Buffalo CEO to join federal advisory committee

For Ofo Ezeugwu, recently getting named to a federal advisory committee is the latest step in nearly a decade of work.

Ezeugwu founded in 2015 WhoseYourLandlord, a now Buffalo-based software platform that seeks to forge meaningful communication, transparency and insights between property owners and residential renters. Just this summer, he was named as an inaugural member of the Federal Housing Financial Agency’s advisory committee on affordable, equitable and sustainable housing.

“I believe I’m the right person to be sitting at the table to continue to effectuate change around equitable, sustainable, quality housing,” he said. “That’s what I’ve wanted to do for a long time, so I’m deeply appreciative and it is a blessing to be a part of this amazing team.”

The members will each serve a two-year term, which starts this fall.

Why it matters: After years of inflated costs, a hectic housing market and rising house prices in most parts of the country – including Buffalo – housing affordability is a bigger issue than ever for many. The magnitude of the problem has made housing a top issue for voters.

WhoseYourLandlord, which has raised a total of $3.5 million in venture capital, has 14 employees and nearly 50,000 units on its platform.

The business has been monitoring a noticeable shift on a federal level to more resident-centered opportunity platforms, according to Ezeugwu.

The White House last January issued a blueprint for a renter’s bill of rights, which the Buffalo startup has been tracking. The Federal Housing Financial Agency last summer also put out a request for input on tenant protection, wanting to learn about technologies out there and what work organizations were already doing in this space.

WhoseYourLandlord responded to that request for input. So when Ezeugwu heard about the new federal advisory committee related to housing, he applied last fall.

A current collaborator on the WhoseYourLandlord platform, whom Ezeugwu declined to name, wrote him a letter of recommendation.

That collaborator is part of an ongoing study that the startup is conducting, which strongly relates to the work the advisory committee is doing.

The business launched a study in February to get direct resident feedback on what matters most to them. The survey, which will go through December, includes about 22,000 apartment units across the country from about 100 properties and a dozen housing providers.

“We do feel like this will shape the way the industry goes for the next 20+ years,” he said. “I think finally there’s attention being paid toward how renters are actually experiencing the time living in any particular building or apartment. That matters.”

As a member of the advisory committee, Ezeugwu wants to see more mission-driven financial solutions in the market for renters. That includes ways to measure metrics like living conditions and outlets to report out improvements on those metrics over time.

This will help the entire industry, including housing providers.

“I’d argue most (housing providers) believe in their residents having quality, safe, equitable living conditions, but we still have to create the dynamics from a market perspective for that to be the norm versus just getting credit when you’re maybe an outlier who’s chosen to think of residents. ... That’s got to be standard, not a nice to have.”