Reducing Delinquency, Preventing Eviction
The Flagstone Team • December 14, 2023
The Flagstone Initiative News, December 2023
Seasons greetings from your friends at The Flagstone Initiative!
We’ve had a busy year helping prevent eviction with financial stability programs for paycheck-to-paycheck renters.
2023 was a big year for us. We added housing partners in Alabama, Illinois, Kentucky, and New York, and now reach 2,500 residents in five states. We received generous support from multiple foundations, and formed a partnership with NYU’s Furman Center to validate our current programs and test new ones.
This year also produced more compelling data showing how our combination of Rent Splitting and Rent Loans helps lower delinquency rates. Here is a recent comparison of very similar properties with and without our services:
Lower delinquency is evidence of improved financial stability for residents, which is also beneficial for properties—a win/win. In this case, the difference in delinquency was so remarkable that the company asked us to roll out our services at the other two properties sooner than planned!
It’s not just property partners who see the benefit. Feedback from residents also continues to be extremely positive:
“[Rent Splitting] helps because I can pay the first half and I have the money left over to pay bills and get what I need when I need it”
— S.G., Oklahoma City
“I used [Rent Loan] to catch up on my bills for sure. And without this, I probably still wouldn’t be caught up. Because once you miss one bill, it takes forever to get caught up. Throws you totally out of whack.”
— L.A., Edmond
In 2024, we will expand our reach to help more residents and develop new services to increase our impact on the challenging problems they face.
Please help us do more in the coming year— Make a tax-deductible gift today.
Together, we can make a meaningful difference in the lives of struggling renters—improving financial stability, preventing eviction, and changing the way that America pays rent.
Thank you!
The Flagstone Team
Chip, Grace, Gregor, Keith, Shashank, and Shin
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We are pleased to announce that The Gheens Foundation has renewed their support for Rent Loans in Louisville, KY, playing a critical role in making Rent Loans available to Louisville renters at risk of eviction, helping to keep them in their homes. We are extremely grateful for the support of The Gheens Foundation and other generous foundations dedicated to helping Kentucky renters. With their collective support, we have made hundreds of Rent Loans to Kentucky renters, stabilizing their finances so they can remain stably housed.
Happy summer from your friends at Flagstone! We’ve been busy helping paycheck-to-paycheck renters stay in their homes with our no-fee, no-interest Rent Loans. We’re growing fast: We now reach 6,500 households, on pace for 10,000 by year end Over 330 loans made in 2025 so far, already more than double all of 2024 We’re on track to make over 1,000 Rent Loans annually
We are excited to announce that the Community Foundation of Louisville (CFL) has made a multi-year project-related investment supporting Rent Loans in Louisville, KY. With this loan capital from CFL, we will be able to make thousands of Rent Loans to Louisville renters at risk of eviction, and help keep them in their homes. We are extremely grateful for the support of CFL and other generous foundations dedicated to helping Kentucky renters. With their collective support, we have made hundreds of Rent Loans to Kentucky renters, stabilizing their finances so they can remain stably housed.
We are proud to announce that the Mike & Gillian Goodrich Foundation has renewed and extended their support for upstream eviction prevention in Alabama, with a multi-year grant. Their support helps enable Flagstone's no-fee, no-interest Rent Loans for renters, improving housing stability and helping people stay in their homes. We are extremely grateful for the support of the Mike & Gillian Goodrich Foundation and the many other generous foundations dedicated to helping Alabama renters. With their collective support, we have made hundreds of Rent Loans to Alabama renters, stabilizing their finances so they can remain stably housed.
We are happy to share that the Louisville Affordable Housing Trust Fund (LAHTF) has contributed to our upstream effort to improve housing stability with Rent Loans in Louisville, KY. We are extremely grateful for the support of LAHTF and the other generous foundations dedicated to helping Kentucky renters. With their collective support, we have made hundreds of Rent Loans to Kentucky renters, stabilizing their finances so they can remain stably housed.
We are delighted to announce that the Housing Affordability Trust (HAT) has renewed their support for upstream eviction prevention in Alabama, doubling their support from last year. Their support helps enable Flagstone's no-fee, no-interest Rent Loans for renters, improving housing stability and helping people stay in their homes. We are extremely grateful for the support of HAT and the many other generous foundations dedicated to helping Alabama renters. With their collective support, we have made hundreds of Rent Loans to Alabama renters, stabilizing their finances so they can remain stably housed.
Earlier this month, The Flagstone Initiative's CEO and co-founder Shin Inoue was invited to present at the Community Preservation Corporation (CPC)'s 50th Anniversary Symposium in New York City, as part of their " Innovative Ideas for the Future of Housing " program. Shin made a presentation entitled "Improve Housing Stability for Rent-Burdened Families with Rent Splitting and Rent Loans," an idea that resonated with the assembled housing innovators, including academics, policymakers, advocates, and community leaders. The event featured an impressive collection of innovators working to tackle the most pressing housing challenges facing American communities, and we are honored for the opportunity to share what we've learned about the impact of upstream financial stability programs for preventing eviction. From Shin's presentation:
The Flagstone team is pleased to announce the Alabama Power Foundation will continue its generous support of our eviction prevention programs. Their support of these programs creates lasting impact for the Alabama renters we serve. Their contribution will help us create a sustainable fund for Rent Loans, our no-interest loan that helps residents stay current on rent through small-dollar financial shocks like car-repairs. Thank you to the Alabama Power Foundation, we are excited to continue our work together in the coming year!
We are excited to share that The Daniel Foundation will continue to support The Flagstone Initiative's work to provide upstream eviction prevention solutions to Alabama renters. Our team is thankful for their dedication to helping us provide housing stability to the Missing Middle. Their support includes a multi-year grant that will allow us to greatly expand the number of renters we can help in Alabama. We are grateful for the Daniel Foundation’s support, and look forward to growing our impact with their help.
The Flagstone Initiative News October 2024 Happy fall from your friends at Flagstone! Fall is a time of change, but one thing that isn’t changing is that millions of paycheck-to-paycheck renters need help. So we are changing, to help more people, more quickly. We are now offering standalone Rent Loans. Offering standalone Rent Loans (without Rent Splitting) means fast, easy implementation, with no changes for housing partners. Instead of waiting until renters need large grants to avoid eviction, smaller loans can be used to improve financial stability and keep people in their homes. The value of this type of upstream prevention continues to gain broader recognition. Just last week, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) published the first-ever Federal Homelessness Prevention Framework . No-fee, no-interest Rent Loans can be a cost-effective successor to the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP), and much less expensive than traditional grants, but they are not entirely without cost. Will you make a $150 donation today to help a struggling family stay in their home? Your $150 donation covers all of the costs for a Rent Loan, making them an evergreen replacement for expiring ERAP. Thank you! The Flagstone Team Chip, Grace, Gregor, Keith, and Shin p.s. In partnership with the Housing Solutions Lab and the NYU Furman Center, we’re working on a study understanding the impacts of greater rent payment flexibility . Exciting!
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