Portfolio Partner Profile

Housing Partnership Network

Housing Partnership Network (HPN) is a national collaborative of leading housing and community development organizations as well as an Aeris-rated CDFI and HUD-approved housing counseling intermediary. HPN members include nonprofit affordable housing developers and owners, housing counseling agencies, CDFIs, and public housing authorities. Members work in urban, rural, and suburban markets, and across all housing asset classes.

The organization is a national and global membership model that facilitates peer-to-peer learning and promotes policy, practice, and innovation that is based on the proven experience from over 100 of the nation’s leading affordable housing and community development nonprofits.

Since 1999, HPN has catalyzed over a dozen successful social enterprises. Examples include the Housing Partnership Fund, an award-winning CDFI and one of the first financial intermediaries to provide critical enterprise-level capital to affordable housing owners and developers; the Housing Partnership Insurance Exchange, a property and casualty insurance company that insures member units at rates reflecting members’ superior performance; a web-based homeownership education platform serving over a million consumers known as Framework; two development companies in cities formerly lacking significant non-profit capacity including Gulf Coast Housing and Develop Detroit; and the incubation of the National Community Stabilization Trust to respond to the foreclosure crisis and help preserve and revitalize neighborhoods.

As of July 2023, HPN has collectively served over 13 million people; developed, rehabilitated, or preserved over 500,000 affordable homes; and launched over a dozen successful social enterprises. Our work has been recognized with honors including the MacArthur Award for Creative & Effective Institutions and Wells Fargo NEXT Award for Opportunity Finance.

Featured Impact Story

Impact Story

Creating Homeownership Opportunities for West Louisville Residents

In 2021, the Housing Partnership Fund made an investment to boost single-family homeownership among individuals and families of color as part of a cornerstone initiative of The Housing Partnership, Inc. HPI aims to make homeownership less costly than renting and revitalize disinvested neighborhoods west of Louisville, Kentucky's infamous “9th Street Divide.”

HPI is the first nonprofit real estate organization in Louisville to use New Market Tax Credits (NMTCs) to develop for-sale, single-family homes. Beyond 9th: Revitalizing West Louisville through Strategic Homeownership is a multi-year initiative to stabilize severely economically distressed and historically redlined West Louisville neighborhoods. HPI finds investments that will provide new affordable homeownership opportunities while stabilizing home values of adjacent owner-occupied homes to create nodes of increased owner-occupancy. HPI used a $6 million NMTC allocation to renovate 60 vacant and expired 9% Low-income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC)-subsidized, scattered-site, single-family rental units, and convert them into owner-occupied homes.

In addition to allocating NMTCs, HPF provided a $1.5 million leverage source loan in partnership with the Community Foundation of Louisville. The homes were completed in December 2022 for a total cost of $7.8 million, with the total proposed home sales valued at $6.7 million. To date, HPI has sold 55 of the 60 houses with contracts pending on the remaining homes. While HPI launched Beyond 9th in 2016, the need has become even more pressing after the tragic murder of Breonna Taylor and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. HPI, along with partner nonprofits, community organizations and Louisville Metro, have focused significant resources on West Louisville with the aim to address a legacy of historic racism.

The long-term goals of Beyond 9th are to provide wealth-creation opportunities to predominately black communities and reestablish homeownership in historically redlined neighborhoods. The homes will be sold at an average price of $104,600, in line with the rising market and in keeping with neighborhood revitalization efforts. The houses are affordable for households earning between 30%-80% of the Area Median Income (AMI), with a median AMI of 48%. HPI also helps homebuyers secure down payment assistance.

As of 2023, the impacts of Beyond 9th included:

The average AMI of homebuyers is below 60% AMI
Of all home sales, 90% have been to people making 80% AMI or lower
81% of home sales have been to black families
60% have been to female heads of household
55% of houses were aided by minority- or female-owned contractors

Impact Story

Working capital for developers led by people of color

HPN - Working capital for developers led by people of color

In 2021, Housing Partnership Fund (HPF) launched the Housing Equity Fund (HEF) to provide catalytic, enterprise-level capital to HPN members who are led by people of color at the CEO or Board level. Through this product, HPF aims to address a critical capital barrier perpetuated by systemic racism. Just 2% of real estate companies in the US are black-led and 1.5% of real estate assets are controlled by firms owned or led by people of color. HEF loans are interest-only, working capital loans that support affordable rental and homeownership activities. HPF closed its first HEF loan in December 2021.

Homeport, based in Columbus, OH, has seen its development pipeline balloon in recent years, requiring the developer either to spend more of its cash to move projects through predevelopment or secure predevelopment project loans. Like many HPN members, Homeport has also used its own resources to bridge committed soft funds from public agencies that were delayed. As an alternative to using valuable cash reserves or being forced to obtain project-specific financing, Homeport applied to HPF for working capital to increase the organization’s ability to move more efficiently through acquisition and predevelopment. Leah Evans, pictured above, became Homeport’s CEO in January 2022, after serving for several years as its head of Real Estate Development. Leah’s ascension to this leadership role during underwriting allowed HPF to utilize HEF capital to provide a lower rate than HPF’s traditional enterprise loan product.

“We are confident that as Homeport continues to grow, HPF will be there to grow with us.” – Valorie Schwarzmann, CFO, Homeport

Impact Story

Housing US veterans

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In its mission to end veteran homelessness, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has found a vital ally in the Housing Partnership Network. In 2010, VA started a five-year initiative to address the staggering numbers of those formerly in the armed forces left without a roof. The government organization approached the Housing Partnership Network to see if its members could help find affordable residences for unhoused veterans. Several HPN members took a pledge to provide housing for homeless veterans and are well under way in their efforts to curb the epidemic.

One such HPN member is REACH Community Development Inc., an affordable housing provider based in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. REACH CEO Dan Valliere said the group is in discussions with the local housing authority to prioritize new openings to veterans with HUD-VASH supportive housing vouchers. His goal is to make more units available to former servicemen and women in the expensive Portland rental market. "We're trying to see how we can be part of the solution," he said. REACH owns and operates Gray's Landing, a streetcar-accessible building in downtown Portland where about 20 percent of the units--42 apartments--are set aside for formerly homeless Veterans referred by VA. There, a VA case manager is on site for 20 hours each week to assist Veterans with financial or life challenges and to help them stay connected to the community.

Impact Story

Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing

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Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing, a member of the Housing Partnership Network, recently celebrated the grand opening of Helton Point Apartments in Williamstown, KY. The apartment complex includes six two-bedroom apartments and 17 three-bedroom apartments with air conditioning, stainless steel appliances, and laundry machine hookups. These apartments are intended to provide a home for low-income families in the area in search of more affordable accommodations. Williamstown is a small town with a population of about 4,000. Almost 16% of the population lives below the poverty line, and children and seniors are particularly at risk. Affordable housing allows residents to maintain independent lifestyles without compromising their financial stability. Thanks to Ohio Capital Corporation and the Housing Partnership Network, dozens of families will be able to have a stable, secure and affordable place to call home.

Impact Story

Homeownership can help reshape your life

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The Housing Partnership Network (HPN) is a community of 100 nonprofit housing developers, owners and financial institutions across the U.S. Together, the network leverages talent, market power and business innovation to help millions of people gain access to affordable homes in communities that offer economic opportunities. For Rockea in Indianapolis, she came to the Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership to help understand all her options before buying a house. She chose to buy a house in an area of town that was undergoing transformational redevelopment and she has been able to sustain her livelihood while paying her mortgage. Her mother, father, aunt, grandmother and grandfather have all become homeowners in the past 14 years too. In line with NHP’s mission, homeownership helped reshape her life.