Community Housing Works

Comprehensive housing solutions.  CHW provides every kind of housing opportunity – quality apartments at below-market rents –– services and products that make homebuying prudent and affordable – supportive apartments for residents with special needs.  CHW is your one-stop housing partner.  Only a handful of nonprofits in the nation offer this range of housing solutions.

Feels like home.  CHW builds love and pride into every affordable apartment and rehabbed house, so that they are attractive, secure homes and good neighbors.   When CHW touches a place, it feels like home.

Own.  Rent.  Achieve.  Walk in our door, and CHW will ask you “what goal do you want to achieve?” Then we’ll offer access to homes, apartments and programs to help you get there.   The result?  People get what they need to move themselves up in the world. 

Nonprofit heart and business smarts.  CHW operates successful nonprofit businesses that uniquely serve the underserved – as a developer and  apartment owner, as a mortgage bank and real estate broker. Combine that with our community and donor support, and CHW demonstrates a proven revenue model for solving social problems.

Here for you — for the long-term.  For thirty years, CHW has created buildings that start attractive, and stay attractive.   We own our apartments long-term.  We work with homebuyers, families and neighbors over years.  It works!

Sustainable solutions.  We built California’s first Zero Energy Home at SOLARA apartments, and changed public policy along the way.  CHW homebuying programs and apartment communities are designed to make sustainability accessible to all.  

Measurable results.  Progress in resident childrens’ report cards, successful first time homebuyers, increased deposits to savings, lower water usage, volunteer hours – CHW can tell our donors what success looks like, and we track it every day.

Local roots, national connections.  CHW’s roots are local – City Heights residents fighting to revitalize a beloved neighborhood, North County San Diego parents worrying about homeless children growing up in canyons and cars.    CHW’s solutions reach across San Diego County and increasingly across California.  And our membership in the elite national NeighborWorks network allows CHW to bring national resources and expertise to everything we touch.

Community leadership.  Rooted in America’s social justice movements, CHW is a leader in public advocacy for real housing solutions.  We develop resident and youth leaders from lower income communities and communities of color.   And CHW’s diverse board includes  both civic and business influencers, and leaders from our own apartments and neighborhoods.