The need to aid low-income families by informing them of opportunities that will allow them to become homeowners in mixed-use (New Urbanist) communities. the Social Enterprise Fund of Edmonton and Calgary, Canada creates an alternative financing source to help social enterprises provide career and economic services to low-income families and demonstrate the barriers present to purchasing a home for low-income households when there is a lack of economic resources. To analyze the positive and negative approaches to such type of funding and explore alternative financial opportunities provided by private donors that will allow for home ownership with no upfront capital. The focus is on mixed-use to new-urbanist communities that have been created to allow homeownership to low-income families.

The dominating issues that plague the current housing crisis in the U.S. have been created by poor education and lack of resources by our federal government and our country’s banking and lending institutions. The banking system and the federal programs which have been set up to aid families and citizens with the opportunity to purchase a home have failed miserably, taking into account the recent crisis with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Due the over extension of loans, mismanagement of funds and lack of guidance, two of our country’s giants in the mortgage industry, along with the citizens of the U.S., have suffered immensely.