Capacity Building
As a lender, LISC LA’s technical assistance role is wrapped into every loan we originate. Many of our projects are technically complex and it is part of our role to assist our community development partners think through challenges and produce viable solutions.
In addition to our role as technical assistance provider during the lending process, the LISC LA also provides trainings and capacity building opportunities to local organizations and practitioners leading projects and programs that help their communities.
Keep It Affordable Academy
In 2021, with support from the Roy and Patricia Disney Family Foundation and Capital One, the LISC LA Housing team launched our latest program, the Keep It Affordable Academy (the Academy), to support the preservation of subsidized and unsubsidized affordable housing (also known as “naturally occurring affordable housing”) in areas at high risk of losing these community assets.
The Keep It Affordable Academy provides training and technical assistance to mission-driven organizations to help grow their understanding of affordable housing preservation and financing. The Academy’s goals are to:
- Accelerate and support the production and preservation of affordable housing;
- Train a cohort how to identify unsubsidized affordable housing, expiring HUD-financed properties, and LIHTC-financed properties in their neighborhood;
- Help participants develop a preservation plan tailored to their community’s needs that includes acquisition and financing strategies;
- Work with cohort members to develop and advocate for policy solutions that advance affordable housing acquisition, preservation, asset building strategies, and community ownership models.
The types of organizations that can participate in the program include affordable housing developers, community land trusts, local advocates, elected officials, and municipalities. This Academy aims to assist organizations that have a desire to engage in the acquisition and preservation of affordable housing, but have not been able to do this work in the past due to lack of information, funding, or in-house expertise. Our first cohort of participant organizations are working on preservation projects in the communities of Koreatown, Pico Union, Inglewood, Hawthorne, and Long Beach.
Check out some of our previous technical assistance programs below.
PREVIOUS PROGRAMS
Asset Management Training
LISC LA recognizes the need to develop capacity around Asset Management in the field of affordable housing. LA LISC has presented an ongoing training series to help asset managers, managers, property managers, supervisors, and Board members refine their asset management skills. Our first training, a two-day Nuts and Bolts of Asset Management training was an interactive and highly participatory, hands-on workshop focusing on advancing effective management strategies and resources in order to preserve and effectively manage existing PSH and other affordable units that are at risk.
In 2018, we presented a two-part training series to help participants earn their Consortium for Housing and Asset Management (CHAM) Asset Management Specialist Certification.
Faith-Based Organizations
In Los Angeles there is a need to develop the talent pipeline for faith-based and small, minority development teams. In this climate, LISC believes building the capacity of the field to both effectively produce and in some cases preserve affordable housing units must be a top priority. Through our initiative we aim to:
- Build the capacity of faith-based leaders and organizations as well as small, minority lead development teams by investing in lead program staff;
- Build the capacity of faith-based leaders and organizations as well as small, minority lead development teams to develop equitable joint ventures that lead to the production of affordable housing; and
- Advance best practices among faith-based leaders and organizations as well as small, minority lead development teams to ensure that organizations develop quality, well-financed and sustainable projects.
Health & Housing
LISC LA is committed to supporting our partners in identifying sustainable property management strategies and resources for their aging portfolios that preserve quality affordable housing and promote better health outcomes for low-income residents.
LISC's Elevating Equity: Health and Housing Initiative includes actionable policies, programs, and strategies that can be implemented by developers to help improve health determinants for residents and incentivize healthy behavior and opportunities.
