Twenty-three organizations will receive $80 million in
grants to finance affordable housing under the new Capital
Magnet Fund.
Thirteen of the awardees are nonprofit housing
organizations, nine are Community Development Financial
Institutions (CDFIs), and one is a tribal housing
authority, announced the CDFI Fund. (A list of recipients
is below.)
Abode Communities in Los Angeles, The Community Builders
in Boston, Volunteers of America National Services in Eden
Prairie, Minn., and Southwest Housing Solutions Corp. in
Detroit are a few of the developers receiving awards.
“The grant will help us to continue to support
the production of affordable housing,” says Robin
Hughes, president and CEO of Abode. The nonprofit
organization will use its $4 million award to capitalize a
revolving loan fund that will leverage about $270 million
in development over the next four years.
PathStone Corp. in Rochester, N.Y., is one of the
smaller organizations to receive an award. It will use its
$2 million grant to capitalize a predevelopment fund to pay
the up-front costs associated with developing multifamily
housing in Puerto Rico. PathStone expects to develop more
than new 400 units in the rural and mountainous regions
within five years.
Southwest Housing Solutions will put its $2 million
award to work in southwest Detroit. Plans include building
and rehabilitating about 137 housing units and developing
community-service facilities.
Financial organizations receiving grants include the
Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC). The organization
will use its $5 million award to leverage private loan
dollars and launch the LISC Neighborhood Revitalization
Loan Fund, which is expected to finance at least $100
million in affordable rental housing, community facilities,
and economic development activities.
LISC officials say their new fund will offer
predevelopment, construction, and acquisition loan products
that will help fill the gaps left by the credit crunch as
well as innovative guarantees to attract additional
investment capital to low-income housing tax credit
projects.
The Ohio Capital Finance Corp. (OCFC), the lending arm
of the Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing, also received
$5 million. It plans to use its award to create a revolving
equity bridge loan program.
This benefits developers by reducing the total project
construction interest costs, says OCFC President Jon Welty.
The group will revolve the funds several times to touch as
many projects as possible.
Century Housing, a nonprofit affordable housing lender
based in Southern California, will use its $5 million grant
to expand its lending activities throughout the state,
according to Stephen Peelor, senior vice president of
lending. The organization’s activities have been
focused in the Los Angeles region.
San Francisco-based Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF)
received the largest award. “LIIF will use its $6
million grant to leverage additional private capital to
invest $180 million in affordable housing and related
community facilities projects in underserved
neighborhoods,” says COO Kimberly
Latimer-Nelligan. “LIIF is particularly interested
in projects that connect affordable homes with essential
services like schools, child care, and public transit.
Established by the Housing and Economy Recovery Act of
2008, the Capital Magnet Fund drew applications from 230
organizations requesting more than $1 billion in funds. The
recipients are based in 14 states, but 38 states as well as
the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico will potentially
be served.
Capital Magnet Fund awards went to:
Abode Communities (Los Angeles)
Century Housing Corp. (Culver City, Calif.)
Enterprise Corporation of the Delta (Jackson, Miss.)
Forward Community Investments (Madison, Wis.)
Great Lakes Capital Fund Nonprofit Housing (Lansing,
Mich.)
Habitat for Humanity International (Atlanta)
Idaho-Nevada CDFI, Inc. (Pocatello, Idaho)
Local Initiatives Support Corp. (New York City)
Low Income Investment Fund (San Francisco)
Massachusetts Housing Partnership (Boston)
New Hampshire Community Loan Fund (Concord, N.H.)
Northwest Real Estate Capital Corp. (Boise, Idaho)
Ohio Capital Finance Corp. (Columbus, Ohio)
PathStone Corp. (Rochester, N.Y.)
Rural Community Assistance Corp. (West Sacramento,
Calif.)
San Carlos Housing Authority (Peridot, Ariz.)
South County Housing Corp. (Gilroy, Calif.)
Southwest Housing Solutions Corp. (Detroit)
The Community Builders, Inc. (Boston)
The Reinvestment Fund (Philadelphia)
Volunteers of America National Services (Eden Prairie,
Minn.)
Western Community Housing, Inc. (Costa Mesa, Calif.)
Women's Development Corp. (Providence, R.I.)
$4 million
$5 million
$4 million
$3.8 million
$4 million
$4 million
$1.98 million
$5 million
$6 million
$4 million
$3.7 million
$500,000
$5 million
$2 million
$2 million
$1 million
$1 million
$2 million
$5 million
$5 million
$5 million
$5 million
$1 million