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Financial Empowerment Centers Help City Residents Improve Their Fiscal Health

Oscar Perry Abello

August 06, 2018 |

Next City |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Financial Empowerment Centers work with clients to help them build savings, improve credit scores, and take full advance of assistance programs. While the daily demands of poverty often create an inability to plan for the future, the Center's clients have found that counseling has provided a path to engage with these issues and a trusted helper to improve their financial health.

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Developer tests a new way to fund housing for the homeless: private financing

Doug Smith

July 19, 2018 |

Los Angeles Times |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

In an attempt to increase housing for the homeless in L.A. in a financially sustainable way, FlyAway Homes has started several projects to build homeless housing supported by private investment. Fifty six investors will get a return, though not a large one, on the 9-unit property that will house 32 homeless individuals. This model is more efficient than when a non-profit organization builds homeless housing, and more properties under FlyAway Homes will show if the model is in fact sustainable.

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Renters Get One Step Closer to Homeownership With This Innovative Program

Shaima Shamdeen

June 26, 2018 |

Yes! Magazine |

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Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Cincinnati, Ohio

Renting Partnerships organizes affordable housing communities that stay affordable. By meeting the expectations of the community, such as paying rent on time, residents can earn and cash out financial equity after staying in their home for five years. The program uses creative financing in the hopes of making housing more equitable.

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Creating Affordable Homes for Multigenerational Living

Kevon Paynter

June 18, 2018 |

Yes! Magazine |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Irvine, California

A new, more-affordable housing option is available for multi-generational families hoping to live together. To combat the “missing middle,” or the dilemma when a family makes too much money for low-income housing but not enough for a sufficient home, Urban Pacific Group is building homes to fill that market gap. The solution is helping families stay together and lead more affordable lifestyles.

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After Centuries of Housing Racism, a Southern City Gets Innovative

Adam Lynch

June 15, 2018 |

Yes! Magazine |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Jackson, Mississippi

In Jackson, Mississippi, a series of community-led cooperatives are creating opportunities for affordable home ownership. This is part of a trend across the country to create community land trusts. They are financed through donations, other community businesses, or commissions. Though each land trust faces hurdles, they are collectively allowing more access to wealth and ownership in historically low-income neighborhoods.

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How Tenants' Rights Are Flourishing—Right in Trump's New Backyard

Jimmy Tobias

October 09, 2017 |

The Nation (New York) |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington, District of Columbia

In Washington D.C., the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase act, gives tenants the right to be the first in line to buy the building they live in, if it goes up for sale. The city, also has a trust fund that finances affordable housing, and provides funds for people looking to purchase a building and create a co-op. Together, these things make it easier for tenants to access affordable housing, and fight gentrification. So, far the city has 137 co-ops. "Now we get to choose our neighbors, we get to set our own rules, and we’re in control of our living conditions.”

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A Down Payment With a Catch: You Must Be an Airbnb Host

Tara Siegel Bernard

September 18, 2017 |

The New York Times |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

A Seattle-based entrepreneur has a creative idea to help people buy their first homes: give them money for a down payment, provided that they pay the money back by listing an extra room in their homes on Airbnb. Though unconventional, the enterprise (called Loftium), aims to help people overcome the hurdle of paying a large down payment. It is hoping to make home ownership accessible to people all across the country.

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Will Limited-Equity Cooperatives Make a Comeback?

Lillian M. Ortiz

April 25, 2017 |

Shelterforce |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

Limited Equity Co-ops provide a long term, affordable housing solution for tenants. The method began in the 60s and is slowly rising again. In a LEC the value of the housing unit can’t go up to market value, and therefore preserves affordable prices for a longer period of time. “The history of limited-equity co-ops is full of residents who work together to fight eviction and take care of their building.” There are an estimated 160,000 LEC’s nationally.

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In Myanmar's slums, women pool savings to get relief from crushing loans

Connor MacDonald

March 30, 2017 |

Citiscope |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Myanmar, Yangon, Yangon Region

Years of misrule and a subsequent dearth of hard currency, along with crippling bank-fostered debt cycles and exorbitant home mortgage interest rates, have created immense suffering for Myanmar's poor. But with the guidance of a local NGO, Women for the World, a pilot project helped women in some of Yangon's poorest neighborhoods capitalize on their cultural "head-of-household" status; by forming and managing community savings cooperatives, the women have instilled trust through local control and, above all, enabled members to secure land, build homes, buy food, and even generate profit through loans to families' business enterprises.

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A dilemma for renters in Nashville

David Plazas

February 22, 2017 |

The Tennessean |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is trying out creative ways to help residents deal with rising rent. While state policies do not always favor rent control and mixed-income housing units are still years away, several solutions are being implemented right now. Neighborhoods are creating tenant unions and community benefit agreements to ensure that tenants stay up-to-date about housing information. The mayor’s office is also providing financial support to first-time homebuyers.

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