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Enterprise

Caring for the People You Help: 20 Years After Katrina

Karen Ladner, former executive director of the Bay Waveland Housing Authority, with Janine Lee, current executive directorWhen Karen Ladner heard that a major hurricane was heading for her town in August of 2005, she immediately thought about the residents who lived in affordable homes at her housing authority in Waveland, Mississippi.  “After we went and picked up everything in the yards, I wrote a little letter telling them I needed to kno...

Jennifer Davis in Enterprise 2026-01-02 01:29:10

Denver Regional TOD Fund Expands Affordable Homes in Littleton

Rendering by KEPHART architectural design and planning firm. Courtesy of South Metro Housing Options.The housing authority for the City of Littleton, Colorado, is embarking on its third development in as many years, thanks in part to the Denver Regional Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Fund. A 73-unit, mixed-income community along the bustling West Littleton Boulevard corridor, Starlight Apartments will welcome residents in 2027, pending a Low-...

Robert Johnson in Enterprise 2026-01-07 19:35:14

Four Key Findings from the 2025 State of the Nation’s Housing Report

More Americans are experiencing the impacts of the nation’s worsening housing affordability crisis. Families are struggling to remain housed in an environment where many renters can narrowly afford their housing costs, disasters are endangering communities, and homeownership slips further out of reach.  These are key findings from a new national report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS), The State of the Nation’s Housing ...

Robert Miller in Enterprise 2026-01-20 20:07:04

An Affordable Housing and Climate Victory in Sacramento

Berkeley Way and the Hope Center. Photo By Bruce DamonteIn a significant policy win with far-reaching implications for housing and climate equity, California lawmakers reauthorized the state’s cap-and-trade program—now renamed cap and invest. The move not only extends the state’s signature climate policy but also guarantees a dedicated stream of funding for affordable housing and sustainable transportation.The legislation ensures that a key progr...

Jane Jones in Enterprise 2026-01-06 23:29:44

Rural Housing at a Crossroads

For many families, seniors, and workers who live in rural areas across the country, affordable housing makes it possible for them to remain in the communities they call home. Yet these rural communities face distinct challenges in preserving and creating safe, affordable housing, including limited financing options, aging rental stock, construction workforce shortages, and escalating insurance costs. Against this backdrop, more than 100 housing p...

Jane Brown in Enterprise 2025-12-26 01:06:15

A Year of Living Hopefully

After just a few months on the job, Janine Lind put together a five-year plan for Enterprise’s Community Development division. “I was feeling good about this plan,” said Lind, who recently celebrated her one-year anniversary as the division’s president. “And then, starting in February of this year, external changes caused things to go a bit haywire.”Despite funding headwinds and market uncertainties of the past several months, Lind’s ambitious go...

Jennifer Williams in Enterprise 2026-01-22 01:20:03

Three Years, Thousands of Repairs

Turriner Jackson with Renaissance of Hope Community Manager, Lance Woods, who supported her through repairs to her home.A Detroiter all her life, Turriner Jackson purchased her first home in 2011. Over the years, it grew harder and harder to keep up with the unexpected expenses needed to maintain her home, a bungalow where she and her husband raised their two kids. She would tap friends of friends who assured her they could provide repairs but ul...

David Miller in Enterprise 2026-01-23 12:36:09

From Recovery to Resilience in Puerto Rico: Five Key Takeaways

The people of Puerto Rico have endured significant losses in recent years due to climate change- induced disasters, including Hurricanes Maria and Irma. From frequent storms that accelerate flooding to heat waves that make everyday tasks challenging, stakeholders across Puerto Rico continue to pursue innovative strategies to rebuild, recover, and ensure that the lowest-income households are not left behind in the aftermath of extreme weather...

David Jones in Enterprise 2026-01-10 07:35:35

A Plan to Simplify Housing in California

The goal of the Governor's Reorganization Plan is to usher in structural changes needed in California to streamline funding programs and to improve coordination across housing and homelessness policies.On July 5, Governor Gavin Newsom’s Reorganization Plan(link is external) (GRP) went into effect with the goal of ushering in the structural changes needed in California to effectively address the affordable housing and homelessness crisis.The GRP d...

