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NLIHC and the Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation (PAHRC) released a new report, 2020 Picture of Preservation, that explores the pivotal role the federal government plays in building and preserving affordable rental homes at a time when millions of people in America are facing housing instability during the coronavirus pandemic. This report highlights the need for additional resources to protect the affordability of these homes; nearly 300,000 may be lost from the nation’s affordable stock in the next five years.

Even before the pandemic, the U.S. faced a shortage of 7 million rental homes affordable and available to the lowest-income renter households. Picture of Preservation finds that just 4.9 million rental homes are subsidized through federal project-based subsidies to serve low-income households, representing a mere 10% of the entire rental housing stock. Nearly two-thirds of these homes (64%) are more than 20 years old. Many of these homes are at-risk of being lost from the affordable housing stock through the expiration of affordability requirements, deteriorating physical conditions, and inadequate federal funding.

NLIHC and PAHRC used information from our National Housing Preservation Database (NHPD) and other sources to compile the findings in the report. “We hope local planners, policymakers, and housing professionals will use these data and the findings from this report to inform their local housing preservation plans,” said PAHRC Director of Research and Industry Intelligence Keely Stater.

Given the importance of affordable housing to families’ well-being and to public health, there is an urgent need for significant federal investments in programs that preserve existing affordable homes,” said NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel.

2020 Picture of Preservation is available here.

Statewide preservation profiles are available here.

Texas Affordable Housing Preservation