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Enterprise official urges dedicated stabilization resources to protect at-risk affordable housing
Summary
Stacy Berenbach told council members the Housing Production Trust Fund should either be supplemented or paired with a separate stabilization pool to protect properties already supported by district investments, and described the need for longer-term pooled capital and monitoring to preserve affordability.
Stacy Berenbach, nominated to the HPTF advisory board, told the Committee on Housing that stabilization for at-risk affordable housing is an urgent need that the trust fund should address more deliberately. She said many properties that received district support are showing stress—declining operating revenue and rising costs—and recommended dedicated resources to stabilize projects so initial public investments are not lost.
Berenbach said a stabilization approach could be embedded in the HPTF or take the form of a separate pool that supports properties that already received district investment. “I would love to see that the housing production trust fund is sort of supplemented to meet that need and that demand, whether it's through the fund, or an additional type of stabilization fund,” she told the committee. She recommended auditing sponsors, tracking arrearages and occupancy, and designing metrics to measure whether stabilization grants prevented displacement and improved property viability.
Committee members asked how to avoid creating ongoing dependency while protecting existing investments; Berenbach answered that rigorous underwriting, audits and a focus on return-to-market confidence are necessary to restore investor and sponsor stability. The committee asked agencies for follow-up evaluations and data on recent stabilization rounds.
