Ford Foundation Awards
$750,000 Grant for
Shared Equity Homeownership

First major grant focused on taking shared equity housing to a national scale

The first major grant focused on taking shared equity housing to a national scale has been awarded by the Ford Foundation.  NCB Capital Impact will act as the facilitator for this unprecedented initiative that will engage the for-profit and not-for-profit affordable housing industry, government agencies at all levels and Smart Growth and asset-building advocates.  Additionally, this $750,000 grant complements NCB Capital Impact’s affordable housing lending work.

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to partner with so many leaders in affordable home ownership to make owning a reality for families who wouldn’t otherwise be able to,” stated Terry Simonette, President & CEO of NCB Capital Impact. “To do our part in making an impact on a national scale, we will build on our 25 years of creating safe and sustainable homeownership and employ expertise in policy technical assistance and lending.”

Although shared equity models already exist and are successful, there is a great need to increase widespread adoption and awareness of the many benefits:
• Shared Equity homeownership offers a safer and more sustainable approach to affordable homeownership that provides a meaningful alternative to the risky sub-prime financing that contributed to the foreclosure crisis.

• Shared equity homeownership combines stable, affordable housing payments with most of the benefits of ownership, including control of one’s physical environment and opportunities to build equity. 

• Under shared equity homeownership, a government or nonprofit agency acts as a co-investor with a new homebuyer, investing substantial public funds to reduce homeownership costs to an affordable level.  In return, homebuyers agree to limit their equity appreciation in order to preserve affordability for future lower income buyers.

• The Shared Equity Initiative will be broad-based involving an array of public and private partners who are interested in changing the way affordable homeownership gets developed in the wake of the Foreclosure Crisis.