The National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders was founded in 1990 as the national alliance of banks, nonprofits, and other private lenders and investors in affordable housing and neighborhood revitalization to share best practices and advocate for supportive public policies.
A quarter of a century later, NAAHL is still where leading practitioners connect and collaborate; advocate with a united policy voice; and provide expertise on effective implementation of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and other policy tools.
We have seen remarkable progress in many ways. Cities are significantly more vibrant, attractive, and safe now than when NAAHL began; affordable rental housing has emerged as a safe and robust asset class; the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) alone has produced or preserved 30% of the nation’s comparably affordable apartments; the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) has generated $30 billion of investment in neighborhood economic development; and home mortgage performance has rebounded from a destructive housing crisis aggravated when some lenders strayed from the prudent lending principles that NAAHL has consistently upheld.
NAAHL has played an important part in this progress, working successfully to preserve CRA and modernize its implementation; support banks’ authority to make public welfare investments; support the NMTC; fight predatory mortgage lending; and expand liquidity for small multifamily housing loans. Every year NAAHL’s members provide tens of billions of dollars of responsible financing for affordable rental and owner-occupied housing and inclusive neighborhood revitalization, successfully serving millions of people in thousands of neighborhoods nationwide.
NAAHL has successfully advocated for:
• Inclusion of NAAHL recommendations in the Treasury Department’s report on Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) modernization
• Updated CRA guidance on community development
• Protection of Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Private Activity Bonds, and New Markets Tax Credits in tax reform
• Introduction of legislation to expand and improve Low Income Housing Tax Credits
• Favorable treatment of public welfare investments under the Volcker Rule and Basel III Risk-Based Capital rule
• Defense of CRA against critics blaming it for the housing meltdown and Great Recession
• Recognition of mission-based NAAHL lenders’ experience within GAO’s report on GSEs’ multifamily rental housing finance activity