtful questions to the discussion. In this post, Kelly McElwain, manager of research and industry intelligence at PAHRC, addresses the most common questions and provides actionable tips and resources to help your organization drive preservation efforts forward.
The Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation (PAHRC) is a member of the HAI Group family of companies. Its work focuses on the impact affordable homes have on families and communities.
Kelly McElwain (KM): The number of federally assisted homes with affordability restrictions expiring in the next five years and the number that failed their latest REAC score has grown since we began publishing this report in 2019. Additionally, a growing share of homes with expiring affordability restrictions have property characteristics that can increase their likelihood of exiting the affordable housing stock. Non-renewable subsidy programs assist more of these homes now, which could increase competition for already scarce affordable housing funds. More resources are needed to preserve the long-term maintenance and operation of existing affordable homes and to build new affordable homes.
KM: Stakeholders can use the preservation dashboard and NHPD to assess the local federally assisted housing stock and identify properties that could be at risk of loss. Understanding your local affordable housing stock can help states, cities, and interested stakeholders develop a preservation plan that establishes local priorities and effectively informs how to allocate scarce funding.
The NHPD has been used to develop housing strategy plans in Norfolk, CT, Athens-Clark County, GA, and North Bend, WA. Quantifying the need for local preservation can also equip housing stakeholders with data to make the case to legislators to appropriate funding and enact policies to mitigate these risks. Stakeholders used local data from the NHPD to justify the appropriation of $60 million to preserve affordable housing in Utah and pass policies to create an affordable housing directory and notice requirements for properties terminating their affordability restrictions in Philadelphia, PA. Additionally, the NHPD can inform local funders and advocates about specific properties that may be at risk. Advocates can use the database to target proactive outreach efforts to inform owners of these properties about their options to reinvest in the property and preserve its’ long-term affordability.
KM: You can locate and download a list of properties reaching the end of their affordability restrictions in your area by logging in to the NHPD. From there, you can filter properties by active property status and with the latest end date in the next five years in your region of interest. You can also view and filter these properties on our interactive map. If you want to know how many homes are nearing the end of their affordability restrictions in your community, you can access our preservation dashboard or request a preservation toolkit for your area.
KM: Because all communities are different, local priorities and needs should determine affordable housing preservation strategies. Common themes to consider are affordability restriction expiration dates, physical condition, target tenant population, proximity to amenities, the affordable housing gap in the neighborhood, the ease of replacement, and propensity to reposition to market-rate housing.
KM: While we have a good understanding of when properties are nearing the end of their affordability restrictions imposed by federal mandates, states, and localities can impose additional restrictions on properties not easily tracked nationally. We have contacted state agencies to make information on state-funded subsidies and affordability restrictions available in the NHPD, but this data isn’t always stored electronically. Public information on the physical and financial condition of federally assisted properties is also not available for many affordable housing programs. Additionally, we often don’t know what happens to properties and tenants once affordability restrictions lapse. These properties could increase rents substantially and reposition to market-rate housing, increase rents slightly and remain moderately affordable, continue to operate as naturally occurring affordable housing without formal affordability restrictions, be demolished, or repositioned to another purpose.
Did you miss the virtual event? You can watch it on demand here: Affordable Housing Preservation Trends and Resources. For more information, check out PAHRC and NLIHC’s report, the 2024 Picture of Preservation, and the interactive preservation dashboard.
This article is for general information only. HAI Group makes no representation or warranty about the accuracy or applicability of this information for any particular use or circumstance. Your use of this information is at your own discretion and risk. HAI Group and any author or contributor identified herein assume no responsibility for your use of this information. You should consult with your attorney or subject matter advisor before adopting any risk management strategy or policy.