Mansur Abdul-Malik is integral in The NHP Foundation’s mission of creating and preserving affordable housing throughout the country, but especially in Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
Since joining the organization in 2012, he has risen from an associate to an officer in the company, becoming vice president of development in 2019. Abdul-Malik has helped the nonprofit expand its portfolio by approximately 1,800 units and has overseen $200 million in development.
While his position involves a good amount of office-based work, the 37-year-old admits he’s a “get-your-hands-dirty kind of guy.” Fortunately, his role also allows him to be out in the field, visiting project sites and meeting with residents. “I don’t think you get your arms around a development until you go out and see it,” he says.
He recently managed the development and rehabilitation of 94 scattered-site single-family homes for extremely low-income families in his hometown of Baltimore. The ambitious Hollander Ridge development created affordable housing in high-opportunity neighborhoods with good schools and other amenities.
“It allows folks who are 50% of the area median income and below to live in neighborhoods that they may otherwise not be able to,” he says. “Even if they are working as hard as they could, it would take them a while to be able to close the income gap in order to buy a home in one of these neighborhoods.”
Abdul-Malik’s accomplishments also include bringing solar power to Parkchester Apartments in southeast D.C, which led him to create a subsidiary that leases the rooftops from NHPF properties, finances the installation of solar panels on them, and splits the power generated and benefits between the organization and its residents.
Abdul-Malik, who earned a master’s in real estate development from the University of Maryland, is a mentor to others at work and is a member of the organization’s Race and Social Injustice Task Force. He’s also involved in Urban Land Institute’s UrbanPlan program that teaches high school and college students about real estate development, and he serves on Montgomery County Planning Department’s Art Review Committee.
Outside of work, he enjoys cycling and archery and coaches youth duckpin bowling. He and his wife have a 6-year-old son.
