About Great Expectations
A privately funded affordable housing developer and operator based in the Pacific Northwest.
Who we are
We deploy private and tax-advantaged capital to create, preserve, and operate housing for working people — while delivering durable, risk-adjusted returns to our investors.
Our platform integrates investment, development, construction, and property management at scale. This integration allows us to take on projects that are complex, operationally intensive, or overlooked — and make them work.
Our origin story
From insight to action.
After returning to Seattle in 2018, Ben Maritz was struck by the scale and visibility of the city's homelessness crisis. While still at McKinsey, he conducted research that challenged prevailing assumptions — clearly linking homelessness to housing supply and affordability, rather than individual pathology alone.
This work demonstrated a then-unfashionable conclusion: homelessness is fundamentally a housing problem.
The research also identified strategies through which private capital could play a meaningful role — providing housing for people at risk of homelessness while operating within a disciplined, investable framework. Great Expectations was created to put those ideas into practice.
A Social Purpose Corporation
Profit with a purpose — by design.
In 2024, Great Expectations formally converted to a Social Purpose Corporation (SPC) to codify what had been true since our founding: that housing is both a business and a responsibility.
This structure ensures our mission is durable — it cannot be set aside when markets tighten or priorities shift. For investors, it provides clarity. For residents and partners, accountability.
Profitable operations
Sustainable real estate assets that perform.
Social benefit
Advancing affordability for working people.
Balanced returns
Investor value aligned with community outcomes.
Long-term thinking
Built to endure, not to exit.
How we got here
From micro-homes to integrated platform.
Eco-housing roots
Our early work focused on ultra-efficient, thoughtfully designed micro-homes that minimized environmental impact while dramatically reducing rents.
- Smaller, well-designed homes serve real needs
- Efficiency lowers operating costs and rents
- Good housing doesn't require public subsidy
Today's platform
Since 2019, we've expanded into a fully integrated housing platform spanning development, acquisition, and preservation.
- Workforce & affordable development
- Section 8 & subsidized rehab
- Opportunity Zone projects
- Blended capital stacks
Our in-house property management arm. What began as a necessity quickly became a strategic advantage.
The opportunity we address
Housing where it is needed most.
We focus on markets where job growth is strong, housing supply is constrained, and working people are priced out long before they qualify for traditional subsidies. Our work sits in that gap.
Constrained supply
Job growth outpaces new housing, pushing working people to the margin.
Rising rent burden
Cost pressure hits households before they reach subsidy thresholds.
Underperforming assets
Operational strain erodes affordability; disciplined management restores it.
Our philosophy
We measure success not only by financial performance, but by durability. That means:
- Conservative underwriting
- Hands-on asset management
- Transparent investor communication
- Long-term ownership and accountability
Looking forward
Housing is one of the defining challenges of our time. We believe private capital has an essential role to play — not as charity, but as a disciplined, scalable force for good.
Great Expectations was created with the hope that others would follow. We intend to keep building.
Ready to learn more?
Meet the team behind the platform, or explore how we structure investment opportunities.