"Best Practices in the Production of Affordable Housing"
Click here to download and read this report from the Fannie Mae Foundation and the Urban Land Institute from 2005: Download]

Amy Sample Ward

Here are several suggestions from affordable housing specialists regarding how the Meyer Trust can most meaningfully support affordable housing provision:  Ann Lininger

•    Provide operating funds to support provision of tenant services, particularly for projects serving tenants who earn 30% of median income.  With adequate support, this high need population can remain successfully in permanent housing, a cost effective form of housing. 
•    Provide funds to help nonprofits enhance their asset management skills, thereby maximizing the utility and useful life of existing projects and safeguarding the large investment that public and private sources have already made in affordable housing. 
•    Provide funds to support efforts by CDCs to become more self-sufficient through outsourcing, consolidation, development of for-profit business ventures, and portfolio diversification.
•    When providing support for the “hard costs” of a housing project (co-called “bricks and mortar”), issue support in the form of PRI Fund loans.  If funds are issued at below market rate terms, even projects that serve the most needy can service some debt.
•    Give preference in the grant and PRI field to rental projects that serve individuals who earn less than 60% of median income.  In some cases, including an MRI or PRI context, support for rental units that serve 80-120% of median income tenants may be warranted to preserve economic diversity in gentrifying areas, avoid condominiumization, or enable an owner to cross-subsidize other charitable work. 
•    In the homeownership context, focus support on groups that provide means for permanent retention of the affordable housing asset in the community (such as community land trusts or other models that enable the nonprofit to capture some of the appreciation of the asset).  For other homeownership programs, limit support to PRI funds (a shallower subsidy).
•    When supporting housing development, give preference to funding requests related to acquisition-rehabilitation projects, which are generally more cost-effective than new construction projects.
•    Support preservation of rural affordable housing, which will leverage millions in ongoing federal subsidies to existing projects and constitutes a cheaper alternative than losing existing units and then building new ones from scratch.  Also support preservation of urban expiring tax credit projects.
•    Consider issuing PRI Funds to Community Development Financial Institutions (“CDFIs”) to leverage matching funds from the United States Treasury.