Through the tireless efforts of local organizations in rural communities, we have improved the lives of people across the country.

HAC’s 2025 Annual Report

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HAC would like to present its Annual Report for the year 2025.

Annual_Report_2025

Download HAC’s 2025 Annual Report

A Message from HAC President & CEO and Board Chair

For 55 years, HAC has played a unique role in the rural affordable housing sector. Combining research, technical assistance, policy analysis, and lending, the staff at HAC are truly best in class. It is what we hope you see within the pages of this year’s annual report. As always, there will be facts and figures about our impact on rural communities and families. But the resource we really wanted to focus on this year is one that can’t be measured as easily. We are of course talking about the resource that is HAC’s enduring expertise.

There was no better demonstration of HAC’s extensive expertise than at the 2025 National Rural Housing Conference (NRHC). Held from November 4-7 in Washington, DC, the conference brought together over 700 rural housing leaders, practitioners, and policymakers from across the country. Members of HAC’s team planned, moderated, or participated in over 40 different interactive sessions throughout the conference with our local partners and industry experts. We held a pre-conference forum dedicated solely to heirs’ property challenges. Successfully pulling off an event of this size and scope is only possible when an organization’s staff assembles unparalleled knowledge, experience, technical skill, and has the ability to combine them all on a day-to-day basis. We are lucky to have that at HAC.

In 2025, HAC leveraged its expertise by establishing new partnerships, conducting meticulous research, and advocating for policies that benefit rural communities. HAC was proud to launch Rural Data Central in 2025, and also expand the work of our Center for Multifamily Housing Preservation in its first full year of existence. Our training and technical assistance groundwork helped community organizations like the White Mountain Apache Housing Authority support home rehabilitation projects for veterans in Arizona. We also continued to provide flexible funding for organizations such as Hawaiian Community Assets, helping them build out innovative ways to house local populations amidst an ongoing affordability crisis. We hope you will read these stories and appreciate them as snapshots of a team functioning at its highest level.

2025 posed more questions than answers about America’s ongoing affordability crisis. Yet we believe there is enough know-how here at HAC to help address these challenges, no matter what form they take. Together, we are poised to move toward the future with the confidence born from 55 years of housing expertise, and the resilience that same expertise affords.

Thank you for reading and thank you being a partner in this work.

Umpqua Community Development Corporation in Roseburg, Oregon

From Fragmented Processes to Scalable Systems: Rebuilding Operational Capacity at NeighborWorks Umpqua

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NeighborWorks Umpqua, based in Roseburg, Oregon, is a long-standing housing organization serving Coos, Curry, and Douglas counties. With multiple departments spanning real estate development, property management, resident services, and financial coaching, the organization has historically played a significant role in delivering housing solutions across its region. In recent years, Umpqua CDC began expanding into new areas of work, including the creation of a Climate Resiliency Department focused on homeowner rehabilitation and energy efficiency improvements such as heat pump installations. While the organization brought strong institutional experience and reputation, this newer line of work introduced operational complexity that existing systems were not designed to support.

Despite strong commitment and effort, the absence of clearly documented processes created inefficiencies across the workflow. Key operational steps—such as intake, bidding, construction management, and project closeout—were either inconsistently defined or embedded in outdated policy manuals that did not reflect actual practice. Departments operated in silos, limiting coordination and making it difficult to align the new Climate Resiliency work with existing organizational systems.

In the spring of 2024, Umpqua applied to the Housing Assistance Council’s (HAC) OneRural direct technical assistance program and was officially onboarded into the program that summer. Through OneRural, HAC provides customized, one-on-one support to rural organizations working in affordable housing and community development, with a goal of supporting long-term growth and helping organizations expand their impact in their communities.

“On my first site visit with the organization, I realized the Division of Climate Resiliency was newly formed, with a new director and a team struggling to find its place within the organization,” said HAC Housing Specialist Shreya Shrestha. “The department was operating in a silent way, with limited visibility across the organization, and other departments were not fully aware of their work or impact.”

