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Non-profit

Housing Partnership Network (HPN)

Website:

housingpartnership.net
Location:

Boston, MA
Tax ID:

04-3172401
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Budget (2021):

Revenue: $16,875,187
Expenses: $14,834,783
Assets: $38,640,476
Type:

Low-Income Housing Collaborative
Formation:

1993
President and CEO:

Robin Hughes
Budget (2022):

Revenue: $12,049,370
Expenses: $16,512,859
Assets: $37,762,315 1

References

  1. The Housing Partnership Network Inc. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax. (Form 990 – Part I). 2022.

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Housing Partnership Network (HPN) is a collaborative of over 100 housing and community-development groups focused on affordable housing. HPN organizes member networking, develops, and incubates supporting businesses, and advocates for left-of-center policy change at the federal level focused on low-income housing and Black, Indigenous, and other ethnic minority communities. 1 2

HPN donors include many large left-of-center philanthropies including Ford Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving program. 3

Background

Housing Partnership Network (HPN) is a collaborative of over 100 housing and community development groups focused on affordable housing in the United States. 4 These groups include nonprofit housing developers, owners, lenders, and housing counselors. 5

HPN members develop, own, and operate multi-family rental properties; build and sell low-income homes; fund and invest in housing projects; provide housing counseling; and influence federal policies on affordable housing. 6

History

HPN began as the National Association of Housing Partnerships (NAHP) in 1993. With financial support from Ford Foundation, Bob Whittlesey and Tom Bledsoe organized the first meeting of nonprofit housing organizations in 1990. By 1993 Whittlesey formally started NAHP. Fannie Mae was the first foundation to fund NAHP. In 1995 NAHP began offering home ownership counseling with a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In 1998, Bledsoe became NAHP’s first CEO. Its main source of growth came from the HUD Mark to Market program for Section 8 housing revitalization. In 2000 NAHP launched the Housing Partnership Fund, a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) designed to make predevelopment and acquisition loans to its members, and in 2001 NAHP changed its name to Housing Partnership Network. 7 8

Work Areas

HPN facilitates peer exchange among its member organizations to share knowledge, ideas, and best practices. HPN organizes senior leader meetings twice a year, and HPN staff facilitate ongoing virtual engagements at all levels of member organizations. 9

Through its Innovative Framework, HPN helps members identity, design, and incubate “social enterprises” to solve a problem or address a specific issue. 10 Most of these enterprises provide capital, products, and revenue streams to member organizations and create revenue streams for HPN. 11 Framework was launched in 2012 to provide online homebuyer education. Educational content includes “racism in the homebuying process” to address what it describes as “systemic racism that historically kept people of color from the benefits of homeownership.” 12

Through its Housing Partnership Insurance Exchange, HPN offers property and casualty reinsurance. HPN’s Housing Partnership Fund focuses on financing and lending. HPN’s National Community Stabilization Trust focuses on preserving and revitalizing neighborhoods in distress and was co-funded by Neighborworks America, UnidosUS, and National Urban League. 13

HPN also conducts policy advocacy through a team located in Washington, D.C. that works with Congress and federal agencies on housing and community development programs and policies. In March 2022, HPN was one of 40 housing groups to send a letter to the Biden administration asking for a President’s Council on Housing Affordability. 14

HPN’s 2024 legislative priorities focus on providing tax credits and assistance to low-income consumers so they can afford rental housing; increasing the supply of low-income housing for the benefit of Black, Indigenous, and people of color homebuyers; and investing in Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). 15  CDFIs are typically focused on providing financial support to low-income communities. 16

Housing for Healing is HPN’s three-year plan to use housing to promote racial equity and create wealth for Black, Indigenous, and other people of color. HPN claims that the U.S. housing industry is “one of the greatest perpetrators of systemic racism in America.” Housing for Healing focuses on boosting income and savings for people of color and advocating for changes to policies that allegedly have racial impact. 17

In support of its Housing Sustainability Collaborative platform, HPN is partnering with the Justice Climate Fund (JCF) to promote decarbonization in communities. 18 JCF was founded by the Community Builders of Color Coalition 19 to provide funds for zero-emission technologies in “underserved communities” 20 and to leverage the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. 21

