More communities in America are in a housing crisis than ever before. It’s worse if you’re a renter. And it’s even worse if you’re poor. As the mismatch between household income and the cost of housing continues to widen, it seems there is finally widespread agreement that we need a lot more housing in a lot more places. Part of that supply must come from preserving the affordable housing we already have.

The stock of housing in America has been like a leaky bucket. Even as communities add new homes, existing affordable homes are lost. Keeping homes habitable and affordable for the long term will plug the leak. It’s an essential part of keeping up with the need for affordable housing. And it makes communities stronger. 

Preserving affordable housing allows people to stay in their present community. Affordable housing is a place for kids to find independence in their first homes as young adults. Seniors can live with dignity with the help they need. Keeping affordable homes near jobs reduces the burden on transportation networks and supports local businesses and economic development.

Preservation is also an opportunity to make older properties more durable, resilient and energy efficient. That decreases future burdens on public dollars, lowers current costs and keeps residents safer and healthier in their homes.

Threats to existing affordable housing

Some affordable housing is subsidized and monitored to serve low- income renter households. It can be publicly owned, like public housing, or privately owned with a long-term legal covenant to serve low-income households. It might have rental assistance to help pay maintenance costs even if the resident has very low income. Some affordable housing simply has lower rents than the market average, often due to age and location.

The most visible way affordable housing disappears is when the property changes to serve wealthier residents at higher rents. This can happen when legal use restrictions expire and property owners choose to convert to market-rate housing rather than renew their affordability commitments. It can also happen to unsubsidized properties when an owner sees a market opportunity, especially if they have access to capital for renovations. Sometimes an owner will sell the property to someone else who intends to convert it.

Less visibly, affordable housing leaks away to age and lack of capital. Properties wear down over time and need periodic repairs to building systems like heating and cooling, roofing, insulation and plumbing. Deterioration is an increasing threat to the affordable housing we have. Much of the stock of privately owned affordable housing was originally built in the 1970s and onward. Only some of these properties have received funding over time for renovation.

Preserving affordable rental properties creates opportunities for private investment. Private mortgage capital supported by the rental income of affordable housing is typically an essential element of a preservation transaction. Private lenders bring market discipline and expertise in these specialized transactions. Private equity investment, with and without tax credits, features prominently. But because rental income is often lower, preservation transactions generally require additional public funds to make financial sense.

Fortunately, we have proven tools to preserve affordable housing. Federal resources are essential, like those through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, recently expanded by Congress, plays a major role in many transactions. Other federal resources fill gaps, including the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, Community Development Block Grant Program and the National Housing Trust Fund. Federal rental assistance, such as Section 8, provides essential operating support. State and local resources are often essential as well. Housing trust funds, rental assistance, state tax credits, property tax abatements and inclusionary land use policy all play a role.

The places that are most successful at preserving affordable housing coordinate their efforts and proactively encourage preservation. Massachusetts enacted the 40T statute to notify tenants of proposed conversions and create a right of first refusal to enable preservation. There is a regular statewide report on affordable properties with expiring use restrictions and regular coordination among state agencies and stakeholders. The 2024 Affordable Homes Act provides substantial support for reinvestment in affordable housing, including energy efficiency and resilience.

In Chicago, the longstanding Preservation Compact brings together state, local, nonprofit and philanthropic organizations to collaborate on preserving at-risk affordable housing properties. In Minnesota, the state housing finance agency has made preservation a major part of its strategic plan, and the state has a long history of coordinated action to focus public and private efforts on preservation. The National Housing Trust, based in Washington, D.C., continues to lead the fight to expand affordable housing preservation nationwide.

Policy changes

There is pressing need for policy action to support preservation of affordable housing. Key actions that can be undertaken at the federal level include: 

• Expand or at least maintain Continuum of Care Program funding for existing permanent supportive housing serving people with disabilities, frail older people, formerly homeless individuals and families and other vulnerable residents. The current administration has proposed a drastic cut that could eliminate thousands of homes that help prevent homelessness.

• Reduce or eliminate the Build America, Buy America requirements for affordable housing — these requirements add major cost and delay. 

• Streamline environmental reviews, which can be time-consuming and expensive even for existing properties that are not changing their environmental impact. 

• Make prevailing wage restrictions predictable and manageable for developers, so last-minute requirements and cost increases do not derail preservation transactions.

• Expand tools for preserving public housing. Making HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration program permanent and providing incremental funds to bring rents to sustainable levels would enable preservation of hundreds of thousands of publicly controlled rental homes.

• Sustain and expand resources to make existing housing energy efficient and resilient to natural disasters. One example is HUD’s Green and Resilient Retrofit Program, which has continued based on a court order despite HUD attempts to end it.

• Maintain funding for federal rental assistance like project-based Section 8, which undergirds much existing affordable housing.

Many of these actions, and others, were included in the Senate’s ROAD to Housing Act, which passed that chamber in 2025 with bipartisan support as part of the National Defense Authorization Act.

At the state level, policies that could support affordable housing preservation include:

• Use some of the recently expanded and improved Low-Income Housing Tax Credit specifically for preservation.

• Provide state and local funds for preservation through affordable housing trust funds, allocations of federal block grants, rental assistance, property tax relief, state capital funds and state tax credits.

• Allow community-based nonprofits to compete effectively for preservation resources. Set-asides in allocation of funds and targeted predevelopment assistance are proven tools.

With concerted action at the federal, state and local levels, communities can preserve existing affordable housing even as the many new homes needed nationwide are built. Doing so will create economic opportunity and help communities thrive.