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Nonprofit grant recipients use funds to offer down payment and closing cost assistance to aspiring homeowners

For many individuals and families, homeownership is the key to building household wealth that can be passed down to future generations. That’s why creating equitable access to homeownership programs is a cornerstone of the U.S. Bank Foundation* Opportunity Fund**, which aims to increase wealth-building opportunities for low- to moderate-income (LMI) communities, including communities of color.

The foundation recently distributed nearly $3.5 million in Opportunity Fund grants to nonprofit organizations working to increase the availability of and access to homeownership. The first round of funding also included $4 million to organizations focused on affordable housing development.

“Safe and stable housing helps children, families and communities thrive, and supporting organizations that help create pathways to homeownership for more people is an investment that will benefit generations to come,” said Erica Opstad, managing director of the U.S. Bank Foundation.

That support extends to organizations like Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago (NHS), which serves more than 6,000 households annually to support homeownership and create thriving neighborhoods by providing homebuyer counseling and education programs, lending and real estate development services in LMI communities. The nonprofit was founded in 1975 to address redlining practices that impacted many Chicago neighborhoods, bringing together banks, regulators, residents and city officials to seek collaborative solutions to neighborhood disinvestment. Since then, NHS has helped more than 7,500 families buy a home, which has helped generate more than $1 billion in sustainable financial assets for its clients, who are largely members of communities of color.

“The needs of the community are constantly changing, but the heart of what we do has not changed. Since our inception 50 years ago, NHS has remained committed to the ideals of social justice and the liberating impacts of homeownership,” said President and CEO Anthony Simpkins.

In recent years, high interest rates and construction costs have contributed to putting homeownership further out of reach for many people in Chicago, Simpkins noted, with prices for single-unit and multi-unit buildings increasing dramatically in the past 20 years. NHS will leverage the Opportunity Fund grant to provide down payment and closing cost assistance to working families so they can become homeowners.

“Down payment and closing cost assistance is often the critical factor for leveling the playing field and getting people into homes. The Opportunity Fund grant enhances our lending and education services by providing this critical resource for clients across Chicago’s South and West sides,” Simpkins said.

U.S. Bank and the U.S. Bank Foundation have worked with NHS over many years, providing Community Possible charitable grants, corporate contributions and volunteerism. That includes supporting NHS’ comprehensive housing counseling program, which ranges from helping individuals and families start their homeownership journey to post-purchase counseling and foreclosure prevention.

“NHS is always trying to be innovative and expand opportunities to bridge generational wealth gaps,” said JeNyce Boolton, a U.S Bank community affairs manager based in Chicago who sits on an NHS committee. “Our support reaffirms the bank’s commitment to affordable housing.”

*U.S. Bank Foundation is a tax-exempt private foundation described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Foundation is funded primarily through contributions from U.S. Bank National Association and its affiliates and subsidiaries. The Foundation’s mission is to close the gaps between people and possibility in the areas of work, home, and play.

** The Opportunity Fund represents a financial commitment of the U.S. Bank Foundation; it is not a traditional equity fund, nor does it represent a form of ownership.