How Can Cities Assist in Identifying Properties to be Preserved?
Increase political will and understanding of naturally occurring affordable housing (NOAH) issues. With the City Council and among the community, increase awareness of the importance of NOAH rentals in serving families, seniors, and children in the school district.
Inventory and understand the local housing stock. On-the-ground work to quantify existing NOAH rental including rent levels, acceptance of Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8), and housing quality.
Target areas of land use change and increased development. If the community is seeing change – particularly in high levels of investment – the neighboring NOAH apartments may be important preservation targets for the NOAH Fund and its partners.
Bring NOAH Fund and preservation buyers together with sellers and landlords. The NOAH Fund can offer a really good opportunity for both sellers and buyers to make a community impact while achieving fair and reasonable returns. Bringing NOAH Fund representatives to your local landlord groups helps us spread the word.
Ensure early warnings and notices of potential property sales. Most sales of multifamily happen quietly off-market. Listen to the rumors on the ground. Often sellers and buyers don’t know that the NOAH Fund is an option. If we know about a pending sale we can at the very least make a phone call to see if preservation is an option.
Property reputation and residents served. When the NOAH Fund is considering an investment, help us understand how the residents will be impacted and why this is an important priority preservation for the City.
Consider loans and investments in NOAH housing. According to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, in the past decade more than 1.2 million of such units were lost. They were either made unaffordable due to escalating rents or were removed entirely from the market. Units can be removed from the market due to condominium conversion in strong markets or to abandonment and demolition in weaker markets.
