NeighborWorks publications include approximately 100 reports and studies on a broad range of affordable housing and community development topics, including foreclosure prevention and community stabilization. We encourage you to search our database by topic or keyword and download free copies of the studies you need.
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Seven Ways Foreclosures Impact Communities
Publication date: 2008-08-01
Author(s): Christine Vidmar
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The negative impacts of foreclosure on communities are far reaching. Although little formal data exists on this subject, local news accounts and reports from local officials paint a multifaceted picture. Not only are people losing homes, but also communities are suffering economically, physically and socially. This report mainly focuses on areas that are hardest hit: metropolitan areas and their suburbs. We have identified the following seven impact areas for foreclosure. Complete info » |
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Stabilizing Neighborhoods Impacted by Concentrated Foreclosures: Scattered-Site Rental Housing Challenges and Opportunities
Publication date: 2009-10-12
Author(s): Ivan Levi
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The negative impacts of concentrated foreclosures have been destabilizing communities across the country. Community development corporations (CDCs) and other nonprofits that are active in these neighborhoods face falling property values, decreased lending activity and other consequences that are complicating their efforts at community revitalization through acquisition, rehabilitation and resale of vacant and foreclosed housing stock. Given the current crisis in the housing and credit markets, community development corporations aiming for neighborhood stabilization may wish to acquire foreclosed single-family properties and operate them as scattered-site rental units instead. This study presents the challenges that nonprofits pursuing such a plan are likely to face. It discusses the main management, financing and political issues associated with developing and operating scattered-site rental housing while providing a foundation upon which CDCs considering such activities can evaluate their capacity and willingness to meet the challenges. The paper explores how local market conditions, internal organizational capacity and the current policy environment affect nonprofit efforts to acquire, rehabilitate and rent foreclosed properties. The study includes operational and advocacy recommendations for improving the context in which scattered-site rental housing can be managed. The paper also considers the unique difficulties of the current situation and concludes that comprehensive revitalization efforts that emphasize cross-sectoral partnerships and enjoy strong local government support are most likely to exert a positive impact on a community. Complete info » |
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Strategies for Successfully Marketing and Stabilizing the Occupancy of Mixed-Income/Mixed-Race Properties: A Case Study of Academy Homes 1 in Roxbury, Massachusetts
Publication date: 2005-10-30
Author(s): Judy Weber
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Academy Homes I is a 202-unit mixed-income, mixed-race rental property located in the Jackson Square neighborhood of Boston's Roxbury district. While Roxbury's population has declined modestly (3.8 percent from 1990 to 2000), the Hispanic population has been growing steadily and Roxbury is now 63 percent Black and 24 percent Hispanic. Most (83 percent) of its residential properties are comprised of one, two and three family dwellings where the owner-occupancy rate is 61 percent. The median residential sales price in Roxbury reached $406,000 in 2003, surpassing Boston's $380,000 median sales price.
Academy Homes was built in the 1960s under HUD's 221(d)(3) program. It received upgrades to major building components (such as roofs and windows) in 2000 after the current ownership took over in 1998. It has three types of units: 43 percent are project-based Section 8; 33 percent are low income housing tax credit (LIHTC); and 24 percent are market rate. It is in a mixed-income, mixed-race urban neighborhood where residents are comfortable with economic and racial diversity. It is diagonally across the street from a rapid transit "T" station. Schools, a sizeable grocery store, shopping and restaurants are all within walking distance. It is one of several large multi-family complexes clustered in the area that total 2000 units. Complete info » |
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Strategies for Successfully Marketing and Stabilizing the Occupancy of Mixed-Income/Mixed-Race Properties: A Case Study of Auburn Court, Phase 1 in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Publication date: 2005-10-30
Author(s): Judy Weber
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Auburn Court is a 137-unit mixed-income, mixed-race property in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The property is nearly evenly divided between market-rate (34%) and moderate-rate (16%) units and low-income (50%) units. The surrounding community is an increasingly gentrifying mixed-use neighborhood with housing, offices, MIT research facilities, a hotel, and retail shopping. The property was completed in two phases because of the slow housing market in the mid-1990s. The first phase was completed in 1996 (77 units) and the second phase was completed in 2000 (60 units). Complete info » |
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Strategies for Successfully Marketing and Stabilizing the Occupancy of Mixed-Income/Mixed-Race Properties: A Case Study of Cedar Beech and Elm Street Properties in Manchester, New Hamsphire
Publication date: 2005-10-30
Author(s): Jill Khadduri
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Cedar Beech and the two Elm Street properties make up 92 units of mixed-income, mixed-race multifamily housing in Manchester, New Hampshire. Almost half of the residents have incomes below 30 percent of area median income, while a quarter have incomes between 51 and 80 percent of median and a small number (8 percent) have incomes above 80 percent of area median income.
