Empowering Community-Centric Developers to Expand Affordable Housing in Texas

With continuous population growth and rising housing costs, affordable housing in Texas is lacking. Long-time residents,especially those living with lower incomes, are under pressure. In cities like Dallas and Houston, the supply of affordable homes hasn’t kept pace: while high-end housing developments thrive, communities with the greatest need are often left out.

Some developers are working to change that. Without the same networks or access to capital as larger firms, these local leaders are stepping up with deep insight, strong ties to their neighborhoods, and a commitment to long-term impact.

Momentus Capital partners with these developers by providing flexible financing, tailored support, and access to tools that help them bring their visions to life. Two of those leaders, Ferrell Fellows and Laolu Davies-Yemitan, are showing how community-driven real estate development can help address the affordable housing crisis in Texas and expand opportunity where it’s needed most.

“Developers from here”: Why Local Leadership Matters

Texas’ housing landscape is shifting rapidly. As people move from higher-cost states, longtime residents, particularly those living with lower incomes, are finding it harder to secure stable, affordable housing. 

“The state of Texas has changed a lot,” said Will Robison, Director of Southern Region and New Markets Tax Credits at Momentus Capital. “More and more people are fleeing high cost-of-living states to come to Texas, and as a result, people who were already here are being left behind.”

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Texas faces a shortage of nearly 700,000 rental homes for households living with extremely low incomes. Median home prices rose 40 percent between 2019 and 2023.

At Momentus Capital, the approach to solving this challenge starts with empowering local developers in Texas, people who understand their communities not just as markets, but as neighbors and participants.

“We try to find folks who have been in these cities for a long time and know what their communities need,” Robison continued. “We trust their market knowledge and don’t come in and tell them what they should do. Our job is to encourage and empower them.”

Our belief in local developers’ investments in communities is reflected in how Momentus Capital structures its lending, provides ongoing support, and builds partnerships grounded in shared outcomes.

How Flexible Financing Helped Reclaim an Aging Apartment Complex in South Dallas

Ferrell Fellows, a South Dallas resident and CEO of Kingdom Legacy, a real estate brokerage and development company, saw firsthand how neglected properties and absentee landlords were affecting her community.

“The core problem was ownership. The wrong people owned property. There were many absentee owners and investors making choices that weren’t aligned with the community,” Fellows said.In 2023, she acquired a distressed 50-unit apartment complex with support from a $4.1 million loan from Momentus Capital. The property, now called Kingdom South, had gone years without basic maintenance. Many units lacked hot water, and the building posed serious health and safety risks to residents.

Fellows — also a participant in Momentus Capital’s EDI program — launched a full-scale revitalization effort addressing structural repairs, code violations, and outdated utility systems, while also ensuring that tenants could remain in their homes throughout the process. Renovations are underway and scheduled for completion in 2025. Once stabilized, vacant units will be offered to families experiencing homelessness through partnerships with local nonprofits.

“Momentus Capital was immediately supportive,” she said. “They were patient as we worked through title issues, outdated infrastructure, and tenant relations. Traditional lenders would have walked away from this project. Momentus helped us see it through,” she added.

Expanding Affordable Homeownership in Houston Through Local Development

In Houston, Laolu Davies-Yemitan is leading one of the most innovative new efforts in real estate development in Texas, tackling the lack of affordable for-sale homes for working families. His 45-unit Fairwoods at Furman townhome project will be affordable to households earning up to 120 percent of the area median income, a critical segment often priced out of the for-sale market.

“Fairwoods at Furman is about more than just building homes,” Davies-Yemitan  said. “It’s about creating opportunities for families to invest in their futures and for communities to thrive.”

The project broke ground in 2025 and will be completed in three phases by 2027. It’s supported by a forgivable loan from the City of Houston and flexible construction financing from Momentus Capital, a key partnership that helped Davies-Yemitan take on a leadership structure rarely seen in projects of this scale.

“This is the first time I’m acting as both developer and general contractor on a project of this scale,” he said. “It’s challenging, but Momentus saw the potential, not just the risks.”

This dual role gives Davies-Yemitan greater control over project timelines, quality, and long-term costs, a strategic decision made possible in part by his participation in Momentus Capital’s Growing Housing Developers (GHD) program,  a four-year initiative supported by Wells Fargo. GHD provided selected developers with enterprise-level grants, credit enhancements, technical assistance, and long-term mentorship, giving them the capacity to grow their businesses and take on larger, more complex projects.

Supporting Developers Beyond the Deal

Momentus Capital is focused on empowering local developers in Texas and across the country through its continuum of capital approach, which combines flexible financing with technical assistance and access to peer networks and strategic partners. This structure allows the organization to back developers early, often before traditional lenders are willing to engage.

“We can take on risks that other lenders cannot take on,” said Will Robison. “And when projects stabilize, developers can then move on to more traditional sources of financing.”

But lending decisions at Momentus Capital are about more than underwriting. The team evaluates  developers’ long-term commitment and connection to the communities they serve.

“We want to see that the person is committed to their community and that they have skin in the game,” said Sarina Trethaway, Loan Origination Officer at Momentus Capital.

This approach is especially valuable for developers like Laolu Davies-Yemitan who was a participant in Momentus Capital’s Growing Housing Developers (GHD) program.

“The enterprise funding — that initial GHD grant — gave us the confidence to go out and hire and plan for growth,” he shared. “We’re executing deals that, without this program, we wouldn’t be in a position to do.”

“Developers working in overlooked neighborhoods are a critical resource for strengthening the housing development ecosystem as a whole,” said Kate Voshell, manager of the GHD program. “They can create community-centric housing solutions that are affordable, relevant, and responsive to local need.”

Through both its lending and programmatic support, Momentus Capital is helping real estate developers across Texas scale their businesses and deepen their impact, one project at a time.

A Broader Vision for Affordable Housing in Texas

Projects like Kingdom South and Fairwoods at Furman highlight what ispossible when community-rooted developers receive early, flexible support. These are not one-off success stories, they reflect how Momentus Capital is helping shift the model for affordable housing in Texas. 

Still, barriers remain. Developers often face permitting delays, complex capital stacks, and limited access to early-stage funding. Momentus Capital is evolving to meet those challenges, adjusting its own processes to get capital out the door faster and keep projects on track.

“We’ve changed our culture internally to figure out how to most effectively deploy our money and respond quickly to changing circumstances,” said Voshell.

As the affordable housing crisis in Texas continues, community-centric housing solutions led by developers with local knowledge and long-term commitment will be more important than ever. Momentus Capital remains committed to supporting these developers with lending, technical assistance, and enterprise-level investment, so that more communities can access the stability and opportunity that housing provides.