The implementation of a flowchart-based process mapping system designed by Shreya was a turning point. What began as a tool for one department within Umpqua evolved into a shared resource used across teams that spanned the entire corporation.

“The division staff had a lot of information, but it was siloed and not being shared across the team,” Shreya said. “Their work was more reactionary than proactive, and everyone was overwhelmed by the complexity of the process, struggling to document in their procedure manual. I realized the core need was transparency—something that visualized the complex process in a simple diagram, and the whole team could understand and participate without feeling overwhelmed.”

As workflows became clearer, the organization began addressing specific inefficiencies. Intake processes were streamlined, template documents were developed to reduce repetitive work, and timelines for each phase of the project were defined.

“Developing a flowchart system was the right technical assistance solution because it created transparency, broke down information silos, and supported cross-team collaboration by giving everyone a shared view of how work actually moves through the department,” Shreya said.

These system-level changes introduced by Shreya and the HAC team produced measurable results. Within a year of implementing these improvements, NeighborWorks Umpqua more than doubled its homeowner rehabilitation output, increasing from approximately 22–30 projects annually to over 56 completed projects, while serving roughly 70 households.

This engagement demonstrates that capacity building within established organizations often requires rebuilding the systems that support day-to-day work. For NeighborWorks Umpqua, technical assistance helped move the organization from fragmented, siloed operations to a more integrated and scalable model. With durable systems now in place, the organization is better positioned to expand its homeowner rehabilitation work, adapt to new funding opportunities, and sustain its impact across rural Oregon.

The Azalea Apartments in Bowling Green, Florida

Azalea Apartments: Preserving Affordable Housing in Rural Bowling Green, Florida

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In the rural town of Bowling Green, Florida, affordable rental housing is both scarce and critically important to the stability of the community. With a population of just over 2,400 people, the loss of even one affordable housing property in Bowling Green could have a lasting impact on the wellbeing of the property’s residents, and the community as a whole.

Azalea Apartments is a 40-unit housing development built in 1978. Supported by a HUD Housing Assistance Payment contract and spread across 20 small buildings, the property provides two, three, and four-bedroom apartments that are essential for families with low- and very-low incomes in Bowling Green. When Azalea’s longtime nonprofit owner decided to exit the Florida market, the property faced an uncertain future. Without a mission-driven buyer, the property risked leaving the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Section 515 program—threatening long-term affordability and housing stability for the families who call Azalea home.

Steven Brown, Executive Director of Florida Non-Profit Housing, Inc. (FNPH), says his organization was a natural fit to purchase the property. “We are a nonprofit in central Florida that has experience as a technical assistance provider to non-profits that built housing through the Rural Development 515 program, and the USDA 514/516 program for farmworkers,” Brown said. “We were committed to keeping the property affordable in perpetuity, and we were also interested in it because it was our first purchase of a USDA 515 property.”

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How HAC Helped

By utilizing HAC’s Center for Multifamily Housing Preservation (the Center), FNPH was able to navigate the complex property transfer process and assemble the resources needed to preserve the property.

“The Center’s ability to assist non-profits and housing authorities is integral to keeping the 515 portfolio intact,” said HAC Rental Housing Development and Preservation Specialist Angela Shuckahosee. “Year after year, properties exit the portfolio as owners pay off their mortgages. Identifying capable, mission-driven non-profits and housing authorities who can become owners is the key to ensuring thousands of rural residents are not displaced and can maintain a rent payment that enables them to thrive instead of struggle.”

