Preserving historic buildings and neighborhoods

As American cities age, local governments face the challenge of how to handle the large stock of old, vacant, and potentially unsafe structures that crowd the cityscape. Cities like Baltimore, Atlanta, and Los Angeles are challenged to find funds to address this...

A ray of hope for affordable housing preservation

“The affordable housing crisis is growing. RAD is part of the solution.” Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro The crisis Secretary Castro was referring to is the loss of affordable housing units throughout the country. The loss of 10,000 – 15,000 public housing units...

The human costs of (un)affordable housing

I recently received an email from a gentleman involved in the anti-bullying in senior housing movement (a subject of great interest to me) touting a book on adult bullying by cultural anthropologist Dr. Janice Harper. I look forward to reading the book, but bullying...

Tracing affordable housing’s links to the past

A centerpiece of the National Center for Housing Management’s Registered Housing Manager (RHM) program is the property assessment prepared by candidates for the RHM designation. Candidates collect and analyze key performance data on their properties, identify any...

Housing managers cope with heavy expectations

I’ve been in and around the rental housing business for nearly forty years and during that time I have seen the job of the housing manager change dramatically. I’ve had students in my classes audibly gasp when I’ve told them about ads run in local papers back in the...

Why it’s getting harder to hire maintenance staff

If you had to hire a maintenance employee lately, chances are it wasn’t easy. Over the past few years, hiring in general has grown more difficult. Getting any useful information from past employers is nearly impossible unless you have a good relationship with...