Calls to Action

Research shows that the people who typically testify at local planning and zoning hearings are often unrepresentative of the greater community. It is imperative that supporters of affordable housing show up at local meetings and make their voices heard. Use data from the HIT to strengthen your argument about the need for affordable housing in your neighborhood.

A diverse range of community member perspectives are needed to ensure that development projects meet the diverse needs of residents. Seek opportunities to engage developers working on needed projects and policymakers shaping impactful local policies to ensure diverse needs of all residents are being considered. The HIT dashboard for your jurisdiction lists the elected officials and housing officials. 

Seek advocacy connections and opportunities through faith-based organizations that are rooted in social justice

The landing page of the HIT tool and the jurisdiction level policies and dashboards provide useful information to support your advocacy efforts. Explore what is happening in your community and what more needs to be done.

Legal services can be a limiting factor in who is able to work in housing. Through pro bono work or other programs, investing resources in supporting BIPOC developers in the housing space is an example of ways you can use your influence to make change.

Heirs property is one of the most unstable and insecure forms of real property ownership. It can undermine generational wealth build and is disproportionately found in Black, Latino, and Hispanic, low-wealth families. Learn more about ways to preserve generational wealth by untangling title for heirs property homeowners.

Make sustainability initiatives a priority for your firm by partnering with other firms and investing in companies and organizations that are focused on community-based sustainability improvements.

Affordable housing lenders have a unique perspective on what is needed to ensure steady investment in affordable housing within a jurisdiction. Review the jurisdiction in which you work on the HIT and advocate on behalf of the greater housing ecosystem to local elected officials and policymakers.

Financial institutions can implement policies and practices that reduce the prevalence and impact of appraisal bias, which has resulted in a devaluation of homes in Black and Brown communities for decades.

The traditional underwriting system can reinforce inequitable access to credit. Disrupt the system around underwriting by reviewing and amending traditional underwriting practices that may be rooted in biases.

Major banks can target financial investment in affordable housing production and preservation in local markets.

 

Land is one of the costliest parts of developing affordable housing and institutions like faith-based organizations have traditionally owned vast amounts of land. Enterprise’s Faith-Based Development Initiative provides houses of worship with the knowledge and tools to develop underutilized land into affordable housing and needed community facilities.

Large nonprofits like universities, hospitals, and others should work to anchor their neighborhoods and communities to produce more housing that is affordable to those who work at and visit the institution. Anchor Institutions raise funds for affordable development, advocate to government officials on the needed zoning and policy changes to support housing in their community, and promote the area to potential residents and organizations. For examples, look to the work being done by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and by Inova Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia.

Although nonprofits are often working to address the symptoms of inequitable systems, there are still ways in which those systems can be unintentionally perpetuated from within. Investing resources to focus on the work of operationalizing equity in your programs and operations is a way to shift that. Check out HAND’s LEAD Racial Equity Institute to take the next step in your organization’s racial equity journey, or learn from Enterprise Community Partners Equitable Path Forward program.

Providing grants or low-interest loans to mission-driven developers and organizations focused on building affordable rental and owner-housing units or investing in public-private ventures are tangible ways to help address the affordable housing funding gap.

Funding pilot programs to support economic stability and mobility for residents at the lowest income levels or using impact investing to further black homeownership and wealth generation, are examples of ways to stretch your impact in an urgently needed time.

Your organization’s support of advocacy efforts aimed at influencing housing policies and regulations at the local, state, and federal levels can have a big influence. Signing letters of support for inclusive zoning changes, educating policymakers on how housing impacts the issues you care about, funding research, community organizing, and policy analysis, are all ways to play a role in increasing equitable access to housing resources.

Financial support can help nonprofits expand their programs and services, including housing counseling, rental assistance, and advocacy efforts. Capacity building and technical assistance for nonprofits, faith based institutions and local government agencies can bolster the ability of the housing ecosystem to implement impactful policies and programs that expand housing affordability. Targeting your investments to center racial equity can amplify your impact.

Your voice as an employer can hold weight with decision-makers. Given the impact that housing has on the workforce, your organization can use its influence to support policies like inclusionary zoning and affordable housing funding allocations.

Large corporations that choose to invest in significant office space in a region can leverage their capital to help increase the housing supply while also addressing the issue of lack of access to capital for minority and women developers.

Surging rents and unprecedented growth in home prices, have created a surge in the number of renters and homeowners who are cost burdened. Use the HIT tool to learn more about who in our region can afford their housing costs and consider ways to make sure your workforce is representative of the community you are in and that employees have the wages they need to be able to afford housing here.

Localities across the country use housing trust funds to provide desperately needed flexible financing for affordable housing development. Many jurisdictions in the HIT have a trust fund, but not all have a dedicated funding source. Trust funds should be tied to a reliable funding source (like the baseline of the local budget) so that they’re revolving and not vulnerable to shifts in political priorities. What changes can you make in your jurisdiction?

Pushing for zoning changes is a high impact way to support increasing the housing supply in your jurisdiction and is a racial equity issue. Consider your jurisdiction’s progress on the three zoning-related policies on the HIT and push to allow for more density, especially in high-resource neighborhoods and near transit. 

A combination of approaches are needed to ensure equitable access to homeownership. Programs that incentivize and support the development of affordable homeownership opportunities are critical to expanding opportunities for building generational wealth.

Land cost can be a significant part of development costs, particularly in high-cost areas of our region. Seek out opportunities to leverage public land in your jurisdiction to be used for affordable housing development.

Research shows the benefits of living in neighborhoods near high-paying jobs, schools, healthcare, and other resources. These neighborhoods are often the most in-demand and have the least affordable housing in a jurisdiction. Although development in these neighborhoods can be difficult, work with the community to provide affordable housing where it is most needed.

Racial bias in appraisals is a long-standing issue which has resulted in a devaluation of homes in Black and Brown communities for decades. The real estate community has an important role in shifting this bias.

General contractors and architects can look for partnerships and mentor-protege opportunities to support diverse participation on projects and enable small local businesses to build capacity.

 

Creating development partnership, investment, and coaching opportunities between larger firms and smaller developers from underrepresented groups can have an impact on expanding access to the real estate development community.