Properties MapInsights/October 2026
The Affordable Housing Solution Is Not an Either/Or Equation
America faces a shortage of 7.2 million affordable rental homes for its lowest-income renters.1 Yet too often the industry focuses on new development, overlooking a structural reality: even as we build new affordable housing, the impact of every new unit is diminished when existing affordable homes are lost to conversion, sale, or expiring subsidies. Consider that by the end of 2028, nearly 375,000 federally assisted homes are at risk of losing their affordability restrictions.2
The scale of that loss is significant. In 2022, 104,088 homes were added to the federally assisted housing stock while 71,096 were lost — a net gain of just 32,992 homes.2 Even as we add new affordable housing, we are losing homes that are already serving families at an affordable price.
The solution isn’t either/or. It’s both/and — creating and preserving the right housing, in the right places, with the right long-term affordability framework.
Preservation delivers stability: Preservation is typically faster and less expensive per unit than ground-up development. While older properties can have deferred maintenance, complex ownership structures, or expiring affordability restrictions, the right assets can be acquired and rehabilitated in months rather than years, at a fraction of the cost of new construction. Preservation builds on existing infrastructure, allowing residents to stay in place, and protecting affordability for the long term.
Development delivers growth: Preservation helps maintain existing housing stock, but we cannot solely rely on preservation to address the housing crisis. Our current supply of affordable housing already falls short of demand and is unable to keep pace with household growth and migration. While new construction is slower and more costly — financing, approvals, and construction can take years, with rising costs placing constant pressure on affordability — it is the only way to expand supply. New development also delivers homes built to modern standards of efficiency, accessibility, and durability, often located near jobs and transit.
Post Real Estate Group’s Outlook
We believe a serious and effective strategy should pull every lever. Our approach to closing the affordable housing gap includes:
Preservation with a focus on proactive acquisition
Over the past year alone, Post has preserved over 7,400 units across nine states, demonstrating that scale is possible through strategic preservation. We look for at-risk properties before they reach the open market, creating opportunities to preserve affordability before it is lost. Our experience and expertise allows us to underwrite properties with expiring subsidies or covenants, navigate complex financing and regulatory requirements, and build relationships with owners, lenders, and public agencies early enough to act. We believe this allows us to intervene and find solutions to financial or operational challenges.
Development responsive to local need
Before we commit to a site, we assess local market dynamics, housing needs, and neighborhood priorities, including income levels, employment centers, transit access, and existing supply. Building what a community actually needs, where it needs it, fosters local support and gets projects moving sooner.
Flexible capital that aligns interests
We seek to identify where the interests of different stakeholders align — whether that’s public agencies with subsidies to deploy, investors seeking mission-aligned returns, or lenders and municipalities with their own requirements — and structure tax credits, public funding, and private capital so each partners accomplishes its goals. This flexibility allows us to tailor the capital structure to the property and market, working beyond a “one-size-fits-all” approach.
Vertically integrated execution
With in-house capabilities spanning asset and property management, construction, title, and insurance, we coordinate every phase of a project, keeping timelines tight, addressing issues early, and adding value for communities at every step.
A sustainable affordable housing strategy must create and protect affordability at the same time. At Post Real Estate Group, we work to address the challenge with a both/and approach — building and preserving what a community needs, where it needs it. Because for families who need a stable, affordable home, the question isn’t either/or. It’s how quickly we can do both.
1NLIHC, Gap Report, March 2026.
2NLIHC and PAHRC, The Picture of Preservation, December 2024.