Jane Jones in Enterprise 2026-01-12 01:07:05

Investing in Recovery: 20 Years After Katrina

Tens of thousands of families across the Gulf Coast dealt with the tasks of rebuilding water damaged homes.On the Saturday before Hurricane Katrina made landfall, George Dupuy managed to secure one of the last RVs in the New Orleans area. The family packed it with essentials and personal belongings, before joining the miles-long traffic jam heading west. What was supposed to be a brief evacuation turned into months at a KOA campground outsid...

Michael Johnson in Enterprise 2025-12-31 01:37:41

A Generational Opportunity: Bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act Paves the Way for Progress

In contrast to the political gridlock that led to this fall’s government shutdown, there’s growing bipartisan momentum around one of the nation’s most pressing issues: the affordable housing crisis. This summer, the Senate Banking Committee unanimously advanced the most significant piece of housing legislation in over 16 years: the Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act of 2025(link is external). This landmark legislatio...

Sarah Jones in Enterprise 2025-12-28 09:48:19

Advancing Key Updates to Federal Disaster Recovery Program

As disasters increase in frequency and severity, it is more critical than ever to ensure disaster recovery programs are effective and responsive to the needs of impacted communities. Enterprise has long advocated for policies that promote resilience, efficiency, and adaptability in disaster recovery efforts, particularly around the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program, which is the only source for federal long-ter...

Sarah Johnson in Enterprise 2026-01-04 02:50:28

House Advances FY26 Housing and Community Development Spending Proposals

The House Appropriations Committee approved the HUD fiscal year 2026 (FY26) spending bill(link is external) on July 17, rejecting many of the drastic cuts and proposals to consolidate rental assistance and homelessness programs that were included in the President’s budget request, but still including cuts to key housing and community development programs.  The House Appropriations Subcommittee for Transportation, Housing and Urban Developmen...

Sarah Williams in Enterprise 2026-01-02 01:50:25

How the CDFI Fund Unlocks Capital that Drives Local Economic Development

In rural Vermont, investment dollars are helping to fund a mixed-use development with community facilities and restaurants that provide local jobs. Across the country in Everett, Washington, a unique mixed-use project combines affordable housing with job training and social services for low-income, formerly homeless, and veteran populations. In Oakland, California, loans helped keep rents affordable for 55 families, assuring they can stay in thei...

Sarah Brown in Enterprise 2026-01-01 16:49:20

Husband-Wife Team Bring Affordable Housing to D.C. Veterans

In the heart of Washington, D.C., where affordable housing options remain scarce, Richard Cunningham and Jésyl Crowdy-Cunningham are leading a quiet but powerful transformation to ensure veterans have a safe place to live. Through their firm, Cunningham Real Estate Holdings, the husband-and-wife team has become a steadfast presence in the city, operating 160 mixed-income rental homes across a dozen communities, and with more in development.For th...

David Brown in Enterprise 2026-01-15 04:45:30

The Heart of Detroit: Powering Change Block by Block

Enterprise and Detroit CDOs at the nation’s capital.Community development doesn’t happen from the top down — it’s built from the block up, by the people and organizations who know their neighborhoods best. That’s the vision behind Enterprise’s Community Partners’ Community Development Organization (CDO) Fund. Since 2020, Enterprise has invested nearly $40 million in 36 CDOs across Detroit, supporting the people and organizations working every day...

Jane Smith in Enterprise 2026-01-11 06:08:45

Missing Middle: 3 Ways to Scale Low-density Multifamily Housing

Muskin Row Homes I, Austin, Texas (Photography: Likeness Studio | Nicole Mlakar)Single-family–only zoning — where large shares of land are zoned exclusively for traditional single-family home development — contributes to housing supply scarcity nationwide and has a spillover effect on home sales and rent prices. Unlocking underutilized land zoned for single-family development by allowing low-density multifamily housing is a promising strategy to ...

Robert Miller in Enterprise 2026-01-10 16:28:13

How Adaptive Reuse Helped Revive a Philadelphia Neighborhood

In the heart of Philadelphia’s South Kensington-Fishtown neighborhood, a century-old lamp factory is once again lighting the way — this time, as a symbol of community-centered investment.Oxford Mills, financed in part through $10 million in New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) allocations from Enterprise Community Partners, has been transformed into a vibrant home for local teachers(link is external), lower income families, and community-serving nonprof...

Michael Williams in Enterprise 2025-12-27 22:25:27

Five Decades of Community Activism and Helping Residents

In 1997, Cherrydale Apartments was set to be sold and was in danger of losing its affordability protections. That's when Cleo Walker sprang into action. Walker, 83, who had lived at the Baltimore community for the prior 31 years, worked with local organizations including Enterprise to find a way to keep her home affordable.“The owners wanted to give me one day, but I negotiated for three days. That is all the time we had to try to put a deal toge...

