New Affordable Housing Preservation Tool Empowers Advocates to Save Housing

Have you ever wanted to get a list of all of the federally assisted multifamily properties in your community, but couldn’t find one that was truly comprehensive? Have you ever wished you could see if a property had more than one subsidy attached to it, but didn’t want to have to go to multiple datasets to do it? Do you want to be able to see which affordable properties in your community have upcoming contract expiration dates so you can focus your efforts on ensuring those properties remain affordable? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, then you will be happy to hear that a new tool is now available that will allow you to do all of the above and much more!

The National Housing Preservation Database is an address-level database of all federally subsidized multifamily properties in the country. It includes information on properties with the following types of assistance:

• HUD Project-Based Rental Assistance.
• HUD Insured Mortgages (including Section 236 and Section 221(d)(3) BMIR).
• Section 202 Direct Loans.
• Low Income Housing Tax Credits.
• HOME Rental Assistance.
• Rural Development Section 515.
• Rural Development Section 538.
• Public Housing.

This database contains the most comprehensive information about the location and status of over 70,000 properties and 3.5 million units.

We encourage you to take some time to explore this brand new resource. There is a “Preservation Tool” that allows you to search for specific types of properties in the geography of your choice, and there is a “Research Tool” that allows you to download the entire dataset. A detailed User Guide provides more information on how to use each of these tools. You can also view a map of all of the federally subsidized properties in your community on this website.

Affordable housing advocates know how vital the existing stock of project-based housing is to low income households in this country and have been waiting for a tool like this that might assist them in their efforts to identify and preserve this housing. Many cities and states have created similar databases for their locality and local governments, tenant organizers, nonprofit developers and others have used these databases to preserve affordable housing in those communities. Now, it is possible for people all over the country to create similar databases and coalitions.

If you are interested in creating a local database that includes properties with state and local subsidies from this larger database, feel free to contact Megan Bolton, Research Director at NLIHC at megan@nlihc.org.

Let us know what you think of the database and the mapping tool, and share with us how you might use this information to preserve affordable housing in your community. Let’s talk preservation in the comments!

Meet Our Interns: Riley Keenan

The National Low Income Housing Coalition is fortunate to have great interns every semester and summer. Our summer interns have been sharing their experiences at the Coalition with you over the last few weeks. This is the last of their posts before our fall interns begin. Think interning with the Coalition might be for you? Learn more here! We’re still accepting applications for both communications and research interns.

I began my research internship with the National Low Income Housing Coalition with a somewhat

Riley Keenan with fellow summer interns Marcus Mello, Becca Larew and Chelsea Dalziel

daunting task: calculating the number of housing units available to low income households in each county in each state in the United States. Although not all of my responsibilities were this complex, I think this example illustrates an important point about the research internship at NLIHC. The research department is the engine room of a data-driven advocacy machine, and as a result, there are times when research interns will feel like they are drowning in numbers. One of the most valuable aspects of the internship, however, is the opportunity to discover the many ways in which those numbers can directly impact the success of NLIHC’s advocacy mission.

Rights issues for low income individuals have been important to me since my first foray into the professional world in 2010. That summer, I interned with Reston Interfaith, an outstanding organization that runs a homeless shelter, food bank and subsidized childcare center in my hometown of Reston, VA. This experience encouraged me to get more involved with low income rights issues when I returned to school at the University of Virginia in the fall. I began volunteering with the Legal Aid Justice Center, a clinic that provides subsidized legal services to low income individuals in the Charlottesville area. When it finally came time to look for work after graduation, these experiences led me to consider opportunities in low income rights advocacy, and this position at NLIHC stood out to me as an excellent fit.

My degree from UVA is in American Studies and History, so my coworkers are often surprised to learn that data analysis is a type of work that I very much enjoy. My quantitative skills came in handy this summer with a variety of projects, including the Congressional District Housing Profiles and data analyses for our state-level partner organizations. I also found that the writing skills I developed in college were useful in my internship, as I was tasked with drafting articles on new housing research for our membership newsletter, Memo to Members. On the other hand, many of the tasks I encountered at NLIHC were new and challenged me to grow as a professional. For example, as part of a research project on state-funded rental assistance programs, I was asked to reach out via email and phone to government officials and to director-level staff at our state partner organizations. This helped me to expand my professional communication and interpersonal skills.

I chose to intern with the National Low Income Housing Coalition this summer for a simple reason: affordable housing issues affect everybody. If you are committed to working for change, are looking to gain experience with a mission-driven team and don’t mind getting your hands a little dirty in Excel, then I highly recommend this internship experience to you.

A Research Repository that Empowers Housing Advocacy

As part of our work to expand the capacity of advocates for low income housing, the National Low Income Housing Coalition works with state-level housing and homelessness advocacy organizations to support them in their federal housing advocacy work. One of the most important roles our State Coalition Project plays is in providing our state partners a venue, whether in D.C., in conference calls or online, to share information and exchange ideas about how to do their work.

