Summary of Significant Accounting Policies Narrative Tagging (Details)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($) Property Bank $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($) Property	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2016 $ / shares	May 31, 2016 $ / shares	Mar. 31, 2016 $ / shares
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Number of Financial Institutions | Bank	2
Cash, FDIC Insured Amount | $	$ 250,000
Building Useful Life-Minimum	19 years
Building Useful Life-Maximum	40 years
Capital Improvements Useful Life-Minimum	5 years
Capital Improvements Useful Life-Maximum	15 years
Redeemable preferred units redemption value per unit | $ / shares	$ 10.00			$ 10.00	$ 10.00	$ 10.00
Restricted Unit Awards [Member] | Burlington [Member] | Maximum [Member]
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Approved grant of restricted units and other awards to employees | shares	3,000,000
RUAs granted with vesting range	3 years
Restricted Unit Awards [Member] | Burlington [Member] | Minimum [Member]
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
RUAs granted with vesting range	3 months
PHC Certificates and MBS Securities [Member]
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Impairment charges | $	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
Mortgage Revenue Bonds, Taxable Bonds or Bond Purchase Commitments
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Impairment charges | $	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
Variable Interest Entity Primary Beneficiary [Member]
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Number of Real Estate Properties | Property		2
Consolidated Properties [Member]
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Number of Real Estate Properties | Property	7
Consolidated Properties [Member] | Beneficial Unit Certificate Holders [Member]
Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Noncontrolling Interest, Ownership Percentage by Parent	99.00%
Number of Real Estate Properties | Property	1