Five nonprofits won a competition sponsored by Fannie Mae to partner on a $5 million nationwide initiative to advance racial equity through housing.
More than 500 organizations submitted proposals to address barriers to Black homeownership — including a lack of quality affordable housing, low credit scores, and credit invisibility — by increasing the supply of housing and offering participants cash-down payment assistance and other programs to enable them to build credit and equity.
“A history of discriminatory housing policies and practices has created profound inequities in the housing system that persist to this day,” said Maria Evans, vice president of community impact at Fannie Mae, via a statement. “This initiative is one example of Fannie Mae’s commitment to address those inequities and knock down the barriers that consumers, particularly Black consumers, face throughout the housing journey.”
The selected organizations are:
- ReBUILD Metro, a Baltimore, Maryland nonprofit, will work to restore abandoned properties in the city into a mixed-use development of residential and retail. It also will help build a four-acre community park.
- Southside Community Development & Housing Corp., in Richmond, Virginia, will oversee the construction of affordable housing, as well as a mix of financial and prepurchase counseling, workforce development training, and foreclosure prevention services to residents in the central part of the state.
- Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, will partner with the Minnesota Homeownership Center and local financial institutions to offer down-payment assistance and affordable mortgages in the city and in adjacent Minneapolis.
- The Community Builders, a national organization based in Boston, will offer affordable rentals to residents of Chicago, Detroit and Richmond. It also will deploy an economic empowerment package to enable them to build and repair credit and build savings through earned income.
- Module, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, will oversee the construction of affordable, energy-efficient modular housing in communities of color there and in Prince George’s County, Maryland and Richmond, Virginia. Participants also will be given the opportunity to train in the modular construction trades themselves so that Black homeowners can secure good-paying jobs and build wealth.
“The proposals we selected provide thoughtful, tangible, scalable solutions to the most salient housing problems people face in the U.S. We are excited to work with these organizations and to support their innovative projects,” said Evans. More information on the programs can be found at www.fanniemae.com/challenge.
