Innovative, diverse, and green: That’s what describes the projects selected to receive AFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE’s 2007 Readers’ Choice Awards for the Nation’s Best Affordable Housing Developments. After tallying the votes of AFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE subscribers for the 36 finalists, we have a tie for best overall project, and nine category winners. They range from a solar-powered project to the redevelopment of a public housing project built for World War II shipyard workers. One project once was a 19th-century cigar factory. In the following pages, we invite you to read about the winners:

  • Best Overall Project (tie):

    Lord Tennyson Apartments in Hayward, Calif.;

    Solara in Poway, Calif.

  • Best Family Project:

    Plymouth Manor and Carlson Commons in Rochester, N.Y.

  • Best Historic Rehab Project:

    Midtown Exchange Apartments in Minneapolis

  • Best Homeownership Project:

    The Village of Eastlake in Wilmington, Del.

  • Best Master-Planned/Mixed-Use Project:

    New Columbia in Portland, Ore.

  • Best Preservation Project:

    Hazel Hill Apartments in Fredericksburg, Va.

  • Best Rural Project:

    Henner Apartments in Womelsdorf, Pa.

  • Best Seniors Project:

    Arthur Capper Senior Apartments in Washington, D.C.

  • Best Special-Needs Project:

    Margot and Harold Schiff Residences (formerly named Near North Apartments) in Chicago

  • Best Urban Project:

    Mission Creek Senior Community in San Francisco