NeighborWorks America Lays out Strategy to Assist the Nearly One Third of Aspiring Homeowners Amid Growing Affordability Concerns

For Immediate Release

August 12, 2025

Contact: Douglas Robinson

[email protected] or [email protected]

NeighborWorks America Lays out Strategy to Assist the Nearly One Third of Aspiring Homeowners Amid Growing Affordability Concerns 

When Nina Teasley took the podium at the ribbon cutting for The Residences at Forest Glen, she shared more than her gratitude, she shared a story of resilience, community, and a new beginning.

Teasley grew up in Ohio, where she raised four children. When her marriage ended, she said, so did her financial security. “I hadn’t paid into social security. I had no retirement plan. And the divorce meant I had to start over. And I did.”

To address rising housing costs that keep homeownership out of reach for many families with low financial resources, some nonprofits are advancing the concept of shared equity housing. In shared equity housing, ownership is shared between a homeowner and a nonprofit representing the community, between a group of homeowners, or when an initial subsidy is passed down from one family to the next over generations to keep a home affordable over time. Models include community land trusts (CLTs), deed-restricted homes, limited-equity housing cooperatives and resident-owned manufactured housing communities (ROCs).
Six years ago, Elizabeth Alonzo-Villarreal was in the NeighborWorks Achieving Excellence Program, thinking about a potential capstone project that would take her organization, NeighborWorks Laredo, to the next level. The program, which NeighborWorks® America hosts in cooperation with Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Business, provides classes, coaching and mentorship for leaders like Alonzo-Villarreal, who serves as CEO. She had her answer. “We wanted to become a CDFI,” she said.
Each year during National Homeownership Month, we take stock of what’s helping and what’s holding back first-time homebuyers across the country. This year, a major barrier came through loud and clear: misinformation about down payments.

NeighborWorks America Reports $2.32 Billion in Total Investment and More Than 261,000 Households Helped in Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2025

For Immediate Release

June 30, 2025

Contact: Douglas Robinson

[email protected] or [email protected]

NeighborWorks America Reports $2.32 Billion in Total Investment and More Than 261,000 Households Helped in Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2025 

National Homeownership Month celebrates the importance of homeownership in the United States. NeighborWorks America, along with the NeighborWorks network, celebrates homeownership year round  and centers housing counseling as a way to help people decide if homeownership is right for them and, if it is, to help them down that path. 

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