The properties were developed and are owned by Manchester Neighborhood Housing Services (MNHS) as part of that non-profit organization's mission to stabilize and revitalize city neighborhoods and to provide affordable housing. Cedar Beech was redeveloped and placed in service as a Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) and HOME property in 1994. The properties on Elm Street were placed in service in 2001 with subsidies from LIHTC, HOME, and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston's Affordable Housing Program. Complete info » |
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Strategies for Successfully Marketing and Stabilizing the Occupancy of Mixed-Income/Mixed-Race Properties: A Case Study of Cedar Road Apartments in Vista, California
Publication date: 2005-10-30
Author(s): Judy Weber
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Cedar Road is a 40-unit mixed income, mixed-race property in Vista, California. Vista is a fast growing city 35 miles north of San Diego. Its population grew 29 percent between 1990 and 2003 and almost all of that growth has been in the Hispanic population that now represents 41 percent of the city's population.
Cedar Road is divided between very-low (30 percent) and low-income (70 percent) households. Most of the very low-income households are part of a transitional housing program for homeless families that uses 10 of the 40 units.
Cedar Road was completed in 1996 as the first phase of a two-phase project. The second phase, Nettleton Road, contains 28 units and was completed in 1999. Although this study is about Cedar Road, the two phases are operated as one property and together encircle a central courtyard. The properties are located in a modest residential neighborhood of small single-family homes and conventional apartment complexes that are in fair condition. It is directly across from one of the best elementary schools in the City and is close to a busy thoroughfare of strip malls. It is the most attractive complex in the area. Complete info » |
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Strategies for Successfully Marketing and Stabilizing the Occupancy of Mixed-Income/Mixed-Race Properties: A Case Study of Montevista in Milpitas, California
Publication date: 2005-11-30
Author(s): Larry Buron
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Montevista was built in 1998 and is a 306-unit mixed-income, mixed-race property in Milpitas, California. Milpitas is a small city outside San Jose that boomed along with the rest of Silicon Valley in the 1990s and then cooled off in the early 2000s. It remains a relatively prosperous, low crime, and low unemployment city.
Montevista contains a nearly even mix of affordable tax credit and market-rate units. The residents are economically diverse with household incomes that range from below $10,000 to over $200,000. The residents are also racially diverse with substantial shares of Asians, Hispanics, and whites. Complete info » |
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Strategies for Successfully Marketing and Stabilizing the Occupancy of Mixed-Income/Mixed-Race Properties: A Case Study of Parkview Terrace in Poway, California
Publication date: 2005-10-30
Author(s): Judy Weber
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Parkview Terrace was built in 1998 and is a 92-unit mixed-income, mixed-race property in Poway, California. Poway has grown in just 30 years from a rural farming community with a trailer park image to a very desirable community of multi-million dollar homes with a renowned public school system. It is just 15 miles northeast of San Diego.
Although Parkview Terrace's initial tenant eligibility is capped at 50 percent of AMI, long resident tenure -- spurred by an exploding real estate market and plentiful employment -- finds 43 percent of households now at or above 60 percent of AMI. The immediate neighborhood, one of the lower income ones in the city, offers an extraordinary mix of modest residential, retail, municipal, recreational and educational opportunities, all within a few blocks. Complete info » |
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Strategies for Successfully Marketing and Stabilizing the Occupancy of Mixed-Income/Mixed-Race Properties: A Case Study of Peters Colony in Carrollton, Texas
Publication date: 2005-11-30
Author(s): Larry Buron
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Peters Colony is a 160-unit mixed-income, mixed-race development located in Carrollton, Texas, a relatively prosperous suburb north of Dallas. The property is nearly evenly split between households with income (1) less than 30 percent of the family-sized adjusted area median income (AMI), (2) households between 30 and 50 percent of AMI, and (3) households between 50 and 80 percent of AMI. One-third of the units have no income limits, but the owner voluntarily limits occupancy to households with income below 80 percent of the median at initial occupancy. The property was purchased and modestly rehabbed by Foundation Communities in 1995. Complete info » |
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Strategies for Successfully Marketing and Stabilizing the Occupancy of Mixed-Income/Mixed-Race Properties: A Case Study of Spanish Oaks in Jacksonville, Florida
Publication date: 2005-10-30
Author(s): Jill Khadduri
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Spanish Oaks is a late 1960s garden apartment development in the Arlington section of Jacksonville, Florida. Originally built as market-rate rental housing, Spanish Oaks entered the inventory of the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) after the original owner defaulted. It was sold in 1995 to a partnership of two local non-profits -- Jacksonville Housing Partnership and Families First -- under the RTC's Affordable Housing Program. The development has 194 units with between one and three bedrooms. The agreement with the RTC was that 20 percent of the units (40 units) would be reserved for households with incomes at or below 50 percent of area median, another 55 percent (107 units) could have occupants with incomes up to 80 percent of area median, and a quarter (47 units) could be rented to households at any income level at unrestricted, market rents. The actual income levels of the households in 2005 are more heavily weighted towards the low end: half the units are occupied by households with incomes below 50 percent of median including 38 percent that have incomes below 30 percent of median. Complete info » |
