The NRWC is a cross-sector coalition convened by Lafayette Square Institute to develop the legal, policy, and investment framework that scales ownership and asset-building for renters in the United States, with a particular focus on low- and moderate-income households.
Mission
The wealth gap between renters and homeowners in the United States has grown dramatically in recent decades. The median homeowner has accumulated approximately $396,200 in household wealth, roughly 40 times the median renter's $10,400.1 The disparity reflects more than housing affordability: only 48% of renters own any appreciating asset, compared with 78% of homeowners.2
The NRWC was convened by Lafayette Square Institute to confront that structural disparity. The coalition brings together investors, developers, operators, researchers, community and resident organizations, affordable housing leaders, economic mobility and financial security experts, and state and federal policymakers to identify, operationalize, and scale solutions that create wealth-building opportunities for renters, with a particular focus on low- and moderate-income households.
The coalition's mandate is to develop a legal and investment framework that scales ownership and asset-building for U.S. renters, drawing on models including Colorado's Tenant Equity Vehicle, Enterprise Community Partners' Renter Wealth Creation Fund, shared-equity models through community land trusts, and analogues from the employee ownership movement such as Employee Stock Ownership Plans.
The NRWC's core thesis is that renters already create value in their communities through their rent payments, their stewardship of housing, and their contributions to neighborhood vitality, but do not currently capture any financial return from that value. By aligning market incentives so that renters share in the upside of their participation, the coalition aims to build new pathways to financial resilience and economic mobility for the roughly 44 million American households who rent.3
Featured Research
In Stanford Social Innovation Review’s Fall 2026 issue, NRWC lead Katie Deal maps the renter-wealth models the coalition exists to scale.
Feature · Stanford Social Innovation Review
For nearly a century, US policy prioritized homeownership to build middle-class wealth—leaving many renters behind. But innovative new renter-wealth models are enabling renters to access the American dream.
Read at SSIRJoin the Coalition
Join the 40+ organizations across policy, capital, operator, and resident communities working to scale pathways to wealth-building for renters.
Policymakers, mission-driven investors, operators, and resident organizations interested in joining the coalition can reach the NRWC team at deal@lafayettesquareinstitute.org.
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