Affordable Housing Preservation

The San Fernando Valley Portfolio is a 15 building,  596-unit portfolio located in Los Angeles, California. The property qualified as naturally occurring affordable housing (NOAH) upon acquisition in that it provided for below market rents, but was not deed-restricted or subsidized affordable housing. The portfolio had been marketed as a "value-add" opportunity which proposed a high-end renovation that would allow rents to be increased by 20% to market levels. However, via the application of a tax abatement and 100% private financing, the property was deed-restricted to preserve rents at levels affordable to households at 80% of Area Median Income (80% of AMI).

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Existing tenants remained in-place and units made available via voluntary attrition were offered to a range of tenant profiles including voucher tenants and the formerly homeless, who now comprise 20% of the portfolio tenancy.

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Because the "natural" affordability of NOAH is often the result of a history of subpar management and maintenance, a robust capital improvement plan was implemented. The portfolio budget included investment of $30,000 per unit which was put towards electrical and plumbing repairs, mold remediation, seismic upgrades and additional life / safety improvements.

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The preservation of NOAH has a number of ancillary benefits including extending the useful life of older vintage real estate and the reduction of green-house-gases via the replacement of older building systems with more energy efficient products.

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