Strategies

• Community Land Trusts
• Housing rehabilitation
• Expiring federal subsidies
• Adaptive reuse

Other Ideas

Preserving affordable housing is every bit as important to a community as building it in the first place. Strategies for preserving housing include the ones listed above, as well as a few that don't fit in those categories:

The Town of Nantucket, Massachusetts, seized upon an opportunity to preserve housing that would have been torn down by property owners who wanted to build larger units on their land. The Town, along with the Nantucket Housing Office, moved the units to land owned by the Town's Housing Authority. The homes were renovated and will remain affordable in perpetuity through a deed restriction.

District of Columbia Housing and Community Development has a First Right Purchase Assistance Program, under provides direct short-term and permanent financing loans to low-moderate income individuals and tenant groups to exercise their rights under the District's Right of First refusal law. Loans to tenant groups may be used for earnest money deposits, actual purchase of property, initial operating costs, or for soft costs such as legal, architectural, engineering, and other technical services related to the purchase of a property.  First Right Purchase loans may be converted to or used to provide permanent financing

Model long-term affordability covenant for affordable housing projects