How Does an Affordable Housing Charity Work?

Every moment, decision, donation and volunteer matters. That’s how CommonBond, an affordable housing charity in the Upper Midwest, operates. With more than 50 years of experience, our mantra remains simple: Home is the foundation for everything in life.

Our mission — to build stable homes, strong futures, and vibrant communities — serves as the bedrock we use to provide all our services. With 7,000-plus rental apartments and townhomes spread across 60 cities and towns in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa, our nonprofit charity provides affordable housing for 13,000 people.

Impact in the Community

So, how does it all work?

Supported by donations, volunteers, and our experienced staff, CommonBond aids its residents through property development, management, and Advantage Services. It’s a comprehensive approach, allowing residents to thrive as they gain access to not just affordable housing, but life-changing programs that will help sustain them.

Property Development and Management

Analyze, fund, build, and prioritize strategic reinvestments. That’s our framework for approaching property development and management.

Much of our success these last five decades has come from making smart real estate decisions and working in collaboration with others. As an experienced affordable housing charity and property developer, our acquisition and development team is well-positioned to meet the growing affordable housing needs of communities throughout the Upper Midwest.

With a strong asset portfolio, we strive to be good neighbors and partners in communities, collaborating with local governments, businesses, and faith-based organizations. We listen to community members, learning their ambitions and concerns, then we evaluate funding opportunities, how to develop and then build properties, followed by prioritizing property upkeep while working to keep our affordable housing units just that — affordable.

This means we maintain an active presence in our communities that extends beyond buying real estate and building apartment units or townhomes. Our experienced team — committed to smart development, asset management, and ensuring financial stability and reporting — is accountable to not just residents, but also to investors and the cities and towns we live in.

Advantage Services

While providing residents with a safe, stable home is the ultimate goal, we also work to help our community members make gains in stability and independence, education and advancement, community building and engagement, and health and wellness. Combined, this helps ensure a stable foundation for residents to achieve their goals.

Our Advantage Services, which come in a wide variety of programs and support services, help residents flourish. Through our affordable housing charity services, we’ve been able to offer assistance with Section 8 vouchers, career development and job training, support for veterans, mentor programs for students, physical wellness programs, and much more.

In 2021, nearly 2,500 residents participated in Advantage Services community-building events and programming. 125 residents found employment through these services, while many more participated in exercise classes, teen programs, study groups, and other programming.

An Affordable Housing Charity We Can All Depend On

Donations and volunteers keep CommonBond operating as a premier affordable housing charity. We hope you will join us in helping create better communities and tomorrows for residents. We invite you to make a donation, look into volunteer opportunities, or contact us to learn more.