Chickie Grayson, president and CEO
Enterprise Homes Inc.
Baltimore
Background
Enterprise Homes, Inc. creates homeownership and rental opportunities for families from all walks of life. Enterprise's development expertise includes community planning, financing, construction management and marketing.
For more than two decades, Enterprise Homes has earned an unparalleled reputation for creating
thoughtfully planned communities that deliver exceptional value and quality of life. Enterprise Homes has developed communities that include more than 4,000 homes and rental residences throughout the East Coast.
A native of Baltimore, Maryland Chickie Grayson has enjoyed city living since 1978. She earned a master's degree in urban affairs at the University of Maryland and worked as a project manager at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. At the same time, she began to actively explore her interest in improving homes and communities, rehabilitating houses on her own.
Grayson's growing interest in housing and community development lead her to Enterprise Homes in 1987. In nearly two decades with Enterprise, Grayson and her team have developed nearly 2,000 for- sale homes for low- and moderate-income first-time homebuyers. The company's housing portfolio also encompasses over 2,000 affordable and market-rate rental housing units, which provide decent housing throughout the mid-Atlantic region and represents a stepping stone to future homeownership opportunities.
Creating a better quality of life for people is Grayson's passion. As a developer of quality affordable housing and mixed-income communities, Grayson's platform for improving lives is housing and homeownership—for people from all walks of life.
Description of Achievements
A seasoned developer of affordable homeownership opportunities in primarily urban, low-income communities, Grayson serves people with incomes from below poverty level, up to 60 percent of the area's median income, as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
"Without a doubt, my greatest accomplishment is meeting a first-time homebuyer. The sense of hope they achieve is a hope beyond their wildest dreams," Grayon says. She understands that homeownership, especially for someone who never believed it was possible, opens up whole new horizons. "It is a source of wealth, a symbol of success and a means to achieve a better life," she said. "We're changing the perception about who is a homeowner, and who can be."
Considering her leadership philosophy Grayson says, "We're in the bricks, mortar and people
Business – more than building houses, we build homes." Enterprise Homes brings an experienced perspective and creativity to the development process. Creating affordable homeownership opportunities, particularly in poor, urban neighborhoods is challenging. "We believe in the same goal for all people, no matter what, and that means we deliver a quality product, with financing that works for the people we serve, in a location where residents want to live," Grayson says.
Grayson and Enterprise Homes have a well-established track record of forming partnerships, leveraging funding sources and involving residents and community leaders to create homeownership opportunities. According to Grayson, the exciting part is getting others involved in the process and making these homes happen.
Chickie Grayson is dedicated to creating housing and opportunities for low and moderate-income people from all walks of life—minorities, single-mothers, people with special needs. Under her leadership, Enterprise Homes has broadened the horizons of nearly 2,000 homeowners so far, and Grayson looks forward to helping future homebuyers achieve their dreams of homeownership.
Impact
Enterprise Homes' developments have received over 17 awards recognizing excellence in
homeownership development, smart development and neighborhood revitalization including the 2005 U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary's Best in American Living Award for Sandtown- Winchester Square in Baltimore, Md. In 2006, The Daily Record named Grayson one of Maryland's Top 100 Women, recognizing her outstanding achievements.
The Sandtown-Winchester development is a notable homeownership success story. This 72-block neighborhood is the focus of more than a decade of neighborhood transformation. Sandtown- Winchester is a predominantly African-American neighborhood. The 1990 census data reported the majority of the residents are black, with the remaining population other minorities or white. Over 50 percent of the residents lived below poverty level.
Since 1992, Enterprise Homes has worked with several partners to develop 600 homeownership units in the community by:
Results:
* The Johns Hopkins University, Institute for Policy Studies. "Neighborhoods Moving Up: What
Baltimore Can Learn From Its Own Improving Neighborhoods." Prepared by: Introduction to Policy Analysis Students, Fall 2000, Master's Program in Policy Studies, S.J. Newman, Professor.
Innovation
In what way is your work innovative? Identify new ideas that helped you succeed and discuss how others might benefit from what you have learned.
Grayson is the first to recognize that as part of Enterprise, a national organization that works to fuel neighborhood revitalization through its financial, development and technical products and services, Enterprise Homes has the resources and support to compete and succeed in a challenging business.
"Doing affordable homeownership development in challenging urban communities is not something most developers will undertake," says Grayson. Enterprise Homes has demonstrated innovations in financing, involving community stakeholders, and implementing homeownership counseling that have helped make homeownership a reality for low-and moderate-income families.
Financing
Enterprise Homes has the expertise to fully use all the financial resources available to bring homeownership within reach, especially for individuals and families who never dreamed homeownership was possible.