Early in the process, the Center provided hands-on technical assistance to FNPH, helping them evaluate the property’s finances, work through federal requirements, and plan for long-term stewardship. Recognizing that predevelopment funding is often a barrier for rural nonprofits, HAC’s loan fund also provided a 0% predevelopment loan that allowed the deal to move forward. As the transaction advanced, the Center supported FNPH through the USDA Rural Development transfer process and the assumption of the HUD Section 8 contract, ensuring rental assistance would remain in place for all 40 of Azalea’s units. When asked about their role in the transfer process, Brown made HAC and the Center’s importance clear:

“We would never been able to complete this transaction without the help of the dedicated HAC staff. Not only was their knowledge of the programs and process essential to moving the transfer to a successful conclusion, but their dedication to making the project successful in the long term was very advantageous to FNPH.”

The Result

Today, Azalea Apartments is positioned for long-term preservation as affordable housing in Bowling Green. The transfer to Florida Non-Profit Housing keeps the property in the USDA Section 515 program and preserves HUD rental assistance for every unit. As for their future plans, Brown indicated that FNPH hopes to obtain financing from USDA or another source to upgrade the apartments and offer homeownership counseling to residents who may want to move on and purchase a home.

For residents, this means stability—families can remain in their homes, and their community, without disruption. For FNPH, the project strengthens their organizational capacity and demonstrates how nonprofit ownership can protect affordability in challenging or underserved rural markets.

“We have added the preservation of existing low-income housing resources to FNLP’s mission, because we think it is vitally important for low-income families in rural areas,” Brown said. “We encourage other non-profit rural organizations to consider preserving this valuable resource in their communities.”

For the Center, Azalea Apartments reflects the power of early intervention, technical expertise, and mission-driven partnerships. As thousands of USDA Section 515 homes nationwide face similar risks, whether that means properties moving out of the 515 program, financial constraints, or other challenges present in rural America’s current housing landscape, preserving properties like Azalea helps ensure rural families continue to have safe, affordable places to live.

HAC’s 2024 Annual Report

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HAC would like to present its Annual Report for the year 2024.

Housing Assistance Council 2024 Annual Report

Download the 2024 Annual Report

A Message from HAC President & CEO and Board Chair

At the Housing Assistance Council (HAC), we believe that progress happens through partnership.

In 2024, we put that belief into action—working hand in hand with local leaders, government agencies, community based nonprofits, and funders to deliver housing solutions in rural America. This report’s theme, Solutions Through Partnership, reflects not only how we work—it defines who we are.

We’re in this together.

From the beginning, HAC has served as a bridge: connecting rural communities to the tools, resources, and relationships they need to build housing, create opportunity, and strengthen their futures. And in a year marked by shifting policies and economic uncertainty, that role has never been more critical—or more rewarding.

We are proud to report that in 2024, HAC supported the financing of over 1,400 homes, raised more than $12 million in new loan and grant capital, and reached nearly 22,000 individuals through training and educational resources. Each of these numbers reflects a story of connection: a loan officer walking alongside a first-time developer; a policy expert amplifying rural voices in a congressional office; a research associate mapping housing needs; a trainer helping a local team unlock new funding. Across every department at HAC—from lending to training, from policy to research—we saw firsthand how real collaboration turns obstacles into opportunities.

This year also reminded us that the stakes are high. The housing crisis in rural America is real, and deepening. More than five million rural households pay more than they can afford for housing. Many others live in homes that are unsafe or deteriorating. The private market is not producing enough housing at a price locals can afford—and public programs designed to fill in the market gaps face underfunding, understaffing, and political uncertainty.

Even so, we remain hopeful. Because every day, we watch local partners overcome the odds. We see local leaders who are tenacious. We meet partners who are ready to lend a hand. And we work with people—across the public and private sectors—who believe, as we do, that everyone deserves a safe, healthy, and affordable place to call home. A fair and functional system that allows rural communities to thrive is fundamental to the Nation’s success.

As we look ahead to 2025 and beyond, we are energized by the partnerships we’ve built—and the ones yet to come. Together, we will continue to push forward, expand opportunity, and drive solutions where they’re needed most.

Thank you for your trust, your collaboration, and your shared belief in rural America’s future.

