Dec. 19 – Thanks to a $25 million donation, the leader of nonprofit developer Homewise Inc. says. from Santa Fe that his group is now positioned to tackle the affordable housing crisis in an unprecedented way.
Homewise officials announced in a news release Thursday that they had received the gift from billionaire MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving organization, as well as a $10 million “impact investment” from the Anchorum Health Foundation in Santa Fe.
“Oh, it’s a game-changing gift,” says Mike Loftin, CEO of Homewise, adding that the donation is without obligation and that Scott is single-handedly changing the philanthropic world.
“We are very good at incremental changes, but it is very attractive to have the opportunity to take it to the next level,” he said.
None of the funding included in the Scott donation or the Anchorum investment will go toward Homewise’s operating costs, Loftin said, pledging that it will all go to the people who need the help most.
“It will be 100% spent on people,” he said.
According to the press release, the funds will enable Homewise to significantly expand its lending programs aimed at first-time homebuyers and support lending to improve energy efficiency in homes.
Loftin said Homewise officials have not had a chance to decide how much of the funding will be directed to each of these purposes, but he said they are strongly related.
“We’re trying to build more and more new homes that are affordable and energy efficient,” he said.
Jerry Jones, the president and CEO of the Anchorum Health Foundation, said in the news release that his organization’s vision for addressing the affordable housing crisis depends on collaboration.
“It’s bold, visionary investments like these that will help increase access to affordable homeownership, improve overall quality of life and transform our community,” said Jones.
Loftin said a Yield Giving official contacted him a few months ago in an email that merely hinted at what Scott, the former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, apparently had in mind.
“It was very unremarkable,” Loftin said. “It would have been easy to remove.”
Instead, Loftin said he followed up on the message and heard that Yield Giving officials would like to talk to him about a donation. It didn’t take long for the magnitude of the situation to sink in, Loftin said.
“It was like, ‘Oh my God, they want to do something big,’” he said.
Loftin said neither he nor his organization had had any contact with Scott or her philanthropic group before that first email, meaning it was Yield Giving officials who likely discovered Homewise on their own and came up with the idea to make such a significant to make a donation.
“She has a team and they are scanning the country,” Loftin said. “They’ll actually find you.”
Noting that New Mexico nonprofits are typically not on the radar of major philanthropic foundations, Loftin said he believes Homewise’s reputation for collaboration made the donation possible.
“I think it’s a testament to the people in New Mexico institutions and the fact that we work well together,” he said. “I think that’s what got their attention.”
Loftin said that while Homewise has helped build 7,000 households through its work on the affordable housing crisis since the organization was founded in 1986, it still has a long way to go before the problem is solved in New Mexico. That’s what makes Thursday’s news so exciting, he said.
“I’m proud of the work, but it’s not like we haven’t lost ground,” he said, adding that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly set back the movement.
That could change with the $35 million in new funding, Loftin said, noting the donations will likely attract additional funding from other organizations.
“We’ve had a lot of conversations with our partners and they’re excited about it,” he said.
The affordable housing crisis is not just an issue in New Mexico, Loftin said, explaining that many other states around the country are in the same position.
“I think people are desperate for results,” he said.
While he’s unsure what the federal response to the dire situation will be, Loftin said he believes the money will allow Homewise — which already has projects totaling more than 1,500 new homes in the pipeline — to make a big difference to make.
“In New Mexico, I’m very optimistic,” he said.
Homewise isn’t the first New Mexico organization to benefit from Scott’s philanthropy. In 2020, she donated $5 million to the Institute of American Indian Arts, followed a year later with a gift of nearly $3 million to IAIA’s Museum of Contemporary Native Arts.
In March of this year, the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, Cuidando Los Niños, Enlace Comunitario, La Semilla Food Center, PB&J Family Services, the National Indian Youth Leadership Development Project, the Institute of Women & Ethnic Studies, NACA Inspired Schools Network and Keshet Dance & Center for the Arts all received $2 million in donations from Scott.
