{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Shaun Donovan: Home, Community, and the Affordable Housing Crisis","description":"In this episode of Capital for Good we speak with Shaun Donovan, one of the country\u2019s most important leaders \u2014 and lifelong advocates \u2014 for housing, economic development, and shared prosperity. Donovan has worked at the highest levels of government \u2014 as Secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Obama and as Commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development in New York City \u2014 overseeing large scale public-private partnerships. Today he approaches that work from Enterprise, where he leads the nation\u2019s only nonprofit that brings together in one place housing solutions, capital, and community development. We begin with some of Donovan\u2019s formative personal and professional experiences that motivated his lifelong commitment to housing. Growing up in New York City during a time of crises, with high levels of street homelessness and neighborhoods across the city severely challenged, Donovan was drawn to work at community-based organizations focused on homelessness, rebuilding communities, and financing community revitalization.  We discuss how these experiences would inform his years in government, and his understanding of the role of the public sector. \u201cI am a deep believer in the power of government and the need for a strong government role in the service of the public good,\u201d Donovan says. He notes that, in particular, government can make foundational investments in things like infrastructure or basic scientific research that lay the groundwork for much broader economic prosperity, and can set the \u201crules of the road,\u201d for commercial market players. He also underscores the importance of cross sector partnerships: Government can scale innovations tested by the nonprofit and private sectors or shape policy that responds to community-based movement building. Donovan\u2019s forty-year commitment to housing is rooted in the sector\u2019s \u201cunique\u201d role in people\u2019s lives \u2014 where people live and their quality of housing \u2014 affects larger opportunities and well-being: schooling, health, safety, and employment. Housing has also become the most expensive thing in most people\u2019s lives: more than half of US renters spend over 30 percent of income on rent, closer to 50 percent for lower income Americans. We discuss how today\u2019s affordability crisis has led to record levels of street homelessness, overcrowding, evictions, and instability in communities across the United States \u2014 the worst Donovan has seen in his lifetime. The high cost of housing also prevents individuals and families from moving to higher paying jobs; limited economic mobility in turn exacerbates economic and political segregation and polarization. Despite these challenges, Donovan is encouraged by important developments at the national, state, and local level. We discuss what he calls the \u201cNew New Deal:\u201d the trillions of dollars the federal government has deployed to infrastructure and climate (via the Inflation Reduction Act), political momentum at the state level to increase the supply of affordable housing, and a wellspring of housing innovation in communities across the US. At Enterprise, Donovan and colleagues take on all of these issues, with a particular focus on racial equity and building resilience and upward mobility. Founded forty years ago, Enterprise today invests approximately $10 billion a year into communities ($64 billion cumulatively to build or preserve 950,000 homes), owns and manages 13,000 affordable homes, and is the country\u2019s largest housing policy and advocacy organization. All of these activities involve partnerships. For example, Enterprise has recently joined forces with LISC, Habitat for Humanity, the United Way, and Rewiring America to apply for $9.5 billion from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to work with 156 communities across the country to decarbonize affordable housing, invest in resilience, and ensure an equitable low carbon transition. Enterprise also oversees a variety of innovation challenges to support effective housing solutions developed by community-based organizations across the United States. \u201cWe have solutions, we know what works,\u201d Donovan says. \u201cI think this is the moment, potentially, when we come together\u2026 to build a national movement to make housing a critical part of how we support families in this country.\u201d Thanks for Listening! Subscribe to Capital for Good\u202fon\u202fApple,\u202fAmazon,\u202fGoogle,\u202fSpotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Drop us a line at\u202fsocialenterprise@gsb.columbia.edu.  Mentioned in this Episode Enterprise The Inflation Reduction Act Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Power Forward ","author_name":"Capital for Good","author_url":"http:\/\/tamerinstitute.libsyn.com\/website","html":"