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Housing

Architectural plans spread out with pencil, protractor, and level.
Housing

Episode 1: Breaking through the challenges of housing affordability

Housing

Episode 1: Breaking through the challenges of housing affordability

The crisis of housing affordability in the United States is much more than a problem of demand exceeding supply. The Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge will help close the affordable housing gap by elevating and transforming housing affordability innovations into real solutions. Judges who are experts in the industry will choose top competitors who bring standout affordable housing innovations promising new ways to meet the urgent need for affordable housing in communities across the United States.

Clockwise from top left: Chrishelle Palay, Fred Karnas, Laurel Hart, Marc Norman, RuthAnne Visnauskas, Trisha Miller, Patrice Kunesh, and Maria Evans.
Housing

Episode 3: Financing solutions for the housing affordability crisis

Housing

Episode 3: Financing solutions for the housing affordability crisis

Without financing, good ideas to address housing affordability often never get off the ground. Because of a number of complexities, it can sometimes be more expensive to build affordable housing than it is to build market rate properties. In this episode, judges and administrators of the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge discuss problems and opportunities associated with financing.

Construction workers wearing tool belts and hardhats work at a building site with a partially framed new building and orange crane.
Housing

Episode 2: Constructing solutions for the housing affordability crisis

Housing

Episode 2: Constructing solutions for the housing affordability crisis

With land scarcity, zoning challenges, and ever increasing costs, the building of new affordable housing is a complex undertaking. In this episode, judges and administrators of the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge discuss the complexities and opportunities present in the construction of safe, clean, affordable housing, as well as the potential of green building as a factor in affordability solutions.

A group of four people, two seated in armchairs, one in a wheelchair, and one standing, chat in a room with hardwood floors.
Housing

Episode 4: Building communities of opportunity through resident support services

Housing

Episode 4: Building communities of opportunity through resident support services

Helping people sustain safe, affordable housing that they can utilize as a fundamental building block for health and economic well-being is key to closing opportunity gaps and eradicating generations of systemic racial disparity. Resident support services are an area of focus for the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge because they help provide infrastructure for resident well-being and economic mobility, and they contribute to healthy communities. In this episode, judges and administrators of the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge discuss problems and opportunities.

Clockwise from top left: Chrishelle Palay, Fred Karnas, Laurel Hart, Marc Norman, RuthAnne Visnauskas, Trisha Miller, Patrice Kunesh, and Maria Evans.
Housing

Our panel of judges and experts

Housing

Our panel of judges and experts

The need for affordable, well-designed homes continues to exceed supply in the United States. Wells Fargo has launched the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge in collaboration with Enterprise Community Partners to close the affordable housing gap by elevating and transforming housing affordability innovations into real solutions. The Challenge will award six grants of more than $2 million each to innovators across the U.S. in the areas of construction, finance, and resident support services to bring their ideas to reality. In this special series, Wells Fargo brings together the Challenge’s judges and administrators — thought leaders from across the industry — to discuss the housing affordability quagmire, the priorities of the competition, and the areas of opportunity for innovation in creating impactful solutions.

In a drum major hat and with a megaphone, Anne Fenkner leads a parade to celebrate her final mortgage payment at a Wells Fargo branch. Her bright green sash says, in all capital letters: “FINAL PAYMENT.
Housing

Payoff parade celebrates homeowner’s big moment

Housing

Payoff parade celebrates homeowner’s big moment

Despite the pandemic, Anne Fenkner celebrates completing her final mortgage payment six years early with a COVID-19-compliant parade.

From right to left, Siesha and Kenya Andrews and their son, Malachi, stand together on a sunny day in front of their new two-story home in the Atlanta area. The text COVID-19 update is in the corner of the image.
Housing

Homebuying tips amid the COVID-19 crisis

Housing

Homebuying tips amid the COVID-19 crisis

One couple’s story shows the resilience of homebuyers as the housing market adjusts to new ways of buying.  

A man and a woman hold their coffee mugs while sitting at the end of their porch. Her head is on his shoulder. COVID-19 is written in the corner.
Housing

Bringing resolve to meet a homeownership commitment

Housing

Bringing resolve to meet a homeownership commitment

From the COVID-19 pandemic to soaring unemployment, African Americans face a number of challenges to homebuying this year. Cerita Battles of Wells Fargo discusses the commitment to boost African American homeownership amid adversity.

A woman and two little boys sit at a table with cereal bowls. The woman pours milk into one boy’s bowl while the other boy eats.
Housing

How housing nonprofits are supporting families during COVID-19

Housing

How housing nonprofits are supporting families during COVID-19

Housing nonprofits like Beyond Housing in St. Louis and LA Family Housing in Los Angeles are continuing to support their clients during the COVID-19 pandemic — while also pivoting their focuses to meet the immediate needs.

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