Tom Collishaw, wearing a green checkered shirt, stands inside an unfinished home alongside HAC CEO David Lipsetz and others. They are smiling and laughing as they discuss housing development. The background features exposed wooden framing and a closed white door.

Self-Help Enterprises and HAC: A Decades-Long Partnership Shaping Rural Housing

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Serving California’s San Joaquin Valley, Self-Help Enterprises (SHE) is a testament to what’s possible in rural housing development. As one of the nation’s largest and most successful rural housing organizations, SHE has built over 6,600 homes through its mutual self-help housing program. It also manages more than 3,000 affordable rental units. The numbers, however, tell only part of the story, says SHE’s CEO Tom Collishaw.

“Beyond just the house itself, self-help housing has always been about something deeper—something real. It’s not just about building a home; it’s about empowering people, giving them the tools to address their own challenges. The impact goes far beyond just constructing a house. The work becomes a source of pride, the finished product—a turning point for families, something their friends, family, and community can be proud of, and their kids can aspire to.”

A man in a green checkered shirt, identified as Self-Help Enterprises CEO Tom Collishaw, speaks to a group of Housing Assistance Council (HAC) staff inside a partially constructed home. The group, wearing gray shirts, listens attentively as wooden beams and unfinished walls surround them.

Self-Help Enterprises CEO Tom Collishaw speaks to HAC staff during a site visit to a self-help housing project

For more than 50 years, the Housing Assistance Council (HAC) has played a crucial role in supporting SHE’s work. In fact, when HAC began lending in 1972, SHE received our very first loan: $127,650 for site acquisition and development of a mutual self-help housing development. It’s a relationship that Collishaw describes as “deep” and multifaceted, built on years of financial support, policy advocacy, and a shared mission.

At the heart of the HAC-SHE relationship is the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP), a federal initiative in which HAC serves as an intermediary, providing rural organizations with access to capital for land acquisition and infrastructure development. “It’s an honor to be associated with SHE’s success,” notes HAC’s CEO David Lipsetz. “SHE has helped thousands of families build their own homes. SHE has helped California’s central valley prosper. And, SHE has helped HAC and groups across the country see how effective the SHOP program can be.”

Tom Collishaw, wearing a green checkered shirt, stands inside an unfinished home alongside HAC CEO David Lipsetz and others. They are smiling and laughing as they discuss housing development. The background features exposed wooden framing and a closed white door.

Tom Collishaw, HAC CEO David Lipsetz, and staff from both agencies share a moment of camaraderie inside a SHE housing project

The strength of this partnership is something both organizations value deeply. “Since the inception of the SHOP program, HAC has taken a leadership role—a role that, frankly, they were the only ones really in a position to take,” Collishaw notes. “We’ve appreciated that partnership, the mutual trust we have, and the ability to be flexible where possible.”

The SHOP program’s structure allows HAC to forgive 90% of its loan to SHE when they meet their unit goals, provided SHE reinvests the funds in affordable housing activities. Having access to this flexible capital has been “a critical component” in scaling SHE’s real estate efforts, enabling the organization to acquire land, develop infrastructure, and plan subdivisions without depending solely on traditional pre-development loans, which continue to grow more expensive by the day. This strategy also served as a springboard for SHE to secure approximately $18 million from foundation-type funders, including Heron, Calvert, and The California Endowment.

However, for Collishaw, financial support represents just one aspect of HAC’s role. “I’ve always seen HAC as a thought leader. HAC has been a partner in making sure that the needs of rural America are on the national agenda, particularly at the federal level.”

He also points to HAC’s biennial conference as a vital event for the rural housing community. “There were so many casualties during COVID, but I always thought missing a HAC conference was a particularly difficult one,” he reflects. “There are so many organizations smaller than us that rely on those opportunities to meet with peers.” Even with SHE’s extensive experience, Collishaw values these gatherings as important learning opportunities. “We’ve seen a lot, but that doesn’t mean we know everything. There’s always something to learn from people who have only been doing this for two years. They look at things in an entirely different way, and I’ll come back from conferences saying, ‘What they’re doing in Kentucky is fascinating! Maybe we should think about that.’ Those connections are so valuable.”

