NLIHC and the Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation (PAHRC) released today Picture of Preservation 2024. The report analyzes data from the National Housing Preservation Database (NHPD) to assess the existing federally assisted housing stock and the specific preservation risks faced by these homes, including expiring affordability and eligibility restrictions, declining physical quality, and significant reductions in federal allocations. Mitigating these risks and preserving the existing federally assisted housing stock is essential to any effort to expand the supply of affordable housing for the lowest-income renters. Read the report.
Based on analysis of the NHPD data, the report finds that:
- Five million rental homes are supported by federally funded project-based rental subsidies, representing 10% of the rental housing stock nationwide. The average federally assisted home has been affordable for 36 years.
- An estimated 104,088 homes were added to the federally assisted housing stock in recent years, while 71,096 homes were lost, resulting in a net gain of only 33,992 federally assisted homes.
- Exit risk is growing across the federally assisted housing stock. Affordability restrictions are set to expire for 374,497 federally assisted homes in the next five years, representing 7% of the stock. Compared to 2019, non-renewable subsidies fund a larger number and share of expiring homes, and for-profit ownership is more common. The growing reliance on non-renewable subsidies and increasing for-profit ownership suggest that properties expiring in the next five years may face additional barriers to preservation.
- Public housing faces a significant and growing depreciation risk. Approximately 267,000 public housing homes (30%) failed their most recent Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) physical inspection and likely require immediate investment – twice the number of homes that failed in 2019. One in five public housing homes have also failed two or more of their latest REAC scores, up from 9% in 2019.
- Since 2010, key HUD project-based housing programs have lost a cumulative $21.3 billion in appropriations relative to the amount of funding that would have been available had funding been maintained in line with fiscal year (FY) 2010 levels adjusted for inflation.
The report concludes that better policies are needed to support preservation efforts, including more adequate annual appropriations for federal housing programs and stronger preservation protections to ensure the continued affordability and physical quality of the existing federally assisted housing stock. Especially necessary are major reinvestments to address the capital needs backlog in public housing and strengthened preservation policies in the LIHTC program. If Congress fails to act, homes could be lost from the affordable housing stock.
Staff from NLIHC and PAHRC will present findings from Picture of Preservation 2024 during a webinar to be held on December 11 at 2 pm ET. Register for the webinar here.
Download the report here.
