Accelerator for America

America’s housing crisis affects homeowners and renters across all income levels in cities nationwide. This week, the Nowak Metro Finance Lab at Drexel University and Accelerator for America launched the National Housing Crisis Task Force in response to the urgent need for all layers of government, the non-profit, and business sectors to band together to address our nation's monumental housing challenges. The bi-partisan Task Force is co-chaired by Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah, Mayor Justin Bibb of Cleveland, Mayor Andre Dickens of Atlanta, and Susan Thomas, President of the Fifth Third Community Development Corporation and includes a Mayors’ Implementation Committee, chaired by Mayor Quinton Lucas of Kansas City and Kate Gallego of Phoenix. Read more about this ambitious, two-year initiative to bring the most promising innovations in housing production, preservation, and finance to communities across the country.

The federal government has the capability and the capital available to lead in a time of crisis, as evidenced by recent responses to COVID-19 and the climate crises. So how can we develop a federal housing policy that mobilizes resources and reduces barriers to address our housing crisis? We dive deeper into this question in our latest policy newsletter, produced alongside the National Housing Crisis Task Force, which will release a national policy agenda with recommendations that the federal government can implement to address our housing crisis later this Fall. For continued updates, subscribe here on LinkedIn or opt-in at: https://lnkd.in/gm-P3vN4

This was a terrific conversation between CDFI leaders, including important place-based perspectives like The Resurrection Project’s Raul Raymundo and TruFund Financial Services’s James H. Bason. Thank you to the Clinton Global Initiative for organizing this Roundtable and allowing me to put my #CDFI hat back on!

How does the federal government address the housing crisis? We answer this question in our new policy newsletter, developed with the National Housing Crisis Task Force, a two-year initiative aimed at advancing innovations in housing production, preservation, and finance nationwide. The Task Force, launched in July by the Nowak Metro Finance Lab at Drexel University and Accelerator for America, focuses on solutions to address the housing crisis.

We're about national change from the ground up, which is why we're thrilled to partner with Lansing Mayor Andy Schor and the Women's Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor on the Leveraging Infrastructure Networks for Equity (LINE) initiative! This program is creating equitable, well-paying jobs and emphasizing workforce development for underrepresented communities, like opportunities for women and people of color in Lansing to pursue quality careers in infrastructure. https://lnkd.in/g-WhQ9VG

In the US, an overabundance of single-family zoning limits housing supply, raises prices, and prevents economic mobility. Mallory Baches, President of The Congress for the New Urbanism, shared promising solutions to the housing crisis, from a grand boulevard strategy in California converting commercial property to affordable housing to transforming single family homes in Atlanta into multi-housing units. Meanwhile, 1/3 of households spend 1/3 or more of monthly income on housing. Accelerator for America (AFA) and the Nowak Metro Finance Lab have launched the National Housing Crisis Task Force to leverage knowledge and expertise of city leaders and housing researchers to find and scale innovations in housing production, preservation, and finance. AFA President Mary Ellen Wiederwohl moderated our panel and invited city leaders to engage with this effort, which will publish its first report in Nov. 2024. Some highlights from our city speakers:  > Use every tool: In Lansing (MI), Mayor Andy Schor is using a combination of local incentives, federal ARPA, LITEC, and CDBG, and state appropriation to revitalize downtown and create hundreds of residential units. In Knoxville (TN), Director of Housing and Neighborhood Development Kevin DuBose said that since 2019 the city has invested $40M into affordable housing while leveraging more than $600M in investment, resulting in 2,300 new units. Waterloo (IA) Mayor Quentin Hart shared that while his first instinct was to remove blighted properties, he realized that restoring existing housing - especially with high construction costs - is key to housing affordability. > Use data to focus on equity and address redlining: In Lansing, data revealed one area in the city was falling behind: lowest test scores, highest concentration of poverty, lowest service delivery. In response, it was designated an “Area of Focus,” allowing for an influx of investment. Knoxville developed two data dashboards tracking housing assistance and housing trends to inform the public and policy makers about housing needs and programs to address them. > Asset rich housing: Lansing’s Walter French Adaptive Reuse project will convert a former junior high into 76 apartments at or below 80% AMI, with 17 units for those experiencing homelessness. The building is convenient to transit and will include first floor childcare and social services. The Walnut Neighborhood Restoration Project in Waterloo is transforming a disinvested area of the city into 55 new homes adjacent to a grocery store and community center. > Workforce is key: The City of Lansing is growing the pipeline of BIPOC developers through its Equitable Economic Development Program. In Waterloo, the Hawkeye Sustainability Initiative, a partnership with Hawkeye Community College, makes building science part of the curriculum, allowing students to work on construction projects in neighborhoods where they grew up. Find all resources for this panel on our website: bit.ly/mip-s24.

As the U.S. Department of Transportation's Thriving Communities program goes into its second year, it's such a pleasure to look back at partnerships like the one with the team at WSP in the U.S. and reflect... and we've only just begun. Here's to year two! 🙌

As cities across America navigate an era of unprecedented federal investment and rapid technological change, they are rethinking economic development to ensure that growth benefits all residents. This evolving approach was evident in the recent Accelerator for America Economic and Community Development Practitioners' Network (ECDPN) convening, where leaders from Orlando, Cleveland, Detroit, and North Carolina shared strategies for adapting and fostering inclusive prosperity and equitable growth for their communities. Read our latest to learn more.

Attending the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting this September? We’re hosting a Community-Led Roundtable at #CGI2024 in the afternoon on Monday 9/23 and space is limited! This will be a high-level, dynamic session on Driving Economic Mobility in Communities: Scaling Local Solutions That Work. Reach out to Anne Bovaird Nevins or email us at:  [email protected] to register to join us! And, to learn more about this year's programming visit:  https://lnkd.in/e2e27Zya #community #economicmobility

Excited to share another in Accelerator for America's Transformative Project Case Story for the #LocalInfrastructureHub -- our fifteenth in the series!! This time we're going to the beautiful City of Chattanooga and their SMART Grant. Mayor Tim Kelly has been working every day to ensure the innovation and tech achievements Chattanooga is now known for are improving the lives of his city's residents and making them safer. Chattanooga's SMART Grant will allow the city to deploy vehicles that communicate with the infrastructure around them to ensure safer, pedestrian conscious streets, more efficient commutes, and so much more. AND, with their close partners at the The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, they are working to ensure any community, no matter their tech capability, can scale and deploy this work as well. Thank you to our partners at the Nowak Metro Finance Lab, Results for America and Bloomberg Philanthropies for helping us do this work! https://lnkd.in/eHuiN6g4