n keeping with its longstanding commitment to support affordable housing in Minnesota, The McKnight Foundation recently undertook a comprehensive review of its funding history and strategies to identify opportunities for improvement.

Taking context changes and success models into account, our board of directors initiated a process to ensure McKnight's resources are strategically employed to produce and preserve affordable housing and increase opportunities for families. The review included input from experts in design, finance, and development; site visits to examine affordable housing in other regions; and a systematic collection, analysis, and discussion of trends and best practices.

As a result, we've strengthened our approach, building on past work while adjusting to new realities. In support of our strategy to increase family stability and link families to greater opportunity in our communities, McKnight now focuses on three new objectives. The Foundation supports efforts that:

1. educate and advocate to increase public acceptance of and support for affordable housing
2. promote innovation and high-quality housing design for livable communities
3. accelerate the pace of affordable housing production, preservation, and permanency

The document linked above, "A Vision for Minnesota Families," adds more details about our objectives and desired outcomes and how we'll be measuring success.

These three focuses reflect both a continuation of work with longtime partners and the potential for new collaboration — all driven to strengthen families by improving access to high-quality homes for all. How McKnight's staff and board arrived at the strategies, and what they hope to accomplish with them, are the focus of this article.

Today's affordable homes

oday's affordable homes are community assets. Either owned or rented, houses or apartments, contemporary affordable homes are designed to reflect neighborhood character and meet the highest quality construction standards. Professional management and maintenance create a healthy living environment. With these qualities, affordable developments are indistinguishable from market-rate housing and provide the mix of housing that strengthens the communities in which they are located. In fact, many affordable developments now compete for architectural design awards.

In addition to creating stable homes from which people can access opportunity and build assets, these developments benefit all of us and our communities by:

• creating healthy and livable communities
• providing homes for workers
• revitalizing distressed areas
• supporting economic development by increasing local jobs and tax base
• strengthening community by promoting economic and social integration
• reducing public cost resulting from family instability

The context of McKnight's housing program

he overarching goal of McKnight's region and communities grantmaking program is to encourage efficient development while creating livable communities with opportunities for all to thrive. The Foundation pursues this goal through five strategies:

• manage regional growth to minimize sprawl and maximize opportunities;
• create economically viable neighborhoods;
• increase transportation options;
• preserve, protect, and restore open spaces; and
• increase family stability and strengthen communities through affordable housing.

Within this framework, McKnight has supported efforts to address Minnesota's housing needs for more than 25 years. With support from the Foundation over time, more than $200 million has been invested and more than 36,000 permanently affordable homes have been created.

In 2008, about 13 percent of the Foundation's grantmaking, roughly $12 million, will be directed toward strategies to create affordable homes. Since 1995, the Foundation has invested most of its housing dollars in key intermediaries, but it has also provided direct support to high-capacity housing developers and advocacy efforts aimed at increasing the investments of local, state, and federal government.

Partners in innovation

McKnight has aimed to help build a robust field of housing investors, developers, intermediaries, and public-private partnerships. Our history of progress has depended upon longstanding relationships with major intermediaries like the Family Housing Fund, the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund (both established by McKnight), and the Corporation for Supportive Housing. We also benefit from invaluable collaborations with CommonBond Communities, Minnesota Housing Partnership, Project for Pride in Living, and other key organizations engaged in regional housing issues.

Our intermediary partners exert leadership, foster creativity, and take advantage of opportunities as they arise. Their work has led to a wide variety of innovations — from gap financing, planning, and predevelopment assistance, to the funding of research, advocacy, and public education — all of which combine to create a housing development system unparalleled nationally.

reating enough quality homes for families and individuals to achieve and maintain stability in life isn't easy. The environment is constantly changing, which creates new challenges and opportunities for the field. Recently, many predatory lending victims throughout the state — typically the most economically vulnerable families — have lost homes through foreclosures. We depend on our partners to attack issues as they emerge. In this case, the Minnesota Foreclosure Partners Council, a public-private partnership, was created to address this problem. This network of housing leaders from city and county government, as well as area housing intermediaries and nonprofits, was established with support from the Family Housing Fund and Greater Minnesota Housing Fund.

Another good example of innovative work is the emergence of the supportive housing field, nurtured by McKnight and its partners, that has become an extremely effective way to achieve the goal of ending long-term homelessness. The supportive housing model, which provides long-term stable homes and support services to vulnerable people and families, has become the standard practice in helping households end the cycle of homelessness. Without the partnerships that developed and refined the supportive housing model these past 10 years, Minnesota's current statewide plan to end long-term homelessness would not be possible.

We're proud of the past accomplishments of Minnesota's affordable housing community and believe that even more is possible in the future.

The future of affordable housing

cKnight has developed long-standing partnerships to build on in the future. The Foundation's staff and board believe that, over time, targeting our investments through the three new strategies we've selected will lead to increased tangible results for people and the communities in which they live.

By locating affordable homes near jobs, transit, and other community amenities, our approach will mitigate congestion and transportation costs, contribute to environmental stewardship, and foster healthier lifestyles. To succeed, however, we will need all sectors to recognize the importance of this issue, and ensure that public policies embrace affordable housing as healthy community development.

Increasing public support for affordable housing is a crucial component of this work. Sharing word of affordable housing's value to our full community will help increase support across all sectors. Understanding the important role that housing plays as an economic development catalyst and as a springboard for family success is imperative to increasing public will — and, in turn, will lead to more individuals and families living in safety and comfort.

We at McKnight are excited and energized by the possibilities of this new approach. To hold ourselves and our partners accountable, in 2008 and beyond, the Foundation will closely track and share outcomes toward achieving our goals.

While confident that the new strategy represents the best way forward, we recognize that its application will present challenges and learning opportunities for both us and for the field in Minnesota. Throughout, we will depend on the continuing collaboration of McKnight's grantees and other partner organizations, and the commitment of the communities we serve together.

Related links

McKnight's region and communities grantmaking
CommonBond Communities
Corporation for Supportive Housing
Family Housing Fund
Greater Minnesota Housing Fund
Minnesota Housing Partnership
Twin Cities Compass