Housing Catalyst wins five NAHRO Awards of Merit

The National Association for Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) has honored Housing Catalyst with five 2024 Awards of Merit.

“Housers are problem solvers,” NAHRO CEO Mark Thiele said. “As our country grapples with a nationwide affordable housing crisis, these housing agencies face their local challenges with tenacity, creativity and a powerful will to improve their communities. Whether they’re building and repairing homes, forging local partnerships to provide resources such as healthcare and workforce training, or increasing their agencies’ ability to serve, these dedicated professionals build and implement innovative solutions that improve the lives of their residents, their staff, and the communities in which they work. Congratulations to all the award winners!”

The full list of award-winning agencies, as well as their winning programs, is available in the 2024 Awards of Merit catalog. Housing Catalyst’s awards are listed below.

Project Design

Oak 140

This award focuses primarily on the physical or landscape design of a building or project.

Oak 140 is a transformative project for Fort Collins that represents the culmination of years of hard work and community collaboration. Recognizing the critical need for affordable housing in the core of Fort Collins, Housing Catalyst and the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) formed a dynamic partnership to redevelop the site of a former Elks Lodge in the heart of downtown. Oak 140’s design draws on contextual clues from buildings in the downtown area – celebrating the neighborhood’s architecture through masonry detailing, Hundertwasser-inspired stucco patterns, and the vibrant color palette on the walls of the terrace. In keeping with downtown Fort Collins’ promotion of art in public spaces, Oak 140 features a pair of murals created by artist Noé Barnett.

Innovation in Affordable Housing

Oak 140

This award goes to programs that produce affordable housing in an innovative manner, i.e. creative financing, public/private partnerships, mixed income developments, adaptive reuse, special needs housing.

Made possible through a partnership between Housing Catalyst and the Fort Collins Downtown Development Authority (DDA), Oak 140 is the first Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) project to address the community need for affordable housing in downtown Fort Collins. The five-story mixed-use building is home to 79 apartments and two commercial tenant spaces. Designed with the downtown workforce in mind, the building features thoughtful resident amenities including on-site covered parking, indoor bike storage, a community lounge, and outdoor living space on the third-floor terrace.

 

Innovation in Resident and Client Services

Permanent Supportive Housing Partnership with Fort Collins Police

This award goes to programs that enhance the lives of residents and clients, including self-sufficiency programs, youth programs, and elderly or special needs housing.

With nearly a decade of experience managing Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH), Housing Catalyst has learned it takes a strong network of partners to provide appropriate supportive services. One vital and potentially unexpected partner is Fort Collins Police Services. Recognizing the relationships between people who have experienced chronic homelessness and emergency services personnel are often fraught, Housing Catalyst and Fort Collins Police Services have worked intentionally to build trust. Through open communication, staff/officer education, and resident events, this partnership helps Permanent Supportive Housing residents feel safe and seen, even in moments of crisis.

 

 

Administrative Innovation

Mindful Meetings

This award to goes to programs that improve the efficiency or effectiveness of administrative operations or the general functioning of the agency, i.e. management systems, maintenance, community relations, inter-agency cooperation, computer use, professional development and public relations.

When the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a shift toward remote and hybrid work, Housing Catalyst leadership wanted to ensure staff still experienced a common Housing Catalyst culture and had opportunities to build the emotional resilience needed to navigate these uncertain times. A select group of Housing Catalyst staff worked with a consultant to assess their challenges and opportunities. What emerged from their discussions was the Housing Catalyst Mindful Meetings Blueprint. The blueprint provides consistent meeting templates that integrate mindfulness and emotional resilience practices to foster connection, psychological safety, and trust. The blueprint was rolled out agency-wide in 2023.

 

 

Administrative Innovation

Positive Rent Reporting

This award to goes to programs that improve the efficiency or effectiveness of administrative operations or the general functioning of the agency, i.e. management systems, maintenance, community relations, inter-agency cooperation, computer use, professional development and public relations.

In 2022, Housing Catalyst was selected to participate in a State of Colorado pilot that aimed to help renters build credit by reporting timely rent payments to consumer reporting agencies. The pilot, implemented by the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority, used the RentTrack platform to collect and report payment data. While only one Housing Catalyst property was chosen for the pilot, the agency saw such immediate interest and improvement in credit ratings that they decided to roll out the program to all residents in 2023. More than 230 residents are now participating in the program. New enrollees had an average credit score of 575. The current average credit score for participants is 652.