Substantial Rehabilitation & New Construction

The procedures in this manual distill six years of learning about the most efficient acquisition and construction methods in this country for high volume production of housing affordable to low-income people. The people in the Rehab Work Group at The Enterprise Foundation have gathered this information first-hand and conveyed it in training workshops on production management throughout the country. Over 2000 participants in the workshops have included rehab specialists from city housing departments, con- struction managers of single and multifamily rehab projects, program managers from both nonprofit housing development organizations and city rehab depart- ments, as well as students in colleges and universities. They are becoming the backbone of a new cadre of effective producers of affordable housing. In the 30 cities and several rural areas where we have both learned and applied these production management techniques, they have resulted in savings of 5, 10, even 25 percent of the cost of housing development. The Enterprise Foundation is a national, nonprofit organization that my wife Patty and I launched in 1982. The Foundation's mission is to see that all very low-income Americans have the opportunity for fit and affordable housing within a generation, and work their way up and out of poverty into the main- stream of American life.