About the Challenge

Overview

Administered by Enterprise and made possible by the generous support of Wells Fargo, the challenge seeks to close the affordable housing gap by elevating and transforming housing affordability innovations into real solutions. It will award six grants of more than $2 million each, plus the opportunity to collaborate with a dedicated technical assistance team of Enterprise staff and other leaders in the affordable housing and community development.

Watch: Why innovation in housing affordability matters.

The primary goals of the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge are to:

• Identify, accelerate and scale promising ideas, models and approaches
• Provide peer-to-peer learning and networking opportunities
• Share ideas and models that engage a wider audience in the search for innovations

Because housing affordability looks different in rural communities, tribal communities, cities and suburbs, the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge is national in scope. Innovators in all 50 states, as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, were invited to participate in the competitive application process launched in mid-January.

Transformative change in communities happens when the best ideas are paired with the right mix of resources and technical know-how, and the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge allows us to do that six times over.

Three Programmatic Pillars

The challenge focuses on three pillars that are paramount to housing affordability:

• Housing Finance
• Housing Construction
• Resident Services and Support

"With the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge, we are bringing forward our financial resources combined with our business expertise to inspire vitally needed, scalable and effective housing affordability solutions."

─ Eileen Fitzgerald, Head of Housing Affordability Philanthropy, Wells Fargo Foundation

Three Rounds, Six Final Grantees

The challenge features three rounds, culminating in a pitch competition involving 15 finalists. The six grant recipients will be announced on September 22, 2020.

Grants will be awarded to two winners per each of the three focus areas: Housing Construction, Housing Finance, and Resident Services and Support. The two-year awards will include $2 million in direct grant assistance and $500,000 in technical assistance.

Ultimately, the challenge seeks a final cohort of grantees that represents a spectrum of breakthrough ideas for housing affordability, spanning different geographies, market situations, ideas and sponsors.