Changing the Rules of the Game

As the leading voice for entrepreneurial and performance-based housing nonprofits, the Network promotes policies that enhance the long-term sustainability, growth, and effectiveness of these organizations. Our members are highly valued by policymakers for their success at utilizing public and private resources to drive innovation and large scale impact. Congress, state government and local officials often seek our feedback and recommendations to improve the effectiveness of municipal, state and federal programs.

We collaborate with other national organizations to expand affordable housing resources and strengthen the broader nonprofit housing sector. The principal focus of our policy agenda and advocacy is on legislative changes, regulatory reforms, and funding initiatives that emerge from the on-the-ground experience of our members.

This approach has been very successful. Over the past several years, we have been instrumental in shaping legislation and regulations to create a stronger nonprofit role in the disposition of foreclosed FHA single-family homes and HUD's Mark-to-Market program. Our members are among the largest and most successful operators of these programs, and the revised rules enabled them to significantly expand their production. Working with our national partners we led a successful effort to double HUD funding for housing counseling, which has resulted in a significant increase in counseling resources for the Network and our membership.

Recently, we have advocated that federal GSE legislation fund equity investments to high-capacity nonprofit developers and lenders so they can better utilize and leverage private capital at a more efficient and larger scale. Gulf Coast Housing Partnership is one example of how such investments could achieve significant bottom line results and transform the community development industry.