NHPF Annual Report 2020: Leading Forward
NHPF Fiscal Year 2020 Annual Report Leading Forward
Industry Trends and Takeaways for 2020
Mission The NHP Foundation is a not-for-profit real estate organization dedicated to preserving and creating sustainable, service-enriched multifamily housing that is both affordable to low and moderate income families and seniors, and beneficial to their communities.
DESPITE THE CURVEBALLS THROWN ITS WAY, the business of affordable housing weathered 2020 with deals in place, construction continuing and rents, mostly, collected. As with any tumultuous year, 2020 was very much a year of opportunities and challenges. Business challenges presented in 2020 included significant increases in construction costs linked to a scarcity of both materials and labor. Delays in construction were common especially for acquisition/rehab deals. With tenant-in-place rehab no longer possible, relocation costs increased significantly. Covid-19 financial consequences also affected the already resource-challenged states and cities in all our markets and made applying for existing resources significantly more competitive, delaying some projects. And all major markets continue to face an affordable housing crisis exacerbated by Covid-19. Our constituents, low income families and individuals, faced more housing challenges and in many instances risk of losing their homes or homelessness. On the bright side, 2020 saw important housing legislation take effect including passage of the long-awaited LIHTC 4% floor. The industry welcomed a new administration looking to increase affordable housing demonstrably. The new lawmakers already included housing in their latest infrastructure bill. Events of 2020 also demanded action on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice and the affordable housing world is responding with self-evaluation and improved DEI policies and practices. The significant drop in interest rates helped offset increased costs from Covid-19 on a number of deals closed in 2020, this same drop also provided opportunities to refinance existing loans, even fairly recently closed loans with large pre-payment penalties, to achieve lower debt service costs. On balance, Covid-19 forced several hard decisions and reckonings from which we are emerging stronger than ever. In the words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the subject of challenges, “We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon.”
Vision A future where
communities flourish because attractive, sustainable housing options and life- enhancing services are ensured for income-challenged Americans. Values NHPF seeks to promote greater diversity, inclusion, racial equity, and social justice in addition to its long- established mission of providing sustainable, service-enriched affordable housing. NHPF is committed to increasing access to opportunities for historically underrepresented individuals and businesses in the development and operation of affordable housing communities.
Leading Forward
IN 2020, NHPF met the pandemic head-on with intelligence, hard work, and grace. Our development, acquisition, asset management, and resident services teams never lost sight of goals and aspirations and we therefore found ourselves still completing large-scale developments and rehab projects all the while keeping residents safe and housed. All of this has been made possible by an attitude from top to bottom of “leading forward.” Some of the best examples of leading forward in 2020 include: • Acquisition and redevelopment of the organization’s first single- family rental home affordable housing transaction (Hollander Ridge in Baltimore, Maryland) • Establishment of an organization-wide Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSI) with internal and external efforts to address longstanding racial equity injustices. The various sub-committees are tackling everything from employee and vendor hiring practices to internal and external communications • Acquisition and redevelopment of our first property in Boston, Massachusetts (Blue Mountain Apartments) • Opening of the Mark Twain Hotel in Chicago, recipient of a 2020 Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Award and a Gold Best Green Initiative Award from Multihousing News • Acquisition and redevelopment of our first South Carolina property (Victoria Gardens Apartments in Spartanburg, South Carolina) • Successful pivot to an all virtual format for our 4th annual Symposium Growing Up & Out of Poverty: Why Housing Matters which drew 91 corporate sponsors and over 400 attendees during a year when Covid-19 prevented most live events • $11.5 million award to NHPF from The City of Houston Housing and Community Development to construct replacement units of permanent supportive affordable housing in disaster relief funds for three new projects in Houston that NHPF will take on in 2021 including our first new PSH construction in Houston and new construction of a senior property • Pursuing a $5.5M grant from the Treasury Department’s Capital Magnet Fund (CMF) to continue our work preserving and creating affordable rental housing throughout the U.S. As we all adapt to our brave new world, stronger, smarter, more empathetic, and more resilient, we look forward to what 2021 will bring.
Richard F. Burns
Ralph F. Boyd, Jr.
Richard F. Burns
Ralph F. Boyd, Jr.
NHPF President & Chief Executive Officer
Chair
The NHP Foundation | Fiscal Year 2020 Annual Report 3
Trustees Ralph F. Boyd, Jr. Chair Glynna Christian Vice Chair
Robert H. Abrams Richard F. Burns Sarah E. Feinberg
Cherie Santos-Wuest Sheldon L. Schreiberg Frank L. Sullivan, Jr. Adam Weers Trustee Emeriti Thomas A. Carr Patricia Diaz Dennis
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