This spirit of mutual learning and collaboration is evident in the organizations’ shared history, with leadership frequently moving between the two. Bob Marshall, who served as SHE’s executive director from 1966 to 1990, was on HAC’s board for many years. Later, Peter Carey, who led SHE for 24 years after Marshall, continued this tradition by serving on HAC’s board from 2003 to 2024. “Peter Carey is about the most decent person you could imagine,” Lipsetz recalls. “He is a natural leader, deeply committed to helping others and always thinking two steps ahead. He and SHE have a lot in common.”

The relationship hasn’t been without its debates. For instance, HAC has published leading research on “colonias,” the unincorporated settlements along the US-Mexico border that are characterized by high poverty rates and substandard living conditions. Collishaw recalls discussions about expanding the definition beyond border regions. “We feel like we have colonias right here in Tulare County,” he notes. However, he sees such differences as trivial compared to their shared mission: “At the end of the day, those disagreements are minor because we’re ultimately interested in the same things—the sustainability of rural America and the towns and people that we care about.”

As both organizations navigate new challenges in rural housing, Collishaw and Lipsetz see opportunities to further strengthen their partnership. They highlight emerging initiatives, such as collaborating on Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund projects, and envision HAC playing a crucial role in supporting a wider network of housing organizations. “We need to be more effective as a single voice,” Collishaw argues, emphasizing the importance of bringing different groups together. “HAC has a role to play—not just on policy but also with the data and research that supports it. We can build a stronger voice, and it has to be unified across a broader coalition.”

For SHE, maintaining its commitment to both rental housing and homeownership remains central to its mission. “You can do both,” Collishaw insists. “We don’t see housing as a ladder where homeownership is the top and rental housing is just a step below. It’s more of a plateau, where different types of housing serve different needs at different times in people’s lives.” When some questioned the organization’s expansion into rental housing, Collishaw recalls a pivotal board discussion where a member offered a perspective that would shape SHE’s future: what makes SHE unique isn’t just that people are doing the construction. “What’s really unique is that we’re creating neighborhoods—places where people depend on and count on each other, where they build a community together.”

This philosophy mirrors the HAC-SHE relationship itself—a partnership built on mutual support and shared values. ‘We’re in a moment right now—a national realization about housing,’ Collishaw observes. With housing emerging as a top priority in mainstream discussions, the HAC-SHE partnership stands ready to advocate for solutions that work for rural communities, ensuring that rural voices are heard.

Walker Montgomery CDC Site Visit

Your Support Fuels Rural Ingenuity

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See how HAC partners with local organizations like WMCDC to overcome challenges and deliver affordable housing.

Helping rural communities is what we live for at the Housing Assistance Council (HAC.) Our team loves to make loans to local organizations building affordable housing. We get excited about posting data and publishing research on rural conditions. We are relentless advocates for public- and private-sector programs that bring good-quality homes to rural families. We are inspired by the thousands of local housing providers that come to trainings and call for one-on-one technical assistance. Walker Montgomery CDC Site Visit

One of our favorite examples of the last year comes from a local partner in New Waverly, Texas (pop. 914,) Launched nearly 25 years ago, Walker Montgomery Community Development Corporation (WMCDC) builds affordable housing in several Gulf Coast counties. Like most rural groups we know, they rely on local ingenuity to get things done. For instance, WMCDC helped address a construction workforce shortage in Southeast Texas by recruiting 40 participants a year into the Gulf Coast Trades Center’s YouthBuild program. These youth learn valuable professional skills while completing an average of 2 new homes per year.

