Newsroom

Preserving the Mission

There are many challenges that come with running a non-profit organization; providing needed services to those you serve, dealing with regulations that affect your day-to-day operations, and making sure that communities are maintained at a high standard are just some of the things we expect our frontline managers to deal with on a daily basis.

What sometimes isn’t as obvious is the work done behind the scenes, in our National Headquarters and Regional Offices, to support the managers and preserve RHF’s mission.

Advocating

For many years, RHF’s initial focus was providing affordable housing for older adults, working with government agencies to build subsidized housing for seniors, and investing in retirement communities offering various levels of care.

In more recent years, that focus has expanded to include affordable housing for people with disabilities and low-income families.

With this focus has come the responsibility of advocating, for the people we serve and the programs we provide, to elected officials in the 28 states we have communities in and at the national level.

RHF works to make sure our residents and staff are aware of pending legislative issues that can affect them, and we communicate who they need to contact to let their voices be heard. We also spend thousands of hours working with various national organizations who propose legislation that will help us do the work we do.

A Growing Need

Mortgage crisis stories are indicative of the need for affordable housing in communities throughout the country.

The need for affordable housing is growing for seniors on fixed incomes, working families struggling to make ends meet, and people with disabilities who need housing that can accommodate their needs.

Finding funding for this need has become increasingly difficult. Non-profit organizations have had to find new, and creative, ways to acquire the necessary funding to help them expand their mission and serve the people who need them.

RHF staff is doing just that – working with various agencies, financial institutions, and private organizations to find new sources of funding for this important work.

Providing for the Future

RHF currently has plans for affordable communities in a number of states throughout the country.

We have also increased our efforts to preserve existing affordable housing throughout the United States. This country cannot afford to lose any of the current stock of affordable housing and RHF is committed to preserving as much affordable housing as it possibly can.

Good Stewardship

Preserving the mission includes being good stewards of the resources RHF possesses. More than $50 million has been spent on repairing and renovating RHF’s communities over the past two years.

RHF believes that it is crucial to evaluate all communities and continue repairing and renovating, in order to provide quality, affordable housing for decades to come.

While a significant percentage of the repairs were handled by on-site staff at the community level, large capital improvements were supervised by project managers from the national office.

More than 15 communities throughout the country are currently in the various stages of determining what financing is needed to provide the funding necessary for innovation, while still allowing the community to remain affordable for years to come.