Susannah Patton

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.

While Colorado was once considered “relatively affordable,” that has changed over the past decades, said Jennie Rodgers, Enterprise’s vice president and market leader for Rocky Mountain and Tribal Nations and Rural Communities. In fact, affordable housing was rated the top concern people are grappling with across the state, according to a recent survey by the Colorado Health Foundation. “Right now, many people here are cost burdened, and many are even on the verge of eviction,” Rodgers said.

Look upward in downtown Detroit and you’ll see ornate skyscrapers built even before the city’s automotive-fueled heyday of the 1950s, when it was the richest city in the country. Lower your gaze, and the bevy of cranes offers signs of renewal. At street level, crowded restaurants and busy sidewalks create an urban buzz familiar to any city dweller. For Melinda Clemons, this activity is a positive sign, as her hometown builds back from the national foreclosure crisis in 2008 and municipal bankruptcy five years later.

Gloria Palacios worked for most of her life as a migrant farmworker picking fruits and vegetables in several states across the Southwest. Then, in 2018, Palacios took a big step to securing a long-term, affordable home – she applied to build a new house through Come Dream. Come Build.

The federal government must support funding to end the shortage of Native housing, Tonya Plummer, Enterprise’s director for Native American housing programs, testified at a Congressional oversight hearing.

Enterprise's Danielle Hammann and Matthew Singh discuss the origins of the Equitable Upward Mobility Fund and how they hope it will ultimately improve lives and communities.

Deb Haaland made history in 2021 when she became the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary. At the same time, a new generation of Native women have been working behind the scenes to lead economic development and affordable housing efforts in Tribal communities across the country. Tonya Plummer, Enterprise’s director for Native and Tribal housing, says none of this is new.

Meaghan Vlkovic, Enterprise’s vice president and market leader for the Southeast region, spoke to us recently about her team’s efforts to advocate for a more equitable housing system and affordable housing preservation and development in Georgia, Florida, and the broader Southeast region.

On her first day in office, new Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced a state of emergency on homelessness and days later launched “Inside Safe” to move people from tent encampments to housing. Jimar Wilson, Enterprise’s vice president and market leader for Southern California, finds this swift action and renewed investment encouraging. Still, he recognizes there are no quick or easy fixes to his hometown’s affordable housing and homelessness crisis.