The Melville Charitable Trust awarded $75,000 to the ULI Foundation to support the development of 10 Principles for Addressing Homelessness: A Guide for Real Estate & Finance.
Awarded in October 2024, the one-year grant is the trust’s first donation to the Urban Land Institute (ULI). It will let ULI’s Homeless to Housed (H2H) initiative create a comprehensive guide intended to connect real estate leaders with not-for-profit housing and service providers and collectively identify ways of catalyzing the production and preservation of more deeply affordable housing that is both cost-effective and rapidly deployable.
This project builds on two years of groundwork that followed a $1.5 million donation from real estate executive Preston Butcher and his wife, Carolyn, which established H2H. “When the Homeless to Housed initiative was founded, it became clear that we needed to not only document case studies and hold events supporting dialogue on housing affordability, but also define how ULI members—from developers to finance professionals—can actively participate in solving the housing and homelessness crisis,” says William Herbig, senior director of H2H.
Inspired by ULI’s 10 Principles model, the project will draw on virtual and in-person focus groups to be held, in 2025, at events including the ULI Housing Opportunity Conference in Atlanta and the ULI Spring Meeting in Denver. A national leadership committee will synthesize insights from those gatherings with the goal of publishing the report in time for the ULI Fall Meeting in San Francisco.
The project has three primary goals: to build knowledge and change the mindsets of public- and private-sector organizations about the root causes of homelessness; to foster commitments from ULI members and partners to integrate the 10 principles into their professional practices; and to seed a broader movement among ULI members and partners by establishing the ULI Homeless to Housed Action Network, a community of practice helping to amplify these principles, build trust, and unite change-makers working to help the unhoused.
Since 1990, the Melville Charitable Trust has been providing funding and support to organizations working to end homelessness and housing insecurity in the United States. “This grant is part of our efforts to fund anti-racist policy change and accelerate housing justice for those most impacted: Black, Indigenous and Latine populations,” says Aimee Hendrigan, executive vice president for the trust. “10 Principles for Addressing Homelessness promises to be a transformative resource by offering a practical approach for real estate developers, investors, city officials, and nonprofit housing providers to ensure all people have a safe place to call home.”
The 10 Principles for Addressing Homelessness project builds on ULI’s 2022 publication, 10 Principles for Embedding Racial Equity in Real Estate Development. The new project will be the next step in ULI’s commitment to help real estate professionals deliver the financial and social benefits of equity to all stakeholders: developers and partners, communities, and cities.
The 10 Principles project builds on ULI’s 2022 publication, 10 Principles for Embedding Racial Equity in Real Estate Development. The new project will be the next step in ULI’s commitment to help real estate professionals deliver the financial and social benefits of equity to all stakeholders: developers and partners, communities, and cities.
This grant is the first from an external foundation to H2H, Herbig explains: “It signals that other organizations are recognizing the importance of engaging the land use industry in addressing the national crisis of homelessness and housing affordability.”
The initiative extends the longtime commitment of ULI’s Terwilliger Center for Housing to support the production and preservation of affordable housing, but H2H takes a more focused approach, Herbig says: “What separates this work from traditional affordable housing conversations is our focus on two critical criteria: the degree of affordability and the meaningful connection to supportive tenant services.”
ULI members and supporters are encouraged to contribute to the continued growth of H2H by donating to the ULI Annual Fund. “Preston Butcher’s initial three-year gift provided the foundation for the initiative, and now a growing number of ULI members are stepping up to support and expand this critical work,” Herbig says. Members interested in making a leadership gift to H2H can do so by working directly with the ULI Foundation.
The 10 Principles for Addressing Homelessness guide will connect the expertise of ULI members with years of compassionate work performed by affordable housing service providers and philanthropic organizations, Herbig says: “Homelessness is solvable, and, together, we can catalyze the production and preservation of more deeply affordable housing nationwide.”
