INHP management expanded its ability to conceptualize, develop, launch, and support innovative products and sophisticated programs that advance the organization’s mission and charitable purpose. Those include:

• Engaging in affordable housing development. By successfully competing for funding from the federal New Markets Tax Credit program, INHP leveraged a portion of the Transformational Grant to establish its expertise in this area. Affordable single-family housing development is now a core service offered to the community.
• Expanding community lending. Listening to the community enabled INHP to utilize the Transformational Grant to develop and offer new loan products aligned to community efforts. As we gained valuable experience, INHP expanded our community lending toolkit to help finance other projects that support affordable and sustainable housing opportunities.
• Launching a land-banking strategy. Using an initial investment from the Transformational Grant and navigating myriad layers of complexity across funding sources, INHP launched an Equitable Transit-Oriented Development program to preserve the opportunity for affordable housing along rapid and frequent transit lines.
• Broadening partnerships to serve the demand.The Transformational Grant empowered INHP to support more organizations seeking to reinvest in Indianapolis neighborhoods and address their constituents’ housing needs. By broadening our engagement, INHP (a) established more avenues to connect consumers to its core homeownership education and lending services; (b) developed and offered to partners innovative consumer lending products; (c) helped fund placemaking efforts, and (d) supported the housing components of a variety of neighborhood quality-of-life initiatives.

Fundamentally, each of these experiences have provided ways in which INHP can strengthen current partnerships, create new ones, and advance a variety of innovative strategies to achieve positive outcomes.

Navigating the deployment of a large grant award raised fundamental questions about the highest and best use of the organization’s resources, the organizational risks associated with deployment and how to ensure the sustainability of its new programs. During deployment, INHP developed governance structures to help frame these considerations from a mission-centered perspective.

INHP’s program evaluation process, which occurred at least annually, supported a culture of transparency between management and the board of directors, as they worked collaboratively to determine whether to continue, alter, or reallocate resources from current programming. This approach contributed to a spirit of innovation and outcome-oriented continuous improvement.

The development and adoption of an Asset Allocation Plan enabled INHP to balance mission and fiscal considerations to guide decisions when deploying the organization’s financial resources. It facilitated resource utilization transparency while promoting timely responses to unique loan requests. Additionally, the Plan generated operational savings and efficiencies, such as discontinuing the loan pool model to support single-family lending activities.

Further, the board of directors developed and implemented the Mission Alignment & Vision Committee. This Committee became a new platform to vet ideas for future strategies to ensure programming remained consistent with INHP’s mission.

While INHP attempted to initiate the best, most comprehensive programming at the outset, the board of directors provided space for INHP leadership to further develop nascent programs and have an open, candid dialogue when challenges arose. This flexibility enabled INHP to adapt and reallocate time, energy, and resources so that it could remain focused on achieving outcomes.

As INHP pursued new and innovative programs, some efforts did not realize the anticipated potential. The Home Value Guaranty and Rehab Match programs were complex programs designed to support affordable homeownership and catalyze reinvestment. Due to challenges in communicating the complexities and nuances of the program, working with partners to facilitate interest in the programs, and evolving real estate market conditions, INHP ultimately decided to allocate resources away from these programs to activities in which we were seeing greater demand.

The Anchor Housing program also was challenged by the evolving housing market. Increased demand contributed to a limited supply of affordable housing opportunities, within defined geographies around the anchor campuses, that met the needs of the anchor employees. In response, INHP and each anchor institution worked together to adapt, in some cases, by expanding geographies, modifying requirements, and even redirecting funding so INHP could develop affordable homes within target geographies.

The information and insights gained from programs like Home Value Guaranty, Rehab Match and Anchor Housing encouraged INHP to continue innovating to respond to the inequities apparent in the housing market. One pilot mortgage loan program called the Mortgage Accelerator enabled homebuyers with low or moderate incomes to accumulate equity in their home more quickly, and thus realize more of the wealth generating effects of homeownership in an appreciating market. The Mortgage Accelerator became a permanent offering shortly after the Transformational Grant period ended and inspired the development of other unique loan programs now being piloted to address barriers keeping people from entering in the housing market.

While more examples of navigating this type of uncertainty – inherent to the innovation process – exist, INHP and its board have embraced adaptability to meet the evolving community needs.