National Housing Trust

National Housing Trust (NHT), founded in 1986, is a national nonprofit that conducts research and champions federal, state and local policies to preserve and strengthen the nation’s stock of affordable rental housing. In 1999, the organization launched NHT-Enterprise Preservation Corp, now called NHT Communities, a nonprofit housing development organization. To date, this affiliate has created or preserved 19,400 units of affordable housing in 39 states. To further its mission, NHT also works to provide service-enriched housing to a variety of populations, operates a loan fund to provide financing to other rental housing developers, and actively pursues energy efficiency solutions. Since 2014, the organization has partnered with local, state, and federal agencies as well as affordable housing owners across the country to develop, finance, and install renewable energy projects, generating savings for 11,800 low-income households. This award provides general operating support to NHT as it begins a fifth decade of work to ensure stable, affordable housing for all.

The National Housing Trust (NHT) works to protect, improve, and maintain existing housing that is affordable to low-income families in neighborhoods of opportunity. The grant to NHT supports a collaboration with Enterprise Community Partners (Enterprise) to raise resident voices and engage a broader network of actors to advocate for the preservation of housing assistance and for resources to support the production and preservation of affordable homes as critical to thriving, inclusive cities and neighborhoods of opportunity. NHT/Enterprise is targeting key states to improve and enhance civic engagement around issues of housing affordability, particularly among individuals and families most affected by high housing costs, as well as key actors in health, education, workforce and human services fields to lend their voices attesting to stable, decent affordable homes as an important platform for an array of life outcomes.

The National Housing Trust is a national non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and improving the nation’s existing stock of affordable rental housing through real estate development, lending, and public policy initiatives. By engaging in both development and policy advocacy, the Trust is able to bring its real estate experience to bear on the creation of thoughtful and relevant housing preservation policies. The proposed grant will allow the Trust to create the "National Housing Trust Organizational Fund" which will invest capital in new real estate business ventures consistent with the organization’s mission. Earnings generated from these new ventures will support the organization’s policy work and will ultimately be invested in new related business ventures.

The National Housing Trust is a national nonprofit organization dedicated solely to preserving the nation’s existing stock of affordable rental housing through real estate development, lending, and public policy initiatives. Given the Federal government’s ongoing budgetary challenges and impending legislative debates, including on tax reform, there is a heightened need to support programs and resources essential to preserving and developing affordable rental housing. The Trust will use this grant to continue to provide practitioner-informed leadership on debates about the wide range of state and federal policies that affect affordable rental housing preservation.

The non-profit National Housing Trust addresses housing preservation issues through public policy advocacy, real estate development, and lending, and has leveraged nearly $1 billion to help preserve 22,000 affordable rental housing units nationwide. It tracks state preservation policies and resources and is considered the “go to” organization for policymakers and practitioners. The Trust will use this grant to develop and maintain a state-of-the-art website about the state, local, and national policies, practices, and resources available for affordable rental housing preservation.