Yet, it’s hard work building affordable housing through a YouthBuild program. There will be times when you need a partner to keep you going. So, when WMCDC hit more challenges with their labor supply and getting families ready to own a home, they asked HAC for help. The first thing we did is listen to WMCDC leaders discuss the challenges. Then together we explored options and planned how they could maintain production. With contacts around Walker and Montgomery counties, the CDC engaged a general contractor to fill in for the YouthBuild crews and HAC provided training in homebuyer recruitment to keep the pipeline of families ready and strong.

Through projects big and small, HAC brings to local partners the capacity they need to keep going. With your support, we can continue to help WMCDC and hundreds of other rural housing groups. Please join in this work that we love by making HAC a part of your year-end giving. Together, we will help rural communities build good homes and prosper.

We wish you—and everyone in #rural America—a safe, healthy, and affordable place to call home. Happy Holidays from HAC!


Donate to HAC

HAC’s 2023 Annual Report

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HAC would like to present its Annual Report for the year 2023.

Download the 2023 Annual Report

A Message from HAC President & CEO and Board Chair

The communities we serve are the heart of what we do.

In May 2023, staff and board members from the Housing Assistance Council (HAC) travelled to Ruskin, Florida, to forge a plan to expand our impact and improve our work over the next three years. In our three-day retreat, we toured homes under construction at Bayou Pass Village, a community of about 500 homes, all built by their homeowners with investments from HAC and the support of our local partner.

HACsters got to see firsthand the communities that our work helps build. Against this backdrop, we began to develop a strategic plan that is rooted in these communities. From improving our strategic partnerships with organizations working in historically disinvested regions to expanding our role as the “Voice of Rural America” and our commitment to rural prosperity, this plan puts HAC on a trajectory to make an even more profound and lasting impact.

By all measures, 2023 was an incredibly successful year for HAC. We built the capacity of 144 rural housing organizations across 49 states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. We published the fifth edition of Taking Stock, our flagship analysis of the state of Rural America and its housing. We invested more than $25 million to finance the construction, preservation, or rehab of 780 affordable homes. And our policy advocacy helped drive new federal resources to rural communities across the country.

HAC is hard at work helping rural communities overcome their greatest housing challenges. Thank you for supporting our impact. We can’t wait to show you what we accomplish next.

Download 2023 Annual Report View on the Web
HAC 2022 Annual Report Featured Image

HAC’s 2022 Annual Report

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HAC would like to present its Annual Report for the year 2022.

2022 Annual Report

A Message from HAC President & CEO and Board Chair

The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) is soaring to new heights. For our 50th anniversary last year, we turned our attention to building a launch pad for rural prosperity over the next 50 years. We are proud to report that in 2022 HAC blasted off from that launch pad, broadening the ways we help rural communities build a better future.

In 2022, HAC lending and technical assistance built the capacity of 166 rural housing organizations across 43 states. We published 24 editions of HAC News and 13 new research products, including 3 guides to resources needed to recover from a natural disasters. We invested more than we ever have before: $22.2 million to finance the construction, preservation, or rehab of 787 affordable homes. Plus, more than 37% of our loans were made in counties that have had a poverty rate of at least 20% for the last three decades. At the same time, we increased our staff by 21%, expanding the footprint of our work.

Last year, HAC enhanced our position as the Nation’s source for independent, non-partisan policy solutions for rural housing and community development. With the help of our first-ever Director of Policy, HAC led the effort to secure historic federal investment in manufactured housing communities. We met with House and Senate leadership, testified before Committees, worked with the White House and continued to be the go-to source for research and analysis on rural housing markets and living conditions in small towns.

2022 was also a big year for HAC’s “housing-adjacent” work on community facilities and placemaking. We’ve always known that community is more than a collection of houses. By finding new ways to engage small towns as they develop community facilities—such as parks, libraries, and childcare centers—HAC has helped them cultivate a feeling of belonging while providing tangible benefits for every resident. Also in 2022, we more than doubled our work in placemaking, which uses design and the arts to bring communities together, as a catalyst toward sustained community betterment and economic growth.

