Among the Tribal citizens served by Tlingit Haida Regional Housing Authority, 70% are renters. In contrast, renters make up 36% of the population in the state of Alaska and nationwide. Until the Tribes collectively agreed to make homeownership a key priority in 2019, no new affordable housing had been built in the villages in 20 years. While Tribal citizens across Southeast Alaska own land, it has remained undeveloped for years.
Success Starts With Me allows landowners to build on their land and keep it under Tribal ownership. People who have thrived on this land since time immemorial will gain access to homeownership and invest in the well-being of their neighbors and the economic growth of their communities.
Tlingit Haida Regional Housing Authority serves 14 Tribes across small village communities accessible only by boat or air. The authority is partnering with Haa Yakaawu Financial Corporation to offer Tribal citizens throughout Alaska’s southeastern panhandle a personalized pathway to homeownership. Tailored down payments, mortgages, and sweat equity options meet potential homeowners’ unique profiles. A foreclosure mitigation plan protects again the unspeakable threat of loss of Tribal land.
Training and education are key components of Success Starts with Me. The innovation prepares homebuyers every step of the way – because where other financial institutions see risks, the housing authority and its partners see opportunities to build and retain a strong Tribal community in Southeast Alaska.
For too many African American youth in Birmingham, financial literacy and stability take a backseat to survival. All six of the city's open-enrollment public high schools are deemed failing by the Alabama Department of Education and less than 10% of students graduate ready for college or careers.
Build UP aims to break the cycle of poverty through a scalable housing innovation that ensures young people have the credentials, skills, and agency to realize transformative, liberating wealth.
The innovation defies Birmingham’s history of racial injustice and is rooted in the belief that true equity occurs when people have a stake in their communities. Donated homes from affluent areas are relocated and renovated as infill housing in neighborhoods where new construction has been economically impossible for decades. The approach reinvigorates neighborhoods, eliminates construction waste and prioritizes green technology.
Most housing solutions focus on multifamily rental properties for older people at 80% of area median income. Instead, this breakthrough approach prioritizes Black youth – most at 30% AMI and below. It prepares youth for careers in the high-demand building trades and readies them to become first-generation homeowners as early as age 21. Build UP’s plans to scale include expanding to other cities and states and creating a first-time homebuyer mortgage program.
