WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 8, 2010) — As the nation's foreclosure crisis deepens, NCB Capital Impact has received a $1.2 million grant from the Ford Foundation to expand access to an innovative form of affordable homeownership that can stabilize neighborhoods and help families build wealth.
Under the "shared equity" approach, families who receive a government subsidy to buy a home agree to share the equity they earn with government, which then makes those funds available to another family. The approach has proven to lower the risk of homeownership, extend the reach of public housing subsidies, and keep housing units affordable over the long term.
As the housing crisis increases the public sector's interest in shared equity, communities around the country are experimenting with the approach. Ford's grant will allow NCB Capital Impact to expand its work with a wide array of housing and finance leaders to develop a set of industry standards and best practices to strengthen this growing sector.
"Now is the time to build a smarter and more sustainable approach to affordable homeownership for America's families," said George McCarthy, director of Metropolitan Opportunity at the Ford Foundation. "Shared equity has the potential to provide a safe pathway to homeownership for millions of low-income families, making better use of public funds and creating strong neighborhoods over the long term."
The grant funds will also support the development of:
• Shared equity training programs to strengthen the skills of local practitioners;
• Innovative financing mechanisms to allow more families to purchase shared equity homes;
• Public education programs to raise awareness among policy makers and leaders within the housing and real estate industries;
• A national research program to benchmark outcomes and impact.
Ford's grant to NCB Capital Impact complements previous awards of almost $5 million – a $3 million program related investment and $1.78 million in grants – to take shared equity homeownership models to scale nationally.
"2010 offers municipalities, neighborhoods and families an opportunity to work together like never before," said Terry Simonette, President and CEO of NCB Capital Impact. "The upside of the housing crisis is the opportunity for public-private partnerships to implement ownership models that are both affordable for families and can help stabilize the communities where they live," Simonette continued.
The Shared Equity Homeownership Initiative is a growing network of national, regional and local organizations committed to developing a new model of sustainable and affordable homeownership. The project is funded by the Ford Foundation and managed by NCB Capital Impact, and led by a steering committee that includes representatives from the Center for Housing Policy, National Community Land Trust Network, Burlington Associates in Community Development and NCB Capital Impact.