America’s housing crisis isn’t confined to the coasts or big cities. It’s hitting rural counties, working-class suburbs, and midsized towns—places where supply is tight, wages aren’t keeping up, and the market can’t fill the gap fast enough.
That pressure is real—and growing. Employers can’t hire because workers can’t afford to live nearby. Families are priced out of the towns where they were raised. Local governments are left scrambling to solve a national challenge with limited budgets and significant constraints.
Forget sweeping federal housing proposals. The most effective models today aren’t one-size-fits-all programs crafted in Washington, D.C. They’re nimble, locally led partnerships that use public funds to attract private capital, cut through red tape, and build new housing where it’s needed most.
These models don’t expand bureaucracy—they bypass it. They don’t waste time—they get results.
Consider NeighborWorks America, a congressionally chartered nonprofit that channels flexible capital to a national network of housing organizations. Unlike top-down federal programs, this model empowers local lenders to direct funds where they’re needed most—whether it’s supporting new home buyers, preserving aging rental housing, or packaging U.S. Department of Agriculture loans in rural towns. Last year, NeighborWorks achieved a 71x leverage on every federally appropriated dollar, financing over 13,500 affordable rental homes and helping more than 16,000 homeowners.
Enterprise Community Partners is similarly effective. With more than $80.9 billion invested across all 50 states, its approach combines housing tax credits, private equity, and long-term accountability to deliver affordable housing where the private market won’t go alone. Its Section 4 Capacity Building program strengthens local nonprofits—not through mandates but through grants that help them hire staff, improve operations, and respond to local conditions.
Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC) has financed over 460,000 homes and invested $32 billion in housing and economic development projects, including in rural areas where traditional capital rarely goes. In 2023 alone, LISC deployed $2.4 billion through local affiliates who know the markets and can move quickly to meet community needs.
These are not ideological programs—they are pragmatic tools built around accountability, return on investment, and respect for local expertise. They don’t seek to replace markets; they step in where markets have failed.
They don’t require federal micromanagement or bureaucratic sprawl. They just need consistent support.
And the model doesn’t stop at nonprofits. Opportunity Zones, created through the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, have drawn billions in private investment into overlooked communities—often supporting mixed-use housing developments that wouldn’t otherwise pencil out. In many cases, local chambers of commerce, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), and private developers are stepping in too.
We’re also seeing private employers step in. In Indiana, the state’s Housing & Community Development Authority announced a $4 million investment in workforce housing—matched by participating employers—to build homes in areas struggling to attract and retain workers.
These aren’t partisan wins—they're practical ones. If the government is serious about housing—without ballooning federal programs—it should double down on what’s already working.
Start with predictable funding for intermediaries. Expand capacity-building support for local housing nonprofits. Offer tax incentives that attract private capital, and remove regulatory bottlenecks that slow down construction.
The crisis is urgent, but we don’t have to start from scratch.
These models work because they’re not one-size-fits-all. They’re not about expanding the role of Washington—they’re about getting results on the ground. Whether it’s a young couple buying their first home in Idaho, a nurse renting an apartment near a hospital in Georgia, or a rural homeowner repairing their roof in Kansas, these solutions meet people where they are.
Washington is right to look for ways to cut wasteful government spending—and this is not the place. Nonprofits like these, whether CDFIs themselves or groups that channel capital to CDFIs, consistently deliver among the highest returns on federal investment. They send a clear signal to private markets: The full faith and backing of the U.S. government stands behind these efforts. That confidence attracts private capital to address urgent housing needs that the private sector has failed to meet.
If the goal is to solve the housing crisis without wasting taxpayer dollars, this is the blueprint. These partnerships stretch every public dollar further, attract private capital, and support the kinds of local solutions that Washington alone could never design.
They don’t need reinvention. They need reinforcement.
Because when families can afford to live near their jobs, when businesses can recruit and retain workers, and when communities thrive without heavy-handed programs weighing them down, everybody wins.
