Mayor Parker, Wells Fargo Announce $760,000 in Grants to Help Provide Housing, Support for Chronically Homeless

Corporation for Supportive Housing and Coalition for the Homeless to Benefit from NeighborhoodLIFT SM Program Funds

WASHINGTON, D.C. – October 16, 2013 – (RealEstateRama) — Mayor Annise Parker and Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC), one of America’s leading community banks and the nation’s largest home mortgage lender, today announced the company will make donations totaling $760,000 over three years for two Houston-based nonprofits to help support Mayor Annise Parker’s goal of ending chronic homelessness.

“I made a commitment to address homelessness head on, and I am proud to announce that we have made extraordinary progress in a short period of time,” said Mayor Parker. “These grants will accelerate our plan to find a solution to chronic homelessness. I appreciate Wells Fargo for joining in this effort, and for recognizing this opportunity to help this region end homelessness.”

The local grant recipients were identified in close collaboration with the City of Houston and Mayor Parker to assist the city in the areas of transitional and permanent supported housing and shelter and support services for the homeless.

In response, Wells Fargo is making $760,000 in grants to nonprofits serving Houston including:

• The Corporation for Supportive Housing will receive a grant of $450,000 over three years in support of their efforts for the Houston homeless community, including a goal of developing 2,500 units of permanent supportive housing, along with more than 2,800 units of general-population affordable housing over three years;
• The Coalition for the Homeless Houston/Harris County will receive a grant of $310,000 over three years to create and implement programs necessary for the successful response to the housing crisis by creating a system that rapidly returns homeless persons to housing stability.

The grants are funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation through the company’s NeighborhoodLIFT^SM program announced last year, an innovative effort created to help stabilize neighborhoods and help people buy homes by making properties more affordable with down payment assistance available for eligible prospective buyers.

“We want to be a part of the solution to remedy chronic homelessness and to specifically help support a system to capture the breadth of services and resources needed to stabilize one of our most vulnerable populations,” said Glenn Godkin, Wells Fargo’s regional president for Greater Houston.  “These nonprofits are actively leading efforts to help stabilize our community and based on the input we received from the city, we believe it appropriate to further support them with the NeighborhoodLIFT^SM program local initiatives funds.”

In addition to the local grants, the NeighborhoodLIFT^SM program is helping further the nation’s housing recovery by providing down payment assistance to help more local families achieve successful, sustainable homeownership. Last year, Wells Fargo made a $9 million commitment to provide down payment assistance grants, homebuyer support programs and local initiatives to help consumers achieve successful, sustainable home ownership in Houston.  Wells Fargo collaborated with the City of Houston and the nonprofit organizations NeighborWorks America and Avenue CDCto implement the program.

About NeighborhoodLIFT SM
The NeighborhoodLIFT SM program is collaboration between Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., the Wells Fargo Foundation, NeighborWorks America, an independent non-profit organization, and local non-profit organizations. The NeighborhoodLIFT ^SM program is designed to provide sustainable homeownership initiatives in cities deeply affected by the housing crisis. A video about the NeighborhoodLIFT program is posted at www.youtube.com/wellsfargo.

About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a nationwide, diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.4 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 9,000 stores, 12,000 ATMs, and the Internet (wellsfargo.com), and has offices in more than 35 countries to support the bank’s customers who conduct business in the global economy. With more than 270,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 25 on Fortune’s 2013 rankings of America’s largest corporations. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy all our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially.