Until recently, SWP's real estate development work looked a lot like what you'd expect from a small nonprofit: Excel spreadsheets, paper draw requests, and a lot of emails. It got the job done, but it wasn't built for scale.
That's changing.
Through our partnership with Home Starter and with new investment from PNC, we've been rebuilding how we manage housing development from the ground up: the systems, the staffing, and everything in between. And the results are starting to show.
Less Paperwork, More Progress
As SWP moved into development work, it became clear that we would need to shift how we do business to succeed.
One of the most practical shifts has been in how we handle payments. Before Home Starter, tracking and submitting draw requests meant juggling templates, paper forms, and email threads. Now we can collect, review, and forward payment requests to our funders directly in the Home Starter system.
The benefits alone add up to real savings. Fewer things slip through the cracks. Less time is spent chasing paper, and more time gets spent on the work that matters. But there are meaningful benefits for SWP’s mission, too.
As a mission-driven developer, SWP aims to do more than just rehab a property here and there. Our community has charged us with looking at the whole block, and at the ecosystem of small contractors here in our neighborhoods who have been doing the good work one or two properties at a time. Home Starter is the force multiplier SWP needed to be able to support those contractors and grow them intentionally. The end result? More of the work in our neighborhoods is being done by contractors who know and work here, rather than larger contractors with back office staff.
Why Capacity Funding Is a Big Deal
Most investment is tied to specific deliverables rather than the internal systems that ensure those projects succeed. That is why the capacity funding from PNC through Home Starter is so significant. It is an investment in the foundation of our work.
The SWP Housing Action Plan was shaped by two years of deep engagement with hundreds of residents across Southwest Baltimore. Our neighbors asked us to step into direct development so that we could build our community together. We are committed to that path, but delivering on that vision depends entirely on building the internal strength to see it through.
Our goal is to manage a portfolio of 7 to 10 properties under construction at a time. Right now one full-time staff member is leading that work, and closing the gap between where we are and the goal requires more than just ambition. It takes real investment in the infrastructure behind the work, and that's what we're receiving now.
This support is what allows us to honor our promises to the neighborhood.
Where Things Stand and Where We're Going
In the past eight months, SWP converted a part-time community organizer role to full-time, supporting outreach to more than 100 residents in Mount Clare and Hollins Market. We brought on a new Director of Real Estate Development with more than a decade of experience, who reworked how we approach acquisitions so that we can move faster when the right opportunity comes up.
And it's translating into real activity on the ground. At the start of 2025, we had one property under construction. Today, we have two properties under construction, three working through predevelopment, and a pipeline of properties .
Southwest Baltimore's neighbors asked us to show up for this work, and we're making sure we have what it takes to deliver. We're putting real resources into the staff, the systems, and the relationships that make this work possible. Home Starter makes it possible for us to grow and build systems, while still reaching those smaller, local contracting partners who know and love our neighborhoods but might not have a back office team to juggle all the paperwork. This is our mission made manifest in our projects, and it happens thanks to the support of Home Starter and PNC.
