Affordable Housing and Density
Issue Brief
Not intended as a comprehensive study, this Issue Brief is designed to build mutual understanding of the topic, spark conversation, and inspire action at the local and state levels.
Case Studies
Brief examples of work in the field, with tips, lessons learned, and contacts (PDF)
Historic Properties Redevelopment Program (The L’Enfant Trust)
Also visit the National Trust’s Case Study Explorer to see its growing collection of examples — and add your own!
Learn More
Far from comprehensive, this list offers some external resources to learn more about the issue. If you have suggestions for others (or find a broken link), please let us know.
Alphabet Soup: Breaking Down All Those Housing and Community Development Terms (2022). ShelterForce. This post demystifies the common acronyms used in the housing field.
At Home on Main Street: A Report on the State of Housing in Downtown and Neighborhood Commercial Districts, Main Street America (2023).
Gaps and Opportunities in the Provision of Education, Training, and Technical Assistance on Local Housing Policy, Local Housing Solutions (2020). This simple, 17-page report offers insights about the local levers local officials can use to help create housing and describes the obstacles they face in developing a comprehensive set of multi-faceted housing strategies. Their website also offers short videos that explain the basics of affordable housing policy.
Historic Preservation – Part of the Solution to the Affordable Housing Crisis, Alliance Review, National Alliance of Preservation Commissions (2018). Author Donovan Rypkema offers ways to increase preservation’s role in addressing both the affordable housing crisis and a changing climate.
Opportunity at Risk: San Antonio’s Older Affordable Housing Stock, prepared for the San Antonio Office of Historic Preservation, PlaceEconomics (2019). This report describes how the city’s pre-1960 housing stock can help meet policy objectives, including stabilizing homeownership rates, preventing and mitigating displacement, and increasing affordable rental units, through preservation and rehabilitation.
Overlapping Historic Preservation and Affordable Housing: Successful Outcomes in New York City and San Francisco, Siri Mackenzie Olson (master’s thesis, Columbia University, 2018)
The Performance of Affordable Housing Provisions in State Historic Tax Credits: A Case Study Report on Delaware, Maine, and Massachusetts, National Trust for Historic Preservation (2021).
Policy Statement on Affordable Housing and Preservation, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (2007).
The Preservation Compact 2020 Report (2020). This report describes housing preservation solutions and a policy framework to keep rental housing affordable in metropolitan Chicago. Their website also offers information about different local housing strategies including tools for retaining Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH).
Funding Sources
In lieu of specific grant programs targeting preservation and affordable housing, see the Funding page for general preservation funding opportunities.
If you know of funding opportunities specific to this issue, please let us know!
Ideas?
Do you have a best practice, case study, example, tool, or other resource that might help others? Please email it to Jim Lindberg or Rebecca Harris at jlindberg@savingplaces.org or rharris@prespartners.org. Thank you!
Top Photo: Once-vacant hospital in Cleveland, OH, rehabilitated for affordable housing. Built in 1927, the former St. Luke’s Hospital was converted to a mix of new uses, including 137 units of affordable housing, using federal historic, low income, and New Markets tax credits. Since 1977, federal Historic Tax Credits have led to the development of 178,000 units of affordable housing. Credit: Cleveland Neighborhood Progress.
Case Studies Photo: Brewing tank in lobby of former Schmidt brewery in St. Paul, MN. The complex was rehabbed as 247 affordable loft apartments. Credit: Jason Keen