Last week, members of the Coalition for Home Equity Partnership (CHEP) had a significant presence at IMN’s HEI & Home Equity Capital Markets Forum in Nashville. As one of the industry’s premier gatherings dedicated to home equity, the event provided a critical platform for discussing the evolving landscape of shared equity products (SEPs), from the real-world demand driving homeowners to these solutions, to the capital markets momentum behind them, to the regulatory frameworks being built to govern them responsibly.
CHEP, a collective of financial services companies that offer flexible ways to tap home equity, including founding members Hometap, Point, and Unlock, is committed to the protection and promotion of the SEP industry. This year, CHEP members were featured across three sessions that helped set the tone for the broader conference: making the case for why SEPs are needed, grounding industry narratives in data, and delivering a timely update on the regulatory landscape.
Why Homeowners Need Shared Equity Products
The conference opened with the panel The Home Equity Economy: Key Demand Drivers and Performance Across Market Cycles, which featured Hometap CEO Jeff Glass alongside representatives from Morningstar DBRS, Brean Capital, BlackRock, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
Glass made the case that the conversation about housing affordability has fundamentally shifted. It is no longer just about getting into a home; it is about being able to stay in one. Rising home values have brought rising costs: property taxes up more than 27% since 2019 (ICE Mortgage Technology), home insurance premiums up 24% from 2021 to 2024 (Consumer Federation of America), and nearly $35 trillion in home equity (Federal Reserve) that remains largely out of reach. Traditional options are falling short, with 35% of equity-extraction mortgage applications denied in 2024 (Urban Institute), and nearly 80% of homeowners wishing they could access equity without taking on a monthly payment (Hometap survey). Shared equity products are uniquely positioned to serve this large and growing segment of homeowners who have wealth on paper but limited ways to access it.
Grounding the Industry in Facts vs. Fiction
CHEP board member and Unlock CEO Jim Riccitelli delivered the conference keynote, Shared Equity Products: The Essential Information. Using data from the Urban Institute and the University of Washington, Jim walked through the real financial pressures facing homeowners today, what he called “the squeeze,” and addressed common misconceptions about SEPs head-on. His myth-versus-fact framework tackled questions around product costs, disclosure practices, borrower demographics, and the regulatory posture of the industry, with independent research backing each response.
A Ground-Zero Regulatory Update from CHEP
CHEP rounded out the morning panels with Shared Equity Products: A Ground Zero Regulatory Update from the Coalition for Home Equity Partnership, moderated by CHEP President Cliff Andrews and featuring Jesse Silverman, General Counsel at Hometap, Jim Riccitelli, CEO at Unlock, Lee Kaplan, General Counsel at Unlock, and Matthew Windsor, Deputy General Counsel at Point.
The panel delivered a state-by-state update on the legislative landscape and explained the consumer protection framework at the heart of CHEP’s model bill, including standardized disclosures, cost caps, and rescission periods. Looking ahead, panelists expressed optimism about the industry’s regulatory trajectory, noting that state-level engagement remains a priority, while federal outreach represents a growing area of focus for the coalition. As the SEP industry continues to scale and attract institutional attention, CHEP’s goal is to ensure that regulators at every level have the education and framework they need to develop policy that works for both homeowners and originators.
Broader CHEP Member Participation
Beyond these three sessions, additional CHEP members Nada and Splitero participated in panels covering C-level market perspectives, product innovation, and securitization strategies, reflecting the depth of the coalition’s presence throughout the conference.
Looking Ahead
The active presence of CHEP members across so many of the conference’s key sessions reinforces the coalition’s role as a central voice in shaping the future of shared equity products. As the industry continues to grow, CHEP remains committed to ensuring that growth is built on a foundation of transparency, consumer protection, and regulatory clarity.
For more information about joining CHEP, contact info@homeequitypartnership.org.