The Federal Home Loan Bank system works to increase the amount of money available for loans for affordable housing and community development. Its home page has links to its 12 regional banks.

HUD has an Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. The website links to HUD faith-based liaisons in each state and links to information about homes and communities by state.

Shaun Donovan is secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD, the nation’s housing agency, is charged with increasing homeownership, particularly among minorities, and creating affordable housing.

The Local Initiatives Support Corp. helps resident-led, community-based development organizations turn distressed neighborhoods into healthy ones and works to increase the amount of affordable housing. Its home page links to 30 offices across the country.

Jerry Konohia is CEO of the OpenDoor Housing Fund, which provides financing for affordable housing to nonprofit and for-profit developers and tenant associations in the Washington, D.C., area. It was created in July 2007 through the merger of the Washington Area Housing Trust Fund and the Unitarian Universalist Affordable Housing Corp. It has a subfund […]

Jason Torpy is president of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers. A West Point graduate, he served in Germany, Kuwait and Iraq before leaving the service in 2005 to pursue a master’s degree. He lives in New York City.

Todd Stiefel is a secular humanist, atheist and full-time freethought activist whose mission is “to gain respect for freethinkers and ensure the complete separation of church and state.” He is founder and president of the Stiefel Freethought Foundation, based in Raleigh, N.C., and a trustee of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. Stiefel also serves on […]

David Niose is legal director of the American Humanist Association’s Appignani Humanist Legal Center. He previously served as the organization’s president. Niose has written about the growing significance of secular voters.

Enterprise Community Partners helps build affordable housing for low-income Americans by providing financing and expertise to community and housing developers. It has begun a new push to partner with congregations. It has offered workshops to teach clergy about tax credits and other issues and also bought property from churches in order to build affordable housing.