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National Housing Trust Turns 25!

Michael Bodaken with NHT founders Marilyn Melkonian and Sara Johnson. Photo by Kristian Whipple.

2011 marks the 25th anniversary of the National Housing Trust. NHT was founded to engage in affordable housing preservation public policy development and advocacy, informed by practice and experience. Over the years, our mission has always been to protect and improve existing affordable rental homes so that low income individuals and families can live in quality neighborhoods with access to opportunities.

NHT remains the only national nonprofit solely dedicated to affordable housing preservation using the tools of public policy advocacy, real estate development, and lending. To date the Trust and its affiliates have helped to save more than 22,000 affordable apartments in 41 states, including more than 6,500 apartments through lending and more than 5,800 apartments through real estate development. NHT has made loans totaling more than $14.5 million and has leveraged more than $1 billion in financing. 

NHT would like to thank its friends and partners for their continued support, which has made these preservation successes possible. We look forward to another 25 years of this vital work!

HUD Sec. Donovan with the Martinez sisters who fought to save their affordable homes. Photo by Kristian Whipple.

Tenant Tenacity Saves Affordable Homes: Grand Opening of St. Dennis Apartments

On October 6th, D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham joined residents, neighbors, and community developers to celebrate the Grand Opening of the St. Dennis Apartments in Washington, D.C.'s Mt. Pleasant neighborhood. Low income working families, many of whom had endured deplorable living conditions at the property, can now enjoy fully renovated, energy efficient affordable apartments.

The preservation and renovation of St. Dennis was made possible due to the tenacity of the Martinez family who refused to be forced from their neighborhood when their landlord sought to convert the apartment building to luxury condominiums.

Click here to read the full story.

National Housing Trust Meets with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to Discuss the Importance of Affordable Multifamily Rental Housing

Photo by Peter Larson/Medill News Service

Michael Bodaken of the National Housing Trust and NHT board members Sheila Crowley (National Low Income Housing Coalition)  and Brian Hudson (Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency)  met with Chairman Ben Bernanke of the Federal Reserve and Governors Elizabeth Duke and Sarah Bloom  on October 13th to highlight the importance of affordable multifamily rental housing in the U.S. market. 

The meeting provided an opportunity to emphasize the need to maintain a balanced housing policy that includes support for sustainable rental housing. Ms. Crowley noted the rising number of American rental households and the continued demand for affordable rental housing. Michael Bodaken and Brian Hudson explained the importance of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program to preserving America's affordable housing stock, highlighting how LIHTC credits have historically been used to rehabilitate and preserve roughly 60,000 affordable apartments a year. The Trust also emphasized the positive role played by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the rental market since 2008, pointing out that the GSEs provided liquidity in the multifamily market and maintained a default rate under 1% at a time when private lenders reduced their multifamily investments.  

The Federal Reserve Board was quite engaged with the concept of converting hundreds of thousands of vacant single family homes to rental units, an effort that could decrease the oversupply of single family homes while stabilizing housing prices and meeting demand for affordable rental housing.

The meeting went well.  As the number of American renters grows, it stands to reason that the Federal Reserve will continue to be interested in multifamily housing finance and rental housing policy.   

Seattle Publishes First-of-Its-Kind Guide to Preserving Affordable Housing  

In July of this year, using funding provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Seattle Office of Housing published a comprehensive guide to preserving multifamily affordable housing. In partnership with the Washington State Department of Commerce and a number of nonprofit organizations, the guide is designed as a "road-map" offering guidance to affordable housing project sponsors who wish to assess portfolio needs and develop preservation strategies that ensure the long-term viability of their portfolios. 

The Guide aims at tracking operations and implementing a plan of action early as a means of 'heading off' financial trouble. Focusing on multifamily affordable-housing properties financed with both private and public funds, the guide walks property owners through three preservation steps - from assessing property needs, to setting preservation priorities, to implementing preservation plans.  Pulling from the experience of eight Seattle-based housing agencies, the guide includes "ready-to-use tools" and examples of successful, replicable preservation strategies. 

A copy of the guide can be found here. 

PSE&G Expands Utility-Funded Multifamily Energy Retrofit Program 

• The program provides resources for whole building retrofits. PSE&G contractors perform a comprehensive energy audit to ensure that the most cost- effective energy efficiency improvements are targeted.  
• Incentives eliminate or significantly reduce the owner's contribution to the construction costs.  Owners have the option of repaying the zero interest loans through energy savings on their utility bill.
• Participating owners who may be unfamiliar with how to procure energy efficiency services receive guidance and technical assistance for soliciting contractor bids.
• To gain access to potential customers, PSE&G relied on NJHMFA's help to reach multifamily owners.

Click here to download a PSE&G's paper about how the program is structured.