St. Paul, Minnesota-based CommonBond Communities, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing affordable housing and supportive services across the Upper Midwest, including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and South Dakota, is continuing their reorganization to address financial challenges and ensure long-term sustainability.
The reorganization will impact 117 headquarters employees, including teams associated with community resource advantage services, compliance, facilities, finance, fund development, human resources, information technology, marketing and communications, and property management. Approximately half of their property management services will be outsourced to local third parties. Layoffs are scheduled to commence July 18, 2025, and continue through Jan. 31, 2026.
According to President and CEO Deidre Schmidt ...
CommonBond is addressing challenging conditions in the affordable housing industry and finding fresh solutions to stabilize residents and our portfolio so that we can deliver on our mission well into the future.
As I’ve shared at the end of last year, our future state vision includes:
A smaller and healthier portfolio
A diversified approach to property management
Maximized Advantage Services within our fundraising capacity
I am pleased to say that we are starting to see traction from our actions in pursuit of this vision. I am optimistic that our progress will only accelerate as we continue to apply ourselves to the challenges in our organization, industry and environment, stay centered in our values and make hard decisions when necessary.
CommonBond is pleased to be bringing to the Twin Cities market a mission-driven, non-profit organization to assume a significant property management role for the CommonBond portfolio. Pending important preparation work and required approvals, The Community Builders (TCB) will begin to provide property management services to about half of our portfolio, beginning in 2026, and CommonBond will no-longer self-manage its sites.
Until recently, we anticipated continuing to self-manage about half of our portfolio. However, our 2023 search for third-party property management revealed limited capacity in our region. As a result, we’ve gradually transitioned management to trusted partners—ACC Management Group, Lloyd Management, MetroPlains Management, Property Solutions & Services, and Premier Management & Development—which now oversee roughly half of our communities.
Now, The Community Builders (TCB) presents a new, compelling option. With a strong track record, aligned mission, and established infrastructure supporting 12,000 homes nationally, TCB brings the scale and systems we need. Their entry into our region opens a meaningful alternative to self-management for the rest of our portfolio. They have well-established infrastructure and property management systems made possible by their enviable scale. TCB will begin working with us immediately. CommonBond will continue to offer Advantage Services on our sites.
While TCB will not be bringing social services to our sites (we will continue to do that), they understand and value CommonBond’s Advantage Services. The TCB property management approach is designed to work in conjunction with service partners and considers CommonBond’s Advantage Services a major factor for success of residents and property operations.
CommonBond’s focus will be in our signature programmatic strong suits and the necessary organizational capacity to book earned revenue, manage the organization’s administrative and financial responsibilities and engage a passionate and diverse board.
Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. We see good people being laid off through no fault of their own. Just because something terrible hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. While many employees can read the writing on the wall, why do most assume it’s targeted at someone else? Are you now wondering, Am I Next?
