Community Development Working Papers

This working paper uses data culled from presale reports from the first wave of rental-backed securities to analyze and describe the emerging trend of single-family home rental (SFR) securitization. Authors provide a basic overview of the market, showing the number and market value of single-family homes involved in these new financial products, produce one of the first maps of the phenomenon, and examine data on the accessibility of SFR securitized homes to Section 8 tenants.

Over the past decade, national foundations and the federal government have designed many multisite initiatives that seek to address complex social problems. These initiatives have spanned fields, from criminal justice to early childhood education to community development and health. In addition to providing sites with funding and technical assistance, a number of these initiatives have included some type of cross-site convening within the design, often referred to as “learning communities.” The findings in this report emerge primarily from interviews with 15 individuals who have had experience in designing and implementing learning communities and communities of practice and individuals involved more broadly in the field of interorganizational learning.

Crowdfunding has emerged as a popular way to raise money online for a wide range of projects, and the community development field has the potential to benefit from the practice. This paper makes the case that in order for community development crowdfunding to reach its potential scale, and to involve the full range of potential stakeholders, better standards of data reporting and collection need to be established.

This working paper looks at the lending performance of one CDFI, the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF), through the Great Recession. Its authors argue that LIIF’s success weathering the downturn—relative to similarly-sized banks—is the direct result of a “patient capital” approach to portfolio management unique to the CDFI industry.

Scholarly interest in the relationship between investment and displacement dates back to the 1970s, in the aftermath of displacement related to urban renewal. More recently, a new wave of scholarship examines gentrification, primarily in strong market cities, and its relationship to public investment, particularly in transit. The results of these studies are mixed, due in part to methodological shortcomings. A primary finding looking across the literature is that there is a need for a new methodology to analyze displacement risk.

Families who use housing vouchers to move from areas of concentrated poverty to better-resourced neighborhoods have been shown to experience higher earnings and improved health. Housing mobility programs increase the effectiveness of housing vouchers by providing education and support to voucher holders facing barriers to such “opportunity” moves. This working paper proposes using a Pay for Success financing mechanism to increase investment in housing mobility programs based on the hypothesis that health care savings stemming from a positive mobility outcome—specifically related to diabetes and obesity— are sufficient to pay the entire cost of the mobility program. The authors draw on a unique dataset and use a dose-response model to produce four potential health savings scenarios that vary the expected effect timing (when health actually improves). Even the most conservative scenario generates sufficient projected health care cost savings to pay for the housing mobility program’s costs within a ten-year timeframe.

Over the past few years, there has been significant growth in the number of multi-site, cross-sector initiatives to improve communities and the lives of their residents. Through a comprehensive literature review, interviews with key project evaluators and funders, a recap of a December 2014 roundtable discussion, and the authors’ significant expertise, this report provides detailed descriptions of “what works” and “pitfalls” in its analysis of design elements and project parameters of both past and current multisite initiatives. In addition, the paper provides insights into the design and implementation of place-based efforts for community development practitioners, financial institutions, and other organizations, such as healthcare payers, who are involved in site-specific initiatives seeking to improve the economic well-being of low-income residents.

Why should community developers care about cap-and-trade and what do carbon emissions have to do with low-income households? As it turns out, the fields of environmental sustainability and community development have significant overlap, particularly in the area of transit-oriented development, where issues of affordability, equity, and displacement converge with concerns such as vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

This paper explores age-friendly banking products and services that better protect and preserve the assets of an aging population. In order to examine the unique financial needs and increase the financial well-being of low-income older adults, the California Coalition for Rural Housing (CCRH) partnered with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) to conduct an intensive study of over 400 low-income tenants living in subsidized senior housing. CCRH and NCRC recommend that banks develop more affordable banking products for seniors on fixed-incomes, assist customers in applying for public benefits, proactively address financial abuse and fraud, and provide in-person customer service and better early retirement planning. Financial institutions can incorporate these recommendations into the development of effective Age-Friendly Banking initiatives.

Community development efforts to revitalize low- and moderate-income neighborhoods should begin with an appropriate understanding of the needs and opportunities present within these communities. This sentiment is especially true of banks looking to fulfill their Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) obligations. A truly responsive and innovative CRA program should begin with the “performance context,” or knowledge about the bank’s local markets, including the needs of the community as well as the opportunities that exist within the local network of resources and organizations. This paper attempts to demystify the performance context and establish its strategic value to the CRA process. It explores new opportunities for strengthening the performance context as a community development tool, from the perspective of both bankers and regulators.