Preserving Over 2,000 Affordable Homes with Citizens Housing, Eden Housing, and Tenderloin Neighborhood Development
June 4, 2010
The downturn in the economy has created significant strain on many non-profit organizations, including non-profits that develop affordable housing. The economic situation that non-profit affordable housing developers face nationally and in the State of California is unprecedented. The single largest program that developers use, the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program, has seen a drop in investment from $9 billion to $4 billion and the State’s primary funding program Proposition 1C is scheduled to run out of bond funds by year end. In the fall of 2009, Citizens Housing, a Bay Area based housing developer that owned more than 2,000 apartment units looked out at the challenges in the funding environment and decided that the long-term prospects for expansion were limited.
Rather than shrinking its operations to subsistence level or waiting for crisis, the Board made a difficult decision to go out of business while at the same time meeting the ultimate goal of assuring the long-term affordability and quality of their portfolio. They reached out to two local non-profits, Eden Housing and Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC) to help with the transition.
In this episode of the Affordable Housing Podcast, leaders from Citizens Housing, Eden Housing, and TNDC join host Joanne Greene in a panel discussion regarding Citizens’ recent transition that preserves over 2,000 affordable homes. They include:
-Noreen Beiro, Former Interim CEO for Citizens
-Don Falk, Executive Director of TNDC
-Dan Lopez, Interim CEO for Citizens and served 15 years on the Citizens Board, with the last 10 years as Board Chair
-Linda Mandolini, Executive Director of Eden Housing
The Affordable Housing Podcast is a production of Eden Housing