Introducing: Multifamily Impact Framework 2.0™

Rachel Mavrothalasitis, COO, Multifamily Impact Council

As Chief Operating Officer of Multifamily Impact Council, Rachel Mavrothalasitis is responsible for driving member outreach and engagement, with a focus on industry integrations and the investor community. She also leads the Multifamily Impact Framework™ annual enhancement process, ensuring evolution of its reporting and performance standards to reflect industry best practices. Rachel has substantial expertise in social and environmental impact, previously working as Director of Impact for Turner Impact Capital, in crisis intervention and as Director of Housing Advocacy for a trauma-informed service center, and as the founder of Reach&Root Partners, LLC, a consulting and advisory firm that supports impact funds and housing operators in defining their ESG and impact processes. 


What led MIC to introduce Multifamily Impact Framework 2.0™? 

The Multifamily Impact Framework 1.0 was launched in 2023, after more than a year of rigorous collaboration with multifamily industry leaders, trade groups, and ESG experts. This intensive design period was built on the decades of experience and deep research that Bob and our Multifamily Impact Council members have and have done over the course of their careers. When it launched, MIC made a commitment to reviewing the Framework annually and updating it as needed, to ensure that it continually evolves with the market. Version 2.0 is the culmination of feedback we’ve heard from our Members since 1.0 launched and the findings from the formal enhancement process we undertook earlier this summer.   

What does the new version of the Framework offer as compared to the original version? 

In the end, we made about 25 updates to the Framework, which break down into three buckets. They either 1) streamline the language; 2) adjust the format to make it easier to interact with; or 3) introduce new content, with this last bucket constituting the smallest proportion of changes. There were no changes made to the number or objectives of the seven Impact Principles or to the substance of the minimum thresholds that Members agree to uphold. 

The most material change within the “new content” bucket is the introduction of two reporting metrics, bringing us to a total of 20. The first new metric falls under Economic Health & Mobility and asks for the census tract designation of the property. The second falls under Climate & Resilience and separates what was once one metric into two, to ensure that performing both a climate risk assessment per site and designing an emergency preparedness and resiliency plan in high-risk areas gets proper attention. We believe both these additions will allow for better decision-making and prioritization. 

We also added three supporting tools within the Framework workbook that support its integration into internal practice. We hope these tools will provide guidance on how users can go above and beyond the impact thresholds, deliver a structured resident services approach, and map the Framework against other third-party impact and ESG reporting tools. Our goal is to make using the Framework as easy as possible, and we believe these types of resources do just that. 

What methods did you utilize when you implemented the update? 

In addition to maintaining running notes on feedback received from MIC Members throughout the year, at the start of June we kicked off a seven-week window of weekly office hours in which we spent dedicated time on each Principle. These calls averaged 30-40 members per call and ran through a structured set of questions about how that Principle’s definition, impact threshold, metrics and guidance were functioning in practice. Things like: Is the definition still relevant? Are there new market constraints or opportunities to be aware of? What tools are Members using to support tracking or reporting this Principle?  etc.   

Once these calls concluded, our team spent a few weeks synthesizing what we heard across the conversations, reaching out to industry leaders with specific areas of expertise, and collating the updates we felt best reflected the feedback as whole. By early September, we had a complete draft of Framework 2.0 ready to share. Members received a copy with a summary of changes in order to respond and clarify their expectations, which resulted in a few more revisions. Ultimately, we’re thrilled that the version we’ve launched is the culmination of an iterative process which refines the Framework without sacrificing its purpose or changing its approach. 

What else should multifamily stakeholders know about this new Framework?  

The Multifamily Impact Framework™ was built to be straightforward and applicable to a diverse set of stakeholders focused on multifamily housing, including developers, operators, investors, syndicators, service providers, and government and public entities. We believe that simplicity is the currency of scale, and so we’re always seeking to reduce complexity and, as Bob says, focus on what is always true. It is free to download because we believe that the less time folks spend trying to figure out what matters or what to measure, the more time they’ll spend creating and supporting affordable, sustainable, impactful housing and the better equipped they’ll be to attract and deploy capital. This is our central objective. We care about outcomes, not fanfare, and we know that if we’ve done our job well, the industry will continue to coalesce around a limited number of most salient issues. We’re so grateful to our Members for establishing and maintaining the Framework and welcome anyone who is interested in continuing this work with us to reach out! We love hearing how the Framework is functioning in practice.