Additionally, we spent 2022 deepening our impact on affordable housing development. Combining both financing and technical assistance, HAC opened new avenues of work supporting rural rental preservation, ensuring that more existing affordable homes remain high-quality and rent assisted for years to come. Plus, we redoubled our efforts to better understand our impact and identify areas of growth through data and metrics.

HAC has been hard at work increasing the depth and breadth of our impact across rural America. As we reach greater heights and do more, we thank you for boosting our work. We’re excited to show you what this momentum will help all of us achieve.

Download 2022 Annual Report View on the Web
HAC Loan Office Alison Duncan (center) breaks ground for Carnation Village.
Photo by Adam Robison, the Daily Journal.
Photo by Adam Robison, the Daily Journal.

Old Historic Carnation, LP: A HAC Success Story

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HAC’s patience and flexibility help convert a vacant Carnation milk plant into homes for seniors in Tupelo, MS

Rendering of carnation plant developmentThe Carnation Milk plant in Tupelo, Mississippi, has sat vacant since 1972. In about a year, that will change when 33 low-income senior households move into new affordable homes in this old factory. This May, Old Historic Carnation, LP broke ground on Carnation Village, a $16.8 million adaptive reuse project to convert the abandoned factory into 33 units of affordable senior housing. These units are sorely needed in Tupelo, a high-poverty community which needs over 1,500 additional senior affordable housing units. With a $325,000 loan from The Housing Assistance Council (HAC)—and two sixth-month extensions to that loan—the developer successfully navigated a predevelopment process mired in construction cost increases and unexpected funding gaps. Here’s how:

Photo of vacant Carnation plantThe original project scope called for 50 units: 25 from an adaptive re-use of the plant itself and another 25 in a second building to be constructed next door. When our loan closed in July 2021, the project budget totaled about $12.7 million, to be funded by Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Historic Tax Credits, and a $1.6 million investment. Our financing covered the predevelopment costs of the work required to get to construction financing closing including environmental testing, historic preservation approvals, tax credit application and reservation fees, a market study, and an appraisal.

In the fall of 2021, increases in construction costs left Old Historic Carnation with a $3.8 million funding gap. By the time they applied for and received more tax credits from the Mississippi Housing Corporation (MHC), added a $1 million mortgage, received approval from the National Park Service, and updated the construction bids, costs had increased by a further $4.5 million. In the space of less than a year, the construction cost for the project nearly doubled.

Because HAC can be a patient lender, we extended our loan by six months to give the developer time to solve the problem. Old Historic Carnation applied for and received another tax credit increase from the state, reduced costs with value engineering measures, and increased the deferred developer fee by almost $2 million.

Construction costs increased again in the summer of 2022, causing the investor to back out of the project. The developer went back to the drawing board once again and reduced the project’s scope to 33 units, all affordable to households making less than 80% of the area median income (AMI). Plus, 26 would also be affordable to households under 60% AMI. With an additional loan extension from HAC, Old Historic Carnation secured approval of the new scope by MHC, obtained the necessary building permits, and have now begun demolition.

HAC Loan Office Alison Duncan (center) breaks ground for Carnation Village.

HAC Loan Office Alison Duncan (center) breaks ground for Carnation Village. Photo by Adam Robison, the Daily Journal.

On March 21st, Old Historic Carnation, LP closed on construction financing and repaid our predevelopment loan in full. And on May 31st, the project broke ground. Old Historic Carnation’s persistence and creativity made this project a success. But it was HAC’s flexibility that supported them as they went through the process of raising additional funds three times to make the project work. The Carnation Village project showcases how the ingenuity of a local housing developer, solid working relationships with private, state and federal funders, and flexible and patient HAC financing all add up to bring difficult and important projects to fruition. Fifty-one years ago, Carnation Milk closed its factory in Tupelo, Mississippi. Soon, thirty-three low-income, senior households will be able to call it home.

HAC is proud to be a critical part of this project and we look forward to watching it develop.

