“Home is a sanctuary, a place where we feel safe, where we can thrive, and where we can re-charge. Having a safe, healthy and affordable place to call home is essential to help lay the groundwork for wellness, dignity and economic opportunity.” Eileen Fitzgerald, head of housing affordability philanthropy.

Far too many people are housing cost burdened and face housing instability. At Wells Fargo, we believe everyone deserves an opportunity to have a safe, healthy, and affordable place to call home.

The Wells Fargo Foundation announced a $1 billion commitment through 2025 to address the U.S. housing affordability crisis. We are committed to combining our company’s business expertise with philanthropic capital to make the importance of home achievable for everyone in our nation through:

• a strong commitment to social justice and racial equity, 
• increasing supply of affordable housing such as multi-family rental homes,
• expanding homeownership opportunities,
• preserving sustainable housing for renters, and
• transforming this work on the ground in local communities.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wells Fargo Foundation moved quickly to deploy philanthropic support to help individuals, families, and communities with a focus on assisting people disproportionally affected by the pandemic. Funding includes critical support for needs such as housing counseling, rental and mortgage relief, and legal assistance for renters at risk of eviction.

We continue to work on efforts to expand access to homeownership opportunities with a focus on reducing the minority homeownership gap, including through our signature NeighborhoodLIFT® and other LIFT programs that have assisted more than 24,500 homeowners, offering homebuyer education plus down payment assistance.

In 2020, Wells Fargo committed support for the construction and repair of 425 homes for low-and-moderate income families including veterans in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity International and Rebuilding Together.

This year, Wells Fargo also launched its Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge, a nationwide competition with Enterprise Community Partners to find the most innovative and scalable solutions to increase housing affordability across the U.S. Nearly 900 innovators submitted ideas in the areas of finance, construction, and resident support services. The six housing innovators were awarded $2 million grants and two years of technical assistance valued at $500,000 from Enterprise Community Partners to bring their ideas to reality.