Breaking the Cycle of Working-Class Poverty through Homeownership:

What We DoEmmanuel House CDC is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to helping working-class families save and work their way out of poverty in a responsible & dignified manner. In close collaboration with our partner organizations, qualified families are selected and subsequently given the opportunity to live in one of our apartments – usually for about 18 months. Families pay market rate rent just as they would anywhere else, but by leveraging a variety of created and existing resources, an entire year's rent (usually about $10,000) is channeled into each family’s savings to provide a down-payment on their first home thereby eliminating the primary and often sole barrier—the ability to save a down-payment—to homeownership.What our partners provide: financial literacy, credit counseling, homeonwer education, assistance accessing grants and tax credits for first-time homebuyers and varying levels of case management.What we provide: a mechanism for families to save their own money (by living in one of our apartments) and a support network to accomany famlies through this next step of their lives (by matching eacyh family with a church or small group whose members can coach or mentor families s they take all the necessary steps to become--and remain--home-owners).Why We Do ItWe seek to eliminate the working-class poverty trap whereby low-income families are unable to access homeownership or any other means of accumulating wealth—nor are they able to provide access to higher education so their children will have an improved set of opportunities. This creates a generational cycle that is often impossible for families to break out of without assistance. “Intergenerational mobility” in the U.S. is amongst the worst in the world, but by providing the working poor with a pathway to homeownership, families can become 12x wealthier; communities 4x more stable and children 116% more likely to graduate college.