HPN’s Green and Healthy Communities initiative also focuses on left-of-center housing policy. As of January 2024, it is developing strategies to leverage the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and other programs that are part of the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act. 22

Funding

In 2022, HPN had revenues of $12,049,370 and expenses of $16,512,859. 23 Base compensation for HPNs officers and directors in 2022 totaled over $2.6 million. 24

HPN received $12 million in funding from left-of-center philanthropist MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving program, 25 which donated over $2 billion to 360 organizations in 2023. 26

Other donors include left-of-center philanthropies such as Ballmer Group, JPB Foundation, Kresge Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Ford Foundation, Bank of America Charitable Foundation, Neighborworks America, and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; financial institutions including Charles Schwab Bank, JP Morgan Chase, Fannie Mae, HSBC Bank, and U.S. Bank; and the U.S. Department of Treasury CDFI Fund. 27

Leadership

Robin Hughes became president and CEO of HPN in July 2022. Previously, she was president and CEO of Abode Communities, a low-income housing nonprofit based in Los Angeles, an HPN board member for 11 years, and board chair for 5 years. 28 She is a member of the National Advisory Council of the nonprofit advocacy group National Housing Conference that supports left-of-center public housing policies at the federal level, a member of the Community Development Advisory Board for Morgan Stanley, and a board member of California Community Reinvestment Corporation, The Community Development Trust, and Justice Climate Fund. 29 30 She took over from Tom Bledsoe, the founding CEO of HPN, who retired in July 2022. 31

Deidre Schmidt is HPN’s board chair. She is president and CEO of CommonBond Communities, a non-profit provider of affordable housing in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa. 32

References

  1. “How We Work.” Housing Partnership Network. Accessed January 20, 2024. https://housingpartnership.net/how-we-work
  2. “2024 Legislative Priorities.” Housing Partnership Network. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://housingpartnership.net/files/Final-2024-HPN-Federal-Legislative-Priorities70.pdf
  3. “Partners.” Housing Partnership Network. Accessed January 20, 2024. https://housingpartnership.net/about/partners/funders
  4. “About.” Housing Partnership Network. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://housingpartnership.net/about
  5. The Housing Partnership Network Inc. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax. (Form 990 –Schedule O). 2022.
  6. “About HPN (2023).” YouTube. June 13, 2023. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijLhXBbzTDA&t=3s
  7. Alexander Von Hoffman. “Robert B. Whittlesey: A Remarkable Leader in the Field of Affordable Housing.” Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. April 27, 2023. Accessed January 20, 2024. https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/robert-b-whittlesey-remarkable-leader-field-affordable-housing
  8.  “History: The Evolution of HPN.” Housing Partnership Network – About. May 19, 2017. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://housingpartnership.net/newsroom/articles/evolution-of-hpn
  9. “Peer Exchange.” Housing Partnership Network – How We Work. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://housingpartnership.net/how-we-work/peer-exchange
  10. “Our Innovation Framework.” Housing Partnership Network. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://housingpartnership.net/how-we-work/innovation-lab
  11. “Social Entreprises.” Housing Partnership Network. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://housingpartnership.net/social-enterprises
  12. “About Framework.” Framework – About Us. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://frameworkhomeownership.org/about-us-framework
  13. “Social Enterprises.” Housing Partnership Network. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://housingpartnership.net/social-enterprises
  14.  “Housing Groups Call for a President’s Council on Housing Affordability.” Affordable Housing Finance. March 11, 2022. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://www.housingfinance.com/policy-legislation/housing-groups-call-for-a-presidents-council-on-housing-affordability_o
  15. “2024 Legislative Priorities.” Housing Partnership Network. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://housingpartnership.net/files/Final-2024-HPN-Federal-Legislative-Priorities70.pdf
  16. Emily Guy Birken, Daphne Foreman. “What Is A Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI)?” Forbes Advisor. September 29, 2020. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/banking/what-is-a-cdfi-community-development-financial-institution/
  17. “Housing for Healing: A Systems Approach to Advancing Racial Equity and Justice.” Housing Partnership Network. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://housingpartnership.net/files/Housing-for-Healing-HPNs-Racial-Equity-Agenda-2021.pdf
  18. LinkedIn – Robin Hughes. Posted December 2023. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7138907554222362625/
  19. LinkedIn – Justice Climate Fund. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/company/justiceclimatefund/about/
  20. “News: JCF Adds the Housing Partnership Network to Its Communities-First Coalition.” Justice Climate Fund – News. October 4, 2023. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://justiceclimatefund.org/news-jcf-adds-the-housing-partnership-network-to-its-communities-first-coalition/
  21. “Empowering all communities to equitably benefit from the EPS’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.” Justice Climate Fund. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://justiceclimatefund.org/
  22. “Overview of Funding from the Inflation Reduction Act.” Housing Partnership Network – How We Work – Sustainability. Updated 12/11/23. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://housingpartnership.net/files/Overview-of-the-Inflation-Reduction-Act-11.2023-133.pdf
  23. The Housing Partnership Network Inc. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax. (Form 990 – Part I). 2022.
  24. The Housing Partnership Network Inc. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax. (Form 990 –Schedule J). 2022.
  25. “Housing Partnership Network.” Yield Giving – Gifts. Accessed January 18, 2024. https://yieldgiving.com/gifts/?q=housing+partnership+network
  26. MacKenzie Scott. “(Giving Update.)” Yield Giving – Essays. December 6, 2023. Accessed January 18, 2024. https://yieldgiving.com/essays/giving-update
  27. “Partners.” Housing Partnership Network – About. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://housingpartnership.net/about/partners/funders
  28. “Hughes Named CEO of Housing Partnership Network.” Affordable Housing Finance. February 14, 2022. Accessed January 20, 2024. https://www.housingfinance.com/management-operations/hughes-named-ceo-of-housing-partnership-network_o
  29. National Housing Conference website. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://nhc.org/
  30. LinkedIn – Robin Hughes. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinhughes-hpnceo/
  31. “Passing the Baton.” Housing Partnership Network. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://housingpartnership.net/newsroom/articles/passing-the-baton
  32. [1] LinkedIn – Deidre Schmidt. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/deidre-schmidt-76667a1b/
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Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: December - November
  • Tax Exemption Received: June 1, 1993

