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National Housing Trust Newsletter
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Greetings!
 There's one thing we all can agree on: Everyone should have the opportunity to live in a quality community they're proud to call home. What does such a community look like? In my mind it comes down to this: access to good jobs, decent schools, affordable homes, and quality transportation.
Creating such communities can be challenging. The promise of improved mobility and access from transit service often spurs new development interest along transit corridors. While this investment is often good for communities, it can mean the loss of affordable housing if action is not taken to protect vulnerable families who already live near transit.
By preserving diverse housing options near transit, community leaders and developers can ensure that people of all incomes enjoy the benefits of quality, affordable transit. A new report by National Housing Trust, Enterprise, and Reconnecting America details how four U.S. cities are doing just this. "Preserving Affordable Housing Near Transit: Case Studies from Atlanta, Denver, Seattle and Washington, D.C." describes ways metropolitan areas are addressing affordable housing preservation challenges and opportunities, and identifies the strategies and tools communities can use to preserve already existing affordable housing near transit.
I urge you to download the report and use it as a resource. If we're going to have communities with a diversity of housing options, safeguarding affordable housing near transit is a must.
Stay Tuned, |
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Stimulus Resources Allow Residents to Preserve and Green Affordable Homes in Revitalizing W. Baltimore Neighborhood
 | | Stimulus resources help save Poppleton Coop in Baltimore |
Low income families who had endured deteriorating living conditions in W. Baltimore's Poppleton neighborhood will now be able to enjoy its resurgence. This is exemplified in the acquisition and preservation of Poppleton Cooperative. Poppleton Cooperative will be rehabilitated and redeveloped into 111 quality rental homes affordable to very low-income families and seniors. A complicated mix of stimulus funding sources, including the New Issue Bond Program and HUD's Green Retrofit Program, have proven critical to the success of the financing.
A considerable increase in public and private investment is reshaping the Poppleton neighborhood... |
Next Housing Crisis Looms; 77,000 Families Face Rent Increases or Displacement 
Tens of thousands of low-income families face escalating rents if tenant and affordability protections are not extended to properties with maturing HUD-subsidized mortgages. Residents living in apartments not covered by project-based Section 8 contracts and financed through the HUD Section 236, Section 221(d)(3) below market interest rate (BMIR), and Section 202 Direct Loan programs do not qualify for continued rental assistance when the HUD subsidized mortgage expires.
A National Housing Trust analysis reveals that over the next five years 77,000 families and seniors are at risk of rent increases or displacement because HUD-subsidized mortgages have recently matured or are due to mature. The good news: there is strong, broad consensus within the affordable housing industry for extending existing tenant and affordability protections to these units now at risk. More than 45 organizations have joined the National Housing Trust in a letter urging Congress to act quickly to:
- Provide enhanced vouchers or project-based assistance for low-income residents of buildings with maturing HUD-subsidized mortgages; and
- Allow the project-basing of enhanced vouchers at the option of the owner to provide long-term affordability of apartments that otherwise lose their rent restrictions.
In addition, the letter called on Congress to take steps to preserve properties with Rental Assistance Payment, Rent Supplement, and Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation contracts. All of the provisions outlined in the letter are uncontroversial and were adopted by the House Financial Services Committee on July 27, 2010 as part of H.R. 4868, the Housing Preservation and Tenant Protection Act.
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LIVE ONLINE EVENT: Preserving Affordable Housing Near Transit: Strategies and Tools for CDCs and Nonprofit Affordable Housing Developers
Regions across the United States are expanding public transportation systems to allow more residential choices, improve access to employment centers, reduce traffic congestion, and lower levels of greenhouse gas emissions. These transit investments will increase property values in many areas, creating both community development opportunities and challenges. By taking action to preserve diverse housing options near transit, community leaders and developers can ensure that people of all incomes can enjoy the benefits of these investments.
Join the National Housing Trust, Enterprise, and Reconnecting America for a discussion concerning how community leaders, community development corporations (CDCs), and nonprofit affordable housing developers can successfully preserve existing affordable rental housing near transit. Speakers will present key findings from an analysis of preservation strategies, including transaction case studies, in four metropolitan regions with expanding transit systems: Atlanta, Denver, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. You'll learn about resources and tools for aligning housing preservation and transit-oriented development and how CDCs are effectively preserving affordable housing near transit in these 4 metros.
Speakers include:
- Melinda Pollack, Director, Vulnerable Populations and Rental Preservation, Enterprise Community Partners
- Robert Richardson, Development Manager, Housing Preservation Initiative, National Housing Trust
- Allison Brooks, Managing Director, Reconnecting America
DATE and TIME: Monday, October 25, 2010 from 1:00 to 2:30 PM (Eastern)
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
Related Resources:
NHT- Enterprise- Reconnecting America Report:Preserving Affordable Housing Near Transit: Case Studies from Atlanta, Denver, Seattle and Washington, D.C. Download the executive summary HERE (4 MB) or the full report HERE (7 MB). |
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