Susannah Patton

Civil rights leader Shirley Sherrod and her late husband Charles devoted their lives to advancing voting rights, solidarity, and wealth building through land ownership. But for a new generation of housing leaders like Devin Culbertson of Grounded Solutions Network, a Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge winner, their story is much more than a history lesson. It’s an urgent call to action.

In this latest interview with Shaun Donovan, the CEO and president of Enterprise talks about the recent win for our Power Forward Communities coalition, his conviction that homelessness is a solvable problem, and the significance of our one million homes milestone.

Enterprise has reached the milestone of creating or preserving one million homes since 1982. We didn’t reach this significant moment alone – we have been able to create and preserve homes in every corner of the country in collaboration with thousands of partners, staff, and supporters.

Homeward Central Harlem, which opened its doors in late 2023, is the nonprofit Homeward NYC’s third supportive housing development tailored to LGBTQ+ young adults between the ages of 18 and 25. The compact and modern nine-story building, sandwiched between two larger apartment buildings on a quiet street, includes 50 studio apartments as well as common gathering spaces with brightly colored furniture and accent walls. Staff provide services ranging from mental health counseling to job search training. Homeward Central Harlem also offers something less tangible: A place to recover, breathe, and chart a fresh start.

Gulf Coast Housing Partnership – a 2020 winner of the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge led by Enterprise and Wells Fargo – celebrates the opening of its first Health + Housing pilot development, H3C.

As Enterprise’s vice president and market leader for New York, Baaba Halm says she never forgets the people she advocated for each day in her first job at Covenant House, even as she now focuses on broad policy changes that aim to create more affordable homes for millions of New Yorkers.

Bernadette Butler is the director of the Homecoming Project, which pairs people leaving prison with homeowners who have a room to spare. We spoke with Butler recently about her first six months on the job and her vision for the project's future growth.

Could mall-to-housing conversion be a part of addressing the country’s affordable housing shortage? In a new white paper, Enterprise senior research analyst Ahmad Abu-Khalaf examines the promise and challenges of converting malls into affordable housing. We spoke with two developers featured in the white paper.

In his first six weeks on the job, Shaun Donovan has visited 11 cities, met with dozens of partners and investors, and toured affordable housing properties across the country. The recent travels drove home the breadth and depth of Enterprise's work, mission, and partnerships. But as the organization's new CEO and president, Donovan believes Enterprise must expand its network to tackle the full scope of the country's affordable housing crisis.

With affordable housing on the national radar like never before, we must seize this moment to find solutions to a crisis that is damaging and dividing communities across the country. This was the message from Shaun Donovan, Enterprise’s new chief executive officer and president, speaking at the National Building Museum’s Future Cities: Housing Affordability Summit.