In the run-up to World Hunger Day on May 28, REIT.com is showcasing how some Nareit members are channeling their expertise, tapping their employee networks, and upholding philanthropic commitments to their communities to help combat food insecurity.
According to the latest USDA figures, 13.7% (18.3 million) of U.S. households were food insecure at some time during 2024. The number of food insecure households with children is even higher, at 18.4%—making the efforts of REITs and others to address the issue especially important.
REITs know that when people and communities thrive, everyone benefits—creating lasting value and fueling innovation. Through responsible business practices, REITs are meeting the needs of their workforce, tenants, and neighbors, helping to build vibrant places where communities can flourish.
AvalonBay Communities
As a multifamily REIT, housing, community—and what makes its residents thrive—is at the center of everything for AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE: AVB), says Scott Balina, senior director, inclusion, diversity & community impact.
Recently, the company readjusted its philanthropic focus areas to more formally recognize the importance of housing and food security in “creating the stability that makes everything else possible,” Balina says. “We wanted to more formally recognize it because it was a large portion of what we were already doing and we were expecting to do more.”
Last year, AvalonBay worked with 21 different organizations that focus on affordable housing and food insecurity, clocking almost 2,000 volunteer hours and more than $300,000 in donations. Those organizations include the non-profit Doorways, that serves survivors of domestic violence in the Washington, D.C. region, Caritas Communities, and Feeding South Florida.
Balina says Feeding South Florida has seen a clear uptick in demand for their support, which includes collecting shelf-stable foods that are past their sell-by dates from restaurants and grocery stores, and sharing them with food pantries in the region. One particularly innovative partner of AvalonBay is Families Forward in Orange County, California. Instead of a traditional food pantry, the organization creates a grocery/farmer’s market-style experience where inventory depends on the current stock.
Foundation Communities in Austin, Texas is another AvalonBay partner that works similarly to Feeding South Florida in terms of serving as a go-between that distributes items from restaurants and grocery stores to families in need. Austin represents one of AvalonBay’s newest expansion regions, so it has a relatively small presence, Balina explains, while Foundation Communities has been looking to grow in Dallas, where the REIT has a bigger presence. “We viewed it as this mutually beneficial relationship where we could help them build their brand in one region, and vice versa.”
For 2026, AvalonBay will continue trying to expand its efforts and impact, “more volunteer hours, a bigger engagement target,” Balina says. To that end, the REIT has launched a regional competition for engagement among its associates with the winning team receiving a larger donation budget for 2027.
AvalonBay encourages regional philanthropy teams to partner with groups that make the most sense in their particular location, and that will most engage local associates based on interests or passions. It’s part of their effort to “get our brand out into the community and really demonstrate who AvalonBay is and that we care about the communities we’re in,” Balina says.