Roughly 100 million people in the United States are renters, and for most, the financial knowledge needed to transition to homeownership—how to build credit, save for a down payment, and reduce debt—was never taught. Steven Libman, founder of Investing With Purpose, sees this as both a societal failure and an opportunity. Through his faith-driven community investment model, financial literacy is a central pillar of how residents in his properties are served.
The model is being advanced through Investing With Purpose, with a live example at a 418-unit property in Lubbock, Texas, owned and operated by Integrity Holdings Group (IHG), a firm Libman co-founded. The property runs a financial literacy program in partnership with Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, delivered by on-site ministry coordinators. The program is free for residents and covers debt reduction, credit building, and savings strategies.
The wealth gap between renters and homeowners is stark: the average homeowner has a net worth of over $350,000, while the average renter has around $10,500. Libman argues this is not primarily a gap of income but of knowledge, access, and compounding decisions made without the right information. “We have done a really good job of reconciling our giving and our philanthropy to our core values,” he says. “But when it comes to our investments, we outsource our conscience and our thinking to someone else.”
What makes the Lubbock program notable is the pathway it offers. The 418-unit community is made up of individually deeded duplexes. Residents who complete the program and hit qualifying milestones can purchase their own unit, moving from tenant to homeowner, and in some cases to landlord, within a realistic timeframe backed by partnerships with local credit unions and banks. “Maybe the single mom who thought she would be renting forever is, two years later, a landlord,” says Libman. “That changes the trajectory for her and her kids.”
The program is not simply philanthropy; it also benefits the asset. Retention data shows that residents with six or seven friends in the same complex are 45 to 50 percent less likely to leave. Lease attrition at properties running structured community engagement programs drops by 40 to 50 percent. Lower turnover means lower costs, more stable income, and better performing assets.
Investing With Purpose is also developing summer tutoring and kids’ programming at several portfolio properties, targeting the learning gap that affects children in multifamily housing during school breaks. The goal is to meet real needs, build genuine connection, and create an environment where people want to stay.
The broader question the model raises is what responsibility an operator has to the people living inside its assets. “Where people live affects almost everything their life touches,” says Libman. “The communities they are building, the people they are with, if we can impact somebody’s life inside a community, and then you see the butterfly effect of that, it is immeasurable.”
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