Evidence Matters Features Affordable Housing Preservation

Key Findings

• The nation's supply of affordable rental housing — both subsidized and unsubsidized — is shrinking, even as demand increases.
   

• Preserving existing affordable housing has a variety of economic and social benefits and is typically more efficient than building new units.
   

• Spatial mapping programs can help policymakers get a more comprehensive view of an area's affordable housing stock to better target preservation efforts.
   

• Preservation compacts such as those in Cook County, Illinois and the state of Ohio are grant-based initiatives that take a highly collaborative and multipronged approach to affordable rental housing preservation, with strategies focusing on analyzing data for at-risk properties, facilitating partnerships across levels of government, and reducing operating costs.
   

• State housing trust funds, including those in Washington and Delaware, use a dedicated public source of revenue to fund affordable housing projects. These programs are typically administered by public agencies and offer states flexibility in supporting their local needs.