A Guide for Action: Risk Assessment Studies Facilitate More Efficient Rental Housing Preservation Efforts in Maryland

By Caitlin Jones
October 24, 2011 1 min read

Tax Credit Advisor, October 2011:

By Robert Lefenfeld, Real Property Research Group, Inc.

Advocates and policymakers have always struggled to address affordable housing needs with limited resources. With Congress leaning towards further cost-cutting and austerity measures, resources to support affordable housing are likely to become even scarcer in the future, making it critical to preserve existing assets in a more efficient manner.

With the assistance of The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the state of Maryland has taken a market-based, proactive approach with its new BRAC Preservation Initiative program, a partnership between local and state governments. The aim has been to help nine Maryland counties and the state to identify and preserve the specific multifamily rental housing properties at greatest risk of being lost from the affordable housing stock due to population growth and new development caused by the expansion of existing military installations in these counties. Officials can prioritize the properties that they seek to preserve and target their resources to the most vulnerable candidates, proactively reaching out to owners beforehand rather than waiting to react to proposed market-rate conversions.

Breaking Ground

Jennifer Leimaile Ho, Minnesota Housing Commissioner and Incoming Chair of National Council of State Housing Agencies

Pamela Martineau • December 1, 2024 10 min read

Earlier this fall, Jennifer Leimaile Ho was elected chair of the National Council of State Housing Agencies’ (NCSHA) 2025 Board of Directors. Ho is the Commissioner of Minnesota Housing, having been appointed by Governor Tim Walz in January 2019 and reappointed in 2023.

“Business as Usual”

Leaders in Equity Express Optimism Despite an Uncertain Future

Abram Mamet • December 1, 2024 9 min read

Any outside observer may assume some unease amongst the low-income housing industry. Buffeted on the one hand by residual stressors from the COVID-19 pandemic and on the other by the uncertain prospects of an incoming federal administration keen on cutting spending and shrinking government programs, the affordable housing landscape is experiencing an inflection point.

NCSHA Recognizes Stand-Out Affordable Housing Programs and Initiatives

Pamela Martineau • December 1, 2024 7 min read

This fall, the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA) recognized 17 programs offered by state housing finance agencies across the nation that creatively developed tools to tackle their communities’ affordable housing challenges.