Mid-Atlantic Preservation Academy Cohort RFA Grant

The Mid-Atlantic Preservation Academy will empower affordable housing organizations through a comprehensive training series and grant opportunity in 2025. Participants will engage in sessions covering key topics such as SMMF property preservation, financing strategies, and management best practices. By fostering peer learning and providing technical assistance, the academy aims to enhance the capacity of organizations to effectively preserve affordable multifamily housing in their communities.

The Mid-Atlantic Preservation Academy aims to support a cohort of affordable housing organizations and owner-operators in preserving affordable small- and medium-multifamily (SMMF) housing through an engaging cohort-based training series and grant opportunity in 2025. If selected for the Preservation Academy cohort, every participating organization will have access to training and peer-learning sessions, grant funding, and technical assistance.
The academy sessions will cover the following topics:
Preservation Academy cohort kickoff: This in-person session will highlight the critical role small and medium multi-family (SMMF) properties play regionally and nationally, barriers to and opportunities for SMMF preservation, and provide a framework to assess organizational capacity to successfully undertake SMMF preservation.Identifying and rehabilitating SMMF properties: This session will provide a framework for evaluating potential SMMF preservation opportunities, including scoping rehabilitation, and an understanding of unique rehabilitation needs of SMMF properties, common pitfalls and challenges, and strategies to overcome them.Financing SMMF properties: This session will provide an overview of local, state, and national financing resources to support SMMF projects, guide cohort members through a financial modeling exercise to evaluate a project’s financial feasibility and highlight strategies to meet financing gaps and preserve affordability.Managing a SMMF property/portfolio: This session will cover property and asset management models and best practices for SMMF properties.Sustainability of SMMF properties: This session will conclude the Preservation Academy with topics identified by cohort members during the academy. Potential topics include eviction prevention, climate resilient housing practices, and public policies for housing preservation, among others.