Child Care Next Door

Investing in Homes as Child Care Infrastructure

 

A new video produced by Mission Driven Finance in partnership with the National Children’s Facilities Network features three family child care providers operating from a home-based setting.

Over 91,000 licensed family child care homes in America cared for almost 800,000 children in 2019, making home based child care an essential feature of our nation’s child care infrastructure.

 

Why family child care?

For many parents, the best child care option is a family child care home, where care for a small number of children is provided in someone’s home or apartment. 

  • It’s usually just a few children. This is a choice that works best for a lot of families because they feel it is more intimate and cozy. It’s more like home.

  • It works really well for infants and toddlers because they get a lot of attention from one caregiver. Or if a family has more than one child like an infant or a toddler, they can be together in the same room.

  • It’s also often more affordable, and it’s close to home. It could be right down the street in your own community.

 

Meet the family child care providers.

  • Maria De Lourdes Gandarilla

    Gandarilla Ma. Lourdes WeeCare Daycare

    “My ideal house would be my own to have peace and safety and to not stress out so much. I don’t want to live in fear of the landlord who can terminate my rental.”

  • Elsa Romero

    Around the Clock Childcare

    “I dream of having ample space to have centers for each activity that a child needs when they’re developing. It’s not my property so I’m not able to make that decision.”

  • Samsam Khalif

    Sam’s Family Child Care

    “I would have a big space for the kids. I would have separate rooms so that I could separate them by age group.”

Solutions for family child care homes

Mission Driven Finance (MDF) is a social impact investment firm that is launching a real estate fund to purchase homes and renovate them to be family child care spaces.

  • MDF will acquire, renovate, and lease the houses to the providers at an affordable rent.

  • MDF will operate as a child care-friendly landlord.

  • MDF will give half of the appreciation on the property to the provider while they are renting. 

  • The provider can then use the appreciation as a down payment to buy the home from MDF someday.

 

Government, nonprofits, developers, and philanthropy can help family child care providers thrive:

  • Make grants to family child care providers to help with home renovations

  • Adapt homeownership assistance programs that are tailored for family child care providers

  • Include family child care spaces in affordable housing projects

  • Give family child care providers legal support to help them deal with problem landlords