Innovating Housing: The Path to Inclusive Ownership
An Overview of the Ownership Economy Conference Housing Panel
The housing market is at a critical juncture. As systemic disparities in wealth and homeownership continue to widen, innovators across finance, philanthropy, and community development are devising new ways to put equity back into housing. At the most recent OE Conference, we convened a diverse panel of experts and practitioners to explore how inclusive ownership models—ranging from tenant profit-sharing to co-op financing—can reshape the American housing landscape for the better.
Below is an overview of the key themes, speaker insights, and takeaways from our Housing Panel.
1. Setting the Stage: Why Inclusive Housing Matters
Speaker 1 (Prudential) opened the session by grounding the conversation in a stark reality:
“As we’ve all heard about today, and you all know, one of the most urgent challenges is the wealth gap—how it’s been unequally distributed across the country.”
Drawing on Prudential’s 150-year history, the speaker traced how the company’s founding product—an affordable burial insurance for working-class families—disrupted prevailing industry assumptions that the poor could not be trusted to pay premiums. Since then, Prudential has upheld its mission to extend financial security, focusing on ownership as a key mechanism for building long-term wealth. This includes home and shared real estate ownership, employee ownership, and financial asset ownership (e.g., stocks).
The speaker highlighted sobering data:
The top 1% of American earners holds more wealth than the entire middle class.
The bottom 20% owns only around 3% of the nation’s wealth.
Yet, ownership remains an underused lever for closing the gap—particularly stock ownership and other capital market vehicles that help families accumulate assets. As they emphasized:
“Ownership is about providing people with assets that can build wealth and equity, so they can leverage that to buy a home, start a business, invest in their education, and more. It gives people agency, control, and choice.”
2. Community Equity in Action: Water Bottle Cooperative
David Lidz, moderator and representative of Water Bottle Cooperative, turned the focus to local, on-the-ground efforts. Water Bottle Cooperative is a worker-owned LLC operating in West Baltimore’s historically redlined neighborhoods. With CDFI financing from Seed Commons—a 30-year, 3% line of credit—Water Bottle Cooperative has:
Purchased 28 row homes in distressed neighborhoods.
Provided employment to 30 workers, many of whom are formerly incarcerated or in recovery.
Rehabilitated once-abandoned shells into dignified housing units.
Their “community equity model” aims to eventually distribute ownership among both the workers and the tenants. David noted that they are raising wages significantly—some employees have gone from earning $11–$17/hour to $18–$48/hour—and the cooperative is working to convert those collective gains into real equity that remains in the local community.
3. Financing Innovation: Weave Social Finance and the Tenant Equity Vehicle (TEV)
Ed Briscoe of Weave Social Finance (and co-founder of the Colorado Housing Accelerator Initiative, known as “Chai”) described how his organization is bridging “middle income” housing gaps—households making 60% to 120% of the Area Median Income (AMI). Traditionally, this segment has been overlooked:
Extremely low-income households have Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) programs,
Upper-income households can access market-rate financing,
Middle-income households fall through the cracks.
To combat this, Weave developed dual funds—private debt and private equity—dedicated to middle-income housing. Key to both funds is a “Tenant Equity Vehicle” (TEV) that shares a portion of the fund’s profits with renters in the form of monthly cash back. For example, a renter paying $2,000/month could receive 2% (i.e., $40) into a separate savings account. Over time, renters build real savings without having to jump through complex hoops. The monthly reward is immediate enough to encourage on-time payments and eventual wealth-building.
“The best way to save money is never to see it in your checking account,”
Ed noted, explaining that passive savings grow more effectively and consistently. Weave’s approach also includes a bonus if the fund performs well, which further incentivizes stable residency and timely rent payments.
At scale, TEV could serve as an “ownership proxy” for renters who don’t have the means to buy a home outright. It also avoids complicating tenants’ taxes (e.g., triggering K-1 forms) by structuring the equity share as tax-free cashback—a model that draws on standard consumer “cash rewards” mechanics.