Often, our state partners themselves suggest ways the Coalition can assist them in expanding their capacity as advocacy organizations. Over the years, our partners have used the Coalition’s state partner listserv to share research and reports they’ve produced on important housing issues in their states. Our research team decided that these reports should have their own place on our website, and the State Internet Research Repository was born.

SIRR includes research reports, white papers and other materials on housing need, the economic impact of housing, homelessness and other relevant issues. Each of them provides good information and can act as a starting point for developing similar work in your own community. Thinking about creating a predatory lending database? Read this report from Illinois on a database pilot project there. Do you work with a tenant council? Learn best practices for creating an elected leadership body in this report from Delaware. Looking for creative ways to present data on housing need? Check out this report from Washington State for inspiration.

We aim for SIRR to showcase research from as many states as possible. Know of a good report to add to the collection? Mention it in the comments.

Meet Our Interns: Chelsea Dalziel

The National Low Income Housing Coalition is fortunate to have great interns every semester and summer. Over the next several weeks, each of our summer interns will share their experiences at the Coalition with you. Think interning with the Coalition might be for you? Learn more here!

For as long as I can remember, I have been passionate about public interest and social justice issues. This passion led me to become an active volunteer throughout my high school and undergraduate career, as well as to my decision to attend law school, where my desire to serve the public interest is reinforced on a daily basis.

As an active member in Charlotte Law’s Pro Bono Program, I have had multiple opportunities to assist vulnerable and underrepresented populations in my community. Being part of this program has led me to develop a desire to serve the underserved on the larger scale through research and policy work. So I was immediately interested in applying for an internship position with the National Low Income Housing Coalition as soon as I learned of the opportunity.

At NLIHC, I am currently one of two research interns. I am extremely fortunate to hold such a position, because it allows me develop a diverse skill set that would be hard to obtain elsewhere. My responsibilities as a research intern vary greatly, including writing articles for NLIHC’s weekly newsletter, Memo to Members; researching low income housing trends and programs in place to assist low income individuals; and updating state housing profiles. I have also had a few opportunities to attend congressional hearings to help show the organization’s support or opposition to certain legislation.

While it can be challenging being a new intern, it is a challenge that should be met head on. The staff at NLIHC is friendly, supportive and very appreciative of all of their interns. They understand that new interns might not be savvy to the inner workings of the organization, or to all of the prevalent issues NLIHC was established to address. They are happy to answer as many questions as you may have, as well as expose you to as much as they possibly can.

Although my internship position has not yet ended, it has already produced multiple benefits for my future. For example, holding such a position has helped me secure an advocacy intern position with the Charlotte Housing Authority that I will begin in the fall. It has also played a part in my acceptance onto the editorial board of a new law journal that focuses on civil and social justice issues, where I plan on utilizing the knowledge I have gained from NLIHC to develop and publish an article focused on low income housing issues.

If you are a public interest-minded individual seeking a diverse and rewarding experience in the heart of D.C., and interested in assisting a distinguished nonprofit organization with their mission, I would highly recommend an internship with NLIHC.

We need the facts – We need the ACS.

Many Americans probably wonder how decisions are made about what federal, state, and local funds will be spent on. At all levels of government, one of the most useful tools for understanding the needs of a community and for determining how funds are spent is the American Community Survey (ACS). At NLIHC and throughout the affordable housing field, ACS data are used to determine the need for affordable housing, making this resource extremely important to the work we do. Here’s how it works:

Approximately three million households across America participate in the ACS every year, providing timely data on the social, economic, demographic, and housing characteristics of the U.S. population.

NLIHC and other affordable housing organizations use the ACS data to produce resources and educational tools such as Out of Reach, the Congressional District Profiles, and other research reports like editions of Housing Spotlight.

Policy makers, academics, researchers, and advocates learn about real economic and housing trends in communities across America from the ACS data, helping our country make informed decisions on how to spend more than $400 billion in federal and state funds every year.

The House votes to eliminate the ACS Survey.

Wait, something isn’t right here – but you read that right… Much to our surprise, last week the House passed a bill with an amendment sponsored by Representative Daniel Webster (R-FL) that would eliminate all funding for the ACS. It also approved an amendment sponsored by Representative Ted Poe (R-TX) that would make the ACS voluntary. Research shows that a voluntary ACS would make the survey more expensive, less accurate, and less beneficial for research purposes.

So what’s the next line in this story?

Housing advocates and concerned citizens alike use their voices to ensure that this critical national survey is continued in a way that maintains its statistical reliability.

