Vanguard Awards

Enter the NAHMA 2025 Vanguard Awards

Enter 2025 Vanguard Awards

The deadline for nominating a property for one of NAHMA’s 2025 Affordable Housing Vanguard Awards is June 6.

The Vanguard Award recognizes new, quality multifamily affordable housing development or major rehab of an existing community or structure. The award pays tribute to developers of high-quality, affordable housing; demonstrates that exceptional new affordable housing is available across the country; reflects the creativity and innovation that must be present to create superior properties given the financing and other challenges to development; highlights results of private-public partnerships required to develop today’s affordable housing, and shares ideas for unique design and financing mechanisms with industry practitioners to further stimulate creative development in the affordable multifamily industry.

The Vanguard Award categories are:

  • New Construction, two subcategories: more than 100 units and under 100 units
  • Major Rehabilitation of an Existing Rental Housing Community
  • Major Rehabilitation of a Nonhousing Structure into Affordable Rental Housing
  • Major Rehabilitation of a Historic Structure into Affordable Rental Housing

Affordable multifamily housing communities less than 3 years old―as of June 6, 2025―may apply based on the date of completing new construction or major rehab completion. Please note: A management company can submit one entry for each of the four categories; however, each entry must be a different property.

Applications should be submitted to NAHMA by June 6, 2025. Email a PDF of your application to brenda.moser@nahma.org with the subject line: NAHMA Vanguard Award. Do not mail hard copies of applications. For more details, contact Brenda Moser at 703-683-8630, ext. 1. 

The entry fee is $150 per property for members of NAHMA or an AHMA and $325 per property for nonmembers.

The Affordable Housing Vanguard Awards winners will be recognized at an awards ceremony at the 2025 NAHMA October meeting in Washington, D.C.

To view past winners, visit the Vanguard Award Winners Archive