For many organizations across the NeighborWorks® network, housing conversations center around affordability, supply and rising costs. In Alaska, those conversations also include isolation, shrinking population, disappearing industries, extreme weather conditions and the reality that even keeping existing affordable housing ready residents can feel fragile. 

There are some places where housing conversations stay theoretical. Juneau is not one of them. 

During a recent visit to Alaska, NeighborWorks® America President & CEO Marietta Rodriguez joined housing leaders for a full-day tour across Juneau to see firsthand how communities are responding to some of the country’s most complex housing challenges with urgency, innovation and partnership. 

In urban Minneapolis, Minnesota, a NeighborWorks network organization has started a new loan product to help families and individuals finance new manufactured homes. In Providence, Rhode Island, another network organization is focused on modular homes as an affordable housing solution. 

In other locations across the country, developers are just starting to learn how off-site built homes might work as an attainable housing solution in their communities, especially as the price of land, material and construction excludes more people from the dream of homeownership.