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.

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT

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 aimed 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 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.

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THE NPPI BROCHURE

Community-based affordable housing partners within NPPI include: Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha (APM); Community Ventures; HACE CDC; Mount Vernon Manor CDC; HopePHL; Womens Community Revitalization Project; Germantown Life Enrichment Center (GLEC); HELP USA; and New Kensington Community Development Corporation (NKCDC).

TD Bank has generously provided funding for NPPI. Check out their story about the significance of the initiative.

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