4. Public-Private Collaborations: Gary Community Ventures and Colorado’s Prop 123
Catherine Toner, Managing Director of Impact Investing at Gary Community Ventures, underscored the power of philanthropic and policy-driven capital to complement private efforts. Gary Community Ventures, a hybrid family office and foundation, has championed workforce housing solutions in Colorado by aligning investments, grantmaking, and policy advocacy.
They partnered with Weave Social Finance to pilot tenant equity approaches, then helped launch Colorado’s Proposition 123, a statewide ballot initiative that dedicates around $300 million annually (in surplus years) to concessionary debt, equity, and land banking for housing developers who meet affordability requirements. The policy was designed to:
Expand financing for middle-income housing (60–120% AMI).
Recapture any “upside” from concessionary debt/equity at the state level and direct it into a tenant equity pool.
Encourage local counties to opt in, conduct needs assessments, and maintain compliance to access ongoing funds.
Proposition 123 passed with a narrow margin, signaling public support for innovative, large-scale approaches. Over-subscription to these funds (four times more demand than available capital) underscores the urgent need for new financing solutions.
5. Closing the Renter-Owner Wealth Gap: Viva Benefits
Rounding out the panel was Dr. Michael Barnes, co-founder of Viva Benefits, a tech-driven solution that integrates monthly cash back, savings, telehealth, and educational tools directly into rental communities. Responding to the 40x wealth gap between owners and renters, Viva seeks to:
Give renters access to immediate cash supports (emergency funds, discounts, life coaching).
Automate savings so that “money moves behind the scenes” and builds up over time.
Offer telehealth and other family services, bridging gaps in healthcare and wellness.
Dr. Barnes emphasized that financial stability is a prerequisite for eventually moving from renting to ownership:
“If people can’t fix their car, they can’t keep going to work or stay current on their rent. So part of the solution has to be cash. Money talks.”
By partnering with property managers and investors, Viva ensures these benefits reach tenants at the moment they need them most, fostering community trust and stronger occupancy rates for the landlord.
6. Key Themes and Takeaways
Equity at Scale
Tenant equity vehicles and profit-sharing models show promise in building renter wealth.
Public policy (Prop 123) can catalyze large-scale adoption of concessionary financing.
Holistic Services
Providing healthcare, childcare, and financial coaching in tandem with housing can reduce day-to-day emergencies that derail families’ plans to save.
New Financing Pathways
Creative structures (e.g., philanthropic equity, private funds, CDFIs) can target underserved “middle income” segments.
Collaboration between foundations, private investors, and government is key to scaling these approaches quickly.
Community Wealth Retention
Worker-owned developers (like Water Bottle Cooperative) and community land trusts keep wealth local.
This is particularly impactful in formerly redlined or disinvested neighborhoods, where strategic, high-touch redevelopment can spark inclusive growth.
Looking Ahead
Panelists see a tipping point in housing finance innovation. With proven pilots and robust policy frameworks, larger institutions (pension funds, major banks) could soon deploy billions in aligned capital.
Maintaining resident-centered design is crucial: real families need immediate financial relief and robust long-term savings prospects.
7. Questions & the Road Ahead
During the Q&A, panelists addressed how to replicate these models in both urban and rural contexts, the tax implications of tenant equity, and the importance of strengthening commercial corridors around new housing developments. The conversation laid bare both the urgency and the opportunity:
“None of the articles I see every day on LinkedIn talk about the demographics when we say ‘renters.’ We’re talking about a majority of historically under-resourced and underestimated communities—Black communities, Hispanic and LatinX communities, single moms.”
– Dr. Michael Barnes, Viva Benefits
By focusing on both cash flow solutions and long-term equity, the panelists envision a future where renters not only find affordable housing but also accumulate wealth within those homes. The collective message? We already have the tools, structures, and policy frameworks. Now, it’s time for concerted action from funders, policymakers, and local stakeholders to scale these solutions—and finally close the wealth gap in housing.
Stay Connected & Keep Learning
Watch the Full Panel here