Robert Jones in Enterprise 2026-01-20 23:16:43

California Budget Negotiations Enter Final Phase

California Gov. Gavin Newsom released a revised budget proposal(link is external) last week, kicking off final negotiations with the Legislature. The May Revision addresses the state's $12 billion budget shortfall by making cuts, shifting funds, and tapping into reserves.While the May Revision emphasizes the effort to reorganize the state’s housing functions into one entity, the California Housing and Homelessness Agency, the revised proposa...

John Johnson in Enterprise 2025-12-23 23:19:54

Dream Coming True for West Baltimore Church and Community

Pastor Rod Hudson at the Ames Memorial United Methodist Church in West Baltimore“This is where it all began, right here at this church,” said Pastor Rod Hudson, standing outside the Ames Memorial United Methodist Church in West Baltimore. When Hudson arrived at the church in 2008 as the new senior pastor, he was handed an important piece of history from a Mr. Bill Adams, a congregation member and keeper of the church’s decades-long vision to tran...

Michael Jones in Enterprise 2026-01-15 18:31:33

Rescuing Ourselves: 20 Years After Hurricane Katrina

Four days after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Kwamé Juakali was walking with his family along the Interstate highway toward the Superdome, seeking shelter, food, and water. Juakali was 15 at the time and recalls coming across two older men in a car who were begging for water.  “As exhausted and mentally drained as we were, I realized we were in better shape than a lot of people,” Juakali said. “But we didn’t have any water and co...

David Williams in Enterprise 2026-01-20 17:49:30

Trump-Vance Administration Releases Full President’s Budget Request for FY26

President Trump has released his request for the Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) budget(link is external), signaling the administration’s priorities and providing a jumping off point for the congressional appropriations process for FY26. The president’s budget request proposes significant reductions or elimination of major housing and community development programs. The budget request, while not legally binding, builds on the administration’s broader eff...

Jennifer Miller in Enterprise 2025-12-27 04:12:43

Helping Eastern Kentucky Recover from Devastating Floods

A capacity-building grant from Enterprise allowed HDA to hire a flood construction specialist to help communities recover faster.In July of 2022, a thousand-year flood swept through eastern Kentucky leading to the loss of 44 lives and destroying and damaging thousands of houses. One of the worst floods in the state’s history, 13 counties(link is external) were declared disaster areas, and the long, arduous recovery process began in this remote, i...

John Miller in Enterprise 2026-01-14 03:25:13

Behind $3 Billion in Lending: 3 Projects that Demonstrate the Power of CDFIs

“Community development financial institutions are one of the most effective, durable economic development tools we have,” said Elise Balboni, executive vice president of Enterprise Community Loan Fund, Enterprise Community Partners’ CDFI. “They don’t just fund important community-serving projects—they help create sustainable economic ecosystems.”That’s the model behind Enterprise Community Loan Fund, which has surpassed $3 billion in cumulative l...

Sarah Davis in Enterprise 2026-01-06 09:03:04

Showing What's Possible: The Genesis of Green Communities

Clara Vista Townhomes in Portland, Oregon, one of the first developments to meet Green Communities certification in 2006It’s been 20 years since Enterprise created Green Communities – the nation’s only green building program designed with and for the affordable housing sector. Today, the program is baked into housing finance policies across 31 states and the District of Columbia, with close to 200,000 units certified, and hundreds of thousands of...

John Jones in Enterprise 2025-12-29 19:39:57

Overcoming Barriers to Successful Appraisals on Tribal Trust Land

This piece is part of our series, Policy Actions for Racial Equity (PARE). The series explores the many ways housing policies contribute to racial disparities in our country.In South Dakota, the cost of an average appraisal(link is external) on one of the state’s nine reservations is more than double the average cost of an appraisal in the U.S. At the same time, appraisers in the region — and in other tribal and rural areas — are often forced to ...

Jane Johnson in Enterprise 2026-01-13 16:32:22

Energy, Focus, Purpose

Tim Block has run eight marathons and is training for another. But with his work as senior director in Enterprise’s Southeast market office combined with an active family life, a leadership role in his fraternity, and studies in a doctoral program, each day might easily be described as “a marathon” of its own.Block, who joined Enterprise nine years ago, is responsible for overseeing Enterprise's Faith-Based Development InitiativeSM (FBDI) in the ...

