In 2023, thanks to the support of funders and partners, we continued our commitment in the Southeast to make home and community steppingstones to more. Home is where life happens and futures begin, and we are leading efforts to provide sustaining solutions to some of the most complex housing challenges in our region.
Preserving affordability in small and medium multifamily housing
We launched our Southeast Preservation Next Academy at a Housing for Health event with Kaiser Permanente.
Over 200 people attended the first four of the academy’s trainings, learning about property evaluation and acquisition, organizational sustainability, business planning for preservation, and affordable housing stewardship models.
10 mission-oriented developers and affordable housing providers in Metro Atlanta and South Florida were selected to join an even more focused cohort, which provides additional technical and financial assistance to advance their preservation work.
The Southeast Preservation Next Academy runs through April 2024, and we look forward to training even more organizations on how to preserve affordability in small and medium multifamily housing.
Building resilience to protect homes from climate change
Enterprise launched Keep Safe Florida in Miami, Orlando, and Tampa in May 2022 to equip affordable housing owners with the tools and resources they need to assess and address threats from climate change and natural disaster. As the program comes to a close, we're proud to have trained 36 organizations and helped 168 properties and over 13,000 homes become more climate resilient.
Equipping houses of worship to develop affordable housing
Enterprise works with houses of worship to transform underutilized land into affordable housing and community facilities.
In November, we launched our second Faith-Based Development InitiativeSM cohort in the Southeast, guiding 11 houses of worship in the Metro Atlanta Region and South Florida through a 13-session curriculum on the development process.
We worked with 23 houses of worship in the region this year on a projected pipeline of 1,610 affordable homes. We look forward to providing ongoing support in 2024 to ensure houses of worship are well informed and empowered in navigating affordable housing development.
Coordinating funds to support development
Enterprise convenes the House ATL Funders’ Collective, a collaborative of public philanthropic and private funders that coordinates new and existing resources to support the preservation and production affordable housing in Atlanta.
In 2023, the Funders’ Collective held over a dozen convenings, including discussions on construction lending and financing needs to prevent homelessness in Metro Atlanta. The Pipeline Review Committee – a subgroup of the collective that review and invests in affordable housing deals with funding gaps – reviewed 11 projects comprising 872 affordable homes this year, and 3,726 affordable homes since 2019.
Building capacity of community development organizations
Enterprise awards HUD Section 4 grants to community development corporations and community housing development organizations to support housing preservation and production, economic mobility, and organizational strategic planning and sustainability. In 2023, we awarded $443,800 to 10 grantees, including 6 BIPOC- or women-led organizations, working in Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee.
Supporting policy solutions
Enterprise Southeast worked with partners to support House Bill 404 (Safe at Home Act) which passed unanimously in the Georgia House of Representatives in 2023. This bipartisan legislation would establish important tenant protections for Georgians, including a warranty of habitability in all residential leases, a cap on security deposits, and notice and right to cure before an eviction filing. The bill did not receive a floor vote in the Senate, but it remains alive for enactment in 2024.
Senate Bill 62 was significantly weakened due to our advocacy. In its original form, this bill would have criminalized homelessness and diverted federal and state funds away from Housing First, creating encampments for people experiencing homelessness instead of housing. Enterprise worked with partners to monitor this legislation, provide research, and propose changes. Throughout 2023, Enterprise Southeast advocated to support the Georgia State Low Income Housing Tax Credit (SLIHTC) which was under review by a Joint Tax Credit Review Panel. The SLIHTC is the only funding Georgia currently invests in creating and preserving affordable housing, and we met with key legislators throughout 2023 to share our support for the program.
Through our advocacy, we helped secure a $1.9M increase in the FY 24 budget for the Georgia Housing Voucher Program (GHVP). This program is intended to serve unhoused people with severe and persistent mental illness to break a harmful cycle through the criminal justice system, emergency facilities, and hospitals.
We participated in an Eviction Working Group convened by the City of Atlanta Eviction Prevention and Diversion Program to develop policy and program solutions to keep families housed in Atlanta. With input from this group, the city launched a program to distribute $2M in rental assistance to residents in need, an access-to-counsel program for residents at risk of eviction, and a Housing Help Center to provide resource referrals.
Investing in affordable housing preservation and production
In 2023, Enterprise Community Loan Fund invested $34.8 million in 14 developments in the Southeast, preserving and producing 1,245 affordable homes and one Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC).
Our Preservation Equity team invested $25.9 million in 3 developments in the Southeast to support the preservation of 450 affordable homes.
Housing Credit Investments (HCI) and Bellwether Enterprise (BWE) invested $271.8 million in LIHTC equity and debt to develop and preserve affordable housing in the Southeast. HCI provided this financing to 7 projects containing 1,069 affordable units that began construction in the calendar year. We continue our active commitment to provide affordable housing to Low-Income households and seek future investments with both non-profit and for-profit partners. Sponsors interested in partnering with us, can refer to the Originator Map for up-to-date contact information.
Looking ahead
The Enterprise Southeast team is proud of all we’ve accomplished in 2023 with the support of dedicated funders and partners. This year, we’re looking forward to continuing the good work of making home and community places of pride, power, and belonging.