Houston has seen some wins in recent years, including housing 25,000 previously homeless people. But it has yet to see its major donors rally around low-income permanent housing projects.

But because affordable housing developers know there is no major funding source riding to the rescue, they are focusing on creative, unconventional partnerships to get deals across the finish line, panelists said at the Houston Housing Collaborative’s annual conference Tuesday.

“It’s very hard to be a one-stop shop. … Partnerships are essential to what we do,” Covenant Community Capital CEO Stephan Fairfield said.

That is exemplified by Edison Arts Foundation, a nonprofit fine arts organization leading the redevelopment of a former Kroger in Fort Bend Houston into a 12.5-acre district with affordable housing, job creation, healthcare, public safety and arts elements, Edison Arts Foundation founder and Executive Director Charity Carter said.

Edison Arts Foundation acquired the property on West Fuqua Street in Missouri City to expand and relocate the Edison Cultural Arts Center. It saw, however, that there was further opportunity, in a way that involved the full community, Carter said.

The development is moving forward through a collaboration of 12 nonprofits and public donors, Community Impact reported. It includes Edison Lofts, a 126-unit affordable housing complex.

“Relationships with nonprofits, public, private, it’s because of that we’re able to redevelop and revitalize and be a catalyst to the revitalization in Fort Bend Houston,” Carter said.

The development includes a standalone building for early childhood education, which Edison leveraged to earn a competitive 9% low-income housing tax credit, she said. The nonprofit partnered with the Fort Bend Independent School District, which it was already connected to through its arts initiatives, to aid in the education component.

“When I think about a holistic approach to affordable housing or being a solution to a community, you bring in all the players that are involved — children, adults, families, businesses, government, nonprofit, for profit, philanthropic,” Carter said. “So we brought in all of those that we knew we needed to be a solution to a problem.”

Houston faces challenges. Its philanthropic community hasn't rallied around brick-and-mortar affordable housing initiatives, Houston City Council Member Tiffany Thomas said.

“What we have not seen in this city is philanthropy — and this is a wealthy city — coalesce truly around housing,” she said. “They may coalesce around supportive services to stabilize the individual, but we have yet to see that [around housing].”

Houston showed it is capable of great work in housing when funding is available, as it did via disaster funds following Hurricane Harvey, Thomas said. But it doesn't have another funding source, such as a housing trust, to pull from.

A housing trust fund could help channel philanthropic efforts, and Thomas encouraged attendees to use their influence to garner donations and funding for the cause.

“Part of y’all’s work as influencers and experts in your capacity is to really help shake that, what we cannot do as a city. … We have to center housing in a remarkable way,” Thomas said.

Donors can be hesitant to give because they are skeptical that organizations have the capacity to complete projects. But funding is needed before it is possible to build the capacity to do the work, she said.

Carter said she was told her project wasn’t viable, but she felt confident that the capacity existed.

“As a small, Black-led nonprofit with a $56M project, we were able to raise $50M,” Carter said. “And so I want to encourage you that although your funding streams may look bleak or you may feel like it's hard, stay in it.

“If you're doing the work, stay in it. Because if you're listening to what the community needs and you love what you're doing, the passion, it'll win.”