$20 Million National Grant Competition

The national housing shortage continues to make headlines. Estimates on the number of homes needed to close the gap run in the millions. But one thing is clear: we all need an affordable home to thrive.

In an effort to scale needed housing solutions, Enterprise and the Wells Fargo Foundation launched a new $20 million competition in January 2023. The Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge will identify and propel implementation-ready innovations that transform current practices and reimagine access to affordable homes.

Eligible applicants are competing for individual grants of $1 million, $2 million and $3 million to scale ideas that lay the groundwork for system-wide change. Winners also will receive two years of technical assistance to turn their ideas into real-world programs.

Congratulations Round 2 semi-finalists!
From a pool of 430 proposals, we selected
42 organizations to move on to the second phase
of the housing innovation competition.

Meet the Semi-Finalists

A crew of workers on a job site. A worker reaches out for a piece of lumber another worker is holding

50-50 background color

Cornerstone Blue

Focus Areas

The Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge is designed to elevate and scale affordable housing solutions across Native, rural, suburban, Tribal and urban communities.

The Round 1 application period closed in March 2023. We asked Round 1 applicants to align their proposals with one or more of three focus areas:

Financing
Construction
Access and Resident Support

We also asked innovators to demonstrate how their transformative housing solution centers racial equity and, where applicable, integrates environmental sustainability.

Meet the Round 2 semi-finalists

Otis Rolley, President of Wells Fargo Foundation and Head of Philanthropy and Community Impact, standing and speaking at a podium

Wells Fargo’s support of the 2023 Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge is another opportunity to engage entrepreneurs and social innovators and advance ideas that can improve housing opportunities for millions.

We urgently need to reimagine access to quality affordable places to live in the U.S., which is so tightly linked to economic stability, physical and mental health, and ultimately generational wealth.

– Otis Rolley, President of Wells Fargo Foundation and Head of Philanthropy and Community Impact

Eligibility

We cast a wide net, inviting a range of organizations to apply:

Organizations with a 501(c)(3) status
Mission-oriented for-profits
Government-affiliated organizations, housing authorities and housing finance agencies with a 501(c)(3) entity
Tribally Designated Housing Entities (TDHEs)
Tribal Housing Authorities

The Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge has proven that investing in pathbreaking innovations at the local level is a powerful way to build more equity and affordability in our communities nationwide.

Jacqueline Waggoner, President, Solutions Division, Enterprise

A prefabricated room being built and lifted inside a warehouse

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Community Green

Application Process

Over the course of the three-round competition, winning innovations will be selected by a panel of judges, including leaders from Enterprise, Wells Fargo, and nationally recognized community development and housing experts.

The cohort of winners will be announced in fall 2023 and take part in a multi-year initiative to share ideas and cultivate their innovations into solutions that can be applied in communities across the U.S.

Competition Timeline

Round 1 (closed)
January 31 - March 3

Round 2
May 9 - June 6
Meet the
semi-finalists

Round 3
August 9 - October 18
(Pitch competition: October 16-18)

Winners Announced
Early November

An exhibit at The Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge Exhibition at the National Building Museum

Celebrating Housing Innovations

Launched in 2020, the inaugural Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge named six winners whose innovations have made an impact in communities across the United States. The winners and their housing solutions are currently on display in “A Better Way Home,” a free exhibition at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., through October 16, 2023.

A woman talks to a group of people sitting around a table

See how we invest in solutions

Watch Video

Seeding Innovation

A Look at the First Challenge

Winners of the 2020 Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge are moving forward in exciting ways: breaking ground, setting down homes, and scaling to new geographies. See the breadth, reach and impact of their ideas – and how an engaged cohort made a pivotal difference for these housing innovators.

The support, encouragement and expectations allowed us to develop something very innovative in a short period of time.

Natasha Pallan, Center for NYC Neighborhoods, 2020 Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge Winner

Frequently Asked Questions

All FAQS

Up to 50% of the grant will be disbursed after the grant agreement is executed in 2023. The remaining funds will be disbursed halfway through the grant period in 2025.

We invited a range of organizations to apply, including nonprofits, Tribal organizations, and mission-driven for-profit entities. Applicants were asked to show how their ideas would be implemented in at least one of 38 markets where Wells Fargo and Enterprise can provide additional infrastructure to support implementation and help scale the winning innovations. While each innovation may initially be implemented in a specific jurisdiction or geography, the expectation is that the innovation demonstrates broad applicability and has the potential to replicate in other communities across the United States.

Here are profiles of our 2020 Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge winners. This video also features the story of our first-cycle winners and their innovations.

The challenge is following HUD’s definition of a rural area: a place having fewer than 2,500 inhabitants; a county or parish with an urban population of 20,000 inhabitants or less; any place with a population not in excess of 20,000 inhabitants and not located in a Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Due to the large number of applications we expect to be submitted, we will not provide specific feedback to organizations whose innovations are not selected to advance to the next round.