Yesterday, October 23, NLIHC hosted the relaunch of its State and Local Tenant Protections Network. Created as an informal meeting space for state and local housing advocates, tenant leaders, academics, and legal aid service providers to discuss challenges, opportunities, and advocacy strategies for advancing tenant protections within their communities, the October 23 call featured training on NLIHC’s National Housing Preservation Database (NHPD) and how it can be used to advocate for renter protections in state and local jurisdictions. Slides from the October 23 call can be found here.
The call was led by NLIHC Research Analyst Raquel Harati, who provided an overview of the National Housing Preservation Database, how to navigate it, the plethora of resources available for preserving affordable housing, and how it can be used for state and local tenant protection advocacy.
Created by NLIHC and the Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation (PAHRC) in 2011, the NHPD combines data on federally assisted rental properties from HUD and the U.S. Department of Agriculture into a single, free-to-access database. For each federally assisted rental property listed, users can access information like addresses, number of units, ownership details, recent physical inspection scores, contract expiration dates, and loan maturity dates. This data, along with the NHPD’s collection of research reports and interactive resources, such as the preservation dashboard, helps users monitor affordable housing preservation needs as well as opportunities and gaps for tenant protections in their communities.
Moving forward, NLIHC will host its State and Local Tenant Protections calls bi-monthly. Please stay tuned for registration information for the next call(s), which will be provided in the coming weeks!
In 2025, as renter households continue to grapple with the untenable costs of rent, a shortage of affordable, available rental housing, and a notable power imbalance that often leaves renters at the mercy of their landlords, the need for tenant protection policies – especially at the state and local levels – is critical. Tenant protections, which are laws, policies, and programs that strengthen the rights of renters and safeguard against the threat of eviction, are critical at ensuring that renters can not only access rental housing that is safe, stable, and affordable, but that renters are also protected throughout the duration of their lease terms and, in the worst cases, against the threat of eviction and homelessness.
If there are any topics that you would like featured on an upcoming State and Local Protections Network call, please reach out to Nada Hussein at [email protected].
If you would like more information about the NHPD, please visit the NHPD website here or contact NLIHC’s Research team at [email protected].