Nationwide Competition Drew Innovative, Scalable Solutions to Remove Barriers in the Home Renting and Buying Experience

 

Pittsburgh, PA - Yesterday, January 18th, 2023, Fannie Mae announced the selection of five organizations to receive deliverable-based contracts under the Sustainable Communities Innovation Challenge, a nationwide competition to help advance racial equity in housing. Through the Innovation Challenge 2022 (IC22), the company sought innovative, scalable proposals to remove barriers that currently prevent many households, including Black families, from purchasing or renting a home. Module is one of the winners.

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In partnership with Enterprise Community Partners, the nation’s largest black-led development organization, Module will demonstrate the feasibility of locally owned modular facilities to complete energy-efficient affordable housing in urban communities of color. Their Fannie Mae contract will support their Last Mile Network project, setting the stage to expand the concept to Prince George’s County, MD, and Richmond, VA. Each facility will train new entrants in the construction trades, securing good-paying jobs while creating affordable housing and enabling Black homeowners and renters to build wealth.

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“At Enterprise, we’ve partnered with Black-led housing developers in Virginia and Prince George’s County to advance racial equity across development, capital and programmatic solutions. We look forward to bringing this experience to scale Module's Last Mile Network beyond Pittsburgh and to providing another useful tool for local developers," said David Bowers, VP and Mid-Atlantic market leader, Enterprise Community Partners.

 

The Innovation Challenge is part of Fannie Mae’s Sustainable Communities Partnership and Innovation initiative, which focuses on developing collaborative, cross-sector approaches to advancing sustainable communities and generating solutions for the nation's most pressing housing issues. Fannie Mae solicited proposals that specifically addressed the insufficient supply of quality affordable housing options, inadequate funds for upfront and unexpected housing costs, and consumer credit challenges, including low credit scores and credit invisibility.

 

"A history of discriminatory housing policies and practices has created profound inequities in the housing system that persist to this day. The Innovation Challenge is one example of Fannie Mae’s commitment to address those inequities and knock down the barriers that consumers, particularly Black consumers, face throughout the housing journey,” said Maria Evans, Vice President of Community Impact at Fannie Mae. "The proposals we selected provide thoughtful, tangible, scalable solutions to the most salient housing problems people face in the U.S. We are excited to work with these organizations and to support their innovative projects.”

 

“We’re excited to deepen our impact in Pittsburgh and scale the Last Mile Network to new markets in partnership with Enterprise Community Partners. Their track record as a developer and network of development partners will enable Module to deliver more affordable units to urban communities,” said CEO Brian Gaudio.

 

All submitted proposals were evaluated against a predetermined set of criteria and went through multiple rounds of review, including a semi-final review by an expert advisory panel comprised of leaders from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Fannie Mae made the final contract award decisions.

To learn more about Module’s Last Mile Network, please visit:

 

https://www.modulehousing.com/last-mile-network