Sarah Brown in Enterprise 2026-01-03 03:06:20

Why Don’t We Know More about Post-Disaster Homelessness?

When a hurricane, wildfire or tornado hits, tens of thousands of households can become homeless in a matter of hours. Homes destroyed or substantially damaged by wind, water, smoke and flames that make them uninhabitable, even if temporarily, can leave families in immediate need of a place to live. Most disaster survivors eventually regain some form of permanent housing, either in the same location or somewhere new, where they can begin the ...

John Jones in Enterprise 2026-01-18 20:18:35

Senate Advances FY26 Housing and Community Development Spending Proposals

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved(link is external) its HUD fiscal year 2026 (FY26) spending bill proposal(link is external) on July 24, rejecting many of the drastic cuts and proposals to consolidate rental assistance and homelessness programs that were included in the President’s Budget Request, and avoiding many of the cuts that were proposed in the House bill. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for Transportation, Housing ...

Sarah Johnson in Enterprise 2026-01-02 00:10:25

Building Home, Honoring Heritage: Jeff Ackley’s Path in Tribal Housing

One of 20 new single-family homes built on the Lac du Flambeau Indian Reservation through a $15 million Low-Income Housing Tax Credit investment, completed under Jeff Ackley’s leadership as executive director of the Tribal housing authority.Growing up just outside Mole Lake Reservation in northern Wisconsin, Jeff Ackley had strong connections to his Tribal heritage, culture, and history. His family was active in the Sokaogon Chippewa Communi...

John Miller in Enterprise 2025-12-25 22:35:43

A Once-in-a-Decade Tax Policy Opportunity

President Trump started his second term with a barrage of Executive Orders and a meeting with House and Senate Republican leadership(link is external) to devise their legislative strategy for the first 100 days of his Administration. Among the top priorities is dealing with the expiration of the President’s hallmark tax law passed in 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). The expiration provides a once-in-a-decade opportunity to move major tax l...

John Miller in Enterprise 2026-01-22 11:01:01

A Bid to Make New Markets Tax Credit Permanent

Last week, lawmakers introduced bipartisan legislation that would make the New Markets Tax Credit a permanent part of the tax code, solidifying a program that has supported more than 8,500 business and community-driven projects and created more than a million jobs across the country since it was created in 2000.Reps. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) and Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), along with Sens. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.), introduced(link...

Jane Miller in Enterprise 2026-01-16 20:59:55

A Lifetime of Building Community in New Orleans

Emelda Paul was 23 when she moved to a new apartment just a few blocks and “over the tracks” from her childhood home. She had three young daughters, and Lafitte — the public housing complex in New Orleans’ storied Tremé neighborhood — felt like the perfect place to raise a family. Nearly 70 years later, Paul calls herself a lifetime Lafitte resident, even after the bricks of the original buildings have been replaced with colorful rows of tow...

Jane Smith in Enterprise 2026-01-20 07:00:43

California Final Budget Restores Key Affordable Housing Funds

After months of tough negotiations, California’s FY 2025–26 state budget(link is external) restored funding for several critical affordable housing and homelessness programs, reversing earlier proposals that left them unfunded.We appreciate Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature for restoring funding to the State Low-Income Housing Tax Credit(link is external) Program, Multifamily Housing Program(link is external), and the Home...

Emily Brown in Enterprise 2026-01-04 04:22:40

What Will the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Mean for Affordable Housing, Communities?

It’s hard to find someone — even outside Washington, D.C. — who hasn’t heard about the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA, H.R. 1(link is external)), which President Trump signed(link is external) into law on July 4. The sweeping legislation, one of the most consequential in decades, narrowly made its way through Congress and contains a wide range of tax changes and federal funding cuts. As advocates for affordable housing and community developmen...

Robert Miller in Enterprise 2025-12-29 07:23:34

Unlocking Transformative Development

Spanish VersionIn Toledo, Ohio, the city established a $37 million loan pool to provide financing for housing rehabilitation, real property acquisition, and economic development. In Oakland, California, a $34 million loan pool supports developers operating in historically underinvested neighborhoods. Both cities tapped into HUD’s Section 108 loan guarantee program, which provides communities of all sizes with low-cost, long-term, fixed-rate ...

Robert Miller in Enterprise 2026-01-23 10:25:42