This case study from the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business quantifies the financial value of housing support plans (HSPs), which give residents who fall behind on rent a customized path back to full payment rather than eviction. Working with Mercy Housing, a Multifamily Impact Council member, the researchers applied their Return on Sustainability Investment (ROSI) methodology to six California properties and found that HSPs for Section 8-eligible residents generated a net financial benefit while advancing the housing stability principle of the Multifamily Impact Framework.
Specifically, the NYU Stern research found that:
- HSPs produced an average net benefit of roughly $33,000 per property in 2023 and $45,000 in 2024, ranging from a 2 percent net loss to a 13 percent net gain relative to net operating income.
- The benefit came mostly from earning Section 8 subsidies for the full year as residents stayed housed, and from avoiding eviction legal fees, unit turnover, and vacancy loss.
- Bad debt provisions were higher under HSPs, since discounted rent may be recovered slowly or not at all.
- In a stress test where 25 percent of residents leave after completing a plan, the average benefit fell to $18,000 and $23,000 per property.
Methodology and Context
CSB built an abridged revenue and cost statement for each property for 2023 and 2024, comparing results with and without HSPs. Key assumptions included a six-month plan, an 80 percent discount on the resident's rent portion during the plan, and a three-month default-to-eviction timeline. CSB also released the ROSI HSP Value Creation Calculator so owners and managers can test plan durations and rent discounts with their own data.
