Reports and Studies

As housing markets across the country continue to struggle to bounce back, ever-increasing instances of foreclosures remain a daunting problem. While the situation in highly affected urban areas has received much attention, there has been a dearth and inconsistency in research on corresponding rural areas. While the forces commonly linked to the urban crisis such as widespread predatory lending, ballooned housing prices and excessive real estate speculation have affected some rural areas as well, overall the rural crisis is a unique, complex crisis all of its own. As the following analysis illustrates through the use of publicly available data, a survey and interviews, a clear and worsening problem exists in America's rural communities, and it is the goal of this paper to outline the workings of this rural crisis as much as the limited data availability allows. Further, the author makes the case that the crisis has exacerbated already difficult conditions in rural areas, and, while claims of a recovery begin to arise, in rural America, hopes of a quick recovery remain slim. Complete info »

Learning Centers are central facilities, frequently located with an apartment community, where programs are available that support residents in attaining their American dreams - children succeeding in school, adults increasing their earning power, families holding savings accounts and moving into homeownership.

This report presents the results of the first two years of the Multifamily Initiative's effort to study the question, "What impact do housing-based learning centers have on property operations, low-income households and their communities?" The long-term goals of this initiative effort are to set benchmarks for outcomes, standardize effective programs, document and optimize the impact of learning centers on property performance, and to build collaborative funding sources.

Thanks to the participation of the nine founding housing organizations who have made learning centers part of their operations, and to consultants Fred Alsup and Janet Maccubbin, this report presents a detailed picture of the initial work to define and improve the impact of learning centers, share best practices and build efficient, replicable standards. It also provides information on the characteristics of learning centers, such as types of programs, capacity, areas of success and challenges. Complete info »

The report explores the challenges of rural development and the ways in which practitioners, in particular, might address these challenges through strategic policy development and implementation. Complete info »

This paper inventories strategies for maintaining affordable housing toward perpetuity in hot markets in an increasing number of locales. Long-term affordable housing strategies answer the call to make affordable housing resources last longer as federal funding for affordable housing diminishes, rental affordability programs expire, and owners prematurely buy their way out of affordable mortgages. The need is especially acute in hot-market cities, like New York City, that have seen large development programs end without any adequate replacements. The strategies span rental and homeownership delivery mechanisms, subsidy and equity sharing, cooperatives and community governance, land regulation, extending existing termed programs, and amassing funds to sustain affordable housing, with a focus on producing long-term affordable units through inclusionary zoning. Interviews with national policymakers and experienced affordable and mixed-income housing developers bring new light to the success of these mechanisms.

This study finds that neither relying on inclusionary zoning nor extending affordable housing programs should be considered a replacement for federal subsidies. Innovating new programs means setting numbers of units produced against longevity, affordability and occupants' capacity to generate equity. Recommendations are given first in terms of challenges, tensions, trade-offs and new questions that these strategies create, and then to specific actors in the policymaking arena. Nonprofits should focus on monitoring long-term affordability and accountability. Municipalities and local governments should better regulate sources and uses of housing trust funds, focus on helping fund first-time homebuyers, consider input from local developers, consider long-term inclusionary zoning regulation, and monitor productivity and long-term regulation. Policymakers and researchers should consider why potential homebuyers have selected riskier subprime mortgage products over more secure equitysharing products and might want to better advertise equity-sharing options. Finally, New York City should expand its voluntary inclusionary program to more neighborhoods and better track its production and longevity. Complete info »

A handbook for nonprofits going through or anticipating executive transitions. Complete info »

This report, commissioned by NeighborWorks America, in partnership with the Atlanta Alliance for Community Development Investment, explores the impact of gentrification on the residents, CBOs and CDCs of three Atlanta neighborhoods in varying stages of gentrification, and their capacity to manage this change. Additionally, in order to understand factors at play in gentrified communities that have experienced a high level of success in managing change, the research was supplemented with information from two neighborhoods outside Atlanta, the Shaw community in Washington, D.C., and Jamaica Plain in Boston. Complete info »

This popular article from the NeighborWorks Campaign for HomeOwnership reports on research confirming that homeownership is good for families, neighborhoods and the economy Complete info »

In order to understand the roles that public policy and the business and consumer sectors play in paying for homeownership education and counseling, the costs, benefits and beneficiaries of the education and training must be fully accounted for. This paper estimates the total costs of delivering homeownership education and counseling and discusses proven and implied benefits to stakeholders. Based on one set of assumptions, and depending on the level of activities offered, homeownership education and counseling costs range from $500 to $1,500. Empirical and anecdotal evidence suggest that homeownership education and counseling offer important benefits to borrowers, lenders, real estate professionals and communities. Many nonprofit organizations providing such services, however, remain underfunded. Providers, financial institutions and policy makers must increase their knowledge of what works, what costs are incurred, who benefits, and what value is created by homeownership education and counseling activities in order to develop a sustainable delivery system.

This paper uses information from NeighborWorks organizations that offer homeownership education and counseling programs as illustration of the cost structure of the homeownership education and counseling industry. Part 2 provides background information on the homeownership education and counseling industry. Part 3 explains the methodology and assumptions used for this analysis. Part 4 reviews cost accounting and presents a framework for the cost analysis. Part 5 discusses the value proposition for homeownership education and counseling while Part 6 offers conclusions and implications. Complete info »

Feedback from eight member organizations interviewed for this five-year report confirms the Multifamily Initiative is helping its members meet their missions, improve the lives of their residents, and grow as viable long-term owners of affordable housing. The overview of the initiative and the stories that follow demonstrate the accomplishments of the Initiative's member organizations over the last five years. Complete info »

While the overall homeownership rate in the United States is at an all-time high, the gap between the ownership rates of low-income and higher-income households remains wide. In addition, homeownership rates in urban, low-income and minority communities lag behind. Lower-income families are constrained a lack of information about how to buy a home, by their inability to provide sufficient, stable income streams for debt service, by their lack of initial equity, and by their inability to find an home of adequate quality in a desirable location. This paper explores each of these constraints, or gaps, and potential solutions for each. We find addressing each of these gaps involves trade-offs, yet targeting the appropriate strategy for particular markets and populations may be able to help families become home owners. Information gaps are best addressed by programs that provide home buyer counseling and education. Federal funding and incentives for such programs have been declining throughout the last decade, however. Unless new homebuyers are well-prepared and supported, none of the sophisticated development and financial strategies will be successful. Income and wealth gaps are closely linked; bridging a wealth gap for a buyer, for example, may increase the buyer's income gap. While there are several strategies that seek to bridge these twin barriers, the most promising among them is the second mortgage. The supply gap is most pressing in faster-growing coastal cities, but is becoming a more significant constraint to homeownership nationally. Unfortunately, reliance on filtering and other traditional mechanisms for creating affordable homeownership opportunities has not proven effective in recent years. Serious consideration should be paid to new production programs and policies that can enhance the supply of affordable owner-occupied units in targeted areas. Overall, a menu of strategies exists, each being appropriate for targeted households in a given housing market context. More attention needs to be focused on this menu, rather than a one-size fits all strategy. Complete info »