The Non-Profit Preservation Initiative

According to the National Housing Preservation Database (NHPD), over the next fifteen years approximately 4,800 non-profit owned publicly assisted affordable rental units in Philadelphia will reach the end of a rental assistance or restricted covenant agreement. These units will require several hundred million dollars in public and private reinvestment for essential renovations and preserving long-term affordability.

In August 2022, LISC, Stone Sherick Consulting Group LLC and Wilson Associates, Inc. completed a report entitled, ‘The Preservation Challenge: Projections & Policies for Maintaining Non-Profit Affordable Rental Housing in Philadelphia.’ The report underscores Philadelphia’s affordable housing crisis and highlights the unique financial and organizational challenges that non-profit owners face in preserving publicly assisted affordable rental housing in Philadelphia – including a complex financing system and significant predevelopment costs required to preserve properties, government and organizational commitment to preserving long-term affordability through property and asset management, and the heightened need to preserve affordable housing in neighborhoods where long-time residents can continue to thrive.

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Villas del Caribe, HACE CDC | Photo by Daniel Jackson for Embassy: Interactive

The Non-Profit Preservation Initiative (NPPI) is LISC Philadelphia’s response to the critical needs identified through ‘The Preservation Challenge’ report, our in-depth conversations with non-profit partners between 2020 and present, as well as past investments in non-profit affordable housing preservation. The first phase of NPPI aims to preserve 650 non-profit owned publicly assisted affordable rental units, while developing a multi-faceted strategy to help residents to remain in safe, quality and affordable housing. The initiative is a citywide effort, with a priority focus in Eastern North and West Philadelphia – neighborhoods in which residents are at a higher risk of displacement due to rising rents and loss of affordable housing.  

The first phase of NPPI launched in the spring of 2023 and is focused on four key issues:

1. Feasibility and Predevelopment to support preservation of properties;

2. Organizational Business Plans and Asset Management Strategies ;

3. Housing Stability, Eviction Prevention, and Economic Mobility to support residents and building owners to sustain and maintain properties; and

4. Advocacy for funding and policies that support preservation and resident well-being.

Community-based affordable housing partners within NPPI include: Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha, Community Ventures, HACE CDC, Mount Vernon Manor CDC, HopePHL, and Womens Community Revitalization Project. TD Bank has generously provided the funding for the first phase of NPPI.

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THE NPPI BROCHURE

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