A Sustainable Model for a Persistent Problem
Our cities have a housing problem. As populations rise, housing is getting more and more expensive.
This makes finding housing for those with average income extremely competitive, driving people further and further from their places of work and schools.
For individuals and families with below-average income the shortage frequently results in homelessness.
Our mission is to develop housing that people can afford at all income levels.
How it Works
The Affordable First model builds market-rate units and affordable units. By partnering directly with public institutions, we're able to use profits generated from the market-rate units in the development to cover the cost of developing the affordable units, instead of lining the pockets of investors.
The Affordable First strategy uses the profit from market-rate units to pay the development costs of affordable housing. It's able to do this by substituting a public entity for the investor, making the goal of the development affordability, instead of just generating a profit.
Affordable First is designed to help areas grow and develop without pushing people out.
We're working to keep neighborhoods together, meaning people can live where they work; at risk families don't have to lose their homes; and the elderly can continue to be a part of the communities they helped to build.
Who Benefits?
Everyone! Our plan builds more housing that's affordable at all income levels, allowing the areas we develop to grow and improve while keeping neighborhoods and families together.
The biggest difference is that Affordable First units pay for themselves. The market-value homes we build generate profit, and that profit is turned directly into more and better affordable housing.
The second difference is in the partnership. By pairing private developers and public institutions, we can build these housing units more quickly, at a lower cost, and with less risk to investor and taxpayer alike.