Building on Two Decades of Partnership: HAC & the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority

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In the summer of 2022, the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority (MFA) faced a difficult challenge. Several state legislators and farmworker groups asked the organization to help meet the housing needs of migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Since farms employ farmworkers with the shifting seasons, many farmworkers only stay in a community for a few months before needing to move elsewhere in search of work. Affordable housing development is complex in the best of cases. Underwriting a project that would have a near complete turnover of residents every four or five months seemed almost impossible.

So, MFA called the Housing Assistance Council (HAC). This wasn’t the first or second time that HAC helped MFA address challenges in its programs. In fact, HAC and MFA have a working relationship well over two decades old. Because of this extensive engagement, MFA Executive Director and CEO Izzy Hernandez knew he could rely on HAC Housing Consultant Eugene (Gene) Gonzalez to help find a solution to this challenge.

Gene connected MFA with groups across the southwest working on similar projects housing migrant farmworkers. With HAC’s help and advice from peers, MFA was able to identify a developer and line up alternate financing options for a project that meets this critical housing need. The development is in its initial phase, but for Hernandez, this is just the latest example of HAC’s reliable, ongoing partnership.

HAC began working with MFA in the early 2000s. A few years earlier, MFA was selected to administer all of New Mexico’s housing programs. Many of the on-the-ground housing organizations who needed MFA funding the most were struggling to obtain designation as community housing development organizations (CHDOs). CHDO designation is a prerequisite to accessing the federal and state programs MFA administered. So, HAC helped eight organizations identify their capacity needs, provided technical assistance to meet those needs, and guided them through the process to obtain CHDO designation.  As a result, each of the eight organizations was able to access MFA funds, which allowed MFA to turn those program dollars into homes in communities that desperately needed them.

While the specifics of HAC and MFA’s collaboration has evolved over time to meet the unique needs of each project, the core challenge HAC helps MFA address remains the same. Like all state housing authorities, MFA relies on the success of its client housing organizations. If they do not succeed, MFA cannot make the most of federal and state programs and cannot meet, as Hernandez puts it, “the extraordinary need for affordable housing.” HAC has long helped and continues to help build the capacity of MFA clients. This not only helps to build more affordable homes in rural New Mexico; according to Hernandez, HAC’s work helps MFA “reach communities we couldn’t reach before.”

When HAC began working with Tierra Del Sol Housing Corporation, one of MFA’s clients, the organization was rehabbing nearly 100 homes per year and building only about nine units per year. HAC provided training and technical assistance to help Tierra Del Sol with land acquisition, green building, energy efficiency, and more. With HAC’s help, the nonprofit expanded its self-help program, began building entire neighborhoods of farmworker housing, and grew to become the largest housing rehabber in the state of New Mexico. In addition, TDS accomplished all this development while focusing work in colonias, communities near the U.S.-Mexico border characterized by high poverty rates and substandard living conditions. Looking back on this incredible success, Hernandez is quick to say that “HAC has played a big role in that.”

Nowadays, MFA frequently refers struggling clients to HAC. Once referred, HAC often includes these organizations in our capacity building and technical assistance cohorts, where they receive one-on-one technical guidance and capacity building assistance. According to Hernandez, whenever HAC receives a new round of funding for technical assistance, he receives a call from Gene asking which groups in New Mexico need help. “We have some groups that were on the bubble of surviving or not,” says Hernandez, “but we have never had one group go out of business. HAC kept them in the game.”

The three hundred plus housing organizations in New Mexico all play an important role in meeting the state’s housing needs. In 2021, they collectively assisted more than 25,000 families in finding quality affordable housing. HAC capacity building assistance helps to ensure that these groups can build homes, effectively implement housing assistance programs, and remain in compliance.

Click here to learn more about HAC’s training and technical assistance. 

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50 Years for Rural America

Over 50 years HAC has worked in every U.S. state and the territories. Learn more about what our work means for rural communities.

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