You can join NLIHC and do just that, and here’s how:
•    As an organization:  Sign on to a letter urging Senators to continue funding the ACS in its FY13 appropriations bill. The letter was produced by the Census Project, a coalition of organizations including NLIHC that is dedicated to a fair and accurate census. Sign on by emailing Brendan Nichols (bnichols@ccmc.org) your organization’s name and the city and state in parentheses. Click here to read the letter; the deadline is close of business TODAY so sign-on now!
•    As an individual:  Call your Senator and urge them to protect this critical housing data tool.  You can also contact your Senators directly by calling the Congressional switchboard at 877-210-5351 to be connected to your Senators’ offices. Or enter your zip code into the “Contact Congress” box on the bottom of the right side bar at www.nlihc.org.

NLIHC and other advocates tell a story of a country desperately in need of more affordable housing. But what makes this story so important and compelling are the hard facts behind it. The ACS provides critical data on the incomes and housing conditions for households across America. These data are what strengthens the argument made by NLIHC that there is a lack of, and need for, more affordable housing. And that’s why these data, and this story, are so important.

Putting the Spotlight on Housing Problems in the Great Recession

This past week, NLIHC launched a new series of research briefs under the title Housing Spotlight.  Each issue will bring housing data to a broader audience in a format that highlights the meaning behind the numbers. We aim to bring you short, informative analyses on the most current data and NLIHC research as it is released, highlighting important trends relevant to affordable housing.

For our inaugural research brief, we illustrate the stresses on low income renters using data from the American Community Survey (ACS). There is much discussion about income inequality in the news today and our research brief highlights evidence from the ACS that demonstrates how the lowest income, most vulnerable households face undue burden in the housing market.

We find that hardship among renters is on the rise across all income groups. While the pace at which rents have increased slowed since 2007, rents continue to rise (from $824 in 2008 to $855 in 2010). Yet, while the rents keep inching up year after year, renters themselves have suffered setbacks.  Renter households were earning $31,891 in 2008. By 2010, their median income fell to $30,691. As a result of these two trends, renters are facing an increasing cost burden. By 2010, 53% of all renters faced a cost burden.

While housing affordability problems are affecting all renters, the lowest income groups are the most likely to face a housing cost burden. Among the pool of cost burdened renters, we know that about 83% earn less than $35,000. And, while very few renters earning above $75,000 face a housing cost burden, nearly all renters earning below $20,000 each year are burdened. NLIHC’s first Housing Spotlight illustrates that housing problems are not equally distributed among renters , the poorest households are facing the greatest obstacles to finding decent housing, and the Great Recession seems to be widening the divide.

The next issue of Housing Spotlight will dig into the latest data on the shortage of affordable and available units to low income households.  Future issues will discuss renters in foreclosure and the characteristics of the nation’s subsidized housing stock. Housing Spotlight will be provided first to NLIHC members as a member benefit. Want to be the first to receive Housing Spotlight? Join us!

News Round-up: the ACS.

After the Thursday release of the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2010 American Community Survey (ACS), local, state, and national news outlets were quick to release coverage on the data. And it’s no wonder why; the ACS data provide a stark look at economic distress among an ever growing number of renters nationwide. The ACS is an annual survey of three million households that provides the public with demographic, social, economic, and housing characteristics of the American population. After mining this data, our Research team discovered that while wages are stagnating, rental costs continue to rise and more renters nationwide are housing cost burdened.

(Housing cost burdened households spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs.)

You might have seen that our Research team took over our Twitter account last Friday, tweeting #ACSdata all day. They also wrote about some of the data for this week’s Memo to Members. One especially revealing piece of the ACS data are the ongoing difficulties renters’ nationwide struggle with to find affordable housing.

The rise in cost burdened renters can be traced to the loss of affordable units and the overall decline in rental units at lower price points. Although the availability of units renting for more than $1,000 a month rose by nearly 800,000 units, to 37% of the rental market, those renting for $500 or less shrunk to only 14% of the total number of units.

Our Research team also takes a deeper look at the problems with affordable housing and releases the resulting report every spring, Out of Reach. This annual report provides an estimated housing wage; a figure that represents the hourly wage needed to afford a modest apartment unit, on average, nationwide and in every state, metropolitan area and county in the county.  Reflecting the rising costs of rental housing in America, this past year the Housing Wage rose to $18.46 an hour.

NLIHC Research Assistant Elina Bravve breaks it down:

“Our study of wages nationwide indicates that renters consistently come up short of the Housing Wage in reality. So, as rental costs continue to edge upwards, the number of housing cost burdened renters nationwide grows, as indicated by the 2010 ACS data.”

To cope with rising housing costs, renters must either find a second job, no easy feat in today’s economy, or spend an increasing proportion of their wages on housing.  In some high cost states, balancing over three full time minimum wage jobs would be required to afford Fair Market Rents. This Wall Street Journal infographic (based on Out of Reach data) shows how “as housing cost has risen, so has the number of jobs needed to afford to rent a two-bedroom home.”

Twitpic via @Seth_Hamblin of WSJ infographic featuring OOR data

Has there been a particularly good article that you have read recently on the ACS data? Share any local stories that did a note-worthy job covering this housing problem that renters are struggling with across the country.