Nuveen Real Estate, a public and private real estate debt and equity investment manager, yesterday announced its partnership with Esusu, a financial technology company focusing on rent reporting for credit building, according to a press release shared with FinLedger.
The aim of the partnership is to provide rent reporting access to residents living in Nuveen’s affordable housing properties, for free.
The companies claim this model will help the residents “establish a financial identity and build a better financial future” considering on-time rent payment as a factor in financial stability.
As a result of the partnership, will now offer its credit reporting and 0% interest rent relief program for tenants in need, as well as ESG impact data for owners, per the release. This includes Esusu’s automatic 24-month look-back feature, which allows tenants to establish or check any changes to their credit scores immediately.
Esusu’s reports rental payments to the three credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
Nuveen stated plans to provide Esusu’s services to residents for free, across all its properties. It says it wants to establish it as “the minimum standard of care.”
Samir Goel and Wemimo Abbey, co-founders and Co-CEOs of the rare Black-owned unicorn company Esusu, believe the partnership will aid in fighting inequalities in housing.
“This partnership is designed to help residents build healthier financial futures through rent reporting. Nuveen’s established commitment to social good and their long-standing passion for responsible investing approach made them a natural partner in our mission to create equitable financial access for everyone,” they said in the statement.
Esusu established the Renters Marketplace to aid people in searching for local resources like rent relief programs, medical support, financial education courses, etc. Moreover, the release also mentions its dashboard and Impact Reports which enable owners and operators to include them in their ESG/Sustainability reports, investor letters and award submissions.
These in turn complement Nuveen’s financial, impact, and ESG reporting tools like Nuveen Real Estate’s impact investing team, which implements environmentally sustainable measures and its social support services.
Nuveen also claims to support underrepresented communities like women, senior residents, “residents with varying abilities,” those with low incomes, and people affected by environmental challenges.
“Nuveen Real Estate is excited to partner with Esusu to provide our tenants free access to financial benefits that create negotiating power for residents to unlock more essential resources,” said Pamela West, senior portfolio manager at Nuveen’s Impact Investing Sector, in the statement.
Nuveen, a subsidiary of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA), also launched a global impact investing sector which aims to expand affordable, sustainable and climate safe housing, and aimed to tackle social and environmental obstacles in the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific region, as reported by FinLedger.
The project is the company’s strategy to reach a goal of up to $15 billion in real estate assets under its management by 2026. It also recently sold its Phoenix office Camelback Center for $61.8 million.
In other recent proptech news, TULU, a proptech company that provides tenants with household appliances, groceries and devices in multifamily apartment buildings, raised $5 million in a post-Series A investment round led by Regeneration.VC. Real estate proptech startup DeedPath also announced its save-to-own program, launched in the spring of 2022, that will aim to make buying investment properties more accessible with a lower down payment and credit requirements.