Overview

Recognizing the tremendous need for affordable housing, the Foundation actively invests in the preservation of existing rental housing, supports community development financial institutions that provide both short- and long-term financing, advances knowledge about the role of housing through rigorous research, and pursues policy innovations and strategies to improve family and community outcomes through housing.

Some facts and trends that motivate the work:

• Approximately one-third of all U.S. households — 37 million — live in rental housing today, and the vast majority of those are households of modest economic means, with annual incomes of less than $60,000.
• For every three units added to the rental supply, two units are lost.
• Nearly half of all renters spend more than 30 percent of their income for housing.
• Only one-quarter of income-eligible households currently receive federal rental assistance.
• The foreclosure crisis has reversed the upward trend in homeownership of the late 1990s and early 2000s, leading to a sharp surge in renter households since the recession began and placing greater demands on the supply of rental housing.

Preserving and expanding affordable rental housing is a national challenge that can be met. Looking ahead, MacArthur recognizes the need for a more balanced housing policy and for innovative strategies that help address the growing demand for affordable housing. In light of the nation's fiscal crisis, attracting resources for affordable housing will require convincing, scientific evidence about housing's effectiveness in helping families address a broad range of positive social and economic challenges. The Foundation is helping through grantmaking in the three categories described below.

By 2012, MacArthur will have invested over $300 million in affordable housing, in grants and program-related investments — more than two-thirds since 2000.

The 2011 grant budget for this program area is $17.9 million.

What MacArthur Funds

Affordable Housing Preservation

The Foundation's $150 million Window of Opportunity: Preserving Affordable Rental Housing initiative seeks to preserve and improve affordable rental housing across the country. It is designed to demonstrate that preserving affordable rental housing is a cost-effective way to extend the significant past, public and private investment in housing, to strengthen families and communities, and to encourage a wide mix of institutions and partnerships to invest and participate in the preservation of affordable rental housing. By accomplishing its objectives, the initiative will yield the evidence, models, momentum, and leadership needed to generate policy reforms aimed at a bold goal: preserving one million units of affordable rental housing in a decade, which is intended to ensure that every new unit of affordable housing is a net addition to the affordable inventory.

The Foundation provides grants and long-term, below-market loans to a portfolio of 25 large-scale, business-like, local, regional, and national nonprofit owners of affordable rental housing active in 37 states. Support also goes to specialized financing vehicles across the country and to public sector-led preservation efforts in Chicago, New York City, and 12 other states and localities. MacArthur also funds policy analysis, data collection, and expert assistance to encourage investment in rental housing preservation and foster sound federal, state, and local policies.

See Recent Grants for grants awarded and program-related investments.

Housing Policy

A broad body of evidence suggests that access to decent, affordable housing may lead to better physical, social and economic well-being for individuals and families and that such housing is an important ingredient of a vital community. Compelling findings from a range of fields are beginning to show critical links between housing and other issues of national policy concern, such as alleviating poverty and increasing labor market participation.

In 2008, MacArthur launched a five-year, $25 million research initiative How Housing Matters to Families and Communities to expand this evidence base. It includes an interdisciplinary research network focused on how housing makes a difference in the lives of young children and their families, and a cross-discipline, competitive research program. This initiative is driven by a need to supplement anecdotal evidence of how housing serves as an essential "platform" with empirical studies that clearly demonstrate the pathways through which housing can affect education, health, and employment, among others areas. If the research confirms the assumption that housing is an essential platform for positive outcomes, it would imply that new investments in housing are necessary to ensure a greater return on other social and public investments, and that an integrated approach to addressing family and community needs must include housing.

To date, the competitive research program has awarded more than $14 million to 29 different research projects, creating a portfolio of rigorous studies led by new and established scholars, by public agencies willing to subject their programs to evaluations, and by economists, sociologists, education experts, and health professionals.

See Recent Grants for grants awarded.

Public Housing

The Chicago Housing Authority’s Plan for Transformation of public housing is redefining the functions of the agency and implementing a $1.6 billion capital program to demolish more than 16,000 units of housing and to rehabilitate or build 25,000 units over 15 years – about one-third of which will be in new mixed-income communities. By funding research that explores the impact that the Transformation has had on the city’s residents and neighborhoods, MacArthur also is enhancing Chicago’s capacity to respond with solid facts to questions about its progress and to better serve the needs of its public housing residents and making a contribution to evidence and housing policy more generally. The Foundation also supports the Partnership for New Communities, a group of civic and corporate leaders committed to vital neighborhoods and the success of the Plan for Transformation.

See Recent Grants for examples of grants awarded.

Updated May 31, 2011