    • Available Filings

    Period Form Type Total revenue Total functional expenses Total assets (EOY) Total liabilities (EOY) Unrelated business income? Total contributions Program service revenue Investment income Comp. of current officers, directors, etc. Form 990
    2021 Dec Form 990 $16,875,187 $14,834,783 $38,640,476 $22,403,096 N $11,667,491 $4,917,588 $18,240 $2,049,037
    2020 Dec Form 990 $13,217,908 $13,490,353 $35,234,528 $21,037,552 N $8,445,808 $4,653,454 $67,686 $2,158,328
    2019 Dec Form 990 $13,265,841 $15,744,892 $35,971,217 $21,501,796 N $6,081,914 $7,052,999 $81,963 $1,849,061 PDF
    2018 Dec Form 990 $16,766,937 $14,251,879 $34,121,688 $17,173,216 Y $5,439,503 $11,178,419 $32,330 $1,754,332 PDF
    2017 Dec Form 990 $17,130,406 $11,632,749 $23,148,761 $8,715,347 N $6,825,749 $10,113,769 $13,272 $1,502,106
    2016 Dec Form 990 $11,945,501 $10,792,948 $17,423,882 $8,488,125 N $5,137,586 $4,658,889 $9,820 $1,364,165 PDF
    2015 Dec Form 990 $10,626,028 $11,588,085 $16,478,417 $8,695,213 N $4,311,510 $5,748,620 $11,258 $1,324,595 PDF
    2014 Dec Form 990 $13,615,021 $12,399,134 $16,977,608 $8,232,347 N $7,821,035 $5,542,282 $10,296 $1,683,536 PDF
    2013 Dec Form 990 $12,258,795 $11,528,564 $15,686,642 $8,157,268 N $5,993,825 $5,810,478 $6,709 $1,765,376 PDF
    2012 Dec Form 990 $14,748,476 $12,175,251 $15,886,452 $9,087,309 N $10,446,239 $3,838,465 $2,269 $1,761,037 PDF
    2011 Dec Form 990 $12,733,804 $11,011,100 $20,991,601 $16,765,683 N $9,566,358 $3,047,416 $660 $1,168,777 PDF

    Additional Filings (PDFs)

    Housing Partnership Network (HPN)


    Boston, MA