Social enterprises are not-for-profit businesses with a social goal that obtain a sizeable percentage of their revenue through market trade. These features allow social enterprises to concentrate on providing housing to households otherwise excluded in the housing industry.

Additionally, social businesses might be able to provide services that aim to enhance the well-being of tenants or support communities. They might be able to do so by reinvesting any “surplus” from their commercial transactions.

Social enterprise profits are reinjected into non-profits where they are earned. Running social enterprises provides additional cash that can be used to sustain and grow programs and affordable homes for non-profit housing providers.

Social enterprises significantly impact the growth of communities. The following is a breakdown of these effects:

• Social businesses provide a sense of purpose to the community. Most residents are involved in these businesses since it helps them make money and respond to community change simultaneously. They can find fulfillment in their hearts by participating in this form of social action.
• Once a community has become involved in social enterprise, residents feel more connected. It takes a sizable workforce to launch a social enterprise like this. To maintain the social enterprise in their communities, cooperation is therefore required.
• Social enterprises are often thought of as improving people’s skill sets. Finance, innovation, risk management, technical work, problem-solving, and other areas are all covered by this firm.
• Creating social companies also helps communities become more aware of global reality. Learning about these problems motivates people to take action for the advancement of their communities.’

Social Enterprises and Housing Sector in the U.S

Social entrepreneurs in the housing sector frequently join together businesses that head lease homes and provide long-term leases to real estate investors and developers. These organizations could be community housing providers, not-for-profit assistance organizations, and disability support services.

Social enterprises are also increasingly expanding into the private rented sector, with several businesses offering quality, mid-range, reasonably priced rentals for long-term leases.

These social enterprises have shown that it is possible to strike a balance between providing quality, reasonably priced homes for those who need them and a profit for the landlords. For those on benefits and with low wages, they have produced a sizable supply of homes, which provides investors with both social and financial returns.

There is an urgent need for more housing across all tenures in the United States. To ensure there are houses for all needs and budgets, social enterprises play a critical role in creating creative options that supplement the primary private rental sectors, social housing from governments and housing associations, and home ownership.

Housing organizations run by social enterprises serve both urban and rural areas. Some of the largest ones have existed for a long time. They innovate by offering tenants care, support services, and administrative and financial support for community projects.

One example of this is Affordable Equity. By creating communities, boosting density, and combining market rate and low-cost housing, Affordable Equity enables profitable investments in affordable housing in Oakland, California.

The affordability housing problem is affecting several American cities, including Oakland, California, as evidenced by sky-high home prices, double-digit rent increases, evictions, mysterious fires, and expanding tent communities. Despite the aggressive initiatives of the government and non-profit housing industry, the situation persists. The truth is that market forces are simply outpacing their job since investors in real estate and property owners stand to gain greatly from a displacement-heavy style of growth.

A new real estate investment paradigm is being developed by Affordable Equity that will be profitable for investors, deliver really affordable homes, and give low-income inhabitants a way out of poverty.

Their plan is to acquire and oversee a portfolio of up to four-unit single-family houses. Since no non-profit groups are dedicated to providing low-cost housing for this market, it has become a vehicle for displacing low-income renters. They will keep renters in their homes, fill unoccupied apartments with people using Section 8 vouchers, and build more affordable “in-law units” to enhance density.

By setting aside a portion of the fund’s equity for occupants of affordable housing to accumulate over time, Affordable Equity also aims to alter the owner/tenant relationship. Instead of tenants, they will have resident stockholders.

In addition to gaps in affordable housing that Affordable Equity and the like look to fill, the biggest threat to health and happiness is the inequality gap, the focus of all that social enterprises undertake. They create employment, improve the environment and utility space, increase the quality of life, and supply new homes at “social” rents that people with relatively low incomes can afford. All of this is done to promote more equality in society.

An adequate supply of high-quality housing, particularly for social rent, contributes to labor mobility flexibility and helps to temper excessive housing prices. The social enterprise business model, in which all revenues are reinvested in the company or the communities it serves, is perfectly exemplified by housing associations.

To make social enterprise housing the standard choice for most people, we still have a long road ahead. To provide everyone with high-quality housing, however, this mix of inventive and inclusive housing is the only viable long-term solution.

How Social Enterprise has helped the  Homelessness Problem in the U.S

It is important to consider if the advantages afforded by social enterprises are designed to tackle the reasons for homelessness. Several factors, including job loss, contribute to a person’s homelessness. Additionally, homelessness and the stigmatization that goes along with it serve as a barrier to employment.

Other obstacles include whether a person has a mental disorder that either causes them to become homeless or worsens due to homelessness, a lack of skills or education, gaps in work history, and other factors that make companies hesitant to offer the person a job.

Homelessness makes finding and keeping a job more difficult when combined with various kinds of discrimination against sexual orientation, disability, race, sex, and drug use and addiction, to name a few, which is terrible since many people who are homeless would grab a job opportunity with both hands if it were made available to them, which would help them overcome their homelessness problem.

Due to their emphasis on giving opportunities to underrepresented groups that other businesses do not, social enterprises can and do play a significant role in the lives of persons who are homeless and striving to re-enter the formal job market.

Housing is a significant factor in determining health, and people who are homeless are more likely to face health issues.

Homelessness is disproportionately likely to affect those with disabilities. Point-in-time statistics imply that roughly a quarter of people who are homeless have a handicap, including mental health and/or substance misuse disorders in addition to physical, cognitive, and developmental disabilities.

People with disabilities sometimes find it difficult to access shelters, and this issue has recently given rise to legal disputes in numerous large cities.

When refused access to shelters, approximately 7 out of 10 people with disabilities who are homeless remain in hazardous areas (such as on sidewalks or under bridges), which has an immediate impact on their health.

Discrimination in housing, healthcare, work, and wages affects people with disabilities, making it difficult or impossible for them to find stable accommodation and earn the money they need to meet their fundamental necessities. The good news is that several social enterprises in the housing sector are working on the ground to help overcome this problem.

The oldest national homeless organization, Coalition for the Homeless, established in New York, is one such social enterprise.

The Coalition offers a link to public assistance and long-term housing for those living in long-term shelters who have a mental or physical disability.

Another group of people that suffers from homelessness and a major focus of many housing social enterprises are Veterans. Only 8 percent of Americans identify as veterans, but they make up 17% of the homeless population. In 2010, the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) reported that 76,000 homeless veterans were living on American streets at any given time.

Due to poverty, a lack of social support, and miserable living circumstances in overcrowded or subpar housing, veterans are 50 percent more likely to become homeless than other Americans.

A social enterprise that is helping veterans find affordable housing is the Veterans Community Project.

To provide stable housing and address the root causes of the Veterans’ homelessness, VCP is building Veterans Village, a community of transitional small homes and onsite services, with the help of donations and collaborations. This pairing of onsite services and housing stability will produce better results for permanent housing.

It is clear that social enterprises can play a vital role in eliminating homelessness amongst the poor, veterans, and the handicapped. Additionally, some social enterprises are innovating to develop new ways for American communities to afford housing.

As such, donating to social enterprises is an excellent way to give back to society.

Contact us today to know more about how we can help, whether you are a donor looking to donate to a deserving social organization or a social enterprise seeking financing from a credible donor to make a difference in a community.

References and Credits:

Image Link: https://unsplash.com/photos/xJn_LXHsvA0 ;  Alt-Text: The importance of social enterprise

https://www.usich.gov/resources/uploads/asset_library/Homelessness-in-America-Focus-on-chronic.pdf

https://impactful.ninja/best-charities-for-helping-homeless-people/