Enterprise's $3.5B housing equality program gets funding from Netflix

Affordable housing nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners has received a $25 million commitment from Netflix to help fund Equitable Path Forward, a $3.5 billion initiative attacking housing discrimination at the roots.

The program aims to attack what the organization calls "the deeply rooted legacy of racism in housing — from the types of homes that are built, where they're built, who builds them, and the wealth that is generated from them."

There are three prongs to the five-year program. The first is a $350 million Growth Fund that will provide debt, equity, grants and innovative credit enhancement for qualifying Black, Indigenous and People of Color-led housing providers. The organization hopes to attract an additional $3.1 billion of capital to that fund. The second prong is a $15 million program for cultivation of local development organizations and small businesses, and the third component is a $10 million leadership program.

Enterprise is providing $10 million of its own money to the Growth Fund. To maximize the leverage of this capital, there is a standby guaranty facility that is initially backed by Enterprise's balance sheet as it seeks additional investors. The facility will give housing providers an opportunity to compete for institutional capital on a level playing field.

These funds will enable larger, lower-cost and longer-term investments in affordable homes developed and preserved by providers that have historically lacked the balance sheet required to attract this capital in the first place — or if they have, it has been at costly terms that dilute the ability to scale their pipeline and build wealth.

"Together with our partners, we will close the racial disparities in the housing industry that perpetuate the racial disparities in our communities," Priscilla Almodovar, president and CEO of Enterprise Community Partners, said in a press release. "To do so, we need to rebalance both power and profit in our industry. Enterprise will leverage $10 million of our own capital, expertise and unique end-to-end platform to do our part."

The leadership program is a two-year rotational program in real estate for future BIPOC and other historically marginalized leaders modeled after programs at major industrial and financial firms.

Equitable Path Forward capital and expertise will be deployed nationally, with a focus in the following cities and regions: Chicago, Denver, Detroit, New York, Northern California, Southern California, Ohio, the Gulf Coast, mid-Atlantic, Pacific Northwest and Southeast.