The calendar might say January, but spring is just around the corner, and so is the deadline for nominating a property for one of NAHMA’s 2023 Affordable Housing Vanguard Awards. The deadline is June 2. The application can be downloaded from the Vanguard Award webpage.

The Vanguard Award recognizes new, quality multifamily affordable housing developments. The award pays tribute to developers of high-quality, affordable housing; demonstrates that exceptional new affordable housing is available across the country; reflects the creativity and innovation that must be present to create superior properties given the financing and other challenges to development; highlights results of private-public partnerships required to develop today’s affordable housing; and shares ideas for unique design and financing mechanisms with industry practitioners to further stimulate creative development in the affordable multifamily industry.

Your community could be one of NAHMA’s next Vanguard winners. Start working on your application today. Winners of the Affordable Housing Vanguard Awards will be recognized at an awards ceremony at the NAHMA fall meeting in October 2023 in Washington, D.C.

One of the best ways to stay up on the latest in the affordable housing industry is by attending NAHMA Biannual Top Issues in Affordable Housing winter conference, March 8-10, in Washington, D.C.

The annual meeting features several educational panels geared explicitly toward the affordable housing industry. Stockton Williams, executive director of the National Council of State Housing Agencies, will provide the keynote presentation. Other invited guests include representatives from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and more. Panels featuring government officials and other special guests are not open to the media and may not be recorded.

Event registration includes admission to all sessions and open committee meetings, the Communities of Quality Awards luncheon and panel discussion, and the Industry Awards ceremony. Both awards celebrations take place Thursday, March 9. Register today to attend the meeting before prices increase on Feb. 13. Hotel room reservations require a separate registration from the NAHMA meeting.

The 2023 NAHMA Educational Foundation scholarship season opens soon, and the digital application will be available online on or around Feb. 10. To make the application more user-friendly and secure more completed submissions, the application was revised and will only require a single reference this year. The application period will close May 12 at 10:00 p.m., ET. The application will be available on the foundation’s webpage.

In 2022, 96 scholarships were awarded, worth a total of $336,000. Recipients came from 12 of the 16 AHMA’s. Over the life of the scholarship program, 1,097 scholarships worth a total of $2,597,250 have been awarded. More than 75% of eligible applicants have received scholarships. Applicants must meet the following requirements: completion of the application form, essay, one reference, Certification of Residency In Good Standing, and a grade transcript.

Please help share the scholarship information with your residents when it becomes available.

Rushing River

The two national associations sponsoring the Specialist in Housing Credit Management (SHCM) certification program invite your company to become a Specialist in Housing Credit Management Company, a corporate designation explicitly created to honor management companies that successfully maintain a significant portion of their properties and staff to the high standards of the SHCM certification program.

The SHCM program, developed especially for management companies involved with properties developed and operated under the Low-Income Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, is sponsored by the National Affordable Housing Management Association (NAHMA) and the National Apartment Association Education Institute (NAAEI).

Earning the SHCM Company designation publicly demonstrates that the company is among the finest managers of LIHTC housing in the industry.