Sarah Brundage and The Kresge Foundation: What This Moment Means for Affordable Housing Lenders
The Kresge Foundation recently sat down with NAAHL President & CEO Sarah Brundage to talk about where the affordable housing finance field stands today and what it will take to make progress.
From shifting federal priorities to persistent capital gaps to the resilience of CDFIs, the conversation covers a lot of ground. Here are a few highlights:
"The systems we've built to deliver affordable housing are either going to shrink and some fail, or we could come out of this moment more focused, efficient, and impactful."
— Sarah Brundage, NAAHL President & CEO
On CDFIs and resilience
CDFIs are by design resourceful and resilient. New sources of capital and new levels of bipartisan support are emerging, even amid uncertainty.
On production vs. preservation
The "build, build, build" narrative is loud right now, but housing supply means both building new homes and keeping existing affordable housing healthy and stable. Policy, capital, and partnerships should support both, not choose between them.
On what flexibility actually looks like
Communities don't need one-size-fits-all solutions. The deep local knowledge that CDFIs bring is exactly what makes place-based strategies work, while strong federal policy remains essential to reach every corner of the country.
Learn more from NAAHL about how CDFIs are essential partners at www.naahl.org/community-lending.