Quicken Loans Joins Forces with Community Solutions to Bring an End to Veteran Homelessness

DETROIT, June 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Quicken Loans, the nation's largest mortgage lender, today announced a long-term partnership with Community Solutions, the country's leading nonprofit focused on ending homelessness in America. Together, they will work toward putting an end to veteran homelessness in communities across the country, with an emphasis on Quicken Loans' hometown – Detroit. The partnership was announced on stage this morning at Community Solutions' Built for Zero Conference held in Detroit.

"Across the country, nearly 40,000 veterans will experience homelessness tonight. This is both extremely heartbreaking and completely unacceptable," said Quicken Loans CEO Jay Farner. "We are in the business of helping people realize the dream of homeownership, and we understand the tremendous value of a place to call your own. Together with Community Solutions and local partners, we will ensure that veterans are placed into permanent supportive housing, building the foundation they need to create permanent change."

Quicken Loans' commitment includes financial and operational support for Community Solutions and the work it does on the ground in 60 communities across the country. The company also intends to bring its number one resource to the table – its people. By investing team member time and expertise in areas like communications, logistics and data analytics, the company will help accelerate the progress the country has already made on ending veteran homelessness.

As a for-more-than-profit company, Quicken Loans is guided by the philosophy of 'doing well by doing good,' placing people and passion ahead of numbers. Through this investment, Quicken Loans is making the bold goal to reach functional zero for homeless veterans in Detroit by supporting local efforts. Functional zero is met when the number of veterans experiencing homelessness within a community is less than the average number of veterans being connected with permanent housing each month. Permanent supportive housing is a model that provides a stable place to live with wraparound services, allowing those experiencing homelessness to focus on addressing mental health, addiction and other challenges rather than worrying about where they are going to sleep at night.  Veterans come into homelessness for a number of reasons – the goal is to make it brief and, more importantly, nonrecurring.

"Quicken Loans' engagement will have a direct, lasting impact on veterans experiencing homelessness around the country," said Rosanne Haggerty, President of Community Solutions. "This partnership signifies an important step in the national movement to end veteran homelessness. Time and again it has been proven that the only way to achieve long-term success in this space is to work across groups and agencies, using data to drive a laser focus on housing. Seven communities have already achieved zero. This partnership will help many more reach that goal."

Quicken Loans and Community Solutions are helping communities better utilize the resources they have by building coalitions of local service organizations, civic groups and leaders, and federal agencies like the Department of Veteran Affairs. The nonprofit has been recognized by the White House, the United Nations, the Smithsonian and others for its innovative and effective approaches to ending homelessness. Its model helps communities put housing first while leveraging data to make sure everyone has access to the help they need as quickly as possible. Participating communities have found homes for more than 90,000 people over the past three years.

As one of America's largest Veteran Affairs lenders, Quicken Loans has a longstanding commitment to veterans and a responsibility to provide for the military community. The company has a dedicated veteran recruiting team, made up of former military members, focused exclusively on adding talented, hardworking vets to the company's brain-force. Quicken Loans boasts more than 600 veteran team members across all areas of the business.

The company also has a rich history of supporting veteran causes through strategic sponsorships and partnerships. Later this week, the PGA TOUR's Quicken Loans National kicks off outside Washington, D.C. The tournament has long supported our service members and veterans. Following this year's event, through unique onsite activations at the tournament, the company will have raised $1 million for U.S. military-affiliated charities since the program began in 2015.

Housing stability is at the core of what Quicken Loans does. The Quicken Loans Community Fund continues to brainstorm and deploy unique programs that both create pathways to homeownership and support current homeowners. In Detroit alone, more than 100 homes have been rehabbed; more than 15,000 families have avoided displacement; and more than 100 renters facing eviction, due to the actions of their landlords, became new homeowners thanks to the work Quicken Loans has done in the community. The company's partnership with Community Solutions is a natural next step in supporting veterans and housing stability across the country.

Quicken Loans' long-term partnership with Community Solutions runs all the way up to its Board of Directors. Farner is now on the organization's Board to join the national conversation and offer deep housing knowledge on this complex issue.

About Quicken Loans

Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc. is the nation's largest home mortgage lender. The company closed more than $400 billion of mortgage volume across all 50 states from 2013 through 2017. Quicken Loans moved its headquarters to downtown Detroit in 2010. Today, Quicken Loans and its Family of Companies employ more than 17,000 full-time team members in Detroit's urban core. The company generates loan production from web centers located in Detroit, Cleveland and Phoenix. Quicken Loans also operates a centralized loan processing facility in Detroit, as well as its San Diego-based One Reverse Mortgage unit. Quicken Loans ranked highest in the country for customer satisfaction for primary mortgage origination by J.D. Power for the past eight consecutive years, 2010 – 2017, and also ranked highest in the country for customer satisfaction among all mortgage servicers the past four consecutive years, 2014 – 2017.

Quicken Loans was once again named to FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list in 2018 and has been included in the magazine's top 1/3rd of companies named to the list for the past 15 consecutive years. In addition, Essence Magazine named Quicken Loans "#1 Place to Work in the Country for African Americans."

SOURCE Quicken Loans