DuPont Commons is a 147-unit townhouse community in Washington, D.C., built on the site of the former Fort Dupont public housing. The new homeownership community is a $19 million development with eight major funders that also obtained a special $1 million appropriation from Congress to become a reality. With median home prices in Washington at $329,290, homeownership is out of reach for many community workers like teachers, firefighters and nurses and far beyond the means of many former public housing residents.
In partnership with the Washington Interfaith Network (WIN), the local and federal government, local churches and area banks, Enterprise Homes helped ensure that public housing families were also able to own homes at DuPont Commons. Today, 20 townhouses in DuPont Commons are home to families earning $15,000 to $20,000; 17 are former residents of public housing.
John More of WIN attributed the success of securing financing for the development in part to the fact that the funders were familiar with the quality of work Enterprise Homes was doing in Baltimore.*
Enterprise Homes brought real estate and financing expertise to the process, negotiating agreements with lenders, developing proposals and raising the funds that helped make homeownership opportunities a reality at DuPont Commons.
In Baltimore, the Sandtown-Winchester development is another example of financing innovation. Enterprise Homes helped secure funds from multiple sources to create over 600 affordable homes in the community. An integral piece of the financing was a $2 million zero percent interest loan fund established by community religious organizations. Enterprise Homes helped set up this funding source and has administered the money since 1989.
Additional financing for Sandtown-Winchester included:
*From Washington Diocese, "Investing in Community," Deborah Kennedy.
The public financing (CDBG, EDI, and 108 funds) provided a son second mortgage for each homebuyer that dramatically lowered the sales price. Units were sold at almost half the cost of construction. First mortgages ranged from $39,000 to $91,000.
Community Involvement
As part of the development process, Enterprise Homes meets with the community residents, local
government officials and other community stakeholders to design a community that meets the needs of the residents and the larger community.
"We spend time with residents and people involved in community so that what we design and build meets their needs," says Grayson. "The process is actually a two or three day event with residents, local business, financial institutions and other neighborhood stakeholders. We actually design the development with the community. We don't create a design for them—we do this with them," she said.
For example, in developing Heritage Crossing, the redevelopment of two former public housing sites into a mix of 75 rental and 185 homeownership units in Baltimore, Grayson says, "We wanted to build something that was a little different in an urban environment that would meet the needs of the people. So we wanted grass next to the sidewalk and the house, instead of the house just going right up to the pavement."*
Grayson said, "We understood that people wanted up-to-date homes that combined the best in modern living and also maintained the character of the neighborhood. We were determined to deliver that combination. And that's what makes those houses look so good today."
Homeownership Counseling
Enterprise Homes provides homeownership counseling for new homebuyers in financial management, home maintenance and community involvement to help them become successful homeowners. All homebuyers purchasing an Enterprise home complete the counseling before settlement. Homeownership success is also fostered by emergency loan funds established by some of the Enterprise Homes developments. The funds are there for homeowners who experience a life event – job loss or illness for example, that might jeopardize their ability to stay current on their mortgage.
Enterprise Homes' developments provide the counseling and post-sales support for residents that make a positive difference in their ownership experience and quality of life.
* Reprinted from "Building on Opportunities", The Baltimore Sun, June 16,2002, Robert Nusgart.
Minority Focus
Homes for sale in the final phase of Sandtown-Winchester sold out at a rate of 16 to 17 units a month, indicating the community and resident support for Enterprise's work.
In an article "Building on Opportunities" in The Baltimore Sun, Marlene Brown, a Sandtown-
Winchester homeowner spoke very highly of Grayson. "She is a very caring and concerned person, otherwise she could not do the type of work that she has been able to do. She rides through the neighborhood all the time. I've seen others that, once the project is over, that's it. I don't think they are going to come back and drive through and keep going, and she has done that," said Brown.*
In May 2006, Enterprise hosted a celebration for the homeowners in Sandtown-Winchester. Resident Nakita Lewis shared a poem from Längsten Hughes and her thanks for the opportunity to be a homeowner.
"Today, I want to thank those who didn't let my dream dry up like a raisin in the sun. I want to thank Enterprise Homes and BUILD for preparing the way for me to become a Nehemiah home owner. I also want to thank the hundreds of Nehemiah homeowners who moved to Sandtown before me. You made my dream possible," said Nakita Lewis.
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over-
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
—Langston Hughes
Chickie Grayson's dedication, leadership and commitment have brought the dream of homeownership to people from all walks of life. Thanks to Grayson's work at Enterprise Homes, and that of other leaders like her, hundreds of future homeowners can look forward to realizing their dreams.
* Reprinted from "Building on Opportunities", The Baltimore Sun, June 16, 2002, Robert Nusgart.