Where: Haven Home’s long-term goal is to expand statewide, but currently serves individuals in the Midlands of South Carolina (Aiken, Barnwell, Chester, Edgefield, Fairfield, Kershaw, Lancaster, Lexington, Newberry, Richland, Saluda, and York Counties), with most people served in the Richland and Lexington counties. Outside of these areas, the assistance provided is in the form of resource sharing and helping individuals navigate the system.
When: Haven Home’s founder, Lauren Taylor, has been researching and ideating this issue and the current model since the beginning of 2020. The organization received 501c3 status on June 16, 2021, with the effective date of exemption being July 16, 2020. Once official status was received in June of 2021, Haven Home hit the ground running.
Why: Taylor has a background in real estate investment and capital markets and has been managing her for-profit companies for the past 15 years. She owns a real estate brokerage firm, a property management company, and is a consultant for acquisitions and systems creation. For years, she assisted individuals with large capital funds purchase single-family homes at a rapid rate to build out their portfolio of rental properties. At the start of 2020, her largest client decided to bring all the operations in-house. Faced with making decisions about how to keep her company open and people paid during the pandemic, Taylor changed her focus and began researching the affordability crisis, LIHTC loans, and affordable development. She quickly realized that the work she had been doing with large-scale investors was adding to the affordability problem by manipulating markets and decreasing available inventory. In essence, she was a part of the problem and decided to become a part of the solution moving forward. In her research, she recognized that the available inventory of affordable units is consistently less than the number of individuals in need of housing. The only way to scale affordable housing at the rate needed is to do just what the investors in the for-profit world are doing—with large funds and hundreds of properties. Haven Home seeks to raise a capital fund upwards of $20 million that can be used to purchase single family homes at that pace.
Who: Haven Home serves anyone whose financial analysis shows a barrier to reaching truly affordable and equitable housing. Most of the individuals Haven Home serves have low to extremely low incomes. However, with 30% of the population cost-burdened (paying 50% or more of their monthly income on housing), Haven Home will work with low to middle income individuals as well. Essentially, those who qualify are those who are cost-burdened and can prove a barrier to achieving affordable home rental or home ownership.
How: Once Taylor realized the problem would not be solved or even slightly remedied without adding affordable units to the inventory as quickly as possible, she concluded the best way forward was to take advantage of inventory that already exists: single family homes. Whether abandoned, foreclosed, in disrepair, or just in a market that isn’t selling, Haven Home is able to purchase the properties that aren’t selling, renovate them to an equitable standard, and offer them at an affordable rate to clients on a case-by-case basis. As a 501c3, Haven Home is eligible to receive donor funding, grants, foundation monies, etc. which goes to cover social programming, case management services, and administrative costs. Haven Home is unique in that it also has a 506c offering, allowing Haven Home to legally take investor capital for the property acquisition and renovation fund. Investors can receive a return up to 5% by investing in the $20 million offering, so that there is always a pool of money available to purchase, renovate, and maintain properties.
ProTips: Collaboration is key. To make the biggest positive impact, CBOs, non-profits, and other stakeholders need to communicate, work together, and collectively strategize. As a 506c, Haven Home is forging new ground. Haven Home would recommend other such organizations meet their minimum threshold of fundraising before their public launch. It is difficult to both serve those in need through case management and manage a capital campaign.
Meaningful Stats:
- There is only enough subsidized housing in South Carolina to serve 20% of those in need
- 24% of SC renters spend more than 50% of their gross income on rent
- In 40 out of 46 SC Counties, the average renter cannot afford a basic two-bedroom apartment without overextending their budget.
- Haven Home has had one house donated to the organization
- Haven Home has placed over 100 individuals with vouchers into single-family homes through a partnership with local landlords
- Haven Home has placed 5 residents in affordable housing through partnerships
- Haven Home has started a rental assistance fund, connecting over 150 individuals to needed resources
- Haven Home has helped initiate a tenants’ union