Housing nonprofits in Colorado had their hands full following the Great Recession of 2007. Fewer homes were being built, with unemployment causing housing insecurity rates to rise exponentially. Local and state governments also had fewer resources to help those in need.
“After the Great Recession, there was a desire to co-advocate in a way that had not been done historically,” said Neighborhood Development Collaborative’s (NDC) Executive Director Jonathan Cappelli. “Nonprofits could end up in verbal fisticuffs over limited funds and that doesn’t work for anyone.”
In response to this, a group of organizations banded together to create the NDC in 2009 to ensure nonprofits working to improve housing security could maximize the usage of available resources and create pivotal partnerships for driving the work forward.
“There was a large federal grant called the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, and rather than go for it individually, these groups decided to band together and distribute the funds to constituent organizations according to their ability to deal with some aspect of the crisis,” Cappelli said.
NDC has 25 member organizations that serve the entire affordable housing continuum, from permanent supportive housing to rental assistance and homeownership. Collectively, the group has supported over 30,000 Colorado households through affordable homeownership and rental opportunities.
The coalition has provided more than 60,000 people across Colorado with housing counseling and community programs, such as its Capacity Building & Technical Assistance for Community-Led Housing Organizations program. NDC has also helped preserve hundreds of homes and connected 2,500 tenants across the state with rental assistance programs.
NDC’s boots-on-the-ground approach allows them to undertake community-led research initiatives, implement community-centered programs and advocate for community-oriented policies with the precision needed to empower housing providers to serve their communities better.
“We’re policy nerds that help create programs that benefit the larger affordable housing community,” Cappelli said.
Cappelli pointed to NDC’s trainings on affordable housing development and management as an example of how the organization benefits the community. For example, NDC’s Community Real Estate Academy teaches participants the basics of affordable housing, the housing development process and best practices regarding property management.
NDC also operates an incubator program to help new organizations in the affordable housing space. Training can range from guidance on running an affordable housing mapping service to operational model trainings, like the steps towards operating a co-op housing model. “So far, NDC has graduated six organizations from its incubator,” Cappelli said.
NDC has also worked with local policymakers to guide Colorado’s state housing policy. For instance, the organization partnered with the Boston Consulting Group to develop a tenant equity mechanism after Colorado voters passed Proposition 123 in 2022, a law that dedicates a portion of the state’s revenue to affordable housing development and preservation.
“These efforts have helped bring hundreds of millions in new funding to Colorado to support affordable housing development,” Cappelli said.
State officials used the coalition’s recommendations to create the tenant equity program, Cappelli said, crediting NCRC’s research tools for some of NDC’s policy successes.
“Our research has been improved by NCRC’s lending equity research tools,” Cappelli said. “For instance, NCRC helps NDC hold banks accountable through the Community Reinvestment Act by explaining the ins and outs of the private financing landscape.”
NCRC has also helped connect NDC with organizations in other states and has given NDC the tools it needs to more effectively continue its policy and advocacy efforts at the state and local level.
“They make it easy to organize large engagement opportunities on important policy issues that we don’t always have the time to become experts ourselves,” Cappelli said.
Robert Davis is a Contributing Writer.
Photo courtesy of Neighborhood Development Collaborative of one of their housing programs.
