This report examines how suburban characteristics may have hampered grantees’ administration of the first round of Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP1) funding. The report focuses on NSP1’s “set-aside” requirement which was designed to preserve housing (either rental or owner) affordable to very-low income families. This report reviews available literature and uses interviews with HUD (who administered the program), nonprofit partners, and two Florida grantees to examine the effect of four community characteristics: goals that are contrary to the creation of affordable housing, limited capacity to administer NSP, a dearth of NSP-eligible multifamily properties, and limited capacity in the jurisdiction’s nonprofit community. This report finds that many grantees struggled with the fast pace of this crisis-response program. However, this fast pace directed HUD’s attention to grantees that were chronic under-performers under other block grant programs such as CDBG, and may have improved grantee capacity as well as their relationship with HUD.