Our Commitment to Build Opportunity and Belonging

Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future is driven by a mission of creating and preserving healthy, sustainable affordable rental homes that foster opportunity and wellness for people of limited economic resources. Home is powerful. It is the cornerstone of our identities, and our individual and collective well-being. However, policy and practice haven’t always been fair, and this has made home less affordable and less accessible for some based on their race, ethnicity, gender, ability or other characteristics. 

SAHF member organizations share a deep commitment to creating a just world that values all people and enables them to thrive.  

Creating opportunities and wellbeing means addressing the gaps that exist in employment, education, health, housing and wealth to improve outcomes for all people so that race, ethnic, gender, social and economic backgrounds do not predict one’s success. Research tells us that people are more likely to thrive when they feel a sense of belonging, so to affect this systems change, we must not only target strategies to close gaps so that all people can thrive but also share resources with the field to focus on changing policies, institutions and structures. We are called to advocate for policies and create practices that foster safety and belonging so that all people have the best chance of seizing opportunities to thrive. 

SAHF has identified five focus areas in which it will take actions in its own work and will serve as a platform for aggregating and sharing tools, practices and lessons learned broadly across the affordable housing field. 

1. Leadership, People and Culture - The public commitment and actions of organizations and their leadership to seeking out and including people from any number of demographic backgrounds and identities and creating an environment that value the collective strength of their experiences, beliefs, values, skills, and perspectives. Identifying, sharing and replicating strategies for fostering involvement, respect, connection, safety and belonging among people of different ideas, backgrounds and perspectives.
2. Real Estate, Investment and Partnerships - Acknowledging the role of exclusionary policies as a driver of the housing affordability crisis, a barrier to wealth creation and a force in limiting access to community resources or a safe environment and examining how practices in developing and preserving homes, investing corporate funds and partnering with community-based organizations can help create more just communities and new opportunities. 
3. Contracting and Spending - Identifying the universe of parties that financially benefit from the creation and operation of affordable rental homes and identifying opportunities to engage with a wider range of organizations, including those that reflect and benefit the communities where affordable housing providers work, but also exploring how housing providers can create an opportunity for self-examination and accountability for responsibly using our contracting and spending relationships to steward resources and create economic opportunity for a wide range of people.   
4. Resident Experience - Acknowledging that policy and practice has not always been fair for all people and has sometimes caused harm, including the development of policies and practices that have devalued the voice and eroded the agency of residents from the predevelopment stage through lease up and stabilized property operations. Seeking opportunities to center residents and their voice in decision making and operational policies and forge resident services and other partnerships that help identify and address gaps in housing, health, wealth-building pathways and other areas. This work can help create communities where residents feel they belong and thrive.
5. Policy - Recognizing that we can only create more opportunities for all people and more prosperous communities if we address the federal, state and local policies that enable fairness for all people. Growing our understanding of how including people from a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives can help inform policy solutions that create affordable homes that give residents choice and power where they live and access to things they want and need to thrive. Advocating for these policies and supporting organizations that advance them. 

SAHF recognizes that the work of creating more just communities where everyone has the opportunity to belong and thrive is a long-term movement not a moment in time and that while it is our responsibility to advance this work, it must be done in collaboration with a wide range of partners. We welcome that perspective and partnership and look forward to engaging with local and national actors, especially those that bring experience living and working in affordable rental housing communities. We invite those committed to this work to join us for discussions on how we can advance towards a more just society together.