A charity for working first-time homebuyers
You should not have to lower your standard of living to reach the American Dream.
A nurse, a teacher or an electrician could once buy a home in the town they grew up in or serve. Since early 2020 home prices have risen almost twice as fast as earnings and mortgage rates have doubled. The foundation closes that gap, durably, so working households can buy a good home in an established community and keep it.
Every figure on this site is sourced and checked. Every dollar the foundation raises and spends is published.
Principal and interest on a home that tracks the national price index, 20% down, 7% scenario today. Median usual weekly earnings of full-time workers. The evidence
The gap
Same home. The payment went from $1,150 to $2,661.
The same home, bought with 20% down on a 30-year fixed loan, in January 2020 and today. Higher prices raised the payment by $673 at the old rate and the higher rate added $838. Of that $1,511 increase, earnings growth covers $353.
Monthly affordability gap, illustrative $500,000 home
$1,158 /month
This is the difference between today's payment at an assumed 7% rate and the equivalent January 2020 payment grown in line with median earnings. Covering it for 30 years would require about $174,052 of principal reduction.
Principal and interest only, with 20% down on a 30-year fixed loan. Excludes taxes, insurance, maintenance and closing costs. Against the 1998–2019 average payment burden instead, the gap is about $887. How this is calculated
Where the monthly payment went
Principal and interest only. The 7% rate is a scenario, not an observed rate. See every input and try your own.
Two ways to take part
For homebuyers
Buy where you want to live
See your gap
Pick a town and a job and see what the payment takes from pay today, and what it took in 2020.
Build your plan
Check your readiness, save towns and homes, and see the payment with assistance.
Apply and buy
Apply when the fund opens, work with a counselor and your lender, and close with the gap covered.
For sponsors
Fund the next generation of neighbors
Give
USDC, cbBTC or ETH on Base today; card and bank soon. Name a town if you like.
Watch it work
Your gift appears on the public ledger within minutes and on your dashboard.
See it come back
Recoverable assistance returns when homes sell, and funds the next household.
Town by town, job by job
Pick a job and a town.
What the payment on the typical home takes from a paycheck today, and what it took in January 2020, using the same method as the worked example. Real home values, real Chicago-area pay.
In Park Ridge, the payment on the typical home takes 48.7% of the pay of an elementary school teacher today, up from 29.7% in January 2020.
- Typical home (2026-08)
- $597,562
- Same home, January 2020
- $407,426
- Payment today at 7.00%
- $3,180
- Payment at the 2020 share of pay
- $1,942
- Monthly gap
- $1,239
- Assistance that closes it
- $186,165
Principal and interest, 20% down, 30-year fixed. Typical home: Zillow Home Value Index. Pay: BLS median wage, Chicago metro, May 2025; January 2020 pay is estimated with the national growth in median full-time earnings (+30.7%). Latest weekly average rate 7.03% (2026-09-24). More on Park Ridge
Where the first fund works
Established communities, not compromises.
Good public schools, a walkable centre and a train to the city: the standard of living the last generation reached on a working income. The first fund starts on Chicago's North Shore, in Park Ridge and Hinsdale, and in the near-west suburbs.
Share of a registered nurse's pay ($100,490 a year, Chicago metro median) taken by the payment on each town's typical home, January 2020 and today at the 7% scenario.
- Winnetka$1,940,311+78% since 2020Gap $5,125 a month
- Hinsdale$1,298,279+50% since 2020Gap $2,788 a month
- Wilmette$1,014,121+60% since 2020Gap $2,384 a month
- Glen Ellyn$578,698+51% since 2020Gap $1,252 a month
- Park Ridge$597,562+47% since 2020Gap $1,239 a month
- Evanston$493,385+34% since 2020Gap $869 a month
What the money does
Donated money closes the gap. Recoverable money closes it again.
There are five ways to deliver help. They differ in cost, in how long the help lasts, and in whether the money comes back to help the next buyer. The first fund leads with recoverable assistance, so each dollar can help more than one household.
Lend the gap, repaid when the home is soldMoney comes back
Recycles donor money for future buyers. The household owes $400,000 in total.
Pay down part of the loan at purchase
Permanent. The household pays $1,503 a month for 30 years.
Buy the interest rate down to 2.12%
Same payment, but it lasts only until the home is sold or refinanced.
Pay a shrinking share of the payment until pay catches up
About 13 years if earnings grow 4.38% a year.
Pay the gap each month for five years
Cheapest, but the payment jumps back to $2,661 in year six.
Present values at the 7% mortgage rate for the $500,000 example, before operating costs and reserves. Compare the five approaches, what happens when support ends, and the funding calculator.
The glass box
Every dollar, in public.
What came in, what is committed to households, what has been paid out and what has come back. Sponsors see their share on their own dashboard; the public sees the totals.
Received
$0
Committed to households
$0
Paid out
$0
Recycled
$0
Households helped
0
As of 2026-09-29 17:03 UTC. Every figure comes from the same ledger sponsors see on their dashboards. The full ledger
What changed
Home prices have outrun both earnings and inflation.
The three series below are national and nominal, and each has its own latest observation date. Earnings are for individual full-time workers, not household income, so the chart shows the direction of change rather than any one family's position.
| Measure | Early 2020 | Latest | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Case-Shiller home pricesU.S. National index, NSA | 212.36Jan 2020 | 336.66Jun 2026 | +58.5% |
| Median weekly earningsFull-time workers, 16+ | $957Q1 2020 | $1,251Q2 2026 | +30.7% |
| Truflation, cumulativeConsumer prices | BaseJan 30, 2020 | +31.83%Sep 26, 2026 | +31.8% |
| 30-year mortgage rateFreddie Mac average | 3.62%Jan 2020 | 7.00%Scenario | +3.38 pts |
Index, early-2020 observation = 100. Two observations per series; each ends at its own latest date.
Sources: S&P Cotality Case-Shiller via FRED, BLS median weekly earnings via FRED, Truflation, FHFA (January 2020 rate). All nominal. Retrieved September 27, 2026. More on what changed, back to 1998.
Behind the numbers
Every figure is sourced and checked.
Raw observations were read from the primary sources on September 27, 2026 and every calculation was rerun at full precision. Each page records its sources, observation dates and calculations.
What changed
Home prices, earnings, mortgage rates and inflation since 2020, and the payment burden back to 1998.
Worked example
Every input, how the gap moves with the assumptions, and a calculator for your own numbers.
How capital could help
Existing programs, the five approaches side by side, what happens when support ends, and a funding calculator.
Research
Studies on buyer subsidies and prices, whether assisted buyers keep their homes, and young buyers.
Sources and methods
Every data series, the formulas, the limits of the data, and a check of each headline number.