Expanding Affordable Housing & Supporting Community-Rooted Developers

Affordable housing development firms — both nonprofit and for-profit — are a critical resource for strengthening the housing development ecosystem as a whole and expanding the supply of homes that are affordable.

To increase the supply of homes that are affordable and to support the sustained growth and financial independence of experienced development firms working in communities, Wells Fargo launched Growing Housing Developers (GHD). Flexible and patient capital, a strengthened balance sheet, and increased access to industry connections and resources will help experienced development firms working in communities to grow their capacity and expand their affordable housing production into the future.

Capital Impact Partners, Low Income Investment Fund, and Reinvestment Fund — three national Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) — have partnered to implement this $30 million initiative on behalf of Wells Fargo.

Growing Housing Developers builds on Capital Impact Partners’ successful EDI training program for emerging real estate developers across the country.

Program Implementation

Capital Impact Partners, LIIF, and Reinvestment Fund will work to deliver essential capital and capacity building to community-centric development firms based in GHD’s core geographies: California; Texas; Georgia; and the New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington Metro regions.

With the goal of supporting development firms to produce a minimum of 1,500 affordable housing units across the cohort over the next six years, we have selected 27 firms with affordable housing development pipelines in these focus geographies to join a national learning cohort, which will take place over four years.

In committing to the program, participants will receive access to:

• The Wells Fargo National Learning Cohort, featuring a monthly curriculum tailored to participants’ desired learning outcomes; peer learning sessions; advisory services; dedicated mentors; and national and regional events to provide essential knowledge and networks to support business growth.
• Access to enterprise-level grants to fund investments in infrastructure, staff, and other resources needed to build the capacity of participants’ organizations.
• Access to flexible loan products to fund their affordable housing pipeline in the focus geographies.

Our Partners

Coalition Partners

Our Broader Support for Community-Rooted Developers

GHD expands on each of the coalition partners’ programming supporting developers working in communities to participate in real estate development in their regions. Here are examples of initiatives we are each working on that invest in the futures of developers.

• Reinvestment Fund has financed investment vehicles to support housing developers in Philadelphia and Baltimore. 
• Capital Impact Partners has trained, or is training, nearly 200 emerging real estate developers through its EDI programs in the Detroit, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Atlanta, and Dallas areas.

Meet Our Participants

Our GHD participants represent a group of individuals with a range of backgrounds and experience. We invite you to learn more